Peeves and Rants

The Weather

I guess summer must have decided to go for broke and get itself all in during July & August's heatwave. It's been cold and rainy for the last week or so, the trees are all turning and the fireweed has blown its top. We didn't really even get a normal temp sunny day without mosquitoes this year.  [[[SIGH]]]

Road "Improvements"

We did an up-and-back supply trip into Fairbanks today despite the rain. First bit of nightmarish Hell was on our gravel portion of the Elliott where DoT has taken it upon itself to "improve" a 25 mile section of the road. I don't know what they were planning to do or why, but what they've managed to accomplish is a quagmire of hazardous mud right in one of the steepest, bendiest parts.

The second bit of nightmarish Hell was on the paved portion just outside of Fairbanks. They blocked the entire right lanes of traffic in both directions AND hung everyone up with a pilot car... just so they could sweep the shoulders.  I mean, REALLY!?!?! Closing lanes for several miles in both directions when the sweeper is only running on one side is just retarded. Why even close the lane!?! The sweeper barely edges over the line! And why, why, why have a pilot car directing a huge line of traffic in one direction at a time when both left lanes are still completely open and viable?!?

Hunter-Palooza

OK, I must admit, this one is really chapping my ass... so prepare for a rant.

There are turnouts (scenic overlook and mountain chain-up areas) all along the gravel portion of the Elliott Highway, and most of them are at the top or bottom of the really steep squirrely parts. Every bleeding fall when moose season opens, we get droves of urban commandos from the city down here tailgate hunting because their Game Management Unit is pretty much hunted out for moose. Anyway, these nimrods in their multi-$K sport-trucks & RVs with their toy haulers set up tent villages (complete with campfires and kegs) in EVERY  SINGLE turn out and park RIGHT IN THE ROAD to glass for moose.

Seriously?!?  It's dense boreal forest, people, what the hell do you think you're going to see from the road? I can't even see a moose in the trees on my own damed property less 100 ft away. And do you really think you're going to get through the trees on your decked out ATVs? Sorry to say, but you're going to have to hike your ass in there, and you should be humping your tent and gear out there as well instead of blocking the road and being a nuisance! And you certainly better not expect me to stop or wait for you to get your shit out of the road and your act together... I live here and I've got shit to do, I'm not on the road for fantastical funsies.  (And, YES, my husband did flip you the bird when you were waving us to slow down so you could back your trailer that's bigger than our cabin into that emergency turn out... he called you a lot of interesting epithets as he drove by without slowing down, too... deal with it)

Oh yeah, and BTW, half you fidjits are glassing in the wrong direction -- there's no general moose hunt on tribal land south of the road! ADF&G publishes a comprehensive book of regs with maps and everything -- so why don't you RTFM and learn some nav skills!?

So, hey better yet, why don't you take your digital camo & misc. hunter-porn crap and go hunt caribou from the Forty-Mile herd back in your own damned GMU, and let us have our moose because we actually hunt to survive out here!  If you wanted to park your vehicle in the turn out so it was safe while you hike out for a proper hunt, that's one thing... but this Hunter-palooza crap is an insult.

There has been a crazy amount of bears this year, blacks and grizz, and the salmon are running &  blueberries are popping nice and sweet right now. Not saying I truly wish anyone ill, but it would be poetic if one of these set-ups gets a close encounter!

ETA: P.S.  Ripley and Jackson are getting along much better, although there is still some sibling rivalry... and all food is apparently Jax's now LOL.  We also stocked up on soil & amendments on this trip during the end-of-season sales (had to fight somenoe for the last bale of peat moss -- I'm a scrapper when I need to be!), so we should be able to get at least some of our garden started next spring.

Nature Walk June 2013 (pics)

G-man and I have been researching the possibility of "silvopasturing" on our property. Essentially, silvopasturing is the agro-forestry practice of grazing your livestock within forested paddocks rather than clear-cutting the lot and planting out to straight pasture. In most cases in the US, this is done so tree farmers can realize profit/benefit on their plantations during the long tree-growth period before logging for timber. However, in other parts of the world, silvopasturing is used as a forest maintenance strategy to control undergrowth that compete with maturing trees and provide ladder fuels for forest fires... and that is our primary interest (well, besides feeding the critters).

Since our livestock plans primarily center around goats and chickens, with a hog or sheep thrown in, silvopasturing makes sense... goats prefer browse, chickens like to have cover, hogs love to root, and sheep don't care as long as there are tasty weeds. By dividing our acreage into 1 acre parcels, we can turn the animals out in rotational without having to clear anything other than a perimeter lane to run the solar-power portable electric fencing. Since they won't be on this temporary "pasture" more than a couple of days and won't be densely stocked, their feedings will be of more benefit and less detriment to the local ecology. As our herd thins out the underbrush and opens up the lot, we can seed in highr feed value grasses, forbs and legumes if necessary. By combining this method with Small Bag Silage, we (humans) can manually-cut and bag forage between the trees on the pastures that weren't being grazed during their prime nutritional growth stage.

With all this in mind, we went on a nature walk to determine what flora we had in the targeted areas, and get an estimate of the feed values. I missed inflorescence (bloom) on a few things, and some things are in a growth stage where identifying characteristics aren't as pronounced; but I think we've been able to identify most the dominant flora. We're stuck on identifying the grasses since our best AK Grass Field Guide is online and most of the species we're finding are similar enough at this stage that we'd need to nit-pick the characteristics to get a positive ID... but we're close enough to determine rough forage estimates. According to the AK Forage Manual, looks like our place has plenty of good quality forages, although we'll probably need to inter-seed some legumes (most likely white clover and field peas which are also good for the wildlife).

The Flowers

Alaskan Starwort - tiny white flowers in the ground cover

Chiming Bells -- we missed the Hare Bells, and the Fireweed isn't out yet.

Grove Starwort -- more tiny tiny flowers

Wild Prickly Rose -- Vitamin C all over!

Labrador Tea -- all over the place!

The Berries

Bog Blueberries

Lowbush Cranberries (upright) and Kinnikinnick (prostrate) -- these two often grow together in clumps

More Lowbush Cranberries -- there's also Highbush Cranberries and Wild Raspberries, but I didn't get a pic

 The Willows

So, I'm guessing a bit on the identification of these, and some I couldn't even identify. I'm not a botanist and sometimes the keys are totally confusing especially when different species are all growing together in huge clumps. Heck, some of them may even be Alders (which I can only seem to ID correctly in the firewood pile!). But in any case, we have a crap-ton of several different Willows all over the place in our understory... awesome, goats love them and they grow back after grazing.

Bebb Willow

Chamisso Willow

Diamond Leaf Willow

Halberd Willow (looks similar to Diamond Leaf, but the catkins are longer and the leaves are different -- I could be wrong)

Another Bebb? It's hard to tell, there are about 6 similar-but-different shrubs in this clump.

???? I couldn't find any catkins and the leaf & bark characteristics lead me to 3 different willows and an alder in the key

The Grasses

Again, totally guessing on the IDs here since I had to base some of them on what remained of last year's seed heads. I think I've gotten close on most, the right species if not the right subspecies. Since most of these are growing in mixed-species clumps, I'm not going to caption each pic, but I'm fairly certain that we've got some variety of Hairgrass, Brome, Polargrass, Reedgrass, Bentgrass, Ryegrass, Wheatgrass and Oats. We may also have some Quackgrass, most likely brought in by some musher's dog straw at some point... as long as it doesn't take over, I'm OK with it since it does have good forage value.

 Doesn't matter really, since all the ones I think I've found are good forage value regardless of which subspecies they are and at least a few of each seem to be flourishing unaided in the various site conditions around our property.

Ripley's Stress

And we finally figured out what has been causing Ripley to lose her mind every dawn & dusk... the moose are using our driveway!

Momma Moose on one side

Baby Moose on the other
 

P.S. One day I'll have to get a camera with decent macro capabilities so I can take better wildlife closeups :D

Snow to 85 in only 30 days

Yes, folks, only in Alaska can you go from below freezing with snow to 85 and roasting in only a month... and be under red-flag fire warnings and severe flood watchs at the same time :D

But, hey, at least it's nice and windy. With all the windows open, the cabin isn't quite a kiln -- although you don't want to spend too much time in the loft! The wind also helps keep the skeeters at bay when we're outside, even if our winter-bleached fish-belly skin still sizzles like bacon!

No wonder we're both down with a horrible head cold. G-man is also suffering from major "spruce fever" on top of that, poor baby. Ripley is blowing her coat like a dandelion on meth and miserable. She's dug a hole under the cabin so she can wallow in the cold mud in the shade. Even Jackson is sprawled out in the shade like a puddle of ink (yes, cats can lose their bones and get really flat!!) trying to catch as much wind as possible.

With the head cold, we had to postpone our trip into Fairbanks until next week. Judging from the forecasts, we're likely to be driving through a forest fire, the road will be flooded out, or it will be raining... maybe all three at once or one right after the other, a lot can change in 150 miles and all those elevation changes. JOY!!!

But really, I am NOT complaining. After 3 summers of gray and rain, I'm totally happy with the current hot, sunny, windy weather. Despite the increase in fire risk, we desperately need this dry spell to help with all the mud! If this continues, maybe all our trouble spots will finally harden up like they were the first summer we were out here. Solid ground and a dry trail that will support vehicles and equipment makes projects go soooooo much easier.

Now, if we could only figure out whether the large critter we've heard crunching through the brush for the last couple of days is a moose or a bear....

Early Winter Pics

First "sticking" snow - Mid October 2012

Still sunny enough to cause some daytime melt on the south side.

But still cold enough that the snow hangs in the spruce.

One of many woodpiles waiting to be split.

Evidence of little critters nesting in our toasty brush piles...

Weasel tracks, we're not sure if it's a Least Weasel or an Ermine.

Waking up with the fishies

OK I lied, it wasn't fishies, it was a bear.

So to relate the whole event, I was tucked up in bed, when I heard Ripley go completely nuclear. I thought she was going to go shooting through the door.

Anyway up we both pop, awake from slumber, Plick is a little quicker off the mark and goes to check on the dog, then says "BEAR!" so I take a peek out the upstairs window. Yup it's a bear alrighty, quite a largeish Blackie, he's taking a look and probably in the market for munchies.

Well I'm hearing the dog still barking like a thing that barks a lot, so's the bear. He walks forward a ways then back, then makes a stumbling run back, then stops facing east on two front paws, and one hind paw, the other doing some kind of ankle cross. Well during this I'm grabbing for my rifle thinking of a bear filet, and Plicks trying for the camera (note the priorities). Well thats when he moves forwards and is parallel with our 4 wheeler, he was about the same size too, maybe less broad, but same height and length. I cracked the window to take out the screen, and he bolted.

I blame the ant bait we put down, smells great, but obviously that can be a problem out here. Now it's time to go check on the neighbors place and dog, we haven't seen them in a few days, but they could just be away, or we just haven't seen them.

Well it's not everyone who can say they were woken up by a bear this morning, and at the same time feel good they weren't still living in a wall tent. Speaking of which that needs a check too.

Ice jams & local flooding

Last week an ice jam on the Tanana River flooded the nearby village of Manley Hot Springs where we pick up our mail and get fuel. In addition to raising water levels in the local creeks and slough to overflowing, the flood water also threatened the community airstrip (no mail) and the fuel pumps at the Trading Post, and contaminated several people's private wells (the public well appears unaffected though). Since outhouses and pit latrines are fairly common, I'm sure there were quite a few waste-related issues that didn't get mentioned in the news. The floodwaters have receded, but the creeks and slough are still swollen.

The flooding had one positive affect, though, the creation of many small ponds attracting migratory birds and waterfowl coinciding with the season opening in our game management unit. Several residents who rely on subsistence hunting got an easier meal than usual when their front yards became lakes and the ducks and geese flew in.

We've yet to determine what impact the flooding will have on the small commercial and subsistence fishermen, with runs due to start on the river and in local creeks in the next couple of weeks. ADF&G Division of Commercial Fisheries (which also govern subsistence fishing) have issued no advisories specific to the flooding, although the 2012 Outlook Report for the Lower Yukon (including the Tanana) states subsistence fishing on the first pulse of the spring chinook salmon run has been suspended and may be suspended entirely if the run strength is low, leaving many subsistence fishermen relying heavily on the summer chum and fall coho runs. The Chinook bag limit for sport fishing (including personal, non-subsistence, fishing) has also been reduced from 3 to 1 fish daily on the Yukon tributaries (none allowed from the Yukon proper), but this does not include the Tanana or its tributaries yet.

However, on a positive note... extensive sunshine and stronger than normal winds have done wonders for our little neck of the woods and most areas are drying out quite nicely. The majority of our area was unaffected by the ice jam, with only low lying areas filling up when the creeks rose and meltwaters couldn't drain. Unfortunately, areas in deep shade or on muskeg (like our main trail!!) are not drying or draining as well as the surrounding areas and continue to pose problems with access. But at least we aren't swamped everywhere and the wind is keeping the mosquitoes down. We'll see what transpires as we enter fire season.

Ursine Visitation

I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later, and today we had our first rummaging bear encounter. For the past two years, we've seen bears in the area and even on our property; but they were always content to munch on the berries and stay away from the human areas and noises. However, our new neighbor's grill left on the trail at the end of the driveway proved to be more a temptation than our running generator was a deterrent.

No one was hurt, and the bear skedaddled when discovered; so hopefully this won't be the beginning of a bad trend, and the bear hasn't learned that people means food. I suspect he was one of the cubs that we saw with their mom during one of the previous autumns, so maybe he was just investigating now that he's out on his own. He didn't really get too much food, just some glue and vinegar, but he did find some candy... and, of course, the grill smelled really good. Fingers crossed that we don't have more issues.

This is why it's essential to be near-immaculate with your food and refuse out here in the middle of the wild. If your grill is out unattended, it has to be thoroughly cleaned after every use. You can't rely on just charring and brushing off the grates each time you cook because the smell is still there attracting critters. Securing your grills, coolers and garbage cans and cleaning up utensils and spills to eliminate yummy smells is the only way to keep bears and other critters from learning that your homestead (or your neighbors!!) is a source of easy food. Once they figure out that you mean food, both you and they are in danger of some very unfortunate encounters that could have been easily avoided.

If an animal is already hanging about because of careless trash handling and food storage/prep while you're clearing and building, just imagine how much more of a problem they're going to be when you have a compost pile, garden and livestock! Don't create a problem. Don't leave it out. Don't leave it stinky.

Think food in your kitchen is secure? Think again, bears are extremely agile!

Think food in your vehicle is secure? Think again, bears are extremely smart and very persistent!

Think your dog or enclosure will keep your livestock secure? Think again, a hungry bear often ignores barking dogs and fences! Mmm mmm -- chicken, it's what's for dinner.

A shining example why letting pasture animals keep their horns might be a good idea in bear country.

Love barbecue and smoked meats? So does Mr. Bear!

Big Moose in My Front Yard

(** a nodding homage to the Dead Milkmen **)

Round about 5am this morning Ripley started going absolutely berzerk... barking her head off and racing around the tent, including tromping all over us in bed. So, I bolt out of bed, grab a shirt and my shotgun and stumble over to unzip the tent. Well, she shoots between my legs and races out into the yard before I can even get the flap open enough to see what's out there. Lo and behold, I catch a glimpse of a huge bull moose taking off into the trees at the top of our driveway with Ripster in hot pursuit.

So I yelled at her, which at least made her stop in her tracks; but it took both G and I several minutes to get through to her little doggy ADHD brain that she really needed to come back to the tent right now and not chase Mr. Moose, who would most assuredly kick her furry butt if she didn't back off.

Sorry, no pics... but when you live in the bush you tend to grab the shotgun and not the camera when some unknown wildlife wakes you up from a dead sleep at O'dark-thirty.