Finally, my tree crew shows up

[Richard Flanders]

I've been wondering when my tree trimming crew was finally going to show. A momma with her twin 2-yr old calves, one a bull, the other a cow. They really look fat and healthy. Furry steaks on the hoof in my book! How the blazes they get so fat eating twigs is beyond me. The cow left a trail in the lower yard consisting of post holes in a line. A grouse landed next to her track at dusk and started hustling for the seed under the feeder and kept disappearing in her post holes. Pretty comical to watch. That one will be back here shortly for dinner. I was kind enough to snowshoe the trails flat him this afternoon. I wish I had been here when they showed up. The calves walked right up the path in front of my deck; I could have hopped right on for a ride!

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

I like where you live, something new and exciting every day, don't get any better, Gary

[charlie cleveland]

really good pictures i wish i had been there to see this sight...thanks richard...charlie

[Richard Flanders]

Mostly we're getting "new" snow lately. Anchorage got 13" over the weekend and had an inflated sports facility collapse. Seward, south of there, got 30" and has declared an "emergency"... seriously? In Alaska?? Now that's funny. I guess the rental car business here in Fairbanks is slow this time of year.

Crikey! I just got an email from a young lady geology student I'm mentoring at Michigan Tech in Houghton. She said they got 150" of snow in a month and that now it's raining. Here come the glaciers!!

[Dean Romig]

Funny stuff... in Alaska, jeeez! :rotf:






.

[Richard Flanders]

Roger that Dean. I guess that's what happens when the "snowflakes" take over Alaska...(pun intended)...

[Tom Carter]

Richard, did I ever tell you about my moose black eye? Tom

[Richard Flanders]

No. I can't wait for this one! Let me guess, you punched an ornery moose out!

[Tom Carter]

One Sunday morning in Anchorage I was reading the paper and happened to glance out my front window and noticed a cow moose about 2 years old in my neighbors drive way. I raided the refrigerator and collected carrots and celery and went to the front porch and called it. It had been in the neighborhood for a while and was pretty tame. It came over and I fed it by hand and scratched it's ears and rubbed its neck for a while. When the food was gone I went back inside. It hung around for a while and left.

That evening I noticed it on the walkway right outside the front window. We had some tossed salad left from dinner so I took it and starting feeding the moose again. It was in a Tupperware bowl and the moose was eating from the bowl. That wasn't fast enough so I took the salad from the bowl and started feeding it by hand. That still wasn't fast enough so I went down the steps (4 steps if I remember right) and hit the bowl against the cement walkway to knock the salad out. That made a pretty loud noise which must have frightened the moose. She threw her right front foot forward and caught me squarely in the left eye. The blow knocked me up the steps against the front door. After the stars went away I went back inside and I haven't fed a moose since. Irene thought my moose black eye was beautiful. And she still has a picture of it.

[Richard Flanders]

Great story Tom. You're lucky a black eye was all you got out of that. I think a lot of Anchorage folks have hand fed moose over the years. I have pictures sent to me by Sarah Palins parents(they used to work for me in a camp)showing their "pet" moose with it's head through their kitchen window up to it's shoulders eating out of the sink and of it half way through their front door getting fed. I think this is my all time favorite moose shot, taken I think in Anchorage. Wouldn't you just love to be able to read that cats mind at that moment? I was doing field work with a couple of younger geologists in 2010 when we ran into this calf with his momma. The calf was likely 2wks old or less and was very interested in us and seemed to want to come over and say howdy. Mom wasn't alarmed at all, which was surprising. I have used this shot as my "The End" slide in powerpoint shows.

[Tom Carter]

A man was killed at U of A when he got between a cow and it's calf. It stomped him to death. The man had poor eye sight and I guess he didn't realize what he was doing. It was only a few feet from the entrance door to the building. Bystanders were helpless to do anything. A friend and I were duck hunting just a couple miles east of Ft Wainwright before the pipe line and accidently got between a cow and calf. It was touch and go for a few seconds but shouting and waving our arms saved the day.

[Richard Flanders]

That incident wasn't that long ago. I sure remember it.