Saturday, April 17, 2010

April in Alaska

You might be wondering, in your warm places, what April is like in Alaska. Well, today is April 17th, and here's what it looked like outside.

Better clear the snow off the windshield.

Fresh snow on the trees, and plenty of old snow on the ground.

And a big slushy rut in our driveway. Whee!

Just last weekend, we were hanging out in the house when our neighbor Grant called. He said there were moose outside. Sure enough, a cow and two almost-grown calves were cutting through the yard.

The two calves are making a break for it--we're less than a hundred yards away, on the porch.

Hanging around, looking back at us.

Grant was making moose noises from his porch, but they weren't fooled.

Now it's time to hide out in the woods.

And there they go--the most common view of a moose: from behind!

I had my rifle, but it wasn't moose season, we were in town, and they didn't charge us. So no moose for our freezer!

And finally, some even cuter pictures. This is our niece Chimmy. Her name isn't really Chimmy and she's not really our niece, but in Yu'pik culture, you don't really have to be related to someone to be related to them, and every kid gets a nickname.

Samara loves Chimmy.

And this picture was taken just minutes ago. She's sleeping, but she wasn't really happy about the whole camera-flash thing. Such a cute baby!

There's your April update from Alaska.