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Campfire Tales:  wild lynx  |
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blueberries in alaska
outstepping
109 Posts
Jo
hillsides of the Chugach
AK
USA
109 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 18 2008 : 9:02:20 PM
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It is spring in Alaska......... that means thirty degree days, warm sunshine on your face and back and an end to the endless nights that we treasure as equally as the forever long sunlit days of summer. Paul and I went for a weekend ski together last Saturday, we put on our packs, ran out the door with our two labs Sophie and Bella right behind us. It would compare to your day of fresh opening daffodils and tulips, but in Alaska it's the warmth of the spring sun and the crispness of snow that tells us it's springtime. We relish it.
We climbed the hill and into the Chugach with the dogs and their dripping tongues right behind us. They were searching for their favorite springtime delicacy of fresh rabbit poo. Tracks circled trees and down into meadow of the snowshoe hare. Everywhere you looked were the trademark pads and not very far behind was the deliberate path of the lynx with the fluffed out fur that verified that there was a nice cat (not the house cat variety) in pursuit of a tasty rabbit morsel.
Here and there we spotted a moose, often more than a little irritable from the intrusion of us into their path. At the end of the day we spotted a lynx high on the mountainside surveying us intently. She looked heavy, maybe with kittens. The snowshoe hares are plentiful this year. The kittens will be well fed. jo
Visit the alaska zoo page for a blurb about Mary Ellen, she's a lynx that was hit by a car not far from where I live......
http://www.alaskazoo.org/willowcrest/lynxhome.htm
there's no place like home....
http://web.mac.com/thomja
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/PhotoAlbum22.html |
Edited by - blueberries in alaska on Mar 18 2008 9:30:16 PM |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Mar 19 2008 : 09:15:41 AM
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That is so incredible, Jo. And Mary Ellen is beautiful - a miracle she survived. We often see signs of the lynx's Ozark cousins - bobcats - around us. I think we may have a big solitary male who roams one side of our property and a momma (with kits last spring) on the other. Saw a big kitten loping across our gravel road last summer on its long jack-rabbity hind legs.
I've been meaning to ask you, Jo - do you & Paul spend a lot of time outside during the dark months? I think I'd have to get out in order to preserve my sanity. I bet it's magical up there in the long, quiet night...
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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blueberries in alaska
outstepping
109 Posts
Jo
hillsides of the Chugach
AK
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - Mar 19 2008 : 2:02:16 PM
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My sanity is preserved with alaska...... It feels darker to me in the winter in Seattle than here. The sky is lit with millions of beautiful stars in the winter and the cold creates such a peaceful quiet. We tend to hibernate a little bit, but it is a time of great contentment to me. The summer can be so very frantic! The fishing and filling the freezer, we cram so much life into the summer it can be at times unbearable!
I ski probably 3-4 times a week in the winter if the snow allows. I play my fiddle, knit and cook pretty festively. We light up the house with candles and fires. I went to Peru in nov/dec to work on children there for almost three weeks so this winter went by too fast for me. It's pretty extraordinary how much we're outside here. We sold our boat, but have a truck camper we call our dog palace on wheels. In a couple of hours we can be by a thawing lake in April, playing cribbage, and watching for stirring bears.
It is such a good life I have to pinch myself sometimes. I am deeply satisfied with life and I think it comes from the nurturing that wilderness provides........
jo
there's no place like home....
http://web.mac.com/thomja
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/PhotoAlbum22.html |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Mar 20 2008 : 08:45:10 AM
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That is so fantastic, Jo. I have always felt your absolute contentment in your posts. Beautiful! Sometimes I miss the days when it was just Chris & me (and a dear dog or two) in the wild. Hope to regain some of that when the kids get bigger...all in good time...
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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blueberries in alaska
outstepping
109 Posts
Jo
hillsides of the Chugach
AK
USA
109 Posts |
Posted - Mar 20 2008 : 09:14:25 AM
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It's good to appreciate where you are in the moment I think....... our next step is becoming old folks! I think back to smelling baby feet and kissing the bare bottom and that absolute love and nurturing you get with parenting. It's all good. Some day you'll open all that world out to your children and see it all new again.
jo
there's no place like home....
http://web.mac.com/thomja
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/PhotoAlbum22.html |
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blueberries in alaska
outstepping
109 Posts
Jo
hillsides of the Chugach
AK
USA
109 Posts |
|
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Mar 23 2008 : 12:40:40 PM
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The photos are great, Jo. I've always enjoyed the way winter reveals wild secrets that often go unseen the rest of the year. Tracks, fur, blood - evidence of life's happenings so easily seen on the canvas of snow.
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Campfire Tales: wild lynx |
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wild lynx
