September 18, 2007

Leaving town for a week at this time of year makes a bit of a difference. It gets dark so early now and its dark when I get up in the morning. It was 32 degrees yesterday morning. It is fall and it is feeling like winter. I turned the heat on in the condo this evening. We will soon be putting the studs on the vehicles. It is legal now. The snow has shown up on the mountains, dropping as low as about 4500 feet. It is a breathtaking site.

We tried to get back into the swing of things. We walked down to Taku Lake last Monday evening. It was a beautiful sunny evening. As we walked along the vegetated side of the lake, a stick came sliding out of the weeds and into the water. It was about 10 feet long and a couple inches in diameter. I stood there a little confused. The stick kept moving out into the water. Then I noticed the small furry head at the front. A beaver was busy. We followed it along as it swam across the lake and then along the shoreline. I had my camera out and started taking pictures as the beaver swam within 10 feet of the shore. It finally led us to its house, a huge mound of sticks tucked in along some trees. We continued our walk around the lake, but had a few more encounters with at least two beavers.

I tried fishing one evening. It has been pretty rainy so the water level was up and the water was murky. I didn’t even see a fish. I talked to another fisherman who claimed to still be getting decent silvers, but it seems pretty late to me. I might have been in trouble had I found a silver as I only had my ultra light gear with me.

I went back down to the lake on my fishing trip and saw the beavers again. This time I saw a couple of smaller ones that I believe were this year’s babies. The family had started on another mound about a hundred feet away, but was still also working on the original mound. I don’t know why they are building two.

The weekend was atypical. It was a nice weekend, but Kris was in a yoga workshop on Friday night and Saturday morning. We did a little shopping on Saturday afternoon. I bought a new casual/outdoor watch, a cheap Timex digital with a built in digital compass. The compass works surprisingly well. It will help in the backcountry, not for navigational purposes, just for reference. I suppose it would work for navigational purposes in a pinch, but I would hate to be relying on it. Kris bought some new panniers for her bike. We didn’t really need a set right now, but we had a coupon and they had the set that one of our friends had on the bike trip through Johnson Pass and we were impressed at the design. Kris’ commuting panniers are getting pretty beat up as they were cheap. Mine are about 25 years old and showing their age. I doubt that we will be riding much more this year, but this was something we will probably use.

I worked on my application for my department supervisor position on Sunday. Everything in the state moves slowly. My boss left in July and I have been the acting supervisor since then. They finally got the job reclassified and it was posted while we were on the cruise. As of Friday, there were no applicants for the position. Applications were due yesterday. It is strange to have to go through formal channels like applying and interviewing for a position that probably nobody else wants, for which I should be the perfect candidate. It makes all the other promotions I have received seem like backroom dealings. Well, this process should end soon.

We did get out for a hike on Sunday afternoon. We went up on the hillside to the power lines. It is coming up on moose season and it was a sunny day. The moose aren’t there yet. It was still a nice hike. We walked almost seven miles.

Tomorrow is an exciting day, the day they announce the value of the dividend checks. The news is predicting over $1600 per person. This will be our first checks. Getting over $3000 from the state is a far cry from paying state and local income tax and sales tax. It is an amusing system and we are now among those getting paid to allow the oil companies abuse our wilderness. Isn’t life grand?