twilight creatures and the Matanuska Creamery

I woke up this morning at five and couldn't get back to sleep. Rather than waste time tossing and turning, I got up, showered, got dressed, ate some Cheerios and went out to start my truck to get out to the farm. After going in and packing up my backpack, I locked the house, got in the truck and was dismayed to find that my heater wasn't working (yeah, pretty much the only accessory I need to work in AK, right?). I drove to the farm in the dark and cold, and upon shutting off my engine, I realized that the fan and heater were working just fine on the Accessory stage of the ignition switch. I shrugged my shoulders and went in to work on homework before having to go teach at Farm School. About ten minutes into my studying, Steve came in and said good morning, and asked if I'd seen the moose out my window. We raised the office blinds and peeked out into the morning twilight...


so beautiful. I had been stressed and anxious beforehand, but that quiet moment in the still cold of an Alaskan morning completely changed my perspective.

Today was another Field Trip Day! We packed the kids into parent vehicles and brought them to the Matanuska Creamery, a local milk-product operation that processes the milk from four farms and 360 cows across south-central Alaska. The kids had a ball during the tour, asking great questions of our guides and peeking into every door and window. Parents also attended, and it was so much fun to hang out with them, doing a running commentary on how we thought the kids were enjoying the facility tour.










The creamery staff had Fruit Melody ice cream waiting for us after showing us around the plant, and it was incredible. The flavor was awesome, and I felt so good eating it and knowing that the milk had traveled less than 100 miles altogether. In it were white peaches, regular peaches, raspberries, cantaloupe and blueberries. The kids loved it too...






Eventually it ended up being a better day. My truck's heater worked as soon as I turned it on to leave the farm, and my drives to and from Anchorage were pleasant. This afternoon held doing field research at University Lake with my friend Pam, and although it was much chillier down in Anchorage than in the valley, hiking around the lake warmed us up quite a bit. Our project is a study of fecal coliform and its origins related to lake traffic, both domestic animals and wildlife. So far we've identified moose, beaver, ducks and squirrels as potential suspects, but the real issue is the use of the trail as an off-leash dog running area. University Lake is a city dog-park, heavily used. It was a treat doing research in a place with so many mutts running about, but considering how much dog/people traffic the area gets, the chances of fecal coliform contamination are high. Although there are signs along the trail admonishing owners to pick up their dogs dookie, few people do so and the object of our project is to find out how easy it is for the crap to get into the lake. I'll post out results when the blasted thing is finished up. The best thing about the project is being able to hike around, play with friendly dogs and call it research. Sure is a pretty place to destress.


and then of course, you have this view outside the window:



so yeah. Doing fine, missing everyone back home. peace and love!