Change of Perspective
This is our resident moose, always looking for grub in the neighborhood yards!
I did manage to take my dog out for a short ski behind the house this evening between returning from day 2 of orientation and starting on the evening's work. Although my dog Tarka is too smart to pull me skijoring, I take her harness along in case I needed to secure her to me safely. A young moose seems to have taken up residence in my immediate neighborhood recently, and Tarka would love to chase it. With the deep snow we have, the moose can outrun Tarka at the moment, and in fact tried to stomp on her the other day.
As I was putting the harness back on its hook, I thought: "hey, I should take this to Orientation tomorrow, maybe someone would be interested in seeing it." I am enjoying the questions from my colleagues who have never visited Alaska before, and in many cases come from places very different from Fairbanks. I am enjoying shifting my perspective, and seeing my home again through a newcomer's eyes. It is very refreshing!
Alex modeling Tarka's harness (Tarka was not available for the photo shoot)
Journal Ideas
The harness thought gave me an idea for a journal topic, as today we were encouraged to start a list of potential journal topics. As Kevo is in Lapland, I know I will be learning a lot about the Sami, or Saami culture. At the moment I am guessing they use or used to use dogs for transportation, as we did (and still do) here in Alaska. I will be very interested to compare dog harnesses, and much more. I will let you know what I learn about the traditional and contemporary culture of the Saami people in future journal entries!