SIDE SALAD - Everything crunchy is good.: LETTER FROM ALASKA

May 27, 2007

LETTER FROM ALASKA

Yes, it's that time of year when the weather warms up, the flowers bloom and my Uncle Pete, (yes, the one who was in the paper posing with a potato he grew that was shaped like a moose) goes back to Alaska.

He's been sending me e-mails of late, including shots of huge chunks of ice that have been flowing downriver and destroying everything in their path along the riverbank.

Then there was the photo of a shoreline choked with driftwood. Including one piece that he said looked just like an alligator. He was so pumped up by this that he said he considered hauling a chainsaw to the beach so he could cut the thing free and mail it to Urban Meyer.

That's the kind of guy he is.

His latest set, though, might be his most dramatic of all the years he's been sending me photos.

His most recent e-mail, sent yesterday, reads:

WELL, I WAS OUT WITH MY CHAIN SAW CUTTING FIREWOOD FOR OUR MEMORIAL DAY GET TOGETHER====CECILE CAME OUT SCREAMING=======COME ON GET YOUR CAMERA~~!! BEN JUST CALLED AND THERE IS A GRIZZLY BEAR WALKING UP THE ROAD IN BETWEEN OUR AND HIS HOUSE. BY THE TIME I GOT THE CAMERA AND TALKED TO BEN THE BEAR HAD CROSSED THE ROAD==RAFE STREET AND WAS ABOUT 75 FEET IN THE WOODS. CECILE SPOTTED HIM AND WE WENT TO THE CORNER OF SPORTS LAKE ROAD AND WAITED FOR HIM AS HE SEEMED TO BE HEADING THAT WAY.
HE DID START TO CROSS THE ROAD AND I GOT A FEW SHOTS==AS YOU CAN SEE==OF HIM COMING OUT AND THEN THERE WAS A CAR COMING UP THE ROAD AND HE TURNED AROUND AND WENT BACK IN THE WOODS.

NOW THE REST OF THE STORY=======

CECILE STARTED DRIVING SLOWLY UP SPORTS LAKE ROAD AND WE WERE WATCHING FOR HIM. AFTER ABOUT A BLOCK, WE SAW A MOOSE ALONG SIDE OF THE ROAD AND I JUST GOT ONE SHOT OF HER AS CECILE WAS YELLING FOR ME TO GET BACK IN THE CAR IN CASE THE BEAR MIGHT BE STALKING HER.
WE TURNED AROUND AND WENT LOOKING FOR HIM AGAIN AND STARTED BACK TO OUR HOUSE TO SEE IF HE CAME BACK DOWN HERE.

WE CAME BACK TO TELL BEN--OUR NEIGHBOR AND FRIEND-- THAT WE SAW THE BEAR AND GOT A FEW PIX OF IT.

WE DECIDED TO GO BACK AND TAKE ANOTHER LOOK FOR HIM AND SAW ABOUT 4 CARS PARKED ALONG THE ROAD ==IN THE VERY SPOT I GOT THE PIX OF THE MOOSE==AND WHEN WE GOT UP TO THEM THEY TOLD US THERE WAS A GRIZZLY BEAR IN THE AREA AND HE JUST GRABBED A BABY MOOSE THAT WAS DELIVERED JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO.

YEP, THE SAME MOOSE I GOT A PIX OF MUST HAVE JUST HAD THE BABY AND OF COURSE, BEARS HAVE AN EXCELLENT SENSE OF SMELL AND THEY ARE OUT LOOKING FOR BABY MOOSE AT THIS TIME AS, THIS WEEK MOOSE DELIVER THEIR NEWBORN. ALL ABOUT THE SAME TIME SO THE BEARS FEAST ON THE BABIES.

HORRID TO SEE AND HEARABOUT,,,, BUT WE EAT CHICKEN AND FISH DON'T WE~~~!!!???
I AM SENDING THE PIX OF THE MOOSE, FIRST THE ONE I TOOK JUST BEFORE THE BEAR GOT HER BABY ALONG SIDE THE ROAD AND THEN HER FRANTICALLY LOOKING FOR HER BABY====RACING THROUGH THE WOODS, CROSSING THE ROAD, RUNNING WILD..........WHERE'S MY BABY???!!!!????

STOPS FOR A DRINK OF WATER AND AS YOU CAN SEE THE AFTERBIRTH FLOWING FROM HER BACK END~~!!!!!

SOMEONE HAD CALLED THE STATE POLICE AND FISH AND GAME. THEY WERE DRIVING UP AND DOWN THE STREETS WARNING PEOPLE TO BE CAREFUL, KEEP YOUR CHILDREN AND PETS INSIDE~~~!!!!! THERE IS A BEAR IN THE AREA.

LESSON LEARNED--------

PUT THAT CHAIN SAW AWAY AND USE WHAT YOU GOT AND GO INSIDE IF IT IS TOO COLD~~!!!

NOW CAN YOU IMAGINE, WE HAVE 14 PEOPLE COMING FOR A MEMORIAL DAY COOK OUT THAT WE HAVE OUT ON OUR REAR DECK~~!!

HHHHMMMMM, MAYBE WE SHOULD MAKE A LITTLE ROOM INSIDE AND HIDE~~~!!!! EAT THOSE HAMBURGERS AND BAKED BEANS IN THE BATH ROOM AND CLOSETS~~~!!!!!

ANYWAY, ENOUGH OF MY BALONEY, JUST HOPE YOU ENJOY THE STORY.
AND DO===========HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE MEMORIAL DAY.