June 2026

The June news comes to you from cool, rainy Alaska where daily showers have turned a dry summer into a wet one. Surprisingly the dry start to summer hasn’t resulted in many fires around Alaska, unlike Minnesota where a large fire threatens the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.  There were few lightning storms in Alaska so far which are the primary cause of fires in the rural wilderness areas.  Meanwhile Minnesota is hot, dry, and smokey. Folks there will appreciate this month’s Mandatory Moose, frolicking in a lawn sprinkler.

It is common to hear folks complain about flying insects this time of the year. For those who have never experienced bugs in rural Alaska, perhaps this video will bring things into perspective. Maybe your bugs aren’t that bad after all.

That video is from a village near Bethel, and no they don’t sun bathe in a string bikini there. Having experienced a few places with mosquitos nearly that bad, it is fair to say outdoor activities are limited on days like that.

Fifty Years Unsupervised

The issue of retirement comes up often at ALO, with people wondering why an ancient lawyer still practices law daily.  It’s a simple answer really.  This job is entertaining, with wonderful hours, good pay, and an understanding boss.  That last part is the key.  In over 50 years of law practice, there has never been an actual supervisor, even during public defender days in the mid 70’s.  The boss at that time was in the Anchorage office and wanted little to do with the far distant Bethel office. Working for someone was never a strong point and a story from the 60’s illustrates that quite well.  

A summer job at Cornelius Corporation for $2.20 an hour was secured after high school and promised to provide much needed college money.  Good buddy Joe Erickson also got a job there, and the half hour commute to Anoka was fun for a while. The job involved an assembly line where each worker had a small task in putting together beverage dispensing devices. Specifically, that involved a 30 second window of opportunity to tighten three nuts on bolts which held the equipment together.  Joe’s job was to staple together a cardboard box that was the shipping container for the device.

After the first couple of weeks, trouble developed. The ornery foreman who patrolled the assembly line spotted Joe using the staple gun to shoot staples at the ceiling to see if they would stick during a stoppage of the line.  He was fired on the spot. That made the commute less fun, and more expensive.  The foreman knew that he had fired a good buddy of a remaining assembly worker, so he focused on that guy.  

The job was easy, and it became apparent that by working quickly it was possible to tighten the three nuts in about 20 seconds, leaving 10 seconds to spare before the device moved to the next station.  The foreman spotted that and a few days after he fired Joe he came by, “I’ve been watching you, and you're not spending enough time on those nuts. It takes longer to tighten them.”  That comment was not well received. It was a bad job, made worse after Joe was fired, and the nuts were well tightened every time.  A quick decision was made. “Here’s your wrench, you can tighten them.”  The wrench was surrendered to the foreman and a quick exit was made. The rest of the summer was spent as an unlicensed painting contractor with another buddy Steve Cox with better wages and no boss.

Wildlife

This month’s wildlife includes a great photo of geese crossing an Anchorage street, submitted by Ryan Rammell.

Anchorage drivers are far more courteous to wildlife than to pedestrians. ​

A Tikchik Narrows lodge guide took this video of two lynx arguing on the bank of the Togiak River . Turn up the volume for that clip.

The saying “Bit off more than he could chew” doesn’t seem to apply to a cormorant.

True Crime and Tough Love

This account of a murder case has Bethel connections. Christy Hummel was a teacher in Bethel back when Sue worked at Kilbuck school. Sue remembers that the Angstmans were dinner guests at her house one time.  Read this awful story as a reminder that you just never know who the murderer might be.

Speaking of Kilbuck, Sue once had a fifth grade class in a portable classroom behind the school and it was quite a scene. The class was put together after the school year was started because of existing classes were too large.  Each teacher was allowed to designate a few students to be sent to the new classroom with Sue. One can assume they didn’t send their best students. Sue had no training or experience in classroom duties because she was a special education teacher. After a few weeks she suggested she could use a little help from a volunteer, and from her description of the students she really did need help.

Showing up one day, Sue asked for help with one troublesome student who refused to do his reading assignment.  There was an unused bathroom in the classroom, and the unruly student was taken there for a reading lesson. It did not go well.  It was very hard to get his attention.  After about a half hour in the little room he finally attempted the assignment and did better than expected. Returning to the classroom, Sue asked for a report.  “It went quite well.”  She was in disbelief and asked how that was possible. “Once he got his ear twisted he was quite attentive.”

Sue was shocked,  noting that teachers were not allowed to use such inducements to learning. That was a big change from school back in the day, where a twisted ear was a common teaching aid, even used on future lawyers.  Apparently the kid didn’t complain too much cause the police didn’t show up.  Despite that early success at reading, the kid became an alcoholic and died young in Bethel.  Maybe he needed his ear twisted a few more times.  

Men of the cloth are usually expected to be calm, thoughtful, comforting and welcoming. Sort of like this guy.

With people like that on the loose, America’s future doesn’t seem secure.  

Once Upon a Graham

Lindsay Graham was not a favorite of this page, but at one time he spoke some accurate words.

Steven Miller is a close advisor to the President.  These comments show his extreme level of racism.

Trump continues to argue that the 2020 election was stolen.  Here is the problem with that idea. When Trump won in 2016 Obama was in charge of all the key agencies that could identify and prevent fraud.  When Trump lost in 2020 he was in charge of those same agencies.  When  Trump won in 2024 Biden was in charge.  That makes no sense.  And this clip suggests there was only one person actually trying to cheat in 2020.

Fortunately there still is some humor to detract from the daily deluge of bad political news. This is the month’s best.

This one isn’t far behind.