The October news comes from the Elk Farm office of ALO, which for the most part is an electric golf cart staffed by a veteran lawyer and two helpers, both canines. A smart phone is the only office tool on board. More than one October court hearing was conducted from that office. The details of one long telephonic hearing which involved a short period of deer hunting will remain a trade secret for now, except to note that the large buck which had been spotted was able to escape unharmed. Perhaps this trail cam shot, taken at night during the season 100 yards from the cabin, explains why hunting might intervene on a court hearing.
Wildlife continues to flourish on the farm. Several hundred giant Canadian geese were daily visitors, spending their days resting on the ponds, and leaving for the harvested fields at night. In addition, trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, ducks, pheasants and turkeys were abundant. Another native prairie grass seeding was completed, pushing the total grassland on the farm to more than 100 acres. This provides excellent habitat for all of the birds and lots of other critters. Some of the grass reaches 6-8 feet high.
Mother nature provided much of the October news, with the storm on the east coast. This article from 2001 provided a good backdrop for that unusual storm.
Anyone who sees a correlation between the forecasts in this article and recent weather patterns, please pass word to our political parties, who seem to avoid this subject like the plague. Hopefully this latest storm on our populous east coast will affect enough people to get the ball rolling on this crucial issue. It is shameful that this scientific issue has become a political debate. One hopeful sign - the non-scientific part of our political system suffered quite a defeat at the polls.
On that subject, while it is not October news, its worthy of mention. ALO wishes to thank the extreme right wing commentators for their help in the past election. Those commentators confuse their solid ratings with broad political strength. In fact the Rush Limbaugh types attract a loyal 20-25% of the voting public as unquestioning listeners. At the same time, another 20-25 percent at the other end of the spectrum completely ignores them, except for comedy material. It's the folks in the middle who elect people, at least nationally. And the Limbaughs of the world scare the hell out of most moderates with their unique form of entertainment. Angry old white men are losing their grip on this diverse population and its likely to get worse for them. The most telling statistic from the recent election is the percentage of single women voting for Obama. Small government advocates believe there should be limited government intervention in private matters, especially related to economics, but still advocate for government control of reproduction and other personal topics related to sex. Fortunately a majority of America disagrees.
Global warming doesn't mean it is hot in Bethel this time of year. Old Friendly Dog Farm has a team in training. This picture shows Steve Olive running the team in town on a cold October day.
The next shot shows Mary and Sunset who went along for the obviously cold ride.
This picture shows a veteran Alaska camper helping to set up camp with an armful of basic camping items.
Here is a shot of Tanner accomplishing one of his more memorable retrieves on a high mountain lake.
And of course the mandatory moose photo, this time a video from downtown Anchorage.
Speaking of moose hunting, the Angstman clan has done a fair amount of moose hunting in the Blackburn area of the Yukon River north of Grayling. This article describes one such hunt that went badly. Alaska is still wild country.
Finally, a recent visit to Montana resulted in these pictures taken during a hike to an abandoned ranch on a river bottom near Cut Bank, the home of webmaster Rich Gannon. The bachelor rancher donated the several thousand acre ranch and it is now open to the public.