September's report comes from the elk farm, where cool rainy weather greeted Sue and Myron in the first week of October. September was typically hectic, with out of state visitors, family outings, winter preparations, cabin work, and a hurried get away to Minnesota. That trip, which started with a float plane ride to Anchorage, had to be advanced one day because of approaching bad weather. Myron, Andy and Dave Price beat the weather by a few hours and had a gorgeous flight through the Alaska Range to Lake Hood. The plane stayed there for Andy to obtain his float rating during October to go along with his wheel rating which he got earlier in the summer.
The cabin got sealed up for the year but not before a number of September visits. One trip involved Zach Fairbanks doing a bit of painting and while he was there the bears were thick. One morning he left the cabin at dawn and paddled the canoe a few hundred yards up the bay where he bumped into seven bears at one time. That was the most in one sighting, but there were numerous sightings of three or four at a time. Sue stayed at the cabin alone for two days with numerous bears near by, thus earning the name Grizzly Lady from her friends in Bethel. It was determined that Tanner, in addition to his skill as a pheasant dog, also has talent as a fish retriever. On one occasion, he fetched seven dead salmon and stacked them on the beach quite proudly. He also tried to catch live ones along shore, without any luck so far.
Some moose hunting took place, without success, but Ben and Sarah managed to get a caribou. September fishing was excellent with lake trout and dolly varden the main focus. During one trip across Chauekuktuli, it was learned that the lake is at least 800 feet deep. The fall colors were glorious this year because of an early light frost followed by fairly warm weather for several weeks. An interesting online article about the Wood-Tikchik State Park will give a reader more insight into this area.
Web designer Rich Gannon had an interesting September outing worth noting. He and his family were hiking in Glacier National Park when a bighorn sheep approached on the same trail. It got fairly close. Rich did a new website for his cousin and former Bethel guy Don Rearden. Don is a writer, among other skills. One of his early non-fiction pieces involved a memorable night at Slate Lake near the Angstman cabin site east of Bethel.
Legal stuff managed to get done as well. Two civil cases settled, one involving the loss of two teeth by a grade school student in Dillingham which resulted in a settlement with the school district. The other was a wrongful death case which involved a car accident near Princeton, Minnesota which produced a settlement for the surviving family. Numerous criminal cases were resolved, including one in Fairbanks involving a professional football player charged with theft of gift cards from a local store. He received a sentence which will allow him to clear his record if he completes his probationary period without additional problems. Matt obtained dismissal of a felony charge in Dillingham, and obtained a reduction of several felony charges to a misdemeanor for a Manakotak man.
Finally, does anyone see the humor in this video clip?
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