“To shelter stray, abandoned, and surrendered pets and find them loving homes.” from the Juneau Animal Rescue Mission Statement It’s satisfying at a deep level to hear birds singing in the early morning and feel you had a small part in their survival. If you ever need bucking up, […]
Q: What will people say if I trap cats? It may surprise you how much of the response is overwhelmingly positive. Story 1. A friend asked what I’d been up to. Told her (with some reservation about how she’d react-she’s a church lady) that I’d just taken another cat to […]
Raven stories: The raven is a mystical bird among indigenous peoples across the northern world. In Southeast Alaska where I live, Raven is the central figure of creation mythologies and Tlingit society divided back in the mists of time into two moieties; eagle and raven, with complex cultural conventions […]
Ron Hynes: a great Newfoundland singer/songwriter, was born on December 7, 1950. He was The Man of a Thousand Songs. And there are at least a thousand stories about the man himself. Here are four: 1) How Ron got his handle: Ron became The Man of a Thousand Songs when […]
Back in the days when carpenters built the whole house on site from start to finish, they’d start by building a couple saw horses which they’d leave for the new home owners when the house was done. Not many carpenters still do that but you can. A sturdy saw horse […]
Was out walking the dog today when a friend working in her garden mentioned that a big black bear had just walked by between our place and hers. I was happy to hear it. It’s been some time since we’ve had one in the neighborhood. We’ve always had bears until […]
Betrayal of a Great Man by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society (This article first appeared May 31, 2021 on the ‘If Americans Knew’ website https://ifamericansknew.org/) A Tribute for Memorial Day I don’t use the word hero lightly. If you don’t either, you might ask how a rank and file […]
India: Cremation fires, the coming monsoon, riders on the storm “When the monsoon fails to blow, India starves and dreams of Nirvana.” Will Durant. Our Oriental Heritage. 1935 May, 2021. India contemplates itself shimmering in heat waves of pandemic where days and bodies are over a hundred degrees F. Last […]
Karl Kruger: Stand Up Paddleboard (Article from June 2017 DC) There’s a new word in the language this week. It is ‘Kruger,’ a noun, meaning an accomplishment commonly considered to be physically impossible—done with style, alone, in a big landscape. A Kruger is in the realm of free climbing El […]
What’s up with all these people not shoveling out their fire hydrants? Friends and neighbors, we are not down south where everyone expects the city to do it all for them. These flags sticking out are so someone can find the hydrants when we get a big dump of snow […]
The neighborhood hoarder Part 1. Introduction: So, you’re living in the long shadow of a hoarder’s house with never a bit of maintenance on the outside in twenty years. No paint. Gutters fallen off. Yard full of dead cars, old tires, an unplugged freezer with God-knows-what in it. Moss, bushes […]
The neighborhood hoarder Part 2. The Players: Owner, Leader, Neighbors, The City, Saboteurs working against you The Owner: The first and most important thing in doing a clean-up is, you have to get the owner’s permission. And get it in writing. Without that, you’re nowhere. For good reasons, private property […]