There is autumn. Here in Alaska the hardwood tree leaves turn orange and yellow before falling off the trees. Back east, they turn red and gold. What we have here isn’t as spectacular as back east; however, the more subtle colors are equally as beautiful, particularly against a blue sky.

The snow and the wind failed to remove the leaves from the trees, so the fall beauty continues. I hiked with my friend Becky, up to the bench, and we stopped every few feet or so, turned around and took in a most amazing view.

Himalayan p oppies at Becky's house

This kept me from obsessing about the fact that this year, the hunters really tore up the trails. The trails are muddy, rutted, and quite slippery. And you don’t see them after hunting season walking the trails. I heard that today there is a football game, so undoubtedly they are glued to their television sets.

I had plans to go riding, on this a glorious day. I wanted to celebrate the end of hunting season by riding all my horses. No one got ridden. I instead cleaned up the animal pens in the upper quadrant. At the same time, I cleaned the topmost shelf in the upper quadrant shed. The latter was because we’ll be storing the goat hay in there in a few days’ time. Also, it is unsanitary to have crap in an area where you are milking.

I also pulled some carrots and partially cleaned the lower quadrant hay shed.
This task took me three hours. However, I did feel a sense of satisfaction when done because I knew that my animals were again in clean environs.

It was good to get out for a hike. The dogs came along because they had not been out on the trail in some time. Always, during hunting season, I put pink flagging on their collars. Still, I fear for their safety. I hoped that they’d take out the nasty black pit bull that belongs to some of our neighbors. No luck this year. Maybe one will mistake it for a spruce hen.

Becky and I talked about many things. We envisioned a new development in our area, one that would open up access to Hatcher Pass. This would involve dynamiting the portion of the mountain between our side and the Hatcher Pass side to make a tunnel.

It was then a quick imaginative leap to envisioning further development. Ours would be a gated community with paved roads leading to a mega housing development. There would also be gondola service, and as well, skiing on this side of the mountain. The energy source would be the Usibelli Coal Mine – Pete said that originally they had plans for a power station.

This development, Becky said, would set her up for retirement. Me, I said that I didn’t care about money – I just wanted to see this go through so that I’d be memorialized. I am sure not going to be remembered for what I write.
All things are possible. We are going to call this project All One, because it will symbolize the linkage between the two sides of the mountain.

Next: 267. 9/27/21: Shadow’s Dog Blog: No Longer Newcomer