Today was Wednesday, last but-one-day for a few weeks of really, really low tides and clamming.
Bob the Owner, ( I have awarded him the honor of a capital O ) knocked on the coach door and invited me to go clamming with him and Brenda, so I did.
We drove down to Ninilchik again and got on the mule on the pebbled part of the beach.
The mule is a Kawasaki four wheel drive red beast, which will go anywhere, underwater, over water, sand and snow, and even the moon probably. It has a neat arrangement of combined anti crush bar and air intakes. Marlipops keeps referring it as the moose, so now that name will stick.
Anyway, after a crash revision course in locating clams, off I went.
If you want a hobby that knackers your back, knees and thigh muscles all at once, choose clamming.
I have previously described the contortions you have to go through just to get a mouthful of shellfish, and we digged up over 100 in a couple of hours.
Captain Cautious, ever mindful of his poorly bad back, did his stint, then became chief clam hole and neck spotter. These stupid things literally stick their necks out, above the top of the sand, thus making them very easy to spot, and dig up.
On the way back we saw the obligatory bald eagles, Karen that’s 325. ( private joke)
After a lazy afternoon doing laundry and piddling about, at 10 in the evening o’clock, I thought it was about time I saw some wildlife, so off I trotted, down the road, to a little side road called Oil Well Rd.
Marlipops and I had previously been down here, to look for wildlife, coz we had a tip from a friend, but had not seen anything.
So, Your wise and proactive thinking Captain thought he would drive fairly quickly along the gravel and dust part of the road, about 6 miles off the main road, and scare out all the bears and mooses and things. Then he would turn round, come back slowly slowly, and creep upon all that had been disturbed. So I did, and what did I see? Dust. Yes, all the dust I raised in zooming past took it’s own sweet time to settle, and nothing wild, except great swathes of purpley fireweed, seemingly painted at random by Mother Nature all along the side of the road. An interesting “fact” about fireweed is that it grows and flowers all summer long, and when the flowers get to the top of the stems, then there are supposebly only 6 weeks left to winter.
So, thoroughly disappointed, I got to within ¼ mile of the main road, and there, as if by magic, were not one, not two, but three mooses!!
Mrs. Moose and two mooselets.
They did not give a damn about me, so I just stopped, turned off the engine, got some good pix, then turned off the camera and sat and watched them munch their merry way along the side of the road. An absolutely wonderful end to the day.
I have decided to start a campaign to stop all driving in Alaska after dark. On the way back to the campsite, every shadow was a bear, and every bush was a moose. It is quite nervy driving at twilight, wondering if something big and hairy is going to jump in front of you. I am not worried about damaging the yellow peril, but it would be terrible to harm one of these magnificent, harmless creatures. Thus the no driving after dark campaign.
The fact that there is not a lot of sun up here for about 7 months of the year is a tiny detail, which should be ignored. As a lot of road signs say: “ Give Moose A Brake”
So, to bed.
Wildlife watch was definitely worth watching today.
Only 4 days to M.P.R.
