Mike's new and well-used Ford Explorer
Alaska’s weather can be quite unpredictable, especially on weekends. Saturday was overcast, drizzly, and cool. You know, the kind of day that you want to curl up under a blanket, have a cup of hot tea and watch a good movie. While that would have been a good way to spend our Saturday, we were on a mission.
Since I start work on Monday, I will be driving our ONLY car. Mike will be left at home without any mode of transportation, with the exception of his own two feet. While this wouldn’t be all bad, Mike’s feet would probably get very tired and he may even form those painful and unsightly heel blisters. To save his poor little feet, we went shopping for a car. This may sound like fun to you. However, we had certain criteria that we must meet. First, the car had to have dings and dents. Second, it had to have relatively high miles. Third, it had to be a 4x4 for the snow. Finally, it had to be under $3000. Basically, we were looking for a beater that we could drive on unpaved roads and not worry about damaging it.
So, on Saturday, we set out to look at several trucks and SUV’s. We test drove several that had just what we were looking for, but lacked certain things that we considered important, such as, working windshield wipers and doors that actually opened. However, we found a 1996 Ford Explorer that seemed to be in pretty good shape. It ran really good and everything worked on it. So, this morning (Sunday), we made an offer and the guy accepted. Mike and I drove over to his house, paid for it, and drove it home. Congratulations, Mike on your new beater of a car!
With that out of the way, we could enjoy the rest of the weekend. As is the case on most weekends in any part of the country, the sun finally came out just at the tail end of Sunday afternoon. With the sun shining and the wind blowing, Mike and I decided to explore our neighborhood on foot. We headed down the street to enjoy some vitamin D and some heart-healthy exercise. As we were strolling along, we were taken by surprise by a very large moose. We scare it and it definitely scared us! Mike and I stood there and looked at it. We quickly talked through moose safety tips. However, we couldn’t remember any. Therefore, we decided to just slowly walk away and hope for the best. It worked!
When we turned around to head home, we had to walk past the same place where we had seen the moose. We thought we had given it enough time to walk away. However, when we got to that point in the road, it was still there grazing. As we approached, It stopped eating and turned to look at us. As it watched us, we did the polite thing and watched it. Moose are as big, if not bigger, than horses. They are incredible creatures and very beautiful. After a few seconds of “watching” each other, Mike and I walked home.
When we got home, we wandered through the back of our property, which is mostly wooded. We found beautiful wildflowers and big spruce trees. We also found a swarm of mosquitoes. Someone once told me that the mosquito is the state bird of Alaska. When they said this to me, I laughed a little and thought it was pretty much a lame joke. However, I am beginning to believe that it is definitely the state insect. Since they are in such abundance here, they definitely deserve some kind of recognition. Mike and I were being eaten alive by these biting insects. So, we decided to call it a day and go indoors to curl up and watch a movie, which is where I end this post.
Since I start work on Monday, I will be driving our ONLY car. Mike will be left at home without any mode of transportation, with the exception of his own two feet. While this wouldn’t be all bad, Mike’s feet would probably get very tired and he may even form those painful and unsightly heel blisters. To save his poor little feet, we went shopping for a car. This may sound like fun to you. However, we had certain criteria that we must meet. First, the car had to have dings and dents. Second, it had to have relatively high miles. Third, it had to be a 4x4 for the snow. Finally, it had to be under $3000. Basically, we were looking for a beater that we could drive on unpaved roads and not worry about damaging it.
So, on Saturday, we set out to look at several trucks and SUV’s. We test drove several that had just what we were looking for, but lacked certain things that we considered important, such as, working windshield wipers and doors that actually opened. However, we found a 1996 Ford Explorer that seemed to be in pretty good shape. It ran really good and everything worked on it. So, this morning (Sunday), we made an offer and the guy accepted. Mike and I drove over to his house, paid for it, and drove it home. Congratulations, Mike on your new beater of a car!
With that out of the way, we could enjoy the rest of the weekend. As is the case on most weekends in any part of the country, the sun finally came out just at the tail end of Sunday afternoon. With the sun shining and the wind blowing, Mike and I decided to explore our neighborhood on foot. We headed down the street to enjoy some vitamin D and some heart-healthy exercise. As we were strolling along, we were taken by surprise by a very large moose. We scare it and it definitely scared us! Mike and I stood there and looked at it. We quickly talked through moose safety tips. However, we couldn’t remember any. Therefore, we decided to just slowly walk away and hope for the best. It worked!
When we turned around to head home, we had to walk past the same place where we had seen the moose. We thought we had given it enough time to walk away. However, when we got to that point in the road, it was still there grazing. As we approached, It stopped eating and turned to look at us. As it watched us, we did the polite thing and watched it. Moose are as big, if not bigger, than horses. They are incredible creatures and very beautiful. After a few seconds of “watching” each other, Mike and I walked home.
When we got home, we wandered through the back of our property, which is mostly wooded. We found beautiful wildflowers and big spruce trees. We also found a swarm of mosquitoes. Someone once told me that the mosquito is the state bird of Alaska. When they said this to me, I laughed a little and thought it was pretty much a lame joke. However, I am beginning to believe that it is definitely the state insect. Since they are in such abundance here, they definitely deserve some kind of recognition. Mike and I were being eaten alive by these biting insects. So, we decided to call it a day and go indoors to curl up and watch a movie, which is where I end this post.
Mike explores our backyard and finds the following flowers...
Spruce trees grow tall in our backyard.
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