And the Fox Jumped Over the Divider

"Commuting" in Alaska is never dull.

This is so despite the fact that there are very few roads over which one could commute, as well as the fact that all of these few roads will always end up either (a) nowhere - they just stop, or (b) back where you started - they just go around in circles.

On my commute to work today, for example, a red fox jumped over a divider and past the South-bound traffic on Minnesota. Just as happened a few months ago when a moose and her calf ambled over that same divider on their way from the lake on the one side to the lagoon on the other, traffic respectfully stopped both ways until they passed. He was such a deep red color, with a big bushy tail. And a deep, rusty-red color. And he was quick and smooth as he bounded away.

On my commute to work a few weeks ago - on the first day of my first trial, in fact - J. and I had to maneouver around the parking lot of my skyscraper office building to avoid the moose that appeared to suspect that my little subaru was getting too close to her twin calves. Trust me - it is not easy to dodge an irritated mama moose in reverse, especially when the baby moose[s] that she is trying to protect are nibbling on the decorative shrubs next to each potential escape route. Fortunately, J. was driving!

And a few months ago - on my 31st birthday, in fact - J. and I had to emergency-maneouver ourselves and our two dogs into his pickup truck when we were surprised to find a Kodiak Brown Bear ambling towards us. We had "commuted" down a gravelled Kodiak road to a swimming spot for our dogs. (Are there enough words to profess the kind of love that a girl feels for the man who so patiently endeavours to teach a lapdog who dodges puddles how to swim in rivers of glacier melt?) On our "return" commute, we pulled over to the side of the road and watched another Kodiak Brown Bear diving for salmon in the fishing hole from which he had just chased off a bunch of fisher-girls. The chased-off girls weren't angry, just a little wet and muddy. When the bear took over their hole, they just scrambled up a bank and joined us as we admired his underwater fishing skills from the back of J.'s pick-up.