Company for supper

 

Bow Tie was their first bear for the season.  Here is Bow Tie and one his little buddies.  Bow Tie wouldn’t allow the other bear to get near their dump site where they burn everything.  George said Bow Tie would growl and run towards the other bear.  So the guys thought it was time to give just a little dose of pepper spray to settle the dispute.  They got a movie of it and I will try to download.  They got a whiff and away they went. 

They saw another bear later that evening.  George said this bear had a real black face and looked at them with the meanest eyes.  They described Bow Tie as having an innocent face.  Dave yelled and the bear didn’t budge.  Then George stood up and in his meanest and gruffest voice yelled to the bear and told him to get out of there.  George said they could practically read the bear’s body language.  He gave them the, “you talkin’ to me?” look and stood there for a second before he walked away.  George had the bear spray ready and Dave had him backed up with his gun.  They actually wanted to pepper spray him because they have found the bears usually don’t come back after getting a dose.  Besides, I think they were hoping Bow Tie would come back.  I think they are going to miss him.  Maybe there’s a children’s book waiting to be written.   

Bow Tie the Friendly Bear

July 2, 2014   Friendly Bear, Bow Tie

 

 

July 2, 2014   Bow Tie; The Friendly Bear

 

George is good about calling around 1:00 in the afternoon.  The calls are quick and just enough information to keep everyone informed.  He said they have a friendly bear hanging around their camp and it has just enough of a white patch to look like a bow tie, sooo…. They named him Bow Tie.  Makes you wonder if it were a fluffy bear would they have named it Fluffy?  The bear likes their fire pit where they burn their trash.  So far they don’t seem too worried about Bow Tie. 

They are still testing at their site.  He said they drilled 4’ and go color all the way down.  I keep asking about the metal detecting for all the metal detectors following, but they haven’t done much.  They are on a mission with their core drill.  Their plan for tomorrow is to check out some quartz outcropping south and west of the cabin.  Where there’s quartz, there’s gold.  This place is about 1 ½ miles away.  George and Dave are plotting where the gold is and then the next step will be to get the bigger equipment in.  They were supposed to have had something brought in this last winter but it didn’t happen.  Dave said this is better anyway because now they will know what kind of equipment they need. 

Sounds like they are going to have a good 4^th of July.  The name of their creek is 4^th of July Creek by the way.  Their pilot, Barney, is going to come and get them and take them to his village of 26 people and they are going to celebrate with them.  I hope they get good pictures. 

Barney brought them some propane today alone with some caribou meat.  George cheerfully announced they were having caribou tonight.  Can’t wait to see how the guys fix this.  George is not good at BQ and I don’t think Dave cooks.  I can picture them both staring at it and asking each other how they should cook it.   

 

 

Bear Scare

July 1, 2014

 

They drilled 5 holes today and got 4 colors per hole.  The conversation was short but he did tell me about a huge mama bear and her huge cub that came up the path.  He said they could hear something coming and they got the gun and pepper spray ready.  They stopped about 20’ in front of them.  George just kept saying how “HUGE” they were.  I asked if they were scared and he said, “Yeah, scares you to death.”  Eventually they just turned and left.   I’m all about the pictures but safety comes first so there will be no pictures of this close call.   I’m ok with that.  Remember folks, UDAP bear spray works great and everyone should carry this when out in the unpredictable nature. 

Tour of our RV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tf8XUfRVW0

For those of you who want to see how bad I have to rough it here is a link showing a 5th wheel just like ours.  I can't seem to download our video.  Our couch and chairs are different, but this is, otherwise, pretty much identical.  I do love it.  I chose this one because the living room is separate and has the sliding doors.  So when we have company, they can have their own room.  We also have a smart TV.  It is just a little too smart for me.  I haven't figured everything out yet. 

Poor me holding down the fort

Oh how it sucks to be me.  This is my view from our 5th wheel at midnight.  It is beautiful up here 24/7.  This is Pioneer Peek and what I look at every day.  The weather is shirt sleeves and jackets.  I brought my winter coat but have never needed it.  This park is called Town and Country and is just outside of Palmer and Wasilla. 

Waking up to a warm cabin

 

June 30, 2014

The guys got the stove in so they will wake up to a nice warm morning.  Dave usually has to make George a cup of coffee to get him out of bed so maybe this will help.  They did some core drilling in the open area they saw when they flew over.  It was about ½ mile south west of the cabin.  There was about a foot of overburden and it was about 18” to bedrock.  Rule of thumb is they need 10 “colors” to be a good site.  This site had 5-6 but their drill is only an inch so that is a real good sign.  They will be drilling and labeling again tomorrow.  Since I won't have any pictures for a while, I'll throw in some just for fun.  This is my boys sleeping in.  I took this in our 5th wheel the day before Dave arrived.  Toto is keeping me company while George is gone.  Dave jokingly said they could take him for bear bait.  I think he said that because he knows Toto is getting old and he can outrun him and he knows he can't outrun George's long strides.   With bears it only matters who is in last place. 
 

 

 

CARIBOU SCARE

July 1, 2014   CARIBOU SCARE

They drilled 5 holes today and got 4 colors per hole.  The conversation was short but he did tell me about a huge Caribou and her huge baby that came up the path.  He said they could hear something coming and they got the gun and pepper spray ready.  He said it didn’t take them 5 seconds to be on draw.  The animals stopped about 20’ in front of them.  George just kept saying how “HUGE” they were.  I asked if they were scared and he said, “Yeah, scares you to death.”  Eventually the mama and baby just turned and left.   I’m all about the pictures but safety comes first so there will be no pictures of this close call.   I’m ok with that.