I wasn’t entirely comfortable roaming too far into the vast acreage that surrounds us since I am not equipped to have a fighting chance if I were to run into a bear or moose. My next order of Alaska business is to invest in a pistol and a holster. Then, I’ll feel just a little better, but just a little. I have heard that bullet wounds via pistol, only make bears what to eat you more so maybe a shotgun would be a better investment. Playdate anyone? Won’t you join us? It’s just me, my kid, and a shotgun slung around my shoulder. Anyone? No?

Until I can find myself a used gun of some sort, I need to find the bear spray store. Wonder where one might sell bear spray? I wonder what the Wal-mart clerk back in Alabama would say to a bear spray inquiry.

While we were roaming, I was on constant bear and moose alert. I found moose poop in the pasture amongst all the horse droppings. Moose poop isn’t an irregular sighting ‘round these parts, but seeing it in the fenced in pasture confirmed what I hoped wasn’t true. They can get in there ya’ll. I asked Courtney about it and she flippantly told me that the moose just step right over the fence. Yeah. They are massive.

Anyway, Chuck picked us up for lunch and took us out to eat. Little Bit and I met a friendly girl from North Carolina there. The military brought her and her husband to Alaska and they love it. Her dad is here too and owns the diner they all work in. They serve sweet tea! Of course, I don’t drink that fattening stuff (I’d rather have a cinnamon roll or a loaf or two of bread) but for the sake of curiosity I tasted it, and it was good! True blue southern sweet tea right here in Alaska. Much like yesterday’s lunch, it was unbelievably expensive for the three of us and caused me to feel even more anxious to get settled somewhere. After we got our bill, I told Chuck I was going to start cooking. For real this time. Serious.

On the way back to camper sweet camper, we dropped into the quaint little grocery store for the second time since we’ve been here. Here’s the breakdown:

Gallon of Milk: $4.99

1 lb. Turkey: $4.99 on sale

Mustard: $2.50

Case of Diet Mtn. Dews: $5.99 for 12

Bread: $1.99 which I thought was reasonable

20 oz. drink

Cheese

4 apples

Total price: over $30.00

Little Bit and I spent the rest of the working hours lazing around the camper and out in the yard.

After working hours, Courtney offered to take Little Bit horseback riding and we both gladly accepted. I used the opportunity to try to get online. I actually was successful but only for a short time. The rest of my mothering freedom was spent showering and sorting through photos. I never thought I’d be sitting at day 3 in Alaska with childcare. Dang, I thought as long as we were living here I’d have childcare again! Little Bit came back smelling of horses and with a face full of dirt smudges. Don’t you love a kid with a dirt smudged face? I do. She was on cloud nine and is a horse expert now.

h

Little Bit loves Courtney so much that she asked if she could give her the bath I kept insisting it was time for. I let Courtney off the hook and cleaned her up myself. Before long she was dreaming of horse adventures. BUT, not before Chuck and Jeff moved our camper from its current location to drain all the human waste into the septic tank.

Yep. Oh and everybody got involved. Courtney was standing out in the yard with us, helping wherever she was needed, making poop jokes with the rest of ‘em. Man, I thought showering in these people’s house was going to awkward. I never DREAMED we’d be congregated around the Burn’s Family’s waste making doo doo jokes.