Fall: a very short period of time in Alaska. About a month ago I wrote that we were experiencing the beginning of fall. We are now experiencing the end of fall and the beginning of winter. After a lovely couple weeks of vibrant gold leaves brightening the landscape, we are now seeing bare branches. The temperatures have fallen to the 40’s during the day and near-to-below freezing at night. Daylight continues to decrease by over 5 minutes a day. Tomorrow we will have less than 11 hours of daylight.

We drove to Anchorage last week for a “before winter comes let’s go somewhere” day. We saw that the trumpeter swans are beginning to appear as ponds and lakes as they ready themselves for the long flight ahead. We saw about a dozen. If we were to go back today, we’d see quite a few more. A year ago next week, we counted over 100 with most of them in one area. It snowed a couple days later.

We also saw a very sad sight. A moose had bogged down in the clay in the inlet after the tide went out. Moose don’t usually wander onto the tidal areas. It is deadly when the tide comes back in.

Many of you already know that we have a variety of resident animals. My personal pets are birds and a dog, Muppet. The twins love reptiles and unusual bugs. We’ve got quite a few of them from turtles to snakes and scorpion to tarantula. This week, Justin, brought home another snake, a Burmese python. To make a long story short, I startled it when it was going into an area it wanted to explore. As I started to pick it up, it flipped back and bit me between the thumb and forefinger. They have a lot of teeth! It was a quick bite, but did leave teeth marks. I washed the wound well and then, as always, applied some noni juice. Within seconds the stinging was gone and by morning, the wound was just a light red. You could see the mouth-shaped wound yesterday, but now the evidence is nearly gone. I do believe that good nutrition plays an important part in how fast our bodies heal.

I’ve started revamping some recipes to reduce the fat and sugar content. Our favorite Pineapple, Carrot, Walnut and Raisin cake was made using ½ applesauce and ½ cup oil instead of the 1 cup oil or butter. Then, I replaced about 1 1/2 cups of sugar with ½ cup frozen apple juice concentrate and ½ cup sugar. The result was a lighter textured, less sweet cake with wonderful flavor, too. I think Ill keep this method as the primary recipe. More alterations to come!