Soccer is over!!! We drove over 200 miles to another granddaughter’s soccer tournament in Wasilla. It was the State Soccer Tournament and my granddaughter was on the KPSC U-14 girls’ team. We left Wednesday morning so we would be there for her second game which was to begin at 2 p.m. Then there was another one on Thursday morning which put them in first place going into the semifinals on Friday morning. Overall, they were good games and until the last game, they had good referees.

The last game was refereed by young teenagers and it just wasn’t very good. They had no direct adult supervision and the refs just didn’t seem to know what to do, especially considering that this was a semifinal game. That was unfortunate because several girls were hurt (one continued to play with a concussion) and necessary calls were unmade. Fortunately, our girls played as good sports people should. They lost but have no reason to hang their heads. The other team won on paper, but should hang their heads for the very aggressive and unsportsmanlike behavior they exhibited.

It rained or drizzled the whole time we were there. We spent the rest of our time shopping, visiting, eating out, or just relaxing in our hotel room. The room had a nice, little kitchen so we shopped for “our type” of food. It was also much less expensive to eat that way, too.

My daughter called me just after we had gotten home last night. She was parked along the highway about 40 miles from here and was watching a pair of orphaned grizzly cubs playing and eating in the river. They were orphaned last year and take advantage of the fish remains thrown into the water by many fishermen. This area of the river is not a place where the grizzly or black bears used to frequent, but since there is easy pickings for fish scraps many bears now spend a lot of time there. This is also the area where I hit and killed a black bear cub several years ago while driving to Anchorage.

Another grizzly in Anchorage wasn’t so lucky this week when he tore open a plastic cover over electrical wires. Bears are so nosy and love to chew up plastic. Anyway, he had fun until her chewed into the 5000 volt wire. Another bear, a few miles outside of Anchorage, is having fun finding tents and jumping onto them. They collapse and if there are people in them, they scream and the bear wanders off until he finds the next tent and he can do it all over again. A week or so ago, about a mile from here, two men were attacked by a grizzly as they were walking. It bit one but quit when he “played dead” and then turned on the other guy. He raised such a ruckus that the bear scampered off.

I’m still recuperating today. Even though I get ample exercise walking to and from the fields I get very tired on these trips. I need to take a day or so after we return to relax and rejuvenate. Tomorrow there is a garden that needs tended and a bunch or greens to blanch and freeze for winter soups and stews.

Today at the store I bought some steaks, sweet potatoes, and fresh green beans to fix for dinner tonight. I sliced the sweet potatoes and baked them in the oven, steamed the green beans, and made a salad from fresh lettuces from my garden. The steaks were fried on my griddle using a spray instead of oil. It was good! I also bought some plums for dessert.

Well, that is all for tonight. Take care. Till next time….