I live and write on Lingít Aaní, and gratefully acknowledge the past, present and future caretakers of this beautiful place, the Jilkaat Kwaan and Jilkoot Kwaan.

The CVN/ KHNS radio forum went well. You can listen to it here and decide for yourself if we are guilty as charged. The recall supporters declined to answer questions or speak in favor of it. Don Turner did sit in the audience, but refused to comment. I hope the picture on the front page of the paper of their three empty seats is worth 400 votes. The election is Tuesday, but you may vote early today at the borough office until 5 o’clock.

 

In the meantime, I have been spending a lot of time with dogs and cherries–  I love the ladders under the trees all around town. Everyone is doing our best to pick ripe cherries before the bears break the branches or worse. There was a black bear  in my neighbor’s orchard three nights ago, and he may be the same bear that surprised me the other night about 1 o’clock. I didn’t get a good look. I was letting Trixie out for her midnight pee break, when we heard a woof and thump as gravel flew and it charged down the path to the beach. Pearl and Madi (we are babysitting my daughter’s old hound) barked off toward it in the darkness and I yelled and hollered (that’s when I really holler, not in assembly meetings…) and jumped back into the house with the puppy in my arms. The big dogs returned unscathed, panting, and proud of themselves. I woke up Chip and asked what should I do? I have to housebreak Trixie but I’m afraid to go back outside. “Get some newspaper” my brave, sleepy, companion said.

So yesterday I picked about five gallons, and my friend Teresa came and picked two more, and the crows and ravens have cleaned the tree tops off already. But I still have another hour or two of picking to go and want to harvest them before the bear does. Which is why last night I left the porch light on and plugged a radio in and turned it up. At midnight, while waiting for Trixie to do her thing, I listened to the BBC and the waves meet the shore in peace. Bears don’t like the radio news anymore than the recall folks do, as none were in sight.

I had forgotten about how unexpected, and sweet, those late night care giving duties can be. I wouldn’t choose to sit out here on the damp deck over my warm bed, but it felt like a present. I remembered too, how nice it was to watch the moon over the inlet when I was nursing my babies, and my mother’s last words– take good care of the garden and the dogs– and I thought, and said out loud- –well, Mom, I am. And while you’re listening, help me make it through Tuesday, and the days to follow, with grace and good humor, okay?–