Who Are All These Jittery Moose Anyway?

I'm "Jittery Moose" on the Weather Underground. I started blogging there when we lived in Copper Center, Alaska, and have continued on since we moved to the BIG CITY of Fairbanks! While I wasn't born in Alaska (as the cliche goes), I got here as fast as I could! This is me in 2003 at the Klutina River near Copper Center with the VERY FIRST FISH I ever caught in Alaska! Believe me, they haven't got much bigger, but, that's why they call it "fishing" and not "catching!"

I've worked as an archaeologist in the US and Europe, was an archivist for the Coast Guard, an Archaeological Resources Curator for the US Army, a stay-at-home mom, a museum director, a curator for the Park Service, a sled dog race supporter, and am now sufficiently middle-aged that I have a right to my mid-life crisis! Here it is! Whether it's been living in a tent on the Welsh coast (working on an Iron Age hillfort), slogging through polders in the Netherlands (digging up ships), calming down Army guys who would come into the office with Elk bones shaking with horror that the bones must be human, or climbing dang-near vertical scree slopes to mines and finding that, upon reaching them, they had been blasted away by avalanches months earlier, life has been an adventure. Nothing's been better than Alaska. Really. That's why I wanted my mid-life crisis to involve something that would bring Alaska to a wider audience. Thanks for stopping by and always remember: Have Fun Out There!

...and then there's Patrick. I had to include the picture of HIS first fish (back in 2004), and then one from this past summer during the Midnight Sun Flycaster's Camp at Twin Bears. He's become quite the fisherman AND quite adept at tying flies. We're hoping to put some of his creations online here pretty soon, as he's had some pretty good luck with his brassies.

..and, of course, Tim, the biggest fish of all! I think that's a 28-pound King Salmon he's holding in that picture! He's also an archaeologist. He was the archaeologist for Kennecott when we first arrived in Alaska--after a stint with the Nebraska National Forest (yes, there is one, and it has a few trees!), contract archaeology jobs before that, and even a summer as an Interpreter at the Statue of Liberty in New York City. I took the advice of a 90-year-old emeritus archaeologist who was being given a lifetime achievement award back in 1987 at a professional meeting. Upon accepting the award, she spoke to the "youngsters" in the audience, saying, "And make sure you marry another archaeologist, because I'm telling you right now, no one else will understand you." Well, it's been nearly 13 years now, and I can safely say--Yep--she was right!