I can't leave Kalib out, so here is a story about disappearing moose butts, absent the butts themselves

I suppose it is very unfair of me to post a picture of his brothers and then leave Kalib out altogether. When they first arrived, as he and his brothers came through the front door and caught the attention of most of us, someone else, maybe Melanie, saw two moose charge past the back door. By the time I could respond and get to the back door, all any of us could see were two moose butts, disappearing into the trees. I wonder what frightened them so? Do you think it might have been the racket and commotion caused by the three little boys coming in through the front door?

At Thanksgiving dinner number 4, Jim gets an embrace and train bonk

Well, I don't know what to do! I told you there were two Thanksgiving dinners for me today, the second one here at the house with all family members and significants, except for Bryce, who had to work. So I really need to put up some kind of picture of this feast, right? But I am so tired I am almost dizzy! I try to sort through my photos but my eyes go blurry. So for now I am just going to post this picture of Jobe embracing Jim. Lynxton is coming with a tiny toy train which he will bonk Jim on the head with. Jim barely flinched – if he even flinched. He is a bit wary of little Lynxton but he seemed okay with it.

Today I ate Thanksgiving dinners numbers 3 & 4. Here is number 3: Niqipiaq

When I was still in Barrow, I received an invitation to come to the home of James Matumeak and Eileen Boskovsky here in Wasilla today for a Thanksgiving weekend Nikipiaq - a feast of Iñupiaq food - at 2:00 pm. As I had been gone on turkey day, my family also scheduled a late Thanksgiving dinner for me today at 4 PM. I did not want to miss either one. Please forgive me for not writing anything descriptive, but turkey dinners have always made me very sleepy. And Iñupiat dinners always make me sleepy. I am so sleepy right now I could fall through the floor. I'm so stuffed I'm probably heavy enough to fall through the floor.

Pictured in front is James and Eileen with James' Auntie Mabel Pederson and Kenneth Tagarook, whaling captain of Wainwright now living in Anchorage to be close to his grandchildren. In the background is Hattie Long of Nuiqsut, her husband Frank, Salomi Martin, Frieda, Leon Matumeak and son Nathaniel. A tape of Kivgiq '96 plays on the tv, filling the feast with the sound of Iñupiat drumming and singing. 

PS: I should note that there were many more people than this present, several in the dining room around the corner.

Logbook: Nuiqsut to Wasilla, entry 5, final: Jim

As always upon my return Jimmy went nuts with joy and relief to see me. I got a couple of frames off and then my iPhone went dead. I sat down at my computer for a few minutes. Jimmy was all over me, jumping onto my lap, climbing onto my shoulders, standing on my head, meowing both in happy greeting and scolding. I joined Margie and went to bed without finishing the logbook. It was 2:00 AM, I was tired and I figured it could wait until I got some sleep.

In Anchorage, the airport temperature had been -4F, downtown Wasilla -10 and -17 in our driveway. We got the fire stoked but the heat never really warmed up our bedroom. Jimmy got cold and so tapped on my head with a paw. I let him under the covers. After I fell asleep he decided he was warm and so slipped out and got on top of the covers. Pretty soon, he got cold again. He tapped me on the head again and woke me up. I let him back under. And so it went, all through the night until finally I got up.

Still, by my standards I slept pretty good.

Logbook: Nuiqsut to Wasilla, entry 3: picked up by wife

I didn't take pictures on the flight down because my battery was nearly dead. Three percent. We landed in Anchorage half-an-hour early, so I gave Margie a call to let her know. Now I had one percent charge. I have yet to buy a car charger for my iPhone 5s. I did not think the one percent would hold to Wasilla, but I took no pictures in Anchorage or anyplace in between but hoped somehow the charge would last until we reached Wasilla. I feared that it would take more battery power to turn the camera off and then back on, so I left it on. In Wasilla, I had to stop at a red light so I pulled out my iPhone and it still read 1 percent. I snapped this single frame. There was one more picture I had to get to make the logbook compete. Would the charge hold?