About a week ago, Joan and Heather had the treat of watching and hearing 4 moose for half an hour – in and right near the garden.  Within minutes after the last cabbages were harvested, a cow, two calves, and a young bull discussed their bad luck in missing the choicest meals but worked away at the stalks of broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and a few bites of other vegetables and wild rose bushes.  “Better than a movie,” Joan said.  Although she has been enjoying the garden and bringing in the harvest, she does not begrudge the moose some treats.

One hard frost so far, and much gorgeous clear weather; Niilo has spent time outdoors some days.  Dane’s dog, Shijaa, probably 15 years old and mostly deaf and of poor eyesight, got herself under a car wheel, so there are now no family domesticated animals.

Niilo and Joan had 3 visitors from Finland: Olavi, Eva, and Markus.  Although he didn’t talk much Finnish with them at the time, Niilo enjoyed telling Nancy D. in the evening about their visit.

Niilo is doing pretty well this week, talking a bit sometimes and sleeping less than some periods in the past 2 months; however, his body often doesn’t cooperate for transfers and it’s been weeks since he walked with the walker.  Sometimes he needs more than one person to help him transfer from bed to chair, et al, so a hoyer (mechanical) lift has been ordered to help.  Despite cranberry pills and lots of fluids, he has another urinary tract infection, so we’re offering more yogurt to off-set the potential side effects of the antibiotic.

Ben Newman is in Ohio for a semester at Kent State; his brother Max is back in Fairbanks through the November election, working on a campaign more than full-time, so family don’t see as much of him as they would like.  Dane has been back from wildland firefighting for a few weeks.          Heather