LOTS of BUSYNESS

Adam here - Been a while since either of us has written in here. I wanted to quickly jot down a couple things so people are up to date with the happenings here....

Reasons we are busy:
- My residency is finishing up and I am scrambling to complete all requirements and finalize a bunch of projects
- We are currently (somewhat) remodeling our new house
- Have yet to pack our old condo and move to our new house
- Cleaning and more cleaning
- DK just got back from 10 days of being home, and I just returned from 4 days of being home. My buddy got married and if it wasn't storming like crazy it was uncomfortably hot and humid (don't miss it)
- Buying lots of stuff for our new house takes a TON of time!


The following is an email Danielle sent to family and friends. I thought it would be appropriate to put on here for all of those that did not receive that email...

Check this out (http://www.adn.com/2010/06/15/1324609/bear-attacks-cyclist-on-anchorage.html ).... this guy works with Adam at the hospital.

Very interesting.... there has been debate on shutting down this area starting on June 10, for the summer, it was denied by the mayor. This attack happened on the 14th! The mayor's reasoning being... we live in Alaska, we KNOW we'll have wildlife encounters, we need to know what to do. I'm curious if this will all change after Shawn's experience. This is a large "park", lots of trails. We have been in there a few times. On one side of it is our friends (Shawn and Erin) house, and they walk their dog -Chena- there almost every day. A black bear was sighted near their house in the spring.

Kinda crazy, huh?!?! WE LIVE SO CLOSE TO WILDLIFE--- we share these areas with moose, bears, etc. So the thing is.... Shawn (Adam's coworker) knows the area, knew of the possibility of a bear encounter, and knew what to do- he played dead! The mama had no intention of EATING him, just defending her cub! It's unfortunate that it happened, but I'm very impressed with Shawn-- he understands the reasoning of the attack and is "okay" with it. Hell... he insisted on working the rest of the day!

Anyway... this was very interesting and I wanted to share it, especially since Shawn is a coworker of Adam.
My point of view is... if I were in Shawn's exact positon-- played dead and got away, I believe I would react like he did-- understand the reasoning of the attack and not demand for the department of wildlife and game to kill her. BUT if I were in that position and had our handgun... I forsure would've used it! Most of the attacks that we've heard about, read about, or watched on TV, end with a survivor. A badly beaten survivor, but a survivor--- because the bear isn't out for human blood and has no intention of eating humans. It's because the bear was frightened/spooked or defending itself and/or its cub. HOWEVER there are a few attacks thrown in there that were fatal or pretty damn close, there just happened to be a Crazy-Ass bear. Much like there are Crazy-Ass humans! SOOOOO.... how does a person know the difference between a defensive bear and a Crazy-Ass bear when it is charging you?!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!!!!!!!!! YUUUUUUP!

--have a handgun?? use it!
--have bear spray?? use it!!
--brown bear?? play dead!!
--black bear?? fight back!!

NOW the question is... some brown bears are black in color and some black bears are brown in color! THEN WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU DO!??! If God has intentions and reasoning of a person being attacked by a "brown" or a "black" bear- then so be it. And therefore, I guess God determines if it ends with a badly beaten survivor or fatal! Trust it to God's hands!

WHEEEEEEEW, thanks for listening/reading my rant! I LOVE living in Alaska.... we have exciting, new adventures almost every weekend in the most beautiful environment EVER! But.. when we came across those ginormous grizzly tracks on our hike-from-hell earlier this spring and when situations like this one come up, it makes you want to pee your pants! And it really makes you think..... I've done more "thinking" in this one year than I did all 5 years of college!

So.... on that note-- COME UP AND VISIT!!!! You'll have an adventure of a lifetime, enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, and learn things that can't be taught from a book-- but true-life experience!

hope that all made sense-i just kept typing!
Love you all!
:)DK

**** Next email will be lessons on moose attacks! JUST KIDDING! ..... get behind a tree, a car, a pole.... put SOMETHING between you and that moose and PrAy!