Mountain Lion, plus an all around life update

I’m a little sluggish on posting Alaska pics. I’ve been up north now for a month, but I haven’t had much opportunity to really get out and enjoy the Great Land. May is always a busy month, getting the Lodge up and running. Then a few weeks ago I caught the bug that was going around, a cold/flu that completely drained me. And if that wasn’t enough, my old knee injury has come back with a vengeance, which has put a halt on day hikes or hiking of any kind.

It all really made me feel my age. I recently flipped to my forties, and there’s nothing like being sick, working a lot, and having a knee injury to usher in the onslaught of middle age. But I digress.

This post is actually about the mountain lion. Before leaving California, in early May, I met a guy in my neighborhood (the Santa Cruz Mountains) who got this pic, from close range, of a mountain lion. I must be honest that it sort of pisses me off. I’ve been hiking hard-core in the Santa Cruz Mountains for a while now, and I’ve seen nary a trace of mountain lions. I’ve been hiking so much, in fact, that now I’ve got that effing knee injury. But I digress.

The dude who captured this pic was near an area where there is an abundance of wild turkey. Not to be confused with the whiskey, these are actual turkeys, that happen to be wild. As such, the mountain lions gravitate to that area the Santa Cruz Mountains, much like — well, much like Alaskans gravitate to their whiskey bottles.

Alaskan pics to come. Soon. In the meantime, enjoy your youth, or your health, or whatever you have going for you — and if that isn’t possible, there’s always wild turkey, of the liquid variety.

Cheers.