Bizarre events in Southeast Alaska

Even though there are no stores and nowhere to go and not much to do here in remote Alaska, there is never a dull moment. Each day is an adventure. In typical Alaskan style, you never know what each day will hold, no matter how much planning you do. For example,

• Ranger Rick: One day a couple of rangers stopped by looking for a few fillet knives and a work table. (Where else but Robin's Retail would they go?) Anyway, of course we had plenty of knives and plenty of work space. The rangers confiscated 9 halibut off some fishermen who were fishing in the park without a license. (They donated the meet to a local church.)
• The Killing Fields: The annual moose hunt was Monday, all 6 hours of it. Yes, the moose season in Gustavus is literally 6 hours long, lasting from 6 a.m. to noon. Robin went out for a few hours of it but got tired of all the traffic. Hunters were tromping all over the place so he went home early. (I chose to sleep in.)
• Graffitied Gustavus: One day driving to "town", we noticed that the local brown bear statue was no longer a brown bear. Someone had painted it into a panda bear! (It looked fantastic.) I wanted to get a picture before anyone repainted it. Robin wanted to wait till we were headed home, insisting it would be fine to wait. Of course, by the time we headed home about an hour later, the owner had already put a tarp over the graffitied statue, hiding it from view. It was repainted by the next day and was the talk of the town.
• Fun fundraising: If a school wants to raise money, what else is there to do besides have a car wash on a Saturday morning? Well, same with the Gustavus school ... never mind that it is almost always raining, no one washes their car and it was ~really~ pouring that morning.
• Armoral and aluminum: Putting Armoral on an aluminum skiff really is never a good idea, as one Sitka resident could attest -- if he was still alive. Unfortunately, one of our acquaintance's fondness for shining up his skiff was what led to his demise. (Another one of our acquaintances was the Coast Guard pilot taking part in the search.) Read the story.