Hello all! Tuesday Walter and I decided to venture up into the "valley." The Mat-Su valley that is. We drove up to Palmer to the musk ox farm. Musk ox became extinct in Alaska in the 1860s. They are big animals with horns that grow towards the ground. They can be easily killed because when attacked, the males form a circle around the females and little oxen. Whole herds can be wiped out quickly. In the early 1920s, there was a push to bring them back to Alaska. 40 or so Greenland musk ox were brought to Alaska. They were taken to an island in the Bering Sea and grew to a herd of over 500. 34 of these ox were brought to the musk ox farm in Palmer. The ox have two layers of hair. The inner layer protects the oxen from temperatures down to 100 below zero. The inner layer is called quvioit (sp). The hair can be brushed out or it simply falls to the ground. The hair is taken and made into thread. The thread is then sent to "The Bush" where the Native women make blankets, scarves, hats, etc with it. These items are then sent to coop stores in the state. The items are very warm and soft. I was disappointed because I was not allowed to pet the musk ox. Something about how they are not domesticated yet. One did get close to Walter and made a growling noise- almost like a lion. One the way to the farm, we saw signs for a reindeer farm. We decided to leave and head to the reindeer farm in hopes that I could touch some animals. We were in luck! The reindeer farm in Butte, AK was the best!!!! There were two pens of reindeer- tame and wild. We were allowed to go into the tame pen and feed the reindeer. They were very pushy! We learned that that reindeer antlers are very sensitive. Messing with an antler would be like if we slammed our fingers in a door. Reindeer can actually die if they cut their antlers while they are still growing. We saw all sorts of reindeer- including babies! After we tried to pet the babies and feed their mothers, the other reindeer wouldn't eat from our hand! And, the reindeer make clicking noises when they walk. The noise comes from their hind legs. There is cartilage like material in their legs to help them run faster when attacked. When they walk it sounds like their bones are cracking. That is why in the Christmas carol it says, "up on the house top, click, click, click..." It is the reindeer walking around on the top of the house. We then wondered over and met Eddie. Eddie is an elk with REALLY big antlers. Eddie likes to eat grass and be pet on his nose. He is very friendly towards humans, but not his fellow elk. He bosses them around and doesn't let the other elk eat grass. I tried to walk over to the other elk and feed them grass, Eddie ran around to where I was and wouldn't let them have any. What a bully! Also at the farm were horses, buffalo, moose, deer, and cats. We could pet all of them except for the moose and buffalo. I was happy! We then went on to eat at the fancy Mexican-Italian restaurant and then on to play shuffleboard. Walter and I are tied at one win a piece. Tonight we are heading north and praying it is nice tomorrow. We are going to try and actually see Mt. McKinley! If it is nice we are going to rent and plane and fly around it. Hopefully we will land on a glacier and drop off hikers!
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