Almost Done...

First, an update...the little girl that was killed was apparently playing with a group of other children and wandered into a dog yard where a sled team was kept. These dogs are not necessarily cutesy cuddly dogs such as we are used to elsewhere. Many of them are also not the husky or malamute breeds that we associate with sled dogs. A friend of mine recently started swapping out some of his mixed breed dogs for huskies.

When the little girl did not return from play with her playmates, her uncle went out looking for her, ultimately finding her in the dog yard. Raw emotion led to the shooting of several of the dogs by another uncle. It is fortunate that no one else was hurt in the aftermath of the incident. More coverage can be found on the pages of the Anchorage Daily News, along with pages of comment by expert analysts who do not live here and know no more of the facts of the story than do I. There tend to be a lot of experts on the Bush living in Anchorage and elsewhere. Most of them do not live out here.

I am not going to try to be another "expert." Children out here tend to have much greater autonomy during play. It is more like it was when I was a kid, without the play dates and organized structures that are common elsewhere. There is generally less adult supervision. In the judgment of many of the experts that I have referenced, this is clear evidence of negligence on the part of the parents, who should be automatically jailed. Without a greater knowledge of what exactly happened, I would say that it is hard to know what to think. The ADN experts tend to be untroubled by that caveat. Perhaps they are clairvoyant.

We wrapped up our last day with the other kids yesterday. We had an awards assembly and some field games close to the school. We were originally going to head over closer to the airport, which was closer to the scene of the tragedy. Whether this dictated the decision to move or not, I don't know. The games were fun, and I had a water balloon fight with some of my kids. We all got wet to some degree or another. Lunch followed.

Today is a finish up and get checked out day. I need to go over and pull out some laundry that I switched at 12:30 this morning. There are a bunch of other school-related things that need to get done as well. We will be across the river in about thirty-six hours. The year is nearly over.

I don't think that I will know exactly what I think about it all for a little while. I know that I will be back. Let's leave it at that for now.