A bull moose does a little pruning on the bush right outside the front door of our house.

Today, a co-worker and I were discussing why people live in Alaska. We came up with three reasons:

1. Family.

2. Good-paying jobs (although we are suffering some of the same problems as other states).

3. The outdoors.

For me, it's No. 3 -- again and again and again.

One example showed up outside my front door this weekend. A bull moose wandered through the yard, sniffing the garbage can (looking for a bite to eat anywhere possible, I suppose), nibbling on a bush by the house and silently moving off into another yard.

There's just something cool about a huge animal just showing up. That's one of the things that drew me to Alaska, and it's one of the things that keeps me here.

-- Steve

The moose spent 5 minutes munching on the bush. Before he got to the bush he spent some time sniffing around the garbage can, so apparently it's not just bears you need to watch with garbage.