earthquakes and rainbows....

thought i'd toss in a few rainbow pictures. southeast alaska is the land of the rainbows. we get several here as well. above was seen in juneau. i've seen only 3-4 of these double rainbows in my lifetime. this one went all the way across the sky. i saw another like that one night here en route to work...no camera. below is a rainbow in ketchikan. so you can see there is no pot of gold at the end of either rainbow.

today i woke to some shaking going on. well i woke earlier, fed the dogs and returned to bed. the bed did some serious shaking about 11:30 am. no damage, but i looked on the fairbanks university earthquake site and within 15 min it was on there. initially it said it was a 5.7, the last i checked they'd said it was a 5.4. so still a good size. a pleasant quake i must say. friends i spoke to up further north felt it more strongly. it was in the cook inlet region.

must have shaken something up in my brain as i decided since it was cloudy here in anchorage to head to the rain forested city of girdwood. so it was really coming down when i arrived. i took the girls on a 5 mile walk. there are boardwalks and so it took some work with rio. i'm her guide dog. she does great with the steps up, but those steps down can be brutal. not sure how to help her with that. i always struggle with taking her or leaving her home. she just wants to be with me...it's crazy.
below is the broad leaves of devils club. the stems are totally covered with prickly spines. you totally don't want to walk thru this stuff.

the winner creek gets a bit rough at the bridge crossing. there is also a hand tram, but it's a bit further after the bridge. haven't been there for a bit and my concern of heights has prevented a crossing using it. i was nervous crossing the incredible stable bridge over this rapid moving water. the trail got really muddy at this point anyway so a good turn around point for me and the two soaked dogs. i hadn't brought my good rain gear stuff so i was drenched as well.

the greens are so pretty in the rain though, so i really enjoy a walk in the rain. it's great...as long as you can get home and dry out. camping in the rain is much less fun.

the evergreens are getting new growth..always looks cool to me.

below is from last nights walk at 10 pm. it was pretty out so i decided to take advantage of the long day and head to blueberry hill and flat top. you can see both behind blossom. i just did the smaller hill. you have great views of anchorage from this location.

earlier yesterday i took the dogs to university lake dog park and got a few pictures of the moose that have taken up residence. the babies are growing. couldn't get too close as they were on the edge of the soccer fields so no trees for me to hide behind.

above is hemlock. always looks cool all twisted up. below is the beautiful clouds from last night.

the island below has been in the news this week. a few kids attemptted to cross over to it at low tide. the tide rushes in though and people get stuck out there. the paper said you could be in 20 feet of water within 1 hour time. a group of "adventures" from around here that plan little treks are planning to do this very same risky trip this week i guess. seems nuts to me. it's one thing to do something crazy yourself, a whole different thing planning an event like this with a hiking group. there are too many things that can go wrong and the group doesnt' seem to have thought this through. i mean what if someone has a heart attack during the crossing. there is no safe place to put someone...who stays with them risking death? the mud is filled with silt and in many places it acts like quicksand, rapidly trapping people in to await death. the teens were at shoulder level in the water by the time they were pulled out.

i don't want my tax dollars and fire and rescue teams being wasted saving people who have done something that we've all been told not to do. it's a 3.5 mile trip. even though this guy has successfully done the crossing, i think it just sets up other people to try this as well.

off to finish baking some chocolate chip cookies. tasty. i love the dough. gotta take the cookies out right before they are totally cooked to finish cooking outside the oven.

it's the old toll house recipe from when i was a kid. the recipe has changed over the years. i first noticed them making an alteration when i was a teen so i wrote them. they sent the original recipe which is actually nothing like the current recipe. i use the recipe my mom made. gotta have those perfect soft cookies.