more southeast alaska

so am enjoying looking through some southeast shots. above is from another hike. i believe this is ketchikan lakes. always great views...worth the hiking. below is a big bog pond on the deer mountain trail...huey used to love to take a dip in here.

below is huey and fozzie bear...well i never actually knew that dogs name, but he kinda looked like a muppet. spent alot of time with huey on this beach. i think it's south point higgins beach. huey loved to dig and swim. have thought of huey these past few days as rio isn't feeling well. when huey died it initially looked like his neck hurt...it didn't improve and the vet was going to take xrays...requiring anesthesia..requiring a lab check...which showed him to be in advanced kidney failure. he died a few weeks later. rio is limping on her right front. she started limping last week that i noticed. yesterday she skipped breakfast. very odd for rio. she's never missed a meal for as long as i've known her.

i took her to the vet yesterday and we took xrays. i went back with her as she doesn't seem to want to be away from me....ever! the vet said she didn't see any signs of bone cancer yet in her shoulder. she's on more pain meds, but still obviously still very sore. her eating is much less than previous. i've been cutting hot dogs into her food. she's doing a bit better.

of course, i leave next week on holiday. part of me is very anxious to leave when she feels ill, but i think it may be good for her to be without me as she won't feel so obligated to follow me everywhere and may actually rest a bit.

below is huey on that same beach. obviously a different season. he is carrying a "stick". huey always found the smallest of stick to carry. i always had bruised calves from him and would try and put the bigger ones into the trees above to prevent the obsessed lab from continuing to injure me. a friend often laughed and said she could tell which trails i'd hiked recently because of the huge logs in odd places above her. small town. gotta love it.

below is another beach walk in ketchikan. i really miss those beaches. i love beach walking, tide pooling and just gazing. if you look closely below you can see the large bird..great heron i believe.

below is just another picture from the ferry trip from ketckikan to juneau and back. just another beautiful day in southeast alaska. did i mention that the ferry called me...i have a bed on the boat!!! very excited. i went online and paid so that they wouldn't change thier minds!! so sandra and i have sleeping quarters on the tustemena. nick names "trusty tusty" and " the vomit rocket". not sure i like the second one. i have my scopalamine patch though. i dont' generally get seasick, but bristol bay and bering sea are not a place to mess with seasickness.

spoke to the others going and they will call the ferry on the off chance that they can get last minute room as well. we'll see.

speaking of ferries...there is one now. below is again that same beach..another day with huey. in the distance you can see the ferry on it's way through. it may be a cruise ship though...can't really tell. when i lived there you had the binco's out and were always monitering the boat/ship activity. you knew the ferry schedules and boat names.

a lighthouse sits on an island... i believe this is out of juneau someplace. can't recall though the name or exact location. dang...why didn't i write on the back of the photos.

next is a standard photo of the mendenhall glacier in juneau. janet and i took a nice hike around there.
spoke to scott and he just returned from kayaking harriman fjord in prince william sound. the group of us paddled that a few years back and he said it was amazing how far back many of the glaciers have receeded. he said several were technically no longer tidewater glaciers and were instead becoming hanging glaciers. he had a great trip though.

the below photo takes us back to ketchikan. i recall i stopped on the way home from work as i saw these 3 eagles perched on the float plane dock. was a peaceful sight.

so..as long as i roll around the floor every few hours i'm doing quite well. driving is still tough. i managed work last night..though work is a bit of a misnomer. i had one patient who was stable. so the gods were with me. tonight i'm on call. there really just haven't been any patients for a month...good for kids, but eventually i'll need to actually work again. winter will come again and all these healthy kids will get respiratory illnesses.

was walking in my local baxter bog the other day. there was a note saying a large black bear was recently sighted there. eek! this happened last year as well. overall, not too many bear encounters in anchorage so far this year. not like last year. this months alaska mag has an article with one of the victims from last year. she doesn't recall much...which is probably best.

the other thing in the bog that i found humorous is that there was in the past a cranky old guy who always yelled at me for having the dog off leash. i hadn't heard him yell for a long, long time and assumed he'd kicked it...but yesterday he was back at it. i yelled back that i had thought he had died and was happy to hear he was still alive. he stopped yelling at that.

well...time to stretch the back again.