just local walks...it's only pretty when you get out there...

above is another picture in the hanging valley. thought i'd add in some from other walks this past week. didn't take any pictures out there today. sandra met me out at campbell airstrip for a nice 3+ mile loop. when we woke there were tiny flakes of snow coming down. i just wanted to crawl back in bed. there is still much to do before winter overtakes and i haven't done it yet. nothing stuck down here, but you can see the chugach range has a nice little covering of the white stuff. most of the day i was battling a headache. backpacks, swimming, garden work all aggravates my winging scapula and i occasionally get huge knots under my scapula and subsequently up my neck. not that any of that stops me from doing the things i love, just occasionally i have a day like today where it's a little more miserable. it finally eased up in the evening and i got busy.

the paper this morning again reported on the huge numbers of walrus hauled out on land up north because the ice is totally gone. several have died and boats have spotted baby walrus that are out there alone in the water, destined to perish. they are very tight with thier moms but such a long journey is unsurvivable for some of them and they get lost from thier mothers. very sad. these large animals may succomb to the warming trends of our earth. it will be a sad day. the village is down wind of the scent of walrus, which can be a bit unpleasant. point lay is a small village and the walrus are said to outnumber people like 85:1. of course, the walrus are also attracting visitors that want to see them, point lay is not set up for such things. it sounds like the villagers wish the walrus would go and they could return to thier usual routine. polar bears wander in/out of village year round as well...they said they haven't seen any kill the walrus yet. they usually creat a stampede and get the young walrus left behind.

blossom always looks so cute in fall. perfect colours for her coat.

had a few errands to run after my walk and then took a short nap. felt exhausted. happily, i live a life where spontaneous naps are often possible.

talked to my friend maria, it's been awhile...long enough for her to be 3 weeks from delivery. i suspected she would be preggers next time we chatted. so hopefully all goes well for her in a few weeks. i had to tell her of another article in the paper today. a friends now ex-boyfriend was in the news apparently. we know him as the couple traveled with us to churchill canada to see the polar bears. we both found him to be a bore and a boor. he is ticking people off in wasilla as he bought an 11 acre parcel on finger lake out there. he wants to build his dream home there. he knew that the end of the property was covered in some deed that made it illegal to build anything permanent on that part of the property...anyway, now he is threatening to build condo's on the buildable land if he doesn't get his way. doesn't sound like he's changed much from the guy i met. he says he'll be the best neighbor possible, but one night at my house he was all, "so do you like your neighbors?" to which i said,"yes", then he said something to the effect of,"well, then i won't throw my bottle in thier yard". i though it was quite boorish.
i certainly didn't get the impression that he would be a wonderful neighbor after those comments.

there is a tennis ball in the picture below...can you find it? it gets tough to locate those buggers with all the leaves down. blossom does pretty well. i think i had to find this one for her though.

i believe this tree below was in the bog the other day. we've had beautiful blue skies out there. just amazing. okay, today not so much, but it did clear up later..after the snow fell.

we headed off into the neighborhood and then back around to patterson before coming home. there were tons of leaves down so i attempted to get pictures of the dogs. rio is below. i haven't seen too much repurcussions of the soap eating yesterday though i have noticed she's peeing more often and may be taking in some more water, though not excessively. she acts normal otherwise, eats well and all. hopefully, her kidneys are cool.

blossom in the wind and leaves.

i was trying to get a picture of blossom with her fluffy shadow while walking from my place to cheney lake the other day. it's a nice loop and i love that this beautiful lake is within walking distance from my home.

this is cheney lake. we did the loop backwards from usual as there was a moose and calf out there. a few kids coming home from school followed behind us for protection i believe.

cheney lake is a very popular local park/lake. i always love it. just a beautiful place, i did look into buying a few properties nearer to this lake, but none of them worked out for me. there are some cool townhouses right on the lake which would be totally cool .

spent a few hours outside raking leaves, pulling chickweed, spreading corn meal stuff. i have more trash than they'll pick up in the morning, but one can hope they'll take a few extra's.

despite all my raking there are still loads of leaves left to rake. i have to pace myself or i will kill my back. may feel this in the am. below is the tank trail. blossom has just gotten cooled off and is ready for more tennis ball tosses. we'll be doing this same loop tomorrow. i just wanted to check it out a few days before the official monday walks begin anew.

soon this tiny bridge will be lost in snow and frozen over completely.

so these next pictures are on the moose ridge, tank trails out at north bivouac. we'll see who shows up tomorrow. i'd thought about baking, but didn't get it done. we often head out for hot cocoa or tea post walks. we'll see.

these are still n. bivouac. always a great place for a fall walk. where isn't really. fall is a favorite.

i think this loaded sideways, but no matter. tonight was spent making a baby quilt for andrea and a new fall dog jacket for rio. below is dog jacket. she was snoring on the couch so i haven't had a chance to try it on her. i'm hoping she can wear it for our walk tomorrow. her other coats are a bit thicker with fleece in/out. i liked the cat material and thought it would be funny on a dog. it's scarey halloween cats. found the backing today at walmart. they seem to be tearing the place up, maybe a walmart remodel.

here is andrea's finished project. hope she enjoys. i try to make one quilt per family for people i like. i haven't gotten everyone and i'm no seamstress. it took a few swear words and several broken needles to get through this quilt. not sure why the needles kept breaking. i thought maybe the tension was off or it was because the thread above was different than the thread below so i fixed that. seems like everytime i tried to sew backwards it got all f'd up. quite annoying. my domestic skills are very limited, my handyman skills are also very limited. i'm sure i was a kept woman in a previous life and thus i'm supposed to learn some of this shit in this life, if so i have failed thus far. hehe.

no poetry tonight...off to slumber land.