Wednesday, November 10, 2010

rambling when i should be sleeping...

some days picture loading is crap...is it cloud cover, bad connection, too many gb? who knows. no new stuff today anyway. i was out on rovers run, took a run out black bear and then back down moose meadow. blossom and rio were happy out there. just another day on the trails. the few pictures i loaded are from a long weekend journey out to kayak island. it's not an island to kayak at so much as an island shaped like a kayak. very long, juts out. we flew into cordova to start our adventure and after some weather delay the pilots, a mother and son operation, decided to get us out there. they were both quite excited to have people want to get out there. very few people make this trip out to kayak island. you land on the beach at low tide and then hoof it just over 2 miles. these are true alaskan pilots and they never revealed the true wind speed that we landed in. i felt myself and my full backpack pushed forward and suspect that we had winds in the 50's with gusts up to the 70's. when we asked upon our return, the pilot just smiled. it was probably the most difficult 2 mile walk i've ever been on. the beach is coated with all sorts of floatsam, ropes, logs, bouys, plus tons of rocks. we were happy to arrive at the lighthouse. (st elias lighthouse) you camp out in the boathouse there and luckily there is a bit barrel stove. wood was a bit wet, but we soon had a fire going and the weather cleared a bit.
made it downtown today. it was a cloudy day here like the one in the pictures. no snow, but strange as when i went downtown i had a view up cook inlet to see denali and foraker. couldn't see the chugach range, but mountains a 5 hour drive north came through. i bought some stuff for early christmas, gotta get that started.
when i woke up and grabbed the paper i noted that there is already legal action being taken in our senate race. seems so silly to not do the count first. just what is our democracy coming to. miller wants to rule out any write in's where the name isn't spelled correctly. i think the supreme court would tend to rule on behalf of the voter and if the voters intent is clear enough then the vote should count. i guess alaska law is a bit more restrictive, but for all we know, the write in's are all correct and not enough will be questionable to change the outcome anyway. just mind you do the count first and see. seems nuts to me.
the pool was bustling but i got my swim in. i guess they are remodeling the womens locker room so it will be closed for a month. i'll have to dress in either the adult only one and then make my way through the gym or dress in the family one to get to the pool. if i use the adult only one i will have to come up with a better towel for more coverage. i don't like the idea of that long walk with the tiny towel the gym supplies. after the gym i headed to the zoo. they have begun "wildlife wednesday", a lecture series. i used to attend pretty regular and then it changed locations from the library to the zoo. todays was on the wood bison release. the hope is for it to occur in spring 2012. it was interesting. i hadn't realized that the bison had disappeared so many years ago, last seen by natives early 1900's. there are plains bison and wood bison. apparently, there is a herd of plains bison that some guys in the 20's brought up from the lower 48 and put out there, they are doing well. as it turns out the biologist speaker was saying thier bloodlines are now some of the most pure in north american. plains bison never inhabited this area though, just the wood bison. we have acquired 50 bison from elk island park in canada and they are breeding and living outside portage at the wildlife center there. there has been one hell of alot of red tape involved in the project. funny, he mentioned that russia liked the idea so much they came to canada and got some of thier own and released them...thiers are out in the wild, ours are still bogged down in red tape.
as i drove home i had npr on. may have to get the book they were talking about. can't recall the authors name, but the book was "spiritual envy, an agnostics ?". can't recall. i was driving so couldn't write it down. i'd say i'm agnostic at this time in my life. it takes a leap of faith to believe in a god, i believe it also takes a leap of faith to believe there isn't a god. there is no proof either way that is tangible so i'm quite satisfied not having proof and just hoping it all works out in the end. no point arguing it out. if people have thier religious beliefs and they are happy with them, then great. i just don't like when people try to force thier beliefs on others or denegrate others for what they believe. i see that there are benefits to spirituality, but i also see that there are many ways to achieve spirituality. for me, it's just more nature based and less organized religion based. often that is taken to mean you have no spirituality at all if you don't claim a religion or show up to a church. in the end that is between you and whatever god you believe in, or not....

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