snow is falling....

put in a few more pictures from the past. above is a mom and her cub at mcneil river. she walked her baby within 10 feet of us to avoid another mom and her baby across the river. she was totally chill about us, though we stayed very still and made no sounds except the clicks of cameras firing off.

i always think the pictures of the old yellow lab are of my old dog butch, but i forget that baby huey got old too. he passed away 4.5 years ago, soon after this photo was taken. blossom was just a pup in this. her coat was pretty flat when she was little, i had no idea how she'd end up looking. the second year her coat came in all cute and curly. she was admired today on the trail. the green thing between them is what is leftover of the disc sled that huey carried around in the winters up here for years. i tossed it like a frisbee and he'd fetch it. it was the funniest thing to watch, this 100 pound dog lugging that green sled about. i still have a chunk of it, it's a great chew toy for dogs, blossom still lugs it out some evenings and chews on it.

these next few are from kayaking in prince william sound. above is a hanging glacier. below are the others on the beach. i believe this is before the big calving hit that nearly swamped those of us left out on the water. it was a tough landing with all that ice on the beach.

went and saw "secretariat" tonight with sandra. really great movie. i totally enjoyed it. that lady had alot of faith in that horse, but her gut was right and he did what nobody thought was possible. she must have made tons of money as he sired 600 colts. wow!! wonder how much it cost for each one of those. crazy. the roads were icy driving home, but on the radio they played "american pie" followed by "cats in the cradle". two great songs! made it home safely. it's still snowing and i expect i can do a bit of cross country skiing tomorrow after the monday walk.

mixed up some cookie dough to make cookies for tomorrow only to discover i have zero chocolate chips in the house. it's too late to go out so i guess i'll whip up some brownies in the morning and make cookies later. in the meantime, the cookie dough works fabulous for me.

i do love plowing through that ice in the kayak. definitely prefer plastic up here to fiberglass. lots of wear and tear. my friend just got one that is a mixture i guess? one trek i was the old lady of the group and they were all in thier mid to late 20's. when we ran into the ice the boys were all talking ahead of me how we shouldn't go in...blah, blah, blah.... i just plowed between them and headed into the ice. they had a blast once they got used to the idea of ramming your kayak into chunks of ice. the rule is to stay far away from anything refrigerator size or larger as the ice will be larger below the surface of the water. if they flip they can take you with them. not a good plan. below you can see the ice pack, it shifts around with the tides and such. we had tons of ice on this trip out there as the sun was bright and the glaciers were all calving.

snowed a bit on our walk today. sandra decided to join me and the girls. we just went out to campbell airstrip trails and did a big loop, mushing trails to tour of anchorage and then out rovers run. the eagle was out there as was the squirrel i took pictures of the other day. sandra seems to enjoy using the chuck it and entertaining blossom. though sandra isn't really a dog person, she seems to quite enjoy blossom. a happier dog you could never meet.

washing the sheets right now. i love fresh sheets. i just ordered some of my favorite perfume from amazon.com. bvulgari. i have no idea how to pronounce it but i always spray a bit on the bed after i make it. tonight i also ordered some icebug boots/shoes. they were a deal on amazon and the sorix boots seem to be getting harder and harder to come by. amazon said it just had 2 pairs left. mine are still working great and probably will for years, but a back up is always a good idea. my first pair of icebugs were sorsa's and i can't find those at all anymore. wish i'd had a spare of that. i like my sorix, but the sorsa were a bit more comfy and cool. ice bugs come with cleats built in. you can either get plastic cleats or metal. i haven't gotten the metal cleats yet. these sorix didn't specify which cleats, i suspect plastic. i also bought some shoes that i can wear about town that aren't so bulky but that have the cleats for traction as well. since i walk everyday, good footwear is a valuable asset. my feet have never gotten cold in my icebugs. plus they dont' suck your socks in like many other winter boots seem to. i hate that.

one of the miners from chili ran the new york city marathon today. i'm sure when you've been through like that you are more likely to just do and not just dream of doing. not a bad way to live and a good thing to remind us all of. life is precious and worth living to the fullest.

seems the villages have tons of write in votes. i knew miller screwed up when he made the comments he did. the natives in alaska have alot of power and they aren't afraid to use it.

got my swim in today. only did 25 laps, i had to catch the movie and i just made it as the movie was getting started so all is well that ends well. told my friend to buy the tickets i'd get the popcorn. we went to the new theater in town. looks nice and clean and all. popcorn wasn't very good, seats were comfy. well, off to make the bed and crawl in it.