Saturday, August 11, 2012

catch up and ramblings...

finally made it out for a photo taking type walk. tossed in several shots that i've just snapped off over the past few while i've been loading all the round island photos. still more from there, mostly from dillingham at this point so seemed like a good day to change it up to the usual stuff. took blossom to the beach here in anchorage today. it's always so beautiful and relaxing there. took a few black and whites as i love how they come out. above was just some random kid throwing rocks into the inlet. below the sun breaks through to the sand art created by the tides.
on the walk out i saw no grand beasts but coming back to the kincaid chalet i ran into 2 rather large bull moose and one smaller moose. the smaller moose was actually the one that caused me some concern. he was pretty close, well pretty much on the trail, then he saw blossom and i and decided he'd stroll over and say hello. i wasn't really worried that the moose had anything in mind but checking us out. odd as that sounds. he really just seemed curious of us. still...i find it's not a good idea to do meet and greets up close and personal with the moose population.
some people have been known to "pet" moose. this was my opportunity, but i opted out. no trees of course in that spot as the moose quickly walked towards blossom and i so i was forced into the tall brush. he started to follow us into the brush, but then got bored of us i guess and moved on down the trail. does get your heart beating a bit though! better that little guy than these huge moose. lots of tourists in the area as i returned. apparently a fairly large group of people have biked for some charity from texas to alaska? they were scheduled to arrive at kincaid park at some point so those greeting them there were wandering around, i'm sure these moose were photographed many times over. lots of questions about moose and my dog and moose and general tourist stuff. i enjoy it. i find i always get excited about where i live over and over again through those who only get to stay here a short time. we really are lucky to live in this amazing place all the time.
i was a bit disturbed by a biker who called out "on your left sir". do i look like a sir? did i not hear him right. i promptly made sure my braid was visible...
always cool to watch these guys stretch out to eat. when i was a volunteer zoo keeper at the los angeles zoo one of my favorite strings had the giraffes on it. they are so cool. those necks are extraordinary.
work was work. i managed to avoid the super sick kid, i was happy, but i had my own cross to bear. luckily, the parents of the one kid didn't stay the night and instead an older sibling did. that girl was much easier to deal with.
we are all about "family centered care" here in the united states more and more. sadly, this sometimes means that the family dictates cares. the unfortunate part of this is that the family are not medically trained and the internet doesn't come close to equally medical school. some people believe they know best and are very untrusting of medicine. for many things it just doesn't matter really, you pick your battles. too often though these well meaning and annoying individuals actually cause harm to their family members by delay of care, added tests and procedures and over medication.
i have a few gifts that help me through. one is that for some reason i can get away with saying stuff to people. seemingly rude stuff if anyone else were to say it, but when i say it they don't realize i'm actually calling them an idiot. if you put a camera in front of me i sound like an idiot, still waiting for that sasquatch show to prove this, however, without a camera and in my scrubs i become quite the actress. i know i came out of the room rolling my eyes on several occasions. so much unnecessary drama. we all pay for the many extra days and complications caused by these sorts of unreasonable and demanding people. i survived my nights with them...drama and all.
there seems to be different mud concentrations there on the beach. blossom is pretty mucky i'm sure, but she lay outside for a bit, dries and leaves much of the sand out there. doodles are great but they are like mops or sponges. it all just soaks in.
a few tourists died the other day. they had just flown in from montana. not sure why, but thier contact up here decided it would be a good idea to put three people in a canoe and travel on the eagle river. the other guy was in a kayak. they ran into a log jam and the canoe flipped. two of the 3 in the canoe got trapped under the log jam and drowned. pretty sad. not a trek i would have offered up to my house guests. so not such a good idea turns into loss of life. very sad.
a crew pulled out of the village of stebbin after local teenagers kept vandalizing and stealing from the work site. the guy who owns the company smartly pulled his workers out. this could mean a huge issue for the people of stebbin as if the work doesn't get done they may get rather cold this winter. this forced them to take responsibility and action. i'm happy to see this happen and hope retribution is required. too often vandalism happens and there may be jail time or community service but still society has to pay for the repairs and replacements. i get really annoyed when it happens to schools.
blossom with fire island in the back ground.
it was a bit cloudy most of the day. i slept well. seems like it's sunny one day and cloudy the next. not much rain though. there were some blue skies out there on the beach though which was great. blossom had a wonderful time chasing her toy and is nice and sleepy.
my oldest niece turns 35 today. yikes...i was only 13 when she was born, but still i'm getting old. happy birthday claire. it was so fun to have her visit this summer. i get so few visitors. still not sure if my one brother and his wife are coming up here still, haven't heard from them for a bit.
blossom looking rather satisfied with her day at the beach. she was so excited...i think she knows that trail now.
still watching the last bits of the olympics when i can. not as into the track and field but got a bit more interested this year. that one guy, mitchell, was pretty impressive continuing to run in the qualifying round of the relay despite feeling his leg snap. running on a broken leg. wow. he couldn't participate in the medal relay run, but his team got it done with a silver. another guy on the team had been shot in the leg a few years back. sounds like it was pretty bad, but he did the work and was able to return and do this race in the olympics. impressive.
we do not have a drought like the lower 48 has experienced. they have had thier hottest summer, we had one of the coldest july's. this is just finally dried up post break up and thaw.
there was one lone sandhill crane out there as i walked out. later as i headed back and was watching the moose a sandhill crane flew overhead. love those birds.
also saw the double amputee run in that same relay race with the us team. his team came in last, but it was impressive as well. jumping around a bit, apologies.
just a few flowers from my walk in to the beach.

here is the front deck all stained. overall, came out decent. i'm sure the kid next door is cursing my name tonight though. i took the leftover stain from the front and back deck projects and took them next door. she is a single mom, this fall her second kid will start college. her front deck looks pretty ratty and she's talked a few times about wanting to get it stained. so i took that over with the sander and she liked that idea. so her son was put to work sanding with my little hand sander. her deck is a bit smaller than mine. they had some thick old stain to remove so i think he had to work a bit harder than i did. hopefully it works out well for them.
i have a party coming up at my place tuesday. yikes! will have to do a bit of cleaning and prepping for it. should be fun. haven't had a summer gathering for a bit.
from the bog. even though that mother and 3 cubs were killed in my neighborhood it sound like another black bear has been spotted. i've not seen it. i have put my garbage out in the back. my trash doesn't seem to appeal to the bears though as it has alot of dog and cat crap in it.
guess one of the three abandoned walrus at the sea life center has died. bummer. they are tough to raise in captivity. one was doing well enough to be on display i heard. will have to head out there! i wanna see the baby!

the other night at work we were blessed with this lovely sunset.
have spent a lot of time out at the dog park. i just needed a change. was great to let blossom swim, but do something else more interesting. my leg is doing much better so hopefully i'm more ready to get out more.
met up with tanya and lena one day and the dogs had a nice break in the creek.
another day i met with tanya and maddie out powerline pass. turned out to be a beautiful day.
we just walked to the bridge and back.
skies were amazing that day...wow!
am thinking of maybe heading up to arctic valley tomorrow. it's uphill,but short and with great views and sights. i was there a while back but it was still spring in late june or early july i think. maybe some nice flowers up there now.
then come back down here for mushrooms. still debating an overnight run to homer. tempting!
i can tell i haven't entertained blossom enough during the day when she drops her toy for me and gives me this extremely hopeful and adorable look. who could resist this!
out on the musher trails.
the mushrooms are starting to really come alive. will have to do some mushroom photo walks. like moose i never bore of taking mushrooms photo's. several folks out in kincaid today picking berries as well.
a few from the dog jog a few weeks back.
these two were just too cute! rio was one of the only large breed dogs to do the longer walk.
here is my girl!
rio has really slowed this summer i've noticed. she is a trooper but the speed is a bit lower. she is funny though if i mention going for a walk her enthusiasm is low, but if i mention the dog park she is game and gets up.
the arctic thunder air show occurred the other week and i was watching them do their practice flights while i was at the dog park one day.
more dog park. i think i went there almost daily for the first week or so after round island. the dogs love it and it wasn't too taxing on my leg. great to have access to some of the best dog parks out there!
thank you anchorage! such a great city.
still at dog park, i think this was one of the creatures in the lake. couldn't get a good look, looks to small for beaver.
some flowers at the house. lots of flowers in bloom in my yard, have gotten some of the weedage cleared out, but it doesn't look organized or groomed. oh well. summer is short and soon it will be buried in snow..takes the pressure off of yard work!

the fireweed. we all watch the fireweed closely. it's said that the first snow will arrive 6 weeks...8 weeks? not sure anyway supposedly after the bloom reaches the top.
these were at cheney lake, another favorite and close place to walk the dogs. lots of baby ducks/geese out there and there is a small population of loons. would be great to have a property there and hear those loons at night.
cheney ducks...grow babies grow...summer is short.
another day, another walk to university lake.
still lots of summer to enjoy so i better get to bed and try to see some stuff. these past few weeks have been a lazy run with my leg, i'm feeling ready to get back out there and enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. Call me if you head to the dog park or the beach, the next couple of days I have 2 dogs and 3 kids who really need to run
    Katie

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  2. What has happened to your leg? I guess I need to read back for the answer--maybe I will since I've got a few weeks before the semester begins. I've been missing my vicarious vacation here at your pictures and stories...take care.

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  3. Nice pictures Betsy. Love your philosophy on yard work.
    Chubbs

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