bear, moose and a few unlucky rabbits

 that is life in the big city.  haven't seen the black bear for a few days.  probably headed out and about. weather too nice to stay in that den too long. 

 this gal was just eating on the trees by the road one day. 

 today i took the dogs for a 5 mile trek out Powerline Pass.  they did some pretty major running.  were pretty tired when we got back to car. 

 overall they were well behaved with all the bikes/ski's and humans out there.  got lots of compliments on how well trained and well behaved my dogs are...of course, there are also those other more rare moments of misbehavior.  several steps forward, the occasional leap up. they even stayed a few times when there were off leash dogs going past which is really a leap forward.  if they don't i don't get upset, i mean that is a hell of a lot of temptation for any dog.

 may try to head to Byron tomorrow.  we shall see.

 kept myself busy today, sweeping outside, smashing up ice, sanding the wood on the front of the house. will try to salvage that for a bit with some fresh stain. 

 it was a great day to just find excuses to be outside.

 later i was working on a little beading. i am a total novice beader, but i was thinking i may make some bracelets for WARIS, little letters, sadly, a bought this bag of letters and it only had one A.  really!!  ONE!  got lots of X's, like i need those!

 figure I'll do a little tie dying as well.  fresh shirts for this weeks lecture.  Ryan is back off the island and on the road system so hopefully, we will see him on Tuesday.  if not, i guess i will have to speak....hopefully that doesn't happen.  well I'll have to speak anyway as far as running it of course.

 last year i took my photo album from my trip.  upgraded to a usb card and one of those electronic frames.

 also have to take my Walrus mask for the drawing.  people we enjoying that for selfies as well.  Speedy will make her now famous walrus cupcakes.  pretty much the two of us running it.  hoping to do a live feed of the event as well for facebook. 

 i also have our annual skills fair at work so I'll try to do that on Wednesday.  so a busy week kind of. 

 need to throw the goodie bags together for Tuesday as well, that is easy though. 

 pretty sad day in the world today.  a bus carrying a Hockey team of teenagers was hit by a semi i think it was...nearly the entire team died.  so devastating. 

 there was also what appears to possibly be another chemical attack in Syria.  horrific if that is true again.  i think we all know how possible it is.  those people have been through so much.  what was once a beautiful place, it seems to be rubble now.  the Kurds have fought along side the US and done admirably, now there is talk of just pulling out and leaving them to fend for themselves in a place where Put has joined with those who wish them destroyed...seems like we will just come out looking like crap again.  create more enemies that were once friends.

 for decades we have screwed up that region, all in the name of greed, and oil dependence.  now we are screwing up our own nation as well in the name of greed and oil.  i still drive a car though.  i am part of the problem. 

 we could all do a bit more to help out our planet.  i think many are trying.  recycling, planning your errands to use less gas, bundling up rather than turning up the heat.  drives me crazy at work since we have so much waste generated.  hospitals are terrible at wasting.

 bear paparazzi, always entertaining.  the bear seems to pay little notice to those with camera's. 

 looks pretty chill resting near the tree

 speaking of recycling...a ultra runner lost a few toes to frostbite during a long ultra in Canada so he's donating those toes to the local bar in the Yukon Territory.   there is a thing where you pay for a drink, they plop an old toe in the glass and you take a drink from it to get your name in the big toe drink book. the rule though is you are not to swallow the toe!! that really is extreme recycling though.

 this administration is costing tax payers major bucks. his cabinet members keep getting caught spending crazy amounts of money for travel perks, extra security, expensive furniture...not to mention his frequent and super expensive treks to Florida.  his wall is not getting built, but he's claiming it is...it would cost billions to build the wall he sold his base on...instead all the budget gave him was money for repairs. now he's sending the National Guard to the border because Fox News is running our country. 

 he's convinced there are caravans of people, which really amounts to hundreds of people who are making their way to the border in an attempt to seek asylum.  numbers of people crossing the border have decreased for years...visa over stays, people that actually fly here legally, are probably the bulk of our illegals.

 regardless, it seems like overkill, other POTUS have sent troops..it didn't work then either.  they are using homeland security to keep tabs on media and bloggers and such...they could be watching me.  if they take over in a big flourish, they will have me marked.  how convenient. 

 he's allowing elephant ivory in on a "case by case basis".  he is opening up the waters off almost all our land to oil drilling.  taking back protected lands for his friends in the oil, mining and coal industries.  just reversed a bill that would protect women in the work place.  it's all the little things.  the destruction of the EPA, the weakening of our State Department, the damage of constantly going after the media, the FBI, the Dept of Justice.  it's the scary fact that he tweets what he watches in real time from fox and friends and listens to Hannity...Fox is running our nation.

 not to mention what a tool he is.  putting us in a trade war with China.  so much for your little tax break, we will all pay more for goods and services.  the farmers will really take a hit though...apparently, he exempted his daughter.  nepotism runs high in this administration. 

 sun wasn't on my side for these bear pictures, but they still came out fun.  not that particular.  just having fun.

 there is the bear all chill in the tree.

 those are some pretty big paws though.

 at his den door.

 Puerto Rico is still not back up to normal and hurricane season is on the way again.  will have to see what happens this year...this iitoo was not a friend to them though. 

 hit the dunes yesterday so these next few are from there.

 a bit cloudy out there, at least it looks like it may have been wet on the Kenai.

 pups always enjoy the dunes..really they enjoy being outside anywhere.

 the rest are from today.

 a few spots kind of punchy...i went off trail to pick up dog poop and dropped down to my knee's...i know that is dedication.  got snow in my boots so luckily it was a warm day. 

 tiny buds starting to appear.

 biking with his ski's and dog...off to play somewhere up the trail.

 snow drifting looked like waves.

 you can see the mostly submerged bridge off in the distance.

 we turned around at the bridge cut off.  the trail was a more punchy as the afternoon warmed.  we got over 5 miles in anyway.

 lots of folks out there.   people really appreciate great weather.  hope it's not great weather on Tuesday so we get a good turn out.

 tree's look submerged as well.

 Ivy was even laying down as we returned a few times.

 i could hear Ptarmigan all over, stopped often to just listen and look...as you can see they do blend in.  i did finally see these guys and then the dogs flushed one out as well.  i suspect they will remember the sound these make as they were pretty excited.

 lots of tennis ball chasing..of course, the pups dropped the ball when we were nearly back.  no idea where that went...another gift to the next dog on the trail i guess. 

 saw bits of rabbit out there as well. this not so lucky rabbit foot in a tree. not sure how it got there.  another time there was just the back end of the rabbit ...that was near where we lost the tennis ball.  it was there as we walked out but not on the return.  some birds must have nabbed it.  ravens were about.  the dogs were sniffing around the area.  probably dropped the toy then. 

grateful for:  A.  sunny days and outdoor time  B. time to listen to birds and enjoy the weather C.  health to be able to walk and walk for hours.