remodel depression hits....

 was having a hell of a time getting even a hole into the furr down.  that is one of the names for those boxes that fill the space over the cabinets. silly me bought cabinets that will go up into that space so now i will have to remove these.

 my jigsaw scares the crap out of me.  kind of like my weed whacker.  too loud, too powerful.  thankfully i did not cut anything critical. i did get a hole in one box, enough to see that there is a pipe and wires inside there...so I'm thinking i should leave this to the professional.  i will do what i can, what I'm not afraid of doing.

 just hate when i have to admit that something that seems like i should be able to do...i need help with.  i keep trying to remind myself that in the end it will all be okay....and if it's not, it's not yet the end. just ordered the tile i liked.  I'm not great at math and square footage to either i will have too little or i can put tile throughout the entire downstairs. 

 today my friend LS joined me at Powerline Pass with the pups.  Ivy is coughing very little now so it seems like a pretty subclinical infection.  whew!  Tusker never really had much of note. 

 we did spot several moose out there today.  the moose congregate in this valley for the Rut...which is to say they meet here for mating rituals.  it can get pretty packed with all sorts of moose and moose activities.  we had a few males, one was pretty HOT as far as moose go.  he had a pretty amazing rack.  there were also a few females out there. one was super young, way too young. i had to wonder if she was actually the calf of the older female.  she was quite a ways off, seemed to young to have been booted out yet...so either she is with that female or as LS said, she may be bear bait.  :-( the cycle of life.

 the moose seemed to figure out pretty quickly that she was way too young to play the adult moose games...see other animals seem to be able to get this. 

 the debate rages on over Kavenaugh.  with the hard line Christians defending a man who quite possibly spent his teen and young adult years drunk and being overly handsy with the females around him.  i know that seems backwards that the Christians would support this, but that is how it is in our mixed up world. 

 in actuality, it's exactly how it has been for generations.  men getting a pass on bad behavior while women are accused of lying or treated like they are the abusers for daring to bring it up.

 loved how this plant is not committed to changing for fall.

 lichen below.

 Ivy in her infinity pool. haha. love the leaves.

 these are the leaves that are falling into the pond.

 should be a hot tub.

 leaves are falling all over town.

 there is snow on the very top of the mountain.

 a little rainbow to brighten our walk the other day. this was gasline/powerline/tank

 Cosby got 3-10 years.  strange to see him in shackles. always amazing to see people who seem to have it all, lose it all. sad as well that he allowed himself to give in to his worst urges which ended up destroying the life he had.

 article in ADN about the permafrost melting up north up here.  there are some lakes that have been seen bubbling from gas leaking out.  as the permafrost melts more and more carbon dioxide is released as is methane gas.  the gas forming bubbles in these lakes seems to be mostly methane i think it is....some of the bubbles are as large as grapefruit. as lakes grow due to melting permafrost the ground beneath the lake leaks methane gas.  this scientist has studied over 300 lakes up there...no doubt battling thousands of mosquito's in her research...but this particular lake was boiling.  it is the size of like 20 football fields according to the article and boiling, due to the constant gas release.

 having fun with leftover mushrooms and fall leaves. the warming of the arctic leads to more warming.  as lakes form they cause more melt to happen, speeding the warming process and releasing more gas into our atmosphere. always learning new words.  there are Thermokarst lakes, this one is not a pure thermokarst lake i guess.  a thermokarst lake, lakes that form when the wedges of ice within permafrost melt and create voids that then fill with water. continued growth of these lakes could more than double release of green house gases by 2100. it's pretty technical, but an interesting read. 

 liked this set up for this mushroom below.

 didn't see any mushrooms today.  dogs had a great day though.  they've done lots of hiking

 loads of reds in the trails near the house, a few up on powerline. still some daisies up there today though.

 think there have been a few fatal small plane crashes.  a pair of hunters passed away outside of Healy when their plane crashed.  i thought i heard of another crash with one person on board who did not survive.  not sure where that was. always a risk with all these planes flying all over up here.  always sad though.  these two were in their 40's. 

 catching up on news.  in Aniak a woman and her brother lived in a small house together.  they must have been drinkers sadly...she was drunk and stabbed him.  sounded pretty matter of fact when the authorities arrived. guess she stated that she'd stabbed her brother and he was dead. she was 61, her brother was 58.  empty bottles of whiskey.  that alcohol can sure be a terrible thing for those who can't control their intake. 

 was just chatting with my friend Gnat.  she's in CA.  she made me feel better about my lack of progress on the kitchen...said I'm doing more than most folks do.  she knows quite a bit about construction.  always good tips. 

 love the reds!!

 these are on the Bivouac trail from the other day.  these are recent pictures. I'll sneak back other stuff from the summer again.  I'll just go back and forth...hopelessly behind in photo's but it's fun to meander through the summer

 after my cabinet exploration i opted to just watch a light movie, "27 dresses".  always a good one. 

 i have worn my share of bridesmaid dresses though i haven't been in a wedding...the weddings i was always in i never saw.  that is the way it works in the Mormon church.  unless you have gone through the temple yourself you can't watch others get married.  being the youngest i was not allowed to see any of my siblings weddings, which i always found odd and annoying admittedly.  i was in good standing with the church for most of them i think, but that is the rule.  i have not saved any of my old bridesmaid dresses though. 

 tiny yellow mushrooms on rotting wood

 still some berries to put in the mushrooms. 

 this tree is down the street from me.  it was just so pretty and then i saw the little birdhouse. 

 this tree below is one of my favorites in Anchorage.  it's at Kincaid park.  it's actually a few trees growing together.  i have loads of photo's of it I'm sure.

 these are from the other day, i took the pups to the beach.  here they are on the trunk of the tree.

 the first shot on this post is also this tree.  there was another super pretty tree right down from my brothers house in Texas.  i think i took several photos of it when i went walking while they went to church. 

 looks pretty impressive in the fall i think.

 a few from the beach.  they got all muddy but they had a blast

 they weren't too bad yet though.

 will be interesting to see if the iitoo fires Rosenstein this week.  Hannity spoke directly to trump through the TV and told him not to.  like romper room!!

 a picture of some teens running in the mud flats. later they played a ball game out there.  they got way more muddy than my dogs did.

 also Avenati has some big reveal coming  up tomorrow i think...another Kavenaugh claim.  just seems fitting to not let those pesky GOP members get their pick after all the crap they pulled on Obama.  funny how they are all talking like they have some need to do this quickly despite the fact that they kept the seat open for over a year to prevent any chance of Obama getting his pick or even entertaining it just for spite.  they play so dirty...but they can't handle it when it's done to them.  big babies.  what goes around, comes around.  it's all playground rules in DC.   hope soon we can elect some grown ups and get rid of the old guard. 

 tiny clam shells...

 Tusker waiting his turn. he knows he doesn't need to run back every time.  he just waits...so funny.

 well, it is getting late.  I've had a long day.  off to bed. 

thankful for: A.  those who are brave and speak out, brave enough to persevere despite all the nastiness being tossed at them  B.  the hope for the future...on days when the present looks grim.  C.  walking, friends and dogs...to help with the stress of day to day life.