just a quick middle of the night note

 i made it through the Homer pictures last night and got started on the photo's from the real cameras for Harriman.  still a lot to look through.  these are the iphone shots from Homer. 

 i have wanted to get down there for weeks so i had a few days before work started, the tides and weather looked like they were going to cooperate....so i called, they had a room and we headed out. 

 figured the dogs deserved a beach trip after i was away all weekend..they are wiped out!! our full Homer day i walked 8 miles on the beach so you know they did at least double, plus swimming.

 i was debating going back out for the low tide/sunset, which was near 11:30 pm, but they were beat and so was i...so we bagged it and went to  bed instead.

 i had seen a post that said there were sea stars. i made a guess as to where they were and i found them...then i became a bit obsessed with them.  they are cute.  the stars have had a few rough years so it's great to see their numbers coming back.  i didn't see any at Bishops Beach.  these were all on the spit near where the ferry docks.

 there were some really low tides! both mornings i hit the lowest part of the tide down by the sea stars.  Bishops Beach was really far out as well so we hit that several times. the dogs do not concern themselves with scenery.  they just want to run and swim.  they did a lot of that for sure.

 our full day was really beautiful and sunny as you can see! the usual wind blew. no rain fell so that was wonderful.

 there are a lot of stars.  i did see a gull with a star in it's mouth. 

 made for some fun photo ops though. 

 look at all those stars!!

 yesterday we walked far out on the low tide at Bishops before heading to the spit.  we had to get to where the water was...which was way, far out there.  the dogs wanted to play in the water though. 

 they were great in the hotel...only one bark was uttered.  the folks that were in the room next to us were impressed when they saw us come out of the room. they never heard a peep and had no idea that two large dogs were staying next to them.  i directed them to the stars, they were tourists.

 took a few black and whites of road construction.  there is quite a bit of it on the Kenai presently.  stops weren't too long  i guess.  it's part of summer in AK.

 stars holding arms

 ate at a few of my favorite places, did a little light shopping.  i do always enjoy Homer time.  it's nearly a 5 hour drive south without construction.  there was a bit of rain on the way down, none on the return though.  5 moose spotted heading south, only 2 coming back north.  no bears, lots of baldies of course. 

 I'll head back to bed for a bit after i write this.  back to work tonight.  we shall see what that brings.

 the iitoo is refusing to do his job....which is impeachable by the way.  the closer the investigations get to the truth the more deranged he becomes.  Nixon and Clinton both managed to govern despite their investigations....as did Bush and Obama.  not sure why so many feel the need to protect and defend Mr Bonespurs...he does not deserve their sympathy. 

 lupine are starting to show up....just about to blow up the place with lupine...always a favorite

 above is tern lake...we stopped at the little day area there...hardly ever used, so a good place to let the dogs stretch...and me

 finally found the dead grey whale.  it's off the road on the left after the Portage cut off.  wasn't expecting this large animal to have been pushed that far up.  you can see they did a necropsy.  sad...they have found like 60 dead grey whales up and down the coast.  not clear why they are thin and dying.  i think we have found at least 3 dead up here.  this one, one in Cordova area and another around Kodiak i believe. 

 back to happy sea stars.

 and deranged potus.  the courts have been packed by McConnell with conservative judges...interesting that McConnell allowed a Russian Oligarch to be taken off the list of those sanctioned...then suddenly the guy promises to do business in his state.  the ties to Rus just never seem to end.  suddenly, the right is perfectly happy to become Rus buddy.

 despite him packing the courts, 2 have found that the iitoo does not get to block banks from releasing records to the investigation team in the House.  the GOP is doing everything it can to protect their beloved iitoo from being investigated...always hilarious that they are protecting this guy when they went after Clinton for sex in the oval office with every thing they had...but secret conversations and financial ties with a dictator is no big deal.  if any of this crap was being done by any Dem they would have been on it with every thing they have. 

 can you imagine if Obama had secret meetings with Put or if he or Hillary owed money to Rus banks or had been working on deals with Rus as Rus was doing what it could to interfere with our election to benefit them.  really?  really? no agenda is worth selling your soul, but plenty seem willing to do just that. 

 the abortion attacks continue.  they are putting up every ridiculous law they can in hopes one of them will make it's way to the supreme court and they can overturn Roe V Wade.  guess it's worth destroying a nation over.  the irony is always that no matter how intensely they work to protect these embryo's they could give a damn about the kids or the families that have them once they are born.  they do not want to support any of them post delivery...

 if they put any effort into protecting and supporting the kids and families that they already have i may find a bit more support on their anti abortion stance....as it is everything they do proves otherwise. 

 they want far worse punishments for the victims of rape than the perpetrators of it.  they want to jail MD's for 99 years for performing an abortion?  it's irrational. they want women to get abortions only before they know they are pregnant...one guy even said that.  that women are free to get abortions before they know they are pregnant.  of course, the bulk of those creating the laws are males...none of the laws go after the males that cause the pregnancy...only the woman of course. 

 our dictator wanna be has the full support of the GOP at this time.  we can become  a Christian theocracy as long as they finally get their way.  the GOP is anti compromise. 

 look at all those stars...

 Tusker is less impressed. 

 many of them were very active.....tiny little legs moving them around.  you could see trails in the sand

 another Taquan Air floatplane went down just outside of Ketchikan on Metlakatla.  may be a bad year for small planes.  seems like we get trends of accidents each summer. some summers it's small planes, other summers it's atv accidents or moose encounters or falls off the big mountain.  some summers it seems the bear attacks are more common. or the summer of motorcycle accidents.  it's strange how that happens.  hoping that the plane trend does not continue though. 

 summers should be full of flowers and baby animals and happy sea stars.  :-)

 that is a power position right there.  some look like they are dancing

 quite a few otters seen out there this visit...and when the pups were playing a large sea lion began to pop up...so then i kept the pups on shore for a bit.  those sea lions are large and i wouldn't want the pups to get bit by one of them

 i hit the sea star area 3 times on my two night, three day stretch in Homer. 

 so loads of sea star pictures

 below was Bishops beach on the first night.  i made it there before 9pm so we checked in and walked to the beach...the pups know the way.  it's just down the road.  perfect!!

 back to sea stars...

 this guy is walking above.

 above is again at Bishops...the iphone always load all funky. strange

 didn't see any of those sun stars just these guys.

 well, i should try and get more rest.  will need to wake up, do bills, walk dogs and get groceries before work stretch begins again. 

 i adjusted my work week so i would have my Birthday off, but that screwed up another kayak trek.  will have to figure out something fun to do with my time off.

thankful for A.  return of the sea stars in Homer  B.  two safe and fun adventures  C.  happy, sleepy puppies