otter love them otters!!

 very fun encounter with an otter at Deep Creek. at first i thought it was a rock, then i figured it was a dead mammal as it wasn't moving at all.  then the dogs got closer and it woke up. 

 did an overnight to Homer.  i don't go long to these places but i really pack it in when i do go.  we stop to walk a lot along the way.  Deep Creek and Ninilchik are some favorite stops.  Deep Creek is a place where the charter fishermen enter/exit the water and at the end of their day they dump all the leftover fish bits down the beach.  generally that means loads of bald eagles...this day it also meant this otter.

 i suspect it had filled up on halibut much like a big thanksgiving meal...then crashed to wait for the incoming tide.  haha.

 it never seemed overly anxious about our presence, but it did make it's way to the water.

 you never know what you will see why you are out and about in Alaska...it's one of the many things i love about living here...and a reason i never like to leave.  fomo as they say. 

 i walked a lot over those two days and the dogs ran a lot. i also drove a lot.  we are all a bit tired today.  did sleep great last night. back to work for a stretch now. 

 i have the dogs managed for my little trek to Sitka...thanks CM.  so that is the next summer thing on the list.

 haven't really watched otters "walk" on land.  like all marine mammals they are much more graceful and adept in the water.  fun to watch it creep along. i know it could have moved faster had it really been alarmed.

 the dogs did check out this strange "dog" I'm sure they thought.  the otter no doubt has some tales to tell his otter friends when he meets them in the big sea.

 thankful my dogs have little to no interest in all the dead stuff at this beach.  it makes for a fun adventure coming and going to Homer. meandered all day and grabbed pizza and checked in at 9pm.  off to the spit to look for sea stars...none there.  no idea where they migrated to. 

 then got lucky with the sunset and back to the hotel to crash. of course, Tusker decided to crash before me...and he took up the entire bed.  that is how he is!  no peep from them all night. 

 in the morning we caught a nice low tide at Bishops Beach.  out for hours enjoying our beach time and then wandered around looking at fireweed before making our way back north again.

 i can smell smoke here today in Anchorage from the Swan Lake Fire.  we passed through the fire area.  they were still dropping stuff on it and there were still  hot spots noted.

 I'm still looking through my pictures.  not too many eagle shots since Tusker has a desire to chase bald eagles so i don't get close enough to many for decent photos. 

 i was excited to see if any of these otter shots turned out and i also had some fun sunset shots i was excited to see.

 we stopped several times on the way back north as well.  the dogs got to run at Deep Creek again.  the tide was in more.  they were pretty wiped out by the time we arrived home and crashed again. tired dogs...that is the ultimate success!

 the dogs are fairly easy to call back despite the interest over this sea creature...

 as it moved to the waters edge they made a second run to check him out...i called them back again.  back to the tennis ball.  that is their main focus...great to always have that. 

 could just as easily be a bear or moose...an otter is a bit more unusual though.

 just love the way it moves.

 Tusker heads over to check it out again.

 stopping and returning.  such good puppies!!

 not sure how much damage an otter would or could do. they do crack open shells so i suspect they can do some damage.  so could the bald eagles but thankfully, most wildlife is pretty tolerant.

 headed back to sea

 some last looks at us...we were as strange to him no doubt as he was to us.

 back in it's element.

 so for sure a highlight of my short trek south.

 a few cute goslings from the dog park last week they are getting much bigger as are their wings. still little puff balls.  birds are so fluffy and cute as babies.

 the fall out from the crazy and racist tweets this weekend continues.  is it racist, is it not racist...so many excuses and folks on the right falling all over themselves trying to defend this crap without putting their feet in their mouths over it.  for those who may be confused...it is a racist sentiment.  it's all getting hard to determine because we hear so much crap from this potus that is inappropriate and rude that we are all getting numb to it. 

 the right likes to complain that it's all about being politically correct.  i would agree some of the political correct stuff got ridiculous...but at it's core the intention of all the politically correct stuff was respect and kindness.  how awful that you should be respectful and kind to your fellow man..boo hoo. as i see all the hatred and anger that has been fueled by the right though i have to wonder if humans need to be nasty to other humans.  if the whole politically correct thing caused people to bottle up that nastiness and now it's exploding...rather than just slowly escaping over time.

 at one of his hate rallies the other day...where by the way he really says nothing at all, but it's entertaining and allows the haters to scream and get together in their hatred so that seems to make it all okay. as he spoke of the 4 new dems, they all began to chant send them back or whatever it was. he did nothing to stop it of course...today however he's trying to put out the message that maybe this isn't a good chant. fine for him to text it but they probably shouldn't be chanting it?  hmm.

 trump seems to be a product of the worst of conservative talk shows/radio.  they have for months called out these 4 women as the next devils...i mean you can't go after Hillary for 2020.  who to re-direct their hate...to the squad i guess.  they have nothing for their poor constituents but hate.

 I'm sure these folks have a lot of security on them but all this hatred directed at others will eventually lead to something worse than a chant at a rally. I'm sure those on the right will fall all over themselves again about how it couldn't possibly be the fault of trump, how he didn't really mean it to come out that way.  the excuses and the but the left speech will reign over all no matter what horror this man brings down upon our nation.

 a few more from the beach in Anchorage the other day. 

 saw trump talking today...he looked more orange than usual.  is he actually becoming more orange...or is it really a shade of yellow...yellow being the color of a coward.  if that is the case then graham and others should also be looking pretty yellow about now. 

 have watched a few of those Letterman interviews.  the last one i watched was Howard Stern.  I'm not a big fan of his...literally never have listened to his stuff but i have read other interviews and then i saw this one.  for all his shock jock stuff he actually seems pretty normal in regular life. 

 he likes trump, loved to interview him because he just says whatever and that was always good for the entertainment...but he was really surprised that trump went this route to be potus.  he tried to get stern to support him but stern wouldn't support him and tried to get him to not take this path. trump, according to stern, is a party boy.

 that party boy partied with epstein..sounds like many did who are in high places and they may soon find themselves outed for behaving badly. would that turn his rally crowd against him...not likely.  they have been excusing his bad behaviour for years now.

 the only thing that would turn any of them was if he had been partying with young boys...that would do it. if epstein had been doing this with underage boys rather than underage girls he never would have left prison in Florida.  that is the society we live in.

 i do hope one day folks wake up to who this man really is, trump that is.  that there is a sense of shame for how he has led a segment of the population to a place where they go to his rally and shout send her back. 

 at this point my feeling is that blood will be shed over this fool of a leader.  that either his followers will kill his so called evil enemies or they will rebel outright if he loses the 2020 election as they will never believe the results. 

 blood has already been shed though.  there have been more hate crimes, more shootings, deaths at the border.

 the rest are from the trek south with the iphone.  more to follow.

 the kitten cuddles with her pup family...so cute

 Bishops Beach

 caught the train coming and going.  always enjoy catching the train...especially with the fireweed.  some of the fireweed was at it's peak...berries have already been spotted. was it the heat or are we in for an early winter.

 i enjoy winter though...better than heat in my mind.

 i am feeling ready for another nap.  will post more another day. 

 Ivy so focused on the tennis ball that she doesn't notice she is standing on a dead fish. 

thankful for: A.  that i have dogs that do not roll in or eat the dead stuff they find  B.  another safe and successful adventure  C.  fireweed!!