friends and more rain...

the skies have been showing bits of blue between bouts of rain. i do appreciate a little colour on occasion. worked all weekend really so not as concerned with weather. rain is always good for sleep. one night we got a little sunset. pretty colours.

the car is pretty much ready to go on the roadie...at least according to the honda service shop. oil is changed and all checked out good. while i waited i took the dogs for a walk. one thing i love about anchorage is the easy access to trails scattered all over town. this trail goes out from midtown just a block from the dealership. so i caught the trail at the peanut farm, a local eatery/sports bar. i walked it out to taku lake, looped the lake and returned. perfect timing as the car was ready to go when i arrived back. we probably walked close to 5 miles along the creek.

blossom enjoyed a swim in taku lake. rio got a few sips of water. rio seems to be her own entity at times. she is just a known dog. there was a cargo plane crash and apparently one of those lost frequented university lake. they put his picture there but not his dogs. he looked vaguely familiar to me, but i'm sure if they'd put pictures of him with his dogs i could place him easier. the plane was a military plane and apparently the tourist train passes the wreckage site. my friends were on the train a few days ago and they were told to take no pictures of the wreckage or there would be severe consequences and they were watched. very sad as they were training for the airshow. so 4 pilots lost.

anyway....that really wasn't where i was going with that. people know my dogs, especially rio, more than they know me. on this trail in mid town some good looking male jogger stops to pet rio and then it became clear that he knew rio. sees her at the dog park. i doubt he'd know me from adam if i hadn't had the dogs along.

the day turned out to be beautiful...for awhile anyway, which seems to be the pattern. i'll take some sunshine over no sunshine though. taku lake looked quite lovely.

i actually didn't know for sure which lake this was when i ran into it. i just walked the trail and then i came to this lake. from previous looks at the map i figured this would be taku, but i asked a few people who were walking there and none of them knew the name. luckily, i found signage posted at a parking lot for the lake/park. was nice as i have wanted to try and explore other parks in anchorage area to add a bit of variety to my walks in town.

finally there is a raspberry on my side of the fence. there were quite a few people along the trail the other day picking berries as well. always nice to see families outdoors gathering food from natures bounty.

as the sun was finally out for a stretch of several hours and i got put on call i decided to finally get the new tent out and try to set it up. probably would have gone smoother if i'd found the directions in the zippered area of the bag the tent came in before i attempted the set up. alas, i found it after i was done. so i guess that is proof that the tent is relatively easy to set up. the hardest part was actually trying to get the thing to roll up and fit back in the bag for storage. if you look you can see the ominous clouds in the distance. that night and all through the next day it pretty much poured.

bog and dog park were a few of my walks this week. these flowers were at the bog. pretty!!

got another treat at the bog one day as i heard the sound of those sandhill cranes again. so cute! i didn't get my camera out in time, but here is a not very good picture of them flying over.

blossom stops and sits and seems to quite enjoy looking at these large birds. rio was oblivious. blossom quietly watched the birds til she spied a neighborhood cat, then the barking began and we moved along.

of course, the mushrooms continue to enjoy a good season of growth. this one must have been the victim of mushroom tipping!

the other morning when i got off work, the sun was shining brightly so i headed to the bog. between the dew and the light i got a show extrodrordinaire by the local spiders. fun to play around with the camera and get some fun shots. i am always fascinated with spider webs...though i do hate running into them when i'm out walking.

i probably took too many spider web pictures as usual, but i still think they are fun. different. i'm always in awe at all that i see in this world. i mean that i walk this path hundreds of times and still find new and exciting things out there.

work was breezy for me which is nice. i'm sure i'll make up for it another night. trying to get stuff planned for the trip and then there is this refinance thing. haven't heard from them for several days...hmm.

got a few swims in last week, the water has been chilly in there. i'm a wimp when it comes to chilly water. doubtful i'll immerse myself in the arctic ocean when we get there. will have to settle for walking in for a photo op shot. hope the girls can chill in the car without issue.

just the morning bog shot. so pretty in there.

blue skies again appeared this morning as i came home from work. love when i can see the mountains!! took this from my bedroom window.

got the rest of the slides put on disc. didn't post any today. perhaps another day i'll bore you with more pictures of me from years ago.

today i woke and got moving in hopes of getting a few things accomplished. i took the dogs to campbell creek for a stretch. it's always pretty there. the wind was picking up and i always get a bit nervous of hiking in a strong wind. the wildlife just gets spooked easier in the wind.

and there she is...ran into a moose and her calf. they were fairly chill. i walked slowing and then went off trail to give them a wide girth. don't want some big moose charging me down. overall, i can pass them fairly easily. always have to have a plan for that occasional ornry moose though. i try to never let myself let my gaurd down.

didn't take the good camera so these moose pictures aren't the best. mama and baby though.

ran over to walmart after the walk to meet sandra. not that we love walmart shopping together, but she wanted to borrow some dry bags as she has visitors coming next week so we just met there to do the exchange. with my trip i knew i'd find a few things i needed as well. blossom loves sandra and i think sandra is fond of her as well. she has said that blossom is a dog that makes one contemplate acquiring a dog. she's just such a happy dog, makes you smile.

my day wasn't quite finished up yet. some old friends were in town. they are just finishing their alaskan vacation. i haven't seen kris and mike since we all worked over at eagle rock emergency pet clinic years ago. so i think that's been close to 20 years. they were engaged at that time and now thier two kids are growing fast and mike as become a vet. nice, nice folks so it was fun to meet up with them after all these years for a dinner. kris's folks were also there. so this is me, kris and thier daughter. very cute and nice kids.

this one is me, kris and mike. we ended up at orso's. they weren't sure what time they could meet and glacier brewhouse is always packed. orso's is owned by the same folks who own the brewhouse so i found us a place to eat there in the bar. food is very good. i just got the king crab appetizer, yum, followed by a ceasar salad and then we all shared a chocolate molten cake. the kids seemed to quite enjoy that treat!! they were blessed with wonderful weather, saw denali and even got really lucky and saw a group of humpback whales doing thier feeding. it's called bubble feeding. not seen very often, but extremely cool from the video's i've seen. i've never seen it live.

my friend anita is back in town for business so maybe we can get together as well. she also worked at eagle rock clinic. i have many good friends still from my days there. some jobs turn out to be more than just jobs and the co-workers turn out to be more than just co-workers.

i'll try for poetry tomorrow. i'm sleepy now though.