still have a headache, but wine does make me care about it less...

i rarely drink alcohol, but occasionally i get a killer headache. just seemed like it couldn't hurt. went to the gym last night and again did my trifecta work out. jogged a slightly faster mile, rowed for a whopping 7 minutes and then did 20 laps of swimming. as usual i knotted up. there is always pain involved to some extent with my activities due to my history of a winging scapula. generally, i go ahead and do what i want and then deal with the knots as they come. today, the knots came. did make it out for a nice walk today though. sometimes a walk in the fresh air will help the knots. saw a few moose and the dogs were happy, but the knots remained. oh well.
these are pictures that i put into computer last week from old cd's that i have. the first few are from a trip out to st george and st paul islands. these are collectively known as the pribilofs. this cd is from our time on st paul. st george is more difficult to get to and away from, but it is by far the more beautiful island. the accomadations are also superior. there are caribou herds on both islands. we saw the st george herd, but not the st paul herd...just the bones from many animals.

lots of lichens on the rocks. i had reward points from a credit card so i will now excitedly await a big book on lichens and such. very excited!! soon i may be able to even tell what these lichens are!!

the pribilofs are well known for the birds. of course, my friends and i are not birders so i'm guessing there are many birders out there that think this journey was wasted on the likes of us. the other guests in st paul were birders and our first impression was not good. they were snobs and were friendly until they discovered we were not birders, then we were totally snubbed by all. we came to see birds, landscape and the fur seals. we did lots of hikes around the island and i think we saw all there was to see in our brief time there.

we hiked one day to the highest height...not really that high, but the ground is uneven and so walking is not always easy.

these are the views from the islands "peak".

the house smells great as i just baked some apple muffins. those are so tasty! i think i got the recipe in a high school cooking class. do they still do those?

my friend scott enjoys the scenery!

the terrain is a bit rough.

it's been a busy news week. kadaffi is dead. the people seem happy about this. hopefully, the vacany will provide a good opportunity for them and not be filled by another crazy dictator type. alot of wildlife are dead after a guy who owned a wildlife refuge in ohio opened thier cages and let them all loose before killing himself. with lions and tigers running around a small town the police had little options but shooting the animals. always sad. the troops are supposed to come home from iraq by the end of the year. all the best for the iraqi people in running thier country and even better for the military and thier families.

these next bunch are from a paddle out dangerous passage/icy bay. we took a water taxi out from whittier. scott had wondered if i'd be opposed to doing this same trip again. i had done it with another group the year before. of course, our trip was totally wet so i was totally happy to try it again with hopefully improved weather. we had lovely weather and a great trip! the same place can look totally different at any given time. scott again in his favorite place...a kayak in the ice.

in nassau fjord we saw lots and lots of seals and their pups hauled out on ice. we barely paddled in order to try not to spook them. we also spread out a bit, seals spook easily. above the mother had already gotten in and was waiting for her pup to join her.

it was an amazing day out there.

saw a couple of moose today, but they were a ways off and in a boggy area. soon it will be frozen.

my work week was pretty chill. a perk of working with kids is that you are encouraged to goof off. my kid joked about being the king...so i said he was king of room 301! next thing i knew he had posted a note on the door to his room saying he was king of room 301 and that anyone who entered was required to tell a joke. thus i then had to go online and print out some kids jokes so that we could all be prepared. i also made him a paper crown! so adorable!!

finally bought a correct sized blanket for my bed. my other blankets are always too small and can't be tucked properly. i was excited as i got one of those sweet fleece blankets! i love fleece! forget satin and silk...i'll take fleece anyday!

seals have such cute tiny heads. when they pop up near you in the water they look so tiny, then they are hauled out and you see that they are actually much larger. like those ice bergs i guess. what you see above water is just a small fraction of what lies beneath. our rule is to stay clear of any berg that looks as big as a fridge. those things can flip over and thus flip you over. my goal is always to stay out of water that is this cold.

unlike our trip the year before we had amazingly perfect weather!

everyone had a great time.

as i had a headache today i lazed about in front of the tv watching random shows and doing occasional crossword puzzles. i do super easy, fast and fun puzzles. headaches just suck the life out of you! debated a hockey game tonight, but they can be loud so i opted out.

days like today bite as i got very little accomplished. at least the dogs got walked. that is always one of the most important things. always lots of bald eagles seen when we are out paddling. seems like the year before we'd seen loads of them in jackpot bay. it must have been very warm and sunny before we had gone the year before as the water was chocked with ice and we weren't even able to get to nassau fjord or icy bay.

scott again, exploring a small waterfall. he impressed the younger guys on this trip. they went to help carry his kayak up from the beach and the two of them could barely lift it. scott always moved it by himself. this trip we also had chosen the wrong beach one night to camp on. at 1am the tide had come in further than we expected and the water was lapping at our tents. we had no place to go as there was a sheer rock cliff behind us and our tents were up against it. we were lucky a boat didn't pass by and creat a wake. the guys sat watch until the tide receeded. entire beaches come and go every 6 hours up here. you really must be mindful of the tides when you paddle in alaska.

there are always dangers to being out in the wilderness, but the beauty of it brings you back. i have had a few close calls as i'm sure anyone who has spent enough time out there will tell tales of as well.

we all do stupid things, luckily, most of the time nature is more forgiving than you expect. it just takes that one time and one moment to change all that.

always love the reflections on the water!

this is an example of how fast tides change. we had stopped for lunch. you must be vigilant and keep watch of the kayaks lest the tide return and they float away! we caught this loose boat and all was fine.