life is strange....

sometimes it is. these are some sort of alaskan cotton. it was cool as it was all over the place by the sides of the road. i had to stop. i tend to stop a lot. stretch the legs and snap a few photo's of stuff that i find interesting. these were on the way to delta junction.
blossom is just wet after our morning walk in the rain at donnelly. it's been warm and dry since i returned to anchorage. i was thinking of taking a bike ride this evening, but laziness took over. probably should have taken the ride. haven't been on my bike nearly enough this summer. texted with a friend and spoke to a few siblings today. it's my brother's birthday. he turned 50 today. i'm the last of the siblings under 50 and that won't last too much longer.
these are at moon lake heading up to delta junction as well. the weather deteriorated as the darkness came, but not horribly.
got a surprising phone call today. an old co-worker, a spouse of another co-worker who passed away. hadn't heard from him really since my friend died. took me a minute to figure out who was calling as it was so random. the strange bit was that i think he was showing interest. not that i'm not worthy of interest, but i'm not sure i'm ready to date the widowers of friends passed. is this what happens as you get older? haven't dated for awhile, i always tell people i tend to avoid it at this point as it feels like going to a store and trying on all size 2 pants when you really wear a size 8. so depressing and demoralizing. it also seems that men in my age bracket have issues with alcohol, child pornography or just have so much baggage i can't be bothered. i have no plans to leave alaska at this point so i think i'll just have to pass on this dating opportunity. flattering to at least be noticed as female as at this age i pretty much feel invisible to the opposite sex.
you just never know in this life....was nice to talk to an old friend, strange, but nice.
walked the dogs out at little campbell lake. some road construction which i think probably detered some from going so not too crowded. it was warm out so we just went slow. still some nice hills out there for me to say it was a bit of a workout. rio seems tired and blossom didn't bring her toy over to toss tonight.
felt like summer still here. not too much colour change in kincaid. again i helped a family of tourists who seemed a bit confused and lost out there. that is easy to do in kincaid. they have little maps all over and they seem really helpful, but in truth, i have no idea why, they are often wrong. they seem helpful as when you look at where you are and at the may right there, it all makes sense, but then after you walk a bit you discover that somehow you aren't where you thought you were. the map's are somehow wrong.
figured i was on the other side of these mountains and the next day when i came back down the richardson i would be on that other side.
chatted with my sister a bit as well today. always nice to catch up with family. am happy that there were 7 of us. gives you options. it's also surprising how different we all are though really there are just 10 years between the oldest and youngest. we all just had such different experiences in our childhoods. it's crazy how different a few years makes.
stopped at this new rest area outside tok after i left chicken. it was really nice, super clean bathrooms! the picture above was on a display. the old bridge is now gone and they did use some parts of it in the building of the new rest area. i liked that. i'm sure i've been on the old bridge and now i've been on the new bridge. obviously, i didn't take the picture above as it was on a display. the river is called the tanana river.
it was quite windy there. i fed the girls, you can see blossoms coat blowing in the wind.
part of the old bridge. below you can barely see the connector side to the old bridge across the water. probably better if you click on it.
neil armstrong passed away this past week. first person to walk on the moon. what an amazing life he led. quietly, but he lived life to the fullest without needing to have the attention directed at him. he actually seemed to avoid it. in 1969 when he walked on the moon i had just turned 5. i do remember watching the broadcast on our black and white tv, but barely. at that age you mostly remember that everyone else acted like it was a huge thing. i get nervous flying in jumbo jets let alone taking off in a rocket headed away from earth. takes a brave person to go where others have never gone before. so many bad things could have happened, but when you fight the fear you also get the rewards sometimes. he walked on the moon, not many humans can say that. i'm sure he never regretted taking that ride and the fear he may have felt was forgotten when he stepped on the lunar surface. my hats off to people like neil armstrong who are more brave than i could ever be, our world is better because of you!
catching up on my newspaper reading from the weekend. strange news. a guy donned a gorilla type suit and tried to drum up fake sasquatch sightings in montana. he was hit by cars and killed. he was only 44, alcohol is suspected to have been a factor...one actually hopes so as that is a pretty idiotic way to die.
another part of the bridge used as art at the rest stop. i know a lot of pictures for a rest stop. i'm not even a sign reader, but i did find the signs here interesting and actually read them.
two teens died in tibet after lighting themselves on fire in protest of the chinese rule over tibet. so sad. can't imagine a worse death. guess it's called self-immolating. the little note said that this brings the number to 51, people in tibet who have killed themselves in this way as protest.
these are on route back from chicken. pictures will be mixed up as i post as they come from various camera's and i'm way to lazy to try and get it all in order at this point.
nothing on tv but the gop convention and so i popped in some "big bang" reruns. way better than gop stuff. can't believe people save their vacation days to attend these things. again, strange world.
another news story was about the killing fields in cambodia. so many lives destroyed, those who survived have never gotten peace. mass graves still get discovered, but not investigated. the numbers are horrific. one in four cambodians died at the hands of the khmer rouge. almost 2 million people. it's just so hard to imagine such hatred and misery. bodies of those killed blended with fertilizer and scattered over the rice fields. don't know how these things happen, the frightening thing is how easily people are convinced to turn against others. it's like we are surrounded by killers just waiting for someone to tell them to kill. to convince them that they would be justified to kill their neighbors. the worst is that these aren't isolated events, they happen over and over again. isn't reading the paper fun! yikes.
tonight i think i'll check out the latest edition of national geographic, perhaps it will be a bit less brutal.
back to work tomorrow night. i spoiled myself and cooked a roast tonight in the crock pot. homemade gravy and homemade mashed potatoes...yummy!!