a slightly pale and frazzled pair here. tanya and i on the float plane, ready to head back to dillingham. our pilot, rick, of tikchik air has informed us the flight back should be much better than the boat trip we had.
these first ones are back in dillingham. the last day we had we'd thought of doing other stuff but in the end we all just happily wandered around dillingham and then gathered back at a set time. fun to just relax and take photo's. they obviously have had a great art teacher since the last time i was there as the town has loads of new murals and art done by locals. very cool.
the kingfisher b&b becomes luggage central.
another cool mural in town on the back of a gas station. did i mention the gas price was $6.82/gal out there.
we had sunshine in anchorage today. i had my annual doc check up at 1:30 so tough to get too much of a big hike in. took the girls north up patterson, not much of a walk but the yard was calling me. my old push mower is starting to make me yearn to upgrade to a real live mower. as painful as it is. the grass just grows at warp speed in the summers here. after a week with moisture on the lawn, today was my first chance and it's hard to get through the deep grass. the push mower doesn't cut it as short as a motorized one so it needs to be cut more often. got out the edger as bit as well. the battery pack lasts such a short time.
always feels good to get the workout of the push mower, the edger and the raking that is involved...but i am getting older. perhaps perm fund time and post season sales.
i was obviously starting to miss my fur family at this point in dilingham. took a side alley and ran into these two fellows. they weren't the pet me, friendly sorts, but always good to meet the locals. the guy below doesn't look like a sled dog so i do hope he doesn't spend his winters out here.
always the assortment of used bits laying about in remote alaska. you just have to see the photo ops in it and look past the garbage/pollution element of it.
there were several feline friends doing the meet and greet at this house. they were much friendlier than the canine crowd i came across in dillingham.
today i also finally got the front deck sanded. i'm hoping the weather holds and i can get the front deck stained tomorrow before i walk the dogs. will be so nice to have both decks done!
just like the fish this mural had many individual panels that were decorated by members of the community. in this shot there is a panel with the palin kids names on it. must be before thier last child was born. they have fished out in bristol bay and have family out there so i guess i shouldn't be surprised by this panel, still kinda funny.
some of the kids are quite talented artists. always great to get the youth excited about art and music and such. we've cut back on these areas way too often in my opinion. its the arts that add depth and meaning to our lives and souls. these are area's where people can have access to stress relief and escape from the day to day of life. it's a gift, especially in more remote area's to have a well rounded population that can draw upon these skills to help them cope. lived in ketchikan for 6 years and it was a very artistic community. i know living there was great for my creative side as well. you just have a slower paced life and you can take the time to write and creat.
the bigger picture!
had to highlight a walrus one too.
this next set is from the flight back to dillingham.
these are just views of the lake we landed in once back in town. we circled it first. didn't look all that big or deep to me, but i don't think you really need it to be that deep for a float plane. that is the perk of a float plane.
it's always amazing how few signs of human encroachment you see on flights across bush alaska. still so much untouched. we did see plenty of 4 wheeler tracks. those are terrible to the land out there, it's so fragile and moist.
lots of water, not so many trees.
have continued to enjoy the olympics. track and field isn't my most favorite. i do enjoy the jumps though. it's always amazing how far/high people can go.
gymnastics is about complete i think. happy that aily got gold today. she seems very mature and gracious which is nice. the gymnast, jordon, that everyone thought would kick it seemed to have had a rough go here. there is alot of pressure and i think it's always better to be the one the media doesn't focus on the most.
the two usa womens beach volleyball teams will go up against each other for the gold. i kinda want the team that isn't expected to win to win. kinda seems like someone needs a bit of humbling.
sounds like it was a bad day in alaska for motorcycle riders. one died on the seward highway and another died when he hit a moose. it's been a summer full of trauma's it seems. things come in groups it seems. some summers trauma, others bear attacks, others moose encounters, or motorcycle wrecks or last summer seemed like lots of falls on the mountain and the summer before plane crashes.
i'm trying to meditate for the ride back.
can see lots of white caps but really hard to see the level of waves we dealt with out there. in the distance in the above shot you can see our little round island clouded over.
tanya's camera batteries had died so these photo's were taken by both of us. we just handed my camera back and forth to get views out both sides of the plane. we really had a beautiful and gentle flight. it was lovely!
there was a blip in the paper about the dogs of india. apparently many are rabid. some 20,000 indian's die each year from rabies post dog bites. that is a staggering number. not sure that they have come up with any sort of reasonable plan for dealing with it. the article said they were thinking of sending strays to china as they are known to eat dog meat. nice. seems quite spendy and the dogs can't be deemed as clean and safe to eat in my opinion. sadly, at this point it seems more reasonable to euthanize large numbers of them for their safety as well as the population. canine contraception vaccine, not sure what that will do and when it would be available, but one assumes they'd have to capture the dogs to vaccinate them. apparently, a law in 2001 forbids killing dogs and now they have both dogs and cattle running around. cows don't bite and i suspect they don't pass along rabies very frequently. the dog population numbers in the tens of millions. that is crazy!
some poor german diver totally messed up his dive and landed on his back in the water. that had to hurt. he got zero's for that dive. gotta feel badly for the guy.
guor marial is a true olympian. he is at the olympics under no flag except the olympic flag. i had no idea this was even possible. he is from the newly formed nation of south sudan. the nation has been in existence for just a year and so the structure of the government is still new. too new to be able to plan for olympians. it was suggested this guy run under sudan but considering most of his family was killed in the civil war between north and south sudan by those in the north and that he kidnapped as a young boy and used as an "indentured servant" in the north he really has no desire to run under thier flag. he eventually escaped his captors and was granted refugee status. he now lives and trains in the USA. he had some folks who took an interest in his dilemma and worked it out with the olympic committee.
3 other athletes in this olympics are also participating under the olympic flag due to displacement or government issues in thier homelands. who knew! none of them walked in the opening ceremonies with the other athletes. this are the strories that remind me of the true meaning of the olympics. there are a group of nations that tend to win the medals but there are so many other amazing stories that get lost in the quest for medals. this is one of those. so many people have sacrificed, not just hours of training but true losses of family and friends due to strive in thier home nations and they battle against all odds to try and bring hope back to thier battered nations.
another track athlete is running for haiti for that very reason. haiti was so devastated by the earthquake. this guy is actually born in the united states to haitian parents. he is well educated, so well educated that he was actually roomies at harvard to mark zuckerman of facebook fame. he's the 14th member of facebook. he doesn't run for fame or personal gain, he runs to help a nation heal.
tonight the netherlands got it's very first mens gymnastics medal ever! they rule in winter sports, but it was fun to see this guy. he rocked it on the high bar apparatus thing. actually they all did great tonight on that.
a few pictures up you can see a closer view of round island as we were taking off in the plane.
tanya above, bob in the co-pilot seat below. all happy to be off that boat!!
scott had taken off on the first boat of the morning with the fish and game folks. these are from the next boat which took val, sue and karen off round island.
i'm thinking this is val getting her ride over in the little zodiak. sue has a red hat and karen is in purple so by process of elimination it must be val, right?
gear and people get transferred from land to zodiak to boat then back to zodiak to land on the other side.
these guys had extra gear to deal with on thier trip. that big box for fish and game plus all scotts gear. he seemed to travel pretty light. he and the fish and game folks met these guys back at the floatplane dock, got thier gear and took off on the alaska air jet that night. the rest of us stayed the last night there in dillingham. once scott left the island in the morning, bob, tanya and i never saw him again.
i think both boats ahead of us had decent boat rides back. it did sound like ed may have gone in the drink by the lagoon. not sure.
getting gear prepped for zodiak ride over.
blue skies...the walrus were on the rock. i think they were scared off when the boat engine started up.
tanya enjoys our few hours with blue skies on the island. we would have all been chill with just setting up tents and enjoying another day and hoping for better weather the next day.
i'm trying to be zen...this was before our boat ride from bristol hell.
my tatoo had worn off, but the others show off thiers!!
a few of us get jiggy on the platforms. above is a walrus impersonation. below just goofy.
next boat, at the whale bone with gear and ready to head out. sue, karen and val.
this may be the first boat with scott and fish and game folks on it.
scott helps ed work on the toilet. the toilet guy got dropped off sunday morning, one on island 9 leave island. busy day out there.
well, back to work tomorrow for a few. haven't gotten off my night schedule this week. hopefully, i can get a few longer hikes in next week. planning a pool/bbq gathering for next tuesday. who knows how many will show up. will have to clean the house and prep for that over the weekend. good night.
a slightly pale and frazzled pair here. tanya and i on the float plane, ready to head back to dillingham. our pilot, rick, of tikchik air has informed us the flight back should be much better than the boat trip we had. 
these first ones are back in dillingham. the last day we had we'd thought of doing other stuff but in the end we all just happily wandered around dillingham and then gathered back at a set time. fun to just relax and take photo's. they obviously have had a great art teacher since the last time i was there as the town has loads of new murals and art done by locals. very cool. 
the kingfisher b&b becomes luggage central. 
another cool mural in town on the back of a gas station. did i mention the gas price was $6.82/gal out there. 
we had sunshine in anchorage today. i had my annual doc check up at 1:30 so tough to get too much of a big hike in. took the girls north up patterson, not much of a walk but the yard was calling me. my old push mower is starting to make me yearn to upgrade to a real live mower. as painful as it is. the grass just grows at warp speed in the summers here. after a week with moisture on the lawn, today was my first chance and it's hard to get through the deep grass. the push mower doesn't cut it as short as a motorized one so it needs to be cut more often. got out the edger as bit as well. the battery pack lasts such a short time.
always feels good to get the workout of the push mower, the edger and the raking that is involved...but i am getting older. perhaps perm fund time and post season sales. 
i was obviously starting to miss my fur family at this point in dilingham. took a side alley and ran into these two fellows. they weren't the pet me, friendly sorts, but always good to meet the locals. the guy below doesn't look like a sled dog so i do hope he doesn't spend his winters out here.
always the assortment of used bits laying about in remote alaska. you just have to see the photo ops in it and look past the garbage/pollution element of it.
there were several feline friends doing the meet and greet at this house. they were much friendlier than the canine crowd i came across in dillingham.
today i also finally got the front deck sanded. i'm hoping the weather holds and i can get the front deck stained tomorrow before i walk the dogs. will be so nice to have both decks done!
just like the fish this mural had many individual panels that were decorated by members of the community. in this shot there is a panel with the palin kids names on it. must be before thier last child was born. they have fished out in bristol bay and have family out there so i guess i shouldn't be surprised by this panel, still kinda funny.
some of the kids are quite talented artists. always great to get the youth excited about art and music and such. we've cut back on these areas way too often in my opinion. its the arts that add depth and meaning to our lives and souls. these are area's where people can have access to stress relief and escape from the day to day of life. it's a gift, especially in more remote area's to have a well rounded population that can draw upon these skills to help them cope. lived in ketchikan for 6 years and it was a very artistic community. i know living there was great for my creative side as well. you just have a slower paced life and you can take the time to write and creat. 
the bigger picture!
had to highlight a walrus one too.
this next set is from the flight back to dillingham. 
these are just views of the lake we landed in once back in town. we circled it first. didn't look all that big or deep to me, but i don't think you really need it to be that deep for a float plane. that is the perk of a float plane.
it's always amazing how few signs of human encroachment you see on flights across bush alaska. still so much untouched. we did see plenty of 4 wheeler tracks. those are terrible to the land out there, it's so fragile and moist. 
lots of water, not so many trees.
have continued to enjoy the olympics. track and field isn't my most favorite. i do enjoy the jumps though. it's always amazing how far/high people can go. 
gymnastics is about complete i think. happy that aily got gold today. she seems very mature and gracious which is nice. the gymnast, jordon, that everyone thought would kick it seemed to have had a rough go here. there is alot of pressure and i think it's always better to be the one the media doesn't focus on the most. 
the two usa womens beach volleyball teams will go up against each other for the gold. i kinda want the team that isn't expected to win to win. kinda seems like someone needs a bit of humbling. 
sounds like it was a bad day in alaska for motorcycle riders. one died on the seward highway and another died when he hit a moose. it's been a summer full of trauma's it seems. things come in groups it seems. some summers trauma, others bear attacks, others moose encounters, or motorcycle wrecks or last summer seemed like lots of falls on the mountain and the summer before plane crashes. 
i'm trying to meditate for the ride back. 
can see lots of white caps but really hard to see the level of waves we dealt with out there. in the distance in the above shot you can see our little round island clouded over.
tanya's camera batteries had died so these photo's were taken by both of us. we just handed my camera back and forth to get views out both sides of the plane. we really had a beautiful and gentle flight. it was lovely!
there was a blip in the paper about the dogs of india. apparently many are rabid. some 20,000 indian's die each year from rabies post dog bites. that is a staggering number. not sure that they have come up with any sort of reasonable plan for dealing with it. the article said they were thinking of sending strays to china as they are known to eat dog meat. nice. seems quite spendy and the dogs can't be deemed as clean and safe to eat in my opinion. sadly, at this point it seems more reasonable to euthanize large numbers of them for their safety as well as the population. canine contraception vaccine, not sure what that will do and when it would be available, but one assumes they'd have to capture the dogs to vaccinate them. apparently, a law in 2001 forbids killing dogs and now they have both dogs and cattle running around. cows don't bite and i suspect they don't pass along rabies very frequently. the dog population numbers in the tens of millions. that is crazy!
some poor german diver totally messed up his dive and landed on his back in the water. that had to hurt. he got zero's for that dive. gotta feel badly for the guy. 
guor marial is a true olympian. he is at the olympics under no flag except the olympic flag. i had no idea this was even possible. he is from the newly formed nation of south sudan. the nation has been in existence for just a year and so the structure of the government is still new. too new to be able to plan for olympians. it was suggested this guy run under sudan but considering most of his family was killed in the civil war between north and south sudan by those in the north and that he kidnapped as a young boy and used as an "indentured servant" in the north he really has no desire to run under thier flag. he eventually escaped his captors and was granted refugee status. he now lives and trains in the USA. he had some folks who took an interest in his dilemma and worked it out with the olympic committee. 
3 other athletes in this olympics are also participating under the olympic flag due to displacement or government issues in thier homelands. who knew! none of them walked in the opening ceremonies with the other athletes. this are the strories that remind me of the true meaning of the olympics. there are a group of nations that tend to win the medals but there are so many other amazing stories that get lost in the quest for medals. this is one of those. so many people have sacrificed, not just hours of training but true losses of family and friends due to strive in thier home nations and they battle against all odds to try and bring hope back to thier battered nations.
another track athlete is running for haiti for that very reason. haiti was so devastated by the earthquake. this guy is actually born in the united states to haitian parents. he is well educated, so well educated that he was actually roomies at harvard to mark zuckerman of facebook fame. he's the 14th member of facebook. he doesn't run for fame or personal gain, he runs to help a nation heal. 
tonight the netherlands got it's very first mens gymnastics medal ever! they rule in winter sports, but it was fun to see this guy. he rocked it on the high bar apparatus thing. actually they all did great tonight on that. 
a few pictures up you can see a closer view of round island as we were taking off in the plane.
tanya above, bob in the co-pilot seat below. all happy to be off that boat!!
scott had taken off on the first boat of the morning with the fish and game folks. these are from the next boat which took val, sue and karen off round island. 
i'm thinking this is val getting her ride over in the little zodiak. sue has a red hat and karen is in purple so by process of elimination it must be val, right?
gear and people get transferred from land to zodiak to boat then back to zodiak to land on the other side.
these guys had extra gear to deal with on thier trip. that big box for fish and game plus all scotts gear. he seemed to travel pretty light. he and the fish and game folks met these guys back at the floatplane dock, got thier gear and took off on the alaska air jet that night. the rest of us stayed the last night there in dillingham. once scott left the island in the morning, bob, tanya and i never saw him again.
i think both boats ahead of us had decent boat rides back. it did sound like ed may have gone in the drink by the lagoon. not sure. 
getting gear prepped for zodiak ride over.
blue skies...the walrus were on the rock. i think they were scared off when the boat engine started up. 
tanya enjoys our few hours with blue skies on the island. we would have all been chill with just setting up tents and enjoying another day and hoping for better weather the next day. 
i'm trying to be zen...this was before our boat ride from bristol hell.
my tatoo had worn off, but the others show off thiers!!
a few of us get jiggy on the platforms. above is a walrus impersonation. below just goofy.
next boat, at the whale bone with gear and ready to head out. sue, karen and val.
this may be the first boat with scott and fish and game folks on it.
scott helps ed work on the toilet. the toilet guy got dropped off sunday morning, one on island 9 leave island. busy day out there.
well, back to work tomorrow for a few. haven't gotten off my night schedule this week. hopefully, i can get a few longer hikes in next week. planning a pool/bbq gathering for next tuesday. who knows how many will show up. will have to clean the house and prep for that over the weekend. good night.
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