lena and manny again joined me to check out the monday walk trail post wind storm. it was hard hit. so many huge trees down on and around the trail.
took us much longer than normal to get around the nearly 4 mile loop due to all the obstacles. of course, i took rio too so she had a few moments with downed trees. i am a terrible blind dog owner. between all the downed trees and roots it was no easy trek for rio catalina...but ever the good dog she just kept on walking. she was pretty happy to hit the creek near the end and even happier to get in the element when we were all done.
it was another beautiful day. a bit cloudier than the last few, but cool without being too cold.
a few raindrops fell as we made our way out down the tank trail. didn't run into many folks out there, but the ones i met up with are people i generally see on these trails in the falls and winters. great to re-meet up with my winter trail friends. gillian with her doodles was just starting the loop we finished. we suggested they may want a chainsaw along. obviously nobody had been out there yet. her friend had a hand saw, but i think more was going to be required. we did manage to skirt off trail around most of the trees.
sad though to see so many downed trees and it's clear once the weight of snow hits many of those weakened by this storm will come down so it's not over for sure.
most of the mushrooms seem to have disappeared. not sure if the wind got em or if it's just their time and they have rotted out a bit.
this wasp nest must have blown down with the storm. a few dead wasps but no active signs. i am wise enough not to kick it.
the trees that remain standing are starting to get some nice fall colours in them. sweet! gotta love fall. especially since i was too lazy this week to make any road trips out of anchorage. i was quite happy doing local trails and surveying the local damage. finally got the last of the branches chopped up so another good reason to stay close. won't have too many more days to get to the yard for winter prep.
spent a little time today watching shows about 9-11. since i missed much of what was happening on those first days i find it all interesting and informative. sometimes being so far from where it happened it's easy to underestimate the scope of the event. other buildings went down besides the world trade center and then other buildings near by that remained standing suffered a great deal of damage and were uninhabitable. that ash coated everything.
also very sad to hear that all of the first responders have locators and that right after the buildings fell those locators could be heard chirping all over the site. that must have been horrifying. there was a show about the many phone calls that people made from the towers to family. many trapped above the crash site. many said over the years they have become more and more grateful for those last calls though at the time they were powerless to assist their loved ones and it must have been very painful. over 1000 victims have never been located in the wreckage. one guy tried to reassure his mother while sounding quite terrified, he'd seen people jump. was imagining that those who jumped were seeing people burn and given the choice between burn to death or jump, they jumped. neither is any kind of option, i just hope that most of them succumbed to smoke inhalation before they were burned.
being surrounded by fallen trees was a good place to be today. nature is amazing but it's also very powerful. i prefer natural disasters to those made by man's hatred and anger. it's beyond any reasoning to try and understand a hatred so great that one would fly jets into buildings. many of the hijackers were educated. why bother with all the time, money and effort of education if you are just going to kill yourself. none of it makes sense. i know there is much unhappiness in the world and many regimes that are cruel and unfair. i am grateful to have been born in a nation where the rational still rules over the irrational, though during the elections that seems a bit less true.
we are blessed in many ways, but i also know it can all change. sept 11, 2001 was a reminder of our vulnerablilty. it was also a reminder that in a tough time our people pull together...all our people. we are a mixture of many beliefs and philosophies and despite that when bad things happen we can pull together and put that all aside.
bin laden is gone, but there is still much hatred and discontent out there. many nations are battling to gain more freedoms. women are still treated poorly in many nations, their battle rages on for basic freedoms as well. our issues in the states should seem pretty trivial compared to what other people we share this earth with deal with daily. on that day though, we were damaged, we were rocked, but we have again come out of the rubble.
now i'm just rambling though.
not sure you can see, but the ground under this tree is just about to break free and this tree will probably fall. lena got a bounce when she landed on it unknowingly.
there was a section where it seemed many dozen trees were tossed hither and yon. it was obvious this area was very badly hit by the storm. we wondered how the animals fared out there in that storm. they must have been terrified.
in above picture one can easily count 6 trees down.
i think i can count even more here.
i probably should have tried to get into a computer class, i wasn't mentally prepared. besides it almost seemed wrong to do something mundane like computer class on this day.
was happy to get to some more of the yard work. was tired tonight and just ordered delivery. tasty!!
clumps of trees down. it's always amazing how the root system is so shallow. i remember taking botany courses in college and some cactus type trees have roots that go down 50 plus feet to try and get all the water possible. these trees just don't have to work that hard to get water.
i'm sure i slowed up our loop by stopping to take some pictures but it was really quite impressive.
manny looks ahead at the trail. not too bad. he and blossom breezed through easily.
a few of the torn up roots were pretty impressive in size.
there were a few that were a bit of a challenge for ms catalina. she is getting much quicker at her "over" commands. no "unders" required today.
blossom seemed to enjoy going through.
we did lose yet another tennis ball near the end. blossom was greeted by her doodle friends luke and emma and forgot about her toy. it probably went down the little creek. anyone work at a tennis court and is willing to donate used tennis balls to blossoms cause. she seems to like to share her toys with all the other dogs in town.
it was just kinda a sad place at times with all those trees laying on their sides so pathetic and helpless.
liked that the one below had that pretty red clover stuff at it's base.
one last obstacle..the largest. i assisted rio over the first part then handed the leash through to lena while i walked around and over a section that we decided would be too much for rio.
took some convincing but we got her over this next hurdle.
lena and manny again joined me to check out the monday walk trail post wind storm. it was hard hit. so many huge trees down on and around the trail. 
took us much longer than normal to get around the nearly 4 mile loop due to all the obstacles. of course, i took rio too so she had a few moments with downed trees. i am a terrible blind dog owner. between all the downed trees and roots it was no easy trek for rio catalina...but ever the good dog she just kept on walking. she was pretty happy to hit the creek near the end and even happier to get in the element when we were all done.
it was another beautiful day. a bit cloudier than the last few, but cool without being too cold. 
a few raindrops fell as we made our way out down the tank trail. didn't run into many folks out there, but the ones i met up with are people i generally see on these trails in the falls and winters. great to re-meet up with my winter trail friends. gillian with her doodles was just starting the loop we finished. we suggested they may want a chainsaw along. obviously nobody had been out there yet. her friend had a hand saw, but i think more was going to be required. we did manage to skirt off trail around most of the trees.
sad though to see so many downed trees and it's clear once the weight of snow hits many of those weakened by this storm will come down so it's not over for sure.
most of the mushrooms seem to have disappeared. not sure if the wind got em or if it's just their time and they have rotted out a bit.
this wasp nest must have blown down with the storm. a few dead wasps but no active signs. i am wise enough not to kick it.
the trees that remain standing are starting to get some nice fall colours in them. sweet! gotta love fall. especially since i was too lazy this week to make any road trips out of anchorage. i was quite happy doing local trails and surveying the local damage. finally got the last of the branches chopped up so another good reason to stay close. won't have too many more days to get to the yard for winter prep.
spent a little time today watching shows about 9-11. since i missed much of what was happening on those first days i find it all interesting and informative. sometimes being so far from where it happened it's easy to underestimate the scope of the event. other buildings went down besides the world trade center and then other buildings near by that remained standing suffered a great deal of damage and were uninhabitable. that ash coated everything. 
also very sad to hear that all of the first responders have locators and that right after the buildings fell those locators could be heard chirping all over the site. that must have been horrifying. there was a show about the many phone calls that people made from the towers to family. many trapped above the crash site. many said over the years they have become more and more grateful for those last calls though at the time they were powerless to assist their loved ones and it must have been very painful. over 1000 victims have never been located in the wreckage. one guy tried to reassure his mother while sounding quite terrified, he'd seen people jump. was imagining that those who jumped were seeing people burn and given the choice between burn to death or jump, they jumped. neither is any kind of option, i just hope that most of them succumbed to smoke inhalation before they were burned. 
being surrounded by fallen trees was a good place to be today. nature is amazing but it's also very powerful. i prefer natural disasters to those made by man's hatred and anger. it's beyond any reasoning to try and understand a hatred so great that one would fly jets into buildings. many of the hijackers were educated. why bother with all the time, money and effort of education if you are just going to kill yourself. none of it makes sense. i know there is much unhappiness in the world and many regimes that are cruel and unfair. i am grateful to have been born in a nation where the rational still rules over the irrational, though during the elections that seems a bit less true. 
we are blessed in many ways, but i also know it can all change. sept 11, 2001 was a reminder of our vulnerablilty. it was also a reminder that in a tough time our people pull together...all our people. we are a mixture of many beliefs and philosophies and despite that when bad things happen we can pull together and put that all aside. 
bin laden is gone, but there is still much hatred and discontent out there. many nations are battling to gain more freedoms. women are still treated poorly in many nations, their battle rages on for basic freedoms as well. our issues in the states should seem pretty trivial compared to what other people we share this earth with deal with daily. on that day though, we were damaged, we were rocked, but we have again come out of the rubble. 
now i'm just rambling though. 
not sure you can see, but the ground under this tree is just about to break free and this tree will probably fall. lena got a bounce when she landed on it unknowingly. 
there was a section where it seemed many dozen trees were tossed hither and yon. it was obvious this area was very badly hit by the storm. we wondered how the animals fared out there in that storm. they must have been terrified. 
in above picture one can easily count 6 trees down.
i think i can count even more here.
i probably should have tried to get into a computer class, i wasn't mentally prepared. besides it almost seemed wrong to do something mundane like computer class on this day.
was happy to get to some more of the yard work. was tired tonight and just ordered delivery. tasty!!
clumps of trees down. it's always amazing how the root system is so shallow. i remember taking botany courses in college and some cactus type trees have roots that go down 50 plus feet to try and get all the water possible. these trees just don't have to work that hard to get water. 
i'm sure i slowed up our loop by stopping to take some pictures but it was really quite impressive. 
manny looks ahead at the trail. not too bad. he and blossom breezed through easily.
a few of the torn up roots were pretty impressive in size.
there were a few that were a bit of a challenge for ms catalina. she is getting much quicker at her "over" commands. no "unders" required today. 
blossom seemed to enjoy going through.
we did lose yet another tennis ball near the end. blossom was greeted by her doodle friends luke and emma and forgot about her toy. it probably went down the little creek. anyone work at a tennis court and is willing to donate used tennis balls to blossoms cause. she seems to like to share her toys with all the other dogs in town. 
it was just kinda a sad place at times with all those trees laying on their sides so pathetic and helpless.
liked that the one below had that pretty red clover stuff at it's base.
one last obstacle..the largest. i assisted rio over the first part then handed the leash through to lena while i walked around and over a section that we decided would be too much for rio. 
took some convincing but we got her over this next hurdle.
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