beach, more pictures..

 sitting here eating saltines to get my salt fix.  wondering if these are nutritionally any better than chips?  have cut way back on chip intake and have also cut soda out almost completely.  doubt i'd lost any weight yet.  it's gotta help though.  not that i'm grossly overweight, but after a certain age, weight seems to become attached to your frame.  we've bonded and now those fat cells are like parasites or maybe stalkers...i can't seem to shake em.  would prefer to keep control of the fat cell population.  control them, not the other way around.

 if you say diet to me though i stubbornly will eat what it is i'm not supposed to eat.  eat less, exercise more generally works.  probably just slower in your forties.  those fifties are fast approaching though so best to take control now.  it can't be something that i can invision improving with age.

 anyway.  more of yesterdays sunset at the beach.

 today i took both dogs and we went to north bivouac.  took the gasline to powerline to tank trail.  lots of cool frost out there so i got my macro out a few times.  it was cold, this end of town seems to always be 10-15 degrees colder than where i was yesterday.

 loved this shot above, so did many on facebook it seems.   i do take that into consideration at the end of the year when i make my calendar and several pictures in this years calendar were favorites on facebook over the year.  obviously, i must have liked them as well.  i take so many photo's through the year though i'm sure there were some good ones that i forgot about when putting together the calendar.  maybe next year.

 wore my new icebugs with cleats already in.  they aren't as warm for my toes as the other ice bugs i wear.  those are the best boots i've found though for keeping my feet warm in this weather.  i figured today was a good day to test out the new boots as there are 3 large patches of ice to get across on the trail i took today.

 frost on bark above, sleeping lady below.

 saw some folks heading down to ice skate on this pond thing a few weeks back, it looked pretty lumpy today to me.  wouldn't be great ice skating.  the kicksled would work.

 a few clouds showed up out there today and the sun is about to set again.  probably another lovely day for sunset watching, but really sunsets in alaska this time of year are always pretty awesome.

 stayed up late and watched the latest netflix movie, "the decendants".  it was pretty good. there were a few awkward things with them flying about when a family member was dying or being removed from the machines, generally people hang out for that part, but whatever. hollywood always takes liberty with the way things really are.  george clooney is always good to look at for a few hours.

 back to work tonight.

 should take my envelopes and start getting the christmas cards ready to go.  still need to write my annual letter.  easier than trying to repeat everything on every card which seemed like how it ended up.  in these days most people are on facebook and have already kept up with you if they wanted to.  still nice to send out cards in my opinion.

 traditions change.  i'm still debating the tree thing.  i get a real one every year, but it's spendy and messy and they just don't last long up here.  the fake trees are spendy as well.  may go for it though.  there are nice pine smelling things are pier one that will give me that pine smell without the mess.  just depends on if i see one that looks fairly natural and is priced decently.  then i think i'll buy one after christmas at a cheaper price, but they rarely have the best ones available at that point.  decisions, decisions.  eventually, they end up in landfills so i dont' like that part, while the real ones are easily recyclable..but then there is the fuel lost shipping trees to alaska...no simple answers.

 loved my day out there as you can tell.  i get into photo mode when i'm alone more easily. my brain just clicks in and i see the world differently. i had a camera in my hands at a pretty young age.  my feeling is that makes me have a section in my brain that sees as the lens instead of through a lens.  you can have fancy gear and take classes, but still some people just have an eye.  i think i am one of those people.  it is just a fun way for me to relax and appreciate the beauty of my daily walks.

 the sun doesn't get us hot enough for these ice chunks to melt.  the ice chunks end up on land after the tide goes out and the residual sea water drips off the chunks and freezes as it fall.

 never know what will happen at work.  should probably lay down for a bit again.  despite sleeping in i still like a nap before work. sometimes that is just a 20 minute nap.  my front room is toasty warm all the time.

 i have a new national geographic magazine to read so that is always fabulous.  was reading about the giant sequoia's of northern california.  quite impressive.  always great photography in there.

 another of sleeping lady

 in the distance in this one you can see redoubt, our local volcano.

 sometimes the ice lays out in these totally cool smooth sheets.

 this is the ice out on the water as the tide was rising.

 shot a video but it really doesn't do it justice.  can't hear the sounds or see how rapidly the water is moving in.

 that is denali, mt mckinley, to those in the lower 48, denali to us locals.  i've lived here long enough to be a local.  moved to ketchikan in 1995 and to anchorage in 2001.

 liked the rays coming off the sun in this one.

 blossoms breath in the cold air.

 frost on the beach.

 blossom with mountains on the kenai in the background.

 more of that smooth ice.

 some low lying clouds.

 it's all pink outside now. love that.

 ice chunks on the beach, waiting for tides return.

 in it comes.

 so amazing.

 blossom could care less about sunsets it seems.  throw the toy...that is all that is on her mind.

 so animals appreciate a sunset?

 clearly, i was a bit obsessed with this cool form of ice.

 this frost was mixed with the beach sand.  the beach has a small area of sand then it quickly becomes mud.

that is the end of the day, yesterday and now today. off to nap before work.  enjoy