blossom take the wheel!!

 this picture just cracked me up.  still cracks me up.  i am easily amused though.  i loaded dogs from passenger side after the hike at campbell airstrip and blossom sat in drivers seat.  i put her paw on the wheel and snapped a picture.  love that she is totally looking at the road.  hahahahaha!

 this evening i had thought i'd just drive a bit and catch the sunset.  of course, these days the sunset is pretty late and i gave up and headed home. i did enjoy a few minutes out at potters marsh.  above is some sort of seagull.  i'm not good at differentiating gulls...just gulls.

 these are of the arctic terns.  they are coming in to town after a long journey from antarctica. i  think it's the longest migration.  i should have gotten better pictures than these but i tossed almost all that i took and these aren't very good.  dimming light and they are quick and with the lower light my eyes weren't getting the focus right on the camera.  they tried to help as they hovered mid air over and over again.  oh well.

 they do have an amazing migration.  must say for flying as far as they have they were all quite perky.

 as myself and several folks with larger lenses watched the terns another scene sprang up behind us.  this bald eagle swooped down and snagged a larger bird.  i think it was a canadian goose as there were others flapping around as he took off.  i'm starting to think a goose was hit by a car, the others were lingering near it and this eagle just went for the free meal.  it wasn't a light bird.  some with bigger lenses said it was maybe a raven.

 maybe a picture will show up someplace.  i was the first one across the highway to try and see where the eagle took the thing.

 he settled in on turnigan arm and started to snack on his meal.

 while i was on the railroad tracks heading towards the bald eagle i looked down and saw this sandhill crane just standing there.

 they are such amazing birds.  it's probably the coolest call of any bird. watching them jump about calling.

 i'm sure i scared this guy off so here he is flying.

 then i kept walking towards the eagle so i could get a better look.

 i was followed quickly by all the photographers and then cars started to pull over seeing all the big camera's heading over the tracks...that is how it works here in alaska.  look for lots of big camera's and cars pulled over and you are bound to see something.

 have noticed more rv action and also lots of empty buses cruising around in preperation for tourist season.

 the snow is melting fast.  my walk still had puddles but it was improved even from the other day when i was out there.  we walked up the airstrip and then went to the creek so blossom and rio could get a drink...the creek was still almost totally covered in snow and ice.  must be in a shady spot.

 up here the sunsets can last for hours so though i missed the main sunset i did get a glimpse of some nice colour changes.

 this major pile of feathers, blood and some guts was my clue that the eagle was taking a dead bird rather than killing a live one.  the big camera's said the head was off. i suspect if i dug around these feathers i'd find the head..i'm really not that curious though.  these look more like goose down though to me.

 there was this lovely loon out there as well.  can't wait to hear their call as well, another favorite bird sound.  this bird was pretty far back on the bog.  there were a few moose way far back as well.

 a few more terns.

 the day started out wet, but it just kept getting better and better.  i was slow rising and lazed about with the paper and reading.

 i thought rio would be tired and bow out of the walk to day, but she jumped off the couch at the mention of walking.  i feel badly as i know i sometimes try to pace the walks faster than she likes.  she's at the end of the leash.  my right arm got worn out from my old lab huey who tended to pull me forward, now my left arm gets sore from being pulling backwards accomadating rio. these dogs are aging me.

 last nights sunset was just super pink under all the rain clouds.  this was the back deck with all the rain water and the pink reflection in it.

 a few from todays walk.

 i'm so happy they have opened the airstrip for walking again.  i do get annoyed as they have it well marked and ask people to stay off the runway....of course, in our entitled society this request is clearly only made of others and i often see  people walking down the middle of the runway.

 the runway is rarely used and is mostly there as an emergency landing site.  our main airport is by the shore and so if another big quake happens, like the '64 quake, that runway could be a jumbled mess of concrete, impossible to land on.

 a few mating butterfly types.  could be moths of some sort.  birds and butterflies...proof to me that if there is a great creator it was a creator who put a great deal of time and imagination into everything.  a creator who expects the humans of this planet to take extra care to protect all that was created.

 i mean why so many types and varieties of everything.  some people apparently believe that all that the earth has to offer was placed here simply for the benefit of humans.  if that was the case why put all these variety of creatures here at all...why not just have a bunch of chickens, cows, goats and pigs.

 i was totally annoyed the other day.  these male teenagers were walking down the street as i was driving past.  one teenager took his empty mountain dew bottle and while his friends watched and laughed he totally hurled it into the woods on the side of the road.  what an asshole!!  what are parents teaching their kids?  just so sad really.

 rio watches blossom from the back seat of the car.

 tonight i joined a few friends for a meal out.  i've always heard that club paris looks like a dive but makes great steaks.  it was pretty dark inside and could use a major facelift inside and out.  steaks were good.  the steak fries were dull and overcooked though.  salad good...didn't totally live up to the reputation.  fun to be out with some newer friends and hopefully we will do this again in the future.

 as the day was nice i finally opened the cat run for the season.  it still needs some repairs done...you can see there is some alaskan duct tape holding it all together.  i really need to get myself a good handy man and get a few of these little things fixed around the house.

 a few scenes from potters marsh tonight.

 this one was my favorite.  you can see sleeping lady back there.

to the end of another lovely day.  i guess i better get to bed.  3 more nights of work, then i'm off for a bit.  kayak trip is coming up soon.  i think i should get packing pretty soon.  i adjusted my schedule to get that weekend off for paddling.  summer is coming on fast!!!  still gotta make hotel/car rental arrangements in nome.  i'm a total slacker!!  aack!