black bear and orca cruise around in holgate.

 this is the guy we saw from the kayaks. i  think it was tanya that spotted it...she is great at spotting wildlife!

 i love the intertidal zone.  it was another one of my career possibilities...marine biologist.  i am very well educated but not well degree'd. i changed majors and colleges/universities a bit often.  my total is 6 for education institutions.  i learned that it's a bother getting transcripts from multiple places.  wonder if it's gotten easier with the computer age?  may find out this fall when i really start debating a run at bsn from adn for my nursing.  dreading...

 strongylocentrotus purpuratas...that is purple sea urchin.  i was trying to help maddie memorize it's scientific name but she wasn't biting.  oh well.  memorized name after having to write it over and over for a project during one of my marine biology classes.

 tidepooling is still a favorite hobby and i do miss that about living in ketchikan.  the last 3 years i lived in a cabin on the beach and when i got off work i would often walk the beaches collecting stuff and just enjoying it out there.  what a treat to live there!

 barnacle.  am looking forward to going to ketchikan as a tourist next summer.

 didn't take many bald eagle shots.  as i drove out to kincaid today i checked the nest out near there and the eagle was chilling on a branch above the nest.  didn't stop for photo ops and when i returned the bird wasn't there.

 enjoyed looking at all those waterfalls out there.  should be great in ketchikan next year as well.  the ones in misty are even more dramatic than these.  there is a beautiful one out in harriman, at least when we paddled out there anyway.  they diminish as the snow melt subsides.

 more rainbows in southeast alaska.  never saw so many in my life.  saw several double rainbows as well.

 was hoping for a rainbow out here after our day of rain, but never saw one.

 more from the lunch break on the other side of the bay.  these are again, canon rebel photo's.

 i think maddie was enjoying the sunshine.

 hiked alone today.  took dogs out to kincaid and did the loop around beer can lake.  nice hills, lots of sunshine.  didn't get lost this time, there was still a big pond on the trail, but it's much smaller and i could work around it.

 called to get an estimate for someone to get me a lawn back.  see about a few yard projects as well.  they didn't call back.  work called a few times.  i heard there is a kid on the continuous dialysis machine.  not sure how old.  arc of anchorage and big brothers big sisters called to ask for pick up.  called arc back as i am getting calls from one or both of these places almost daily. it's so annoying.  couldn't get through to big brothers to try and cut off the calls.  my phone had yet another message from one of them this afternoon so obviously asking them to stop calling isn't very effective i fear.

 worked in the garden a bit.  not sure if i'm just way more inept and slow at the whole garden process than others.  seems to take more time.  i think this year i just feel so far behind from the usual. i planted one of my raised beds.  i filled it with lettuce.  if it grows nicely it's nice  to pop out and make little salads in the evening. almost finished the planter along the driveway.  2 years ago it rained like crazy, last year i think i was just a slacker so i had to totally dig it all out and basically start over.  i'd planted a few shrubs several years back that now look pretty bad.  i think it's best to just yank those out and start over.  i'm new to this gardening stuff.

 i ate lunch in the sunshine today just like we did there in holgate..okay not as nice of scenery. it was nice to be eating out on the deck again.

 picked up some magazines on kitchen remodeling.  figure before i call in someone to give me design ideas i should have a file of ideas of what things i like.  planning is kinda fun...actually doing the remodel will be annoying and scary.  on those design shows they always find some catastrophe that needs to be fixed and it adds thousands of dollars to the cost of the project.

 we had another bear sighting on our beach when we were out there with our tourist friends. it cruised about 200 feet from our campfire.  didn't come any closer, but it did head up the hill towards our cabin so bob and i made a trek up to the cabin in hopes of preventing a bear break in.  the bear also came back that night around the tents i guess.  lucky i'd given them bear instructions and bear spray.  they didn't use the spray, but were able to get out of their tent and give the bear a scare off.

 i much prefer black bear encounters to brown bears.  those big brownies are dominating.  the whole attack by a bear thing sounds pretty terrifying be it brown or black..and a polar bear, well that goes beyond terrifying.  they just see you as prey, no question about that.

 this guy was just cruising lazily across the mountain side near us.  we were in our kayaks.

 not as many tour boats out after the holiday weekend.  we were happy about that.

 should go out and water the plants i just planted. luckily we have lots of light.  i also have one of those new hoses that i kept seeing advertised.  fred meyers has an aisle that is dedicated to those tv commercial items. the hose expands and then retracts...of course today it occurred to me that it's almost penile.  turn on the water and the thing gets firm, turn off the water and it goes limp. no kinks though and so i am liking it so far.  will have to get a longer one to get to front yard easier or else just add another section.  so far i love my new penis hose!!

 tanya on the water enjoying the views.  they were spectacular.

 i'm loving all the greens in town though.  nice to see stuff grow and have the hope of stuff growing.  we shall see how long it takes for my little lettuce seeds to sprout.  i still have my other bed to plant, but i'm trying to shore it up.  it's tettering and i'm not sure how long i can keep the thing together.  maybe scott will have a few minutes on his next trip in to check it out.

 we were wondering if this area was where we lunched all those years ago.  it's mostly just a hanging glacier over there where we once all climbed in and took pictures in the ice.

 didn't see any flowers in kincaid today.  very green though and i think those flowers will bloom soon.  lots of moose tracks, no bear tracks or scat.  the road down to beercan lake was blocked for repairs so i parked at raspberry trailhead and walked around that way.  nobody fishing in the lake.  nice to let the dogs play and not worry about disturbing folks.

 have kept meaning to hop on my bike or get to gym for a swim.  between the walking and the gardening though i feel pretty beat.  of course, a swim might feel great after gardening.  i always feel like i have little bugs crawling all over me and sometimes you do find a passenger after working in the garden.  slacker is what i do i guess.  i need to be working on my book as well.

 more glacier ice.  love that blue!

 dogs are tired...that is the most important thing of the day.  blossom chilled with me while i was out front working on the garden.  rio seemed happy on the back deck.  then it occurred to me that she had probably pushed open the back door and that the cats were probably running free in the yard.  my cats are indoor only cats so i headed out there and sure enough that is exactly what was happening.  so the cats got a little outdoor time.  they have the outdoor shelf and i need to get their outdoor play area up and working again.  i want to put in like a cat patio with bricks so that the grass in their run doesn't get out of control, besides i think i could more easily level it all out and make it easier to slip the summer addition in/out.  that probably doesn't make any sense to any of you out there.  the shelf has a trap door that can be opened to a wired in play area .

 noticed this heart in the snow across the way from our cabin.  sweet!

 bob with a stuffed puppy of maddies.

 more beach life.  sea weed

 seaweed on a rock.

 great roots and branches out there as well.

 scott chills on the beach after a lovely paddle

 mosses on the tree's

 seems so southeast alaska to me.

 our last day we had a visitor near the glacier while we were paddling.  this orca whale, looks like a large adult cruised in.  he went under the water and i never saw him again.  i was a wee bit nervous to be in that little boat in the water with that killer. was hoping it wouldn't mistake my boat for some meal

 pretty cool sighting though.

 reflections of the seaweed at low tide.

 lupine sightings.  so great to see flowers out there.  i guess the lupine come out pretty early, but wow!!

well, it's 10:30, should get out there and do some watering.  i could keep doing yardwork easily as it's light enough out there.  probably should settle in though.  back to work tomorrow night for three.