on the taxi back from holgate we stopped to pick up folks and mail and the captain also stopped for sea lions, whales and even a bald eagle. i had a great time watching the waves crashing on the rocks with the sea lions.boat was bobbing a bit so never the greatest photo chances. cool to watch though.
saying goodbye to holgate. i still have a few more pictures that i will try and post tomorrow and then i can start posting all the fun pictures i've taken since i got back. never a dull moment in alaska in the summers so i seem to always be behind in posting pictures. it's like my photo albums now i guess. the blog is. then i move pictures to shutterfly and save them to cd's. it's both easier and more of a bother since the digital age i guess. it is nice to just snap away out there. on my trips before digital i would have to plan for rolls of film per day and then toss in some black and white film to shoot off as well.
the nice part though was the batteries on my old film camera's were regular batteries that you could just replace. seemed less sensitive to chillier weather.
here we head up further into aialik bay.
sunshine out there...so bob took a spot in the front and enjoyed. maddie napped for a bit i think. she was up in time to see the whales and sea lions though.
we passed quite a few sea otters out there. raft i think they are called when they are all out there together eating.
these are of pederson glacier.
just finished 3 nights work. first one i was in the adult icu. the next two i was up in the peds icu running the dialysis machine. it's been ages so i was nervous. thanks christy for being there and helping me out. i seem to rarely be put on the machine anymore and when i am put on it, it's for a super sick kid and it's that much more stressful. of course the filter needed changing within a few hours of my arrival. i never feel proficient at changing all that. the father mentioned that the last time they'd strung it up outside room and then just switched them over. i thought it was a great idea so they strung it up in the adult icu and christy brought it up.
i was laughing cause she's like maddie. not afraid to push buttons as it were. i got brave and survived...all ran smoothly after the filter and lines were changed out. that is always what makes me nervous, that filter going down. hoping you can give all that blood back. not to mention that these patients are usually very sick and touchy. i felt myself relax after it was up and running again. i am the monkey at that point just running the machine.
my schedule looks like it got flipped around and my weekends switched, this screws up summer plans. yikes!! so i'm hoping i can get this fixed. hope it's not too late for my lost lake cabin weekend. right now i'm working when i should be playing. i'll know more tomorrow.
aialik glacier. we did a pickup of day paddlers, tourists out there. these were probably another group out there by the glacier. nice day
went past these other paddlers doing a really big crossing of aialik bay on our way out. felt bad as our captain didn't slow much and i'm sure they got some nice swells from our boat.
a raft of otters.
a man further north was apparently killed by a black bear. the season begins. not much for details yet, but always sad and a reminder of what we can cross out there on the trails or around the house for that matter . there have been several sightings around town of bears, both black and brown.
was at university lake today and someone mentioned a black bear sighting out there a few days back. today there was a moose with a very young calf...so cute. got a couple photo's of it. the baby and it's mom were behind some trees, i was wrestling two dogs and my camera, and several people were passing with their dogs as well at that time.
the place was packed.
lots of sea lions out on these rocks. tried to flip it over to black and whites for a bit as well.
like i said i love all the spray. so beautiful.
a guy came out to give me a quick estimate for getting my lawn together. spendy, but several friends at work said it sounded reasonable. just thinking it would be great to get some people in to revamp the lawn and get it nice. i've been here almost 10 years i think and i'm clearly not the master gardener.
luckily i have other skills.
3 german tourists made the trek out to "the bus". they got stranded and had to be rescued. there is alays talk about "the bus" and if it should just be removed. it's the abandoned bus that is now famous from the book and movie, "into the wild". chris mccandless starved to death out there after venturing into the alaska wild unprepared. he got stuck on the other side of the river as these folks did and couldn't find a safe place to cross again. he died in the bus. it's now become this destination for people and several have had to be rescued.
rivers often become more swollen through the day. if it's sunny, there will be glacier melt and this will cause the river level to rise. we have many hours of sunshine so that can melt a lot of ice.
a grizzly bear was hit by a car out on the glenn this past week as well and died. mostly it's moose that get hit, but hitting a bear can't be good for your car either. pretty solid animals.
just lots of splashes and waves crashing.
there were loads of dogs at the dog park today. blossom was excited. i had to stop and just do some training with her to get her to focus more. she knew a lot of the people out there today and they were people who always have treats. made her a real nudge. i finally just put her back on her leash so she wouldn't misbehave. she's a great dog, but all that temptation can be too much for even the best of dogs.
rio doesn't mind laying on the deck in this heat but she isn't too keen on walking. when i say heat i know i speak relatively. it's been in the 70's all week. it's hard for those of you who live in climates where 70's is considered cool to relate, but up here when it's in the 70's it is hot, hot, hot!!
rio will have to stay home tomorrow. planning walk with friends out to hidden lakes. more like tarns though. it's a longer walk though so rio will have to stay home.
otherwise, today was a pretty lazy day for me. i slept great though. work wasn't too hard for me. mostly i have work to do on the hour every hour and between that i just try and stay available to assist. i tried to get the bendibles in peds on some adventure. the doc was there and she helped. we ended up putting the monkey on a "hook" as bait and then having the batman holding the fishing rod and being dragged off the boat. this makes no sense to you if you're not there.
the peds icu is decorated in an underwater scene and the bendibles are three plastic toys that have been commandeered by staff and as our entertainment put in various positions and situations to surprise and entertain the next shift. i think at this point, it's mostly me creating the scenario on the rare day i'm floated up there.
one last big crashing wave above and a splash of a different type below. well the next two are whale blows.
if you make picture bigger you can see that the blow is actually pretty disgusting and green. usually i love green, but not when it's being expelled by a whale. i recall some biologist telling how they had gotten nailed by the blow once and it was near impossible to get that smell off.
this guy was feeding right up against the rocks at some point so clearly the depth drops off pretty rapidly.
bear glacier. we are almost back to seward when you pass by this.
these are with the other camera or should i say with either the wide angle or macro that i put on the other camera body
this one was taken from the cabin. nice view.
maddie entertains us with bubbles.
i strolled along the beach a few times looking for interesting stuff.
bark above and below was this totally cool rock. it was so smooth and soft. unlike any other rocks out there on the beach.
this rock didn't fit in with the other rocks either. carried and left behind by glacier retreat no doubt.
another cool rock.
not much of a geologist, just like the rocks.
not sure what this is on this rock. some algea growth? who knows.
maddie makes ice cream. i had bought the blow up plastic cover thinking this would keep the ball safer on the rocks. it was a waste of money though as it popped on the rocks pretty fast.
scott sits on the beach enjoying the evening sunshine
bubbles in black and white. thought they were kinda fun
great too as i was also sitting on a chair on the beach doing nothing.
bubbles. maddie was refilling her container with the salt water as i told her when i was a kid we would just refill ours at the sink and eventually when there weren't any more bubbles to be had we'd just add some dish soap and we were back in the bubble making business.
she made some cool bubbles.
i'm tired and a bit hungry so i guess i'll eat a quick snack and the crash. i'll probably just mix new and old starting tomorrow.
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