more july pics

 several from a day hike with friends to hidden lakes.  powerline pass.  always so pretty up there.  we had a great day.

 this guy was in the bog and below is from kincaid park, little campbell lake loop

 the fireweed is totally nuts right now.  i drove out to hatchers pass this evening.  was lazy most of the day.  but got off my arse about 6 i guess and headed out to hatchers and independence mine.  the fireweed was amazing.  may try to hit homer for an overnight tomorrow.  bishops beach.  i'll probably just see if they have one of those dog friendly rooms.  hit the beach, a few stores, the spit and then home.

 must call about kaktovik first and see if that is a go or not.  like i said, if the stars align then i'll go for it, if not, then it wasn't meant to be.  i also should arrange for my carpet to get a good cleaning and my windshield to get changed out.  it's cracked almost all the way across.  so i should actually do some business of life before hitting the road.

 spent a lot of time baking cookies this month it seems.  the kids loved it. i can relax for a few weeks. i'm sure i'll be back to baking when my nephews are here.  we have another camping trip to go.  byers lake.  it's always pretty nice out there.

 haven' had a pool party for awhile.  will have to plan one before the summer is completely over.  socializing is good for me.  forces me to clean the house too.  always a bonus.

 the rest are from powerline pass.  met tanya and her family and her friends from Sweden.   we had mixed weather, but mostly we got lucky. it drizzled a few times on us and then the sun would break through.  was fairly cool overall though, which is great considering how hot this summer has been.

 ernie, hakam, martin.  bob, tanya, maddie and pella in front with the dogs.

 i got to independence mine tonight at 8pm, they close the gate at 9 pm i guess so i didn't have much time there.  the dogs got to get out and walk around a bit which they enjoyed.

 i met a few marmots.  they apparently can scream pretty loudly.  the scream scared the crap out of me.  sounded like a small child was stuck in the mine ruins.  maybe a ghost.  nope, just a few marmots trying to warn me off.  was hoping to see some marmot babies.  figure they must have had some wee ones around for all that screaming they were doing to distract me.

 i did manage a trip to the dog park finally after 1 or 2pm.  chatted with my old high school buddy, marcia for quite a while so i wasn't totally lazy, just enjoying catching up with an old friend.  met her in 7th grade.

 maddie rests.

 rio sat this hike out.  she's had a tough enough time with just the regular hikes we have been taking this summer.  poor girl.  guess someone's dog must have had a bad tussle with one of the university lake beavers.  they marked up a beaver warning sign with a note in indelible ink that said something about the beaver coming out of the water and attacking her dog.  not sure the owner needed to deface a sign to get her point across.  those beavers are pretty bad from what i've heard. i try to be careful, but i do worry about blossom when she swims.  someone said the beaver comes from underneath the dogs and bites them in the gut so that would be a bad wound.  a few dogs have been killed.

 i really am pretty crazy about this dog and i'd be pretty devastated if i lost her.  i know one day that will  happen, but i'm hoping that day is still many years off.

 she chased her toy for a bit but it was pretty hot and after a bit she was fine just being on the leash for the rest of the walk.  this day on powerline i think i kept her on leash for the powerline part and then the dogs were free to romp.

 the bridge is usually a great place to let them relax and play in the water.  it's often my turnaround point.  it's about 2 miles to bridge.  still many hikes out there i haven't gotten to this summer.

 today, lazy...oh well.  happy i made the drive to hatchers. that is always worth the trip.

 flower action along the trail.

 may try to get to bed a bit earlier tonight so i can make the drive south if i decide to.  homer is always nice and for several years i've just gone in and out of it and haven't really stopped to enjoy the place.

 always driving too fast to stop and take pictures along the way. the fireweed should be great out that way as well.

 don't think i stimulated my brain much today.  some days that happens.  my brain meanders aimlessly.

 the to do list piles up and rolls over the top and still i seem to avoid all tasks.  eventually, stuff that has to get done does get done.  did some laundry.  the trash will get out to the curb.  hopefully we don't have a bear in the neighborhood.  they pick up trash so early most days that there is no way i'll wake up in time to get it out to the curb in the morning.  wish they'd wait to start picking up until after 9 am.  i could get home from work and put the trash out .

 blossom and i pose for a photo op.

 these rocks are always a good place to stop for pictures.

 blossom, of course always seems to want her own rock shot

 bet maddie is missing her buddies at the house.  they are back in Sweden now.

 we were all together until the patch of snow coming up to the right.  they all went to play on the snow.  i thought they'd take some side trail  back to where i was.  they took some other trail that took them up the valley rather than up to where i was.  took awhile for us all to get back together.  i think once i hit the higher elevation my phone was able to send/receive texts and we got back together.  it was a bit of a rougher trail for them though getting back up there, especially with the kids.

 blossom and i walked solo for a bit.

 here they all are playing out there on the snow.

 the kids had a mini snowball fight i think.

 i wasn't too worried about bears up that way.  i could see quite a distance and i had my spray on me.

 so off we went to the tarns.

 good bye friends...

 i had the cookies though, they had to find me.  haha.

 i was heading towards the blue skies too...always a bonus.

 in ketchikan we would call this a "sucker hole".  only a sucker would believe this meant the day would clear out.

 it did clear out for a bit though. blossom was pretty beat by the end of the day.

 kinda looks like a big sasquatch print....it's not.  we skirt around this snow on our way to the tarn

 a bit windy at times. today i got blossoms face trimmed a bit.  guess i wasn't completely useless today.  i was pretty useless though.  i guess we all need those days.  i think i seem to need more than the average person of lazy days.

 blossom looks like she is missing her friends.

 i sat down to eat and wait for the return of my comrades...the dogs showed up first.

 did they want my cookies?  maddie did.  she made a run for me and then took the cookies back to pella and martin.  they had all decided to stay back a bit and skip the tarn...their trek off trail had taken it's toll on them.

 bob, tanya, maddie and hakam made it to the tarn...

 hakam went on up to the second tarn.  i've never gone up there.  today would have been a good day.  i was actually feeling pretty good.

 may be able to see him up there on the trail heading into the upper tarn.

me, a bit windblown.  my hair is growing back out.  i had put layers in and now i'm over that so i will have to suffer through the grow out phase where it doesn't all stay in the braid.  bummer.  oh well.  off to bed.  hopefully i can get myself moving tomorrow and get out of town.