each day an adventure in alaska: more from hikes and rambles in august

moving slow as usual this morning. loved this of my pups! they are such sweet and wonderful dogs.

debating an overnight roadie. my thoughts...hike up arctic valley for a bit then head to talkeetna, stay overnight up that way then cross over the denali highway. still probably a bit too early for much of fall colours, but may hit a few. i have seen that there is some colour changes occuring up in denali.

always great to get a few more roadies in before the winter hits. not that it's coming right away, but it really won't be long.

still lots of stuff to do before that happens.

have been loving all my mushroom hikes though. i love this time of year. the bug count is totally down, which is awesome. still the bears. have seen some good scats, but so far no close bear encounters...knock on wood.

a woman apparently died this past week on the richardson. she ran into a moose, which sheared off the roof of her car and killed her. a good reminder to be extra careful while out driving on these less traveled roads in alaska. moose are everywhere and they are large so not forgiving at all.

several of these are from a bit earlier in august.

still a few flowers out there, but the numbers are decreasing.

went to the fair yesterday. met up with bob and maddie. we just wandered around and looked at stuff. she'd already gotten her face painted and all that.

the traffic was hell getting out there really. i just chilled in the car, but it had stopped at the bridge that a leads to palmer and it took over an hour to get from there to the fair. pretty crazy. want to avoid fair traffic again...at least on the weekend. the weather is nice so i'm sure that got everyone out there. it was packed.

we went to the king tut exhibit...all replica's, which surprised bob i guess. they did have those bodies there last year. happy i missed that one. i only hit the fair every 2-3 years. get my fill and some cotton candy.

used to love the los angeles fair. went every year at least once to that. they had great exhibits and shows and my friend catherine always was up for it. haven't spoken to her for years. we had lots of fun in those days...do miss hanging with her. some friends pretty much fade away, which is always sad.

they had a reptile exhibit there this summer as well. maddie was cool with going through a second time with me. we also went to see the farm animals. after i got home i could still smell the pigs on me. strong odor. yikes. they are kinda cute in a pig sorta way. not many pictures. just a few snap shots.

sometimes i'm in the mood for photo's, other times less so i guess. you have to be in the mood. would be a bummer to be a professional and not be in that artsy mood

a movie came out that was filmed in alaska, about an alaskan serial killer. "frozen ground". sadly the only place they are going to release it is in the valley. not driving that far for a movie. bummer as i was looking forward to going to see it with friends. guess it will be a net flix view now. oh well.

not my best selfie, not sure why i took it. still gotta find a piece of art for that part of the wall. i do have a few pictures that i could frame up and stick there, but i think i'd rather find some cook native piece to put there.

these signs are gone now. haven't seen any salmon in the campbell creek for weeks.

those first fall leaves are always pretty, soon the trees will be bare again.

have been mostly hiking in kincaid and north bicentennial park by my house.

rio is still insisting on joining for all our walks which has slowed things down, but who can say no to her. she keeps plodding along and now even with the sunshine and blue skies it's not as hot so she's doing pretty well.

middle east is a mess, blah, blah, blah. have been bad about really reading the latest. seems my entire life none of it changes. it just moves from one mess to the next.

gotta try to get out in the back yard before i head out for the day. at least get that done. need to get a few packages ready to mail as well. probably will be tuesday before i actually hit the post office. plus august is a big birthday month and i am very behind on my gift buying. that is pretty normal for me. hard to know the best gifts to get people. hoping perhaps i'll see some fun stuff up in talkeetna if i make my way north. who knows i may just drive there and back. i'll get ready for anything though. i have the plumber on tuesday and then work again on wednesday.

life is pretty open though. nice to be able to have the option of just taking off.

blossom above has spotted the grouse that will show up below. at first i saw them on the trail in front of us and then they took off to the trees. you can see babies.

this is from my pool table. i need to plan and invite folks over for a game and food before the seasons change. i put in a fire pit and i haven't even used it yet. was super hot all summer, but fall may be a perfect time to try it out. i'm sure maddie would love to make some s'mores out there.

a few years back blossom caught and killed one of these grouse. it was quite by accident. she chased them and we were all shocked that she actually caught one. she never has before. now i have to be more careful. would hate to have it happen again. a friend moved south and i spoke to her yesterday. she said she has a fenced in yard, but apparently a deer jumped over the fence into her yard and her malemutes killed the thing. who knew they could or would do that. a bit disturbing. she just let her dogs in to the back yard as usual and when they came back bloody she went to investigate.

road trips are always fun though, you never know what you will see out there. the scenery is always spectacular anyway. no matter the weather.

shouldn't take me too long to get packed up. really just want to call and see if i can get a room at the hostel for the dogs and i. that would be the easiest i think. i could camp out a night too. phone call first and then decide. kinda like my homer trip. if the room is available then the stars have lined up and i take off.

do i put the spare tire up top or not. probably should just in case i hit the denali highway and get a flat. better to be prepared and not need it than to need it and not be prepared. the hunters should be rolling in there and the blueberry's should be out.

love all the pretty colours.

this is the moose i saw in kincaid this week that was injured.

and the one that i didn't see at first while i took pictures of mushrooms

they are both losing their velvet in preparation for the rut. it's thinning anyway.

that one leg looks pretty mangled. he was hobbling about on it. eating so maybe it is an old injury and he's adapted. may not be able to live a long life, but hopefully he can survive. just a bummer for the moose though.