last of Lost Lake and a few from a stop at the conservation center

 one night of work a week...i could get used to that.  sadly my pto bank is not full enough to live that dream.  i think this is some sort of grey jay?  not sure.  it looks pretty small in this shot, much smaller than it actually looked at the cabin.  there were at least 3 of them flitting around out there.

 it actually occurs to me that this isn't the last of Lost Lake.  i think i still have powershot pictures to load. i still have some powershot pics from Misty as well.  slowly i'll finish up old trips as i hopefully add a few new ones in.

 was getting ready for a little walk with the dogs at University Lake so i turned on the tv for background noise.  it had some crazy show about botched plastic surgeries and these surgeons who repair stuff.  at least they are seen turning a few people away.  one woman they said needed to have therapy sessions before they would consider her repair, another guy they convinced that the surgery would not actual benefit him.  he still seemed to go away happy.

 such a different world, i'm happy to be out of the parts of our nation where people are so focused on body and body image.  just seems so unhealthy and sad really.  i grew up in California and my whole life i felt fat.  i remember moving to South Dakota and realizing by normal standards i really wasn't a fat person.  sure i have a few more pounds than i'd like to have, but there just wasn't the pressure to be unrealistically thin or perfect.  perfection is way to stressful

 that in no way means i brim with self confidence, but it did prevent me from having any periods of self loathing.

 enjoyed our day out at the dog park.  Rio cracks me up.  if you say, "do you want to go for a walk" she settles deeper into the couch.  However, if you say,"do you want to go to the dog park" , she hops off and is ready to go.

 she still has that dressing on her tail that we have to keep dry so that is a bummer for her as she does like to go and wade in the lake.  it's for sure curtailed her wading options.  hope that dang tail starts to heal up soon.  it is, but it's so slow.

 see, the bird looks bigger here..grey jay?  birders?

 view from the cabin...

 these must be from the hike out.  we took our time on the top portion as it's so pretty with all those flowers.  after that we pretty much booked it back down the hill.

 Denali National Park posted a bunch of pictures of wildflowers with their real names.  they had a large number of flowers photographed and identified.  very cool.

 Hoping to take some short road trips these last weeks of summer with the dogs.  places i've never been and places i haven't been for a long time. things change so fast up here that you could go to the same place every week and see totally different things.

 at the lake today i noticed these flowers turning to seed pods...i'd never connected the two until just today.

 the Anchorage Daily News (ADN) is apparently now going to be known as the Alaska Dispatch News.  they wanted to keep it as ADN but wanted it to be more broad, not just Anchorage.  i think Alaska Daily News would have flowed much better than the Dispatch.  the Dispatch people bought out the ADN so i guess they get to name it whatever.  i just think Dispatch is not the best title.

 i know there are those who thought Walrus Advocates of Round Island Sanctuary wasn't a good name either.  admittedly it can be a long name...i do love our acronym WARIS though.

 ultimately Dispatch gets to call themselves what they want to call themselves.  i suspect no matter what name they put on the front of the paper, it will be a long time before people stop calling it the Anchorage Daily news.

 we stopped by the Sealife Center..another great place after we hiked down.  they have a few sea otters.  two are younger than a third one but they were having a great time playing  outside in their tank.  i had a blast watching them.  they are just so dang cute!!

 they will be here for a bit and then eventually be flown to a zoo or aquarium in Europe.  doesn't sound like it's been decided yet where.

 i need to get a few notebooks to start keeping track of things for WARIS.  just get more organized. my time, money, contacts, potential contacts .  Best to be organized early on rather than try to do it later.  i have enough little pieces of paper with notes on them.

 someone posted this short video on giving.  well a few.  i like the little video's on facebook that aren't all this guy sucks...negativity.  i always figure the world has enough negative in it, i'd rather try and fill myself with positive stuff rather than dwell on the bad crap.

 anyway, at the end of one they had a quote which i liked.  "we make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give".

 i always have my favorite quotes, i think we all do.  i still also like, "practice random acts of kindness and senseless beauty" and "everything will be alright in the end, and if it isn't, it's not yet the end"

 puffins were chilling in the outside area. love to watch them dive.

 tufted above and horned below

 this guy was cruising the shoreline at Lowell Point beach.  i think it's a cormorant.  it was super close to shore and Blossom was very interested.  she started towards it a few times then came back.

 more interested in her tennis balls than in the bird.

 she is a killer labradoodle and i have to watch her around birds..she has one death on her.  i think it was accidental as she looked pretty shocked that the object she chased in the woods ended up in her mouth.  the damage was done i suspect. took the bird to the wildlife bird rescue center, but i don't think things went well for it.

 no swans on the way home but this bird was out there with her babies.

 the little babies were cracking me up.  when the big trucks or rv's went by they would flip over into the water to hide.

 all these baby critters have a short time to grow up enough to migrate.

 a few from the boat trip in from Tutka Bay

 and the rest are from another stop at the conservation center.  so nice to have the pass and just drop by whenever.

 just read that another soldier got attacked by  a grizz today on base.  sounds like the injuries aren't too bad. surprising how many people survive these attacks. good to know most bears are not all that intent on killing us humans off, just mildly incapacitating us and moving on.

 still would not want to have the experience of those claws or teeth cutting my flesh.

 i'm pretty wimpy and i try to avoid pain of all kinds.  i don't even like when the mosquito's attack me.

 love the baby bison. so cute!

 loved the flowers, wild iris.  they were in bloom when i was there that day.

 work was steady last night. i rarely stopped.  just tasky stuff not that my patients hearts were stopping.  some days you just never seem to catch up.

 always nice to end up with the same patient you had and be able to see progress or in this case some progress and some stuff that looks worrisome.

 trying to remember where i saw this cute baby moose and it's mama.  saw so many of them this spring.

 oh...just remembered.  they were just across the street as i was walking along Patterson Road. there were two babies.

 Rio and i are both worn out from our days.  mine is more because i slept very little before waking and starting my day.

well, i shall turn in for the night.  just 2 nights off then back for three.  then i'll have a stretch off and i'll have to see about heading off with the dogs someplace.  thankful for 1- sunshine and rain, we've had a great mix this summer so far 2- sleeping where it's comfy and dry and soft  3- taco's...i love me some taco's!!