planes, moose and a bird of prey...

 my new free lawn mower was over on the west side of town so i grabbed Blossom and took off after noon.  i think Rio really was thinking of joining and i felt bad leaving her but there is no way i could fit Rio and the lawn mower in the car. i believe she will recover. i just headed towards worzonof and walked Blossom for a bit, then eventually found a spot with many other plane spotters and watched planes take off.  clearly, i'm not the only person who enjoys this.  lots of tourists on bikes out there on the coastal trail and they stopped.  one guy asked if he could get pictures of Blossom, i suspect i am in many of those shots.

 i returned for a moose sighting drive in the evening.  never great pictures due to the decreasing light, but always fun to see the activity out there and watch all the other folks out doing the same.

 saw this hawk on the wires.  tried to get closer but he'd just fly off a few hundred feet away and stop again.  love seeing hawks and owls. i recall one time soon after i'd moved here seeing a big owl sitting on these fences.

 this part of the road is better for landings.  super close, rubber on the concrete smells...they have a sign posted something about jet blast zone.

 a few from a stroll out in the bog the other day.

 like to find those few super pretty fall leaves.

 grabbed a baby shower gift for one of the docs who is preggers with twins and headed to the shower, which was more of a party than a shower...no silly games.  more of a bbq.  great to see some peds friends i haven't seen for quite some time.  catch up a bit.

 we were all happy that the rain never came though the clouds are out there now.  great deck...i think the area of that deck may be larger than my entire house....haha.  ok, not quite but it is a big cool deck.

 went moose spotting as i needed to go get some gas for my little mower. john had left a bit in there and i was able to mow a bit.  kept stopping as the trimmings would plug up the system.  so i got lots of practice re-starting it...eventually though the gas ran out.

 will have to see if i can do more mowing tomorrow.  may rain...

 if you look at this leaf above closely you can see the colour changes in each little segment.  kinda cool.

 here is my lawn and my new mower...very overgrown lawn.  made a dent today though which felt like progress. if i have any sun tomorrow i'll have to fill a few bags to put on in the trash.

 first saw this mama moose and her two calves.  about this time i got a call from sandra who was laughing as she was apparently out there moose spotting tonight too.  she got me hooked on it.

 was chatting with another lady out there tonight in front of that bull moose and she says she lives near and she loves to come out here moose spotting too.

 Anchorage has it's little hot spots.

 there is that handsome guy.

 so not much excitement today.

 i'm thinking more and more the recurring pain i get around my knee is muscle spasms. i can feel that everything around there and up that thigh is like one big knot.  thinking i should try and get a massage scheduled. hope my massage therapist hasn't gone out on maternity leave yet.

 should get her a little prezzie too.

 perhaps i'll try and sign up when i'm done blogging

 mushrooms from a walk around north bivouac.

 i think it's almost time to do the big loop out there.  will have to get someone to join me.  doubtful that the bears have cleared out so i'd rather go with a buddy. i keep venturing further and further around out there so i suspect soon i'll just go it alone and take my chances though.

 there are more mushrooms for me to find out there!!!

 did some raspberry picking in my yard as long as i was out there mowing.

 it's about time to rip everything out and hope for a better start next spring.

 have been seeing quite a few wood frogs of late on my wanderings.  these are cool amphibians.  i think they load their cells with sugar and burrow under the mud as winter comes. then they just freeze along with the ground around them until spring when they re-animate.  very cool life cycle.

 Blossom takes an opportunity to swim and get stinky and muddy

 as long as she's is happy...

 Rio must be happy, she is snoring behind me.

 no deep thoughts tonight.  i thought them all last night.

 this mushroom is big...i'm always surprised at the size they get.  they grow super fast too.  that is a powershot camera.

 clusters of mushrooms on a tree out there.  if i do the big loop i'll find even more.

 fern color change

 this mushroom i think is edible.  may be the orange capped bolete...but i would not trust me in my mushroom identification.  consult some one more qualified.

 fun and relaxing to sit on the grass today and watch the planes and people.  at one point there were probably 20 people on that grassy area watching planes.

 Blossom was oblivious to the plane activity but did enjoy a lot of lovings from the folks out watching planes.

off to bed for this girl..grateful for 1.  seeing and catching up with folks i haven't seen for a bit...you get to meet a lot of nice folks in this line of work 2.  times when you can just sit and relax and not think...not everyone gets that chance.  3.  my new free lawn mower...and that i didn't injure myself trying it out.