my desk is messier now...

 is this baby musk ox cute or what?

 a few more from yesterdays drive to see the bears and other critters out at the wildlife center.

 baby wood bison..another cutie. these guys must have been late births.

 they look awful young for this late in the season

 had a lovely gathering this evening....all the cool WARIS folks came!! as planned there was laughter along with envelope stuffing and addressing.  i need to get more ink for the printer and a few more labels or just hand write in our address.  we all decided our hand written addresses may just make folks feel badly enough for us to donate money.

 hoping there will be some sort of bulk rate or non-profit rate i can get through the postal office.  i know many of these may return to us unopened but i think it's worth it to let people who have gotten permits know.  you just never know who will respond how.  that place really gets to people.  they are going to be some of our biggest supporters..if we can locate them.

 these swans were outside of Girdwood.

 these are North Bivuoac.

 Today Blossom and i did a loop out at Campbell Airstrip.  always a nice stretch when i have a list of things to get done along with walking.  that is always on the to do list.  etched in.

 love Blossom in the red leaves...they are already fading out there.  fall flies up here.  blink you miss it.

 ran into a trail buddy.  an older guy with a cute little dog, Issac.  always fun to chat with this guy.  funny how much you get to know about some folks that you just run into so often and chat with over time.  he's been getting treatment for cancer.  he said it appears the treatment is working and he may just live forever after all.  so great news.  he may head up to Nome to do some gold trolling...

 we talked about Nome and the musk ox and then i gave him my WARIS card to let him know what i'm up to.  he seemed pretty happy about that.

 check out Blossom in that red carpeted forest.  so pretty.

 we also talked about the silver salmon. we were on the bridge and i had just noted some salmon trying to swim upstream while i was down by the creek with Blossom.  i was surprised, seems late for this creek to have salmon in it.  he seemed to think so as well, but said some other trail folks had seen a pile of them resting a bit further down  stream.

 better keep a watch out for bears out there.

 started my day with some Ted Talks.  it's a good way to start the day.  watched  a really good speech on leadership. i've been trying to watch a few more of these sorts to help me with this new role i'm finding myself in.

 anyway, the speaker was Simon Sinek and he was talking about how great leaders inspire.  He was saying people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it.  there is what you do, there is how you go about doing it but more importantly there is the why-the purpose.

 he spoke of Martin Luther King and that he wasn't the only person out there trying to bring about change in civil rights, but that his speech was "i have a dream" not i have a plan.  he also spoke of the wright brothers.  there was a guy at the same time who was well educated, well financed and well supported to try and get a plane off the ground...he didn't,   the wright brothers had little education, no money just a desire to get plane up and an understanding of what it would mean to mankind to have flight.

 anyway...it was really interesting.

 the northern lights are bouncing around a bit out there.  took me a few minutes to remember where i put that tripod and get it set up so i'll check back out in a few and see if they are bouncing.  i really should drive someplace for better light...

 my aurora forcast app has tonight listed as minimal activity...i need to find a better app perhaps.

 it's still cool to just watch the lights from my back yard.  some folks i was chatting with in the bog a few weeks back said that it's a great place to watch the lights.  not sure i'm up for wandering around after midnight in the dark.

 that looks like a horse...it's a moose though.

 proudly displaying my new WARIS sticker!! gave them out to everyone tonight. spread the word....it's time for WARIS to start coming out of the closet.

 spent some time today as well scouring the internet for some information. my brother had been in one of those debate moods the other day.  he puts out the bait and it takes all i got sometimes to just not react.  this one i decided to just send some info via email.  hopefully less chance of a debate.  he's dead set on winning and can argue circles around pretty much anyone.  he really should have done trial law.

 it is funny...just like that speech i heard this morning.  my brother seems to have always been about making the money...but in truth if he'd followed his heart the money probably would have followed.  he loves to argue...that is his passion, his gift.  instead he chased after the dream of money more.

 dragonfly

 from my beach walk. loved this one of the trees below from the trail over the beach.

 my brother was seeming to believe that Global warming was suspect because Antarctica isn't melting.  big difference between north and south pole ice caps...the south pole one sits on a land mass.  a frozen land mass...the northern ice is just in the water.  it's not complicated science...hell, just test it out in a cooler.  would you just put cold water in a cooler and then stick your drinks in or do you select larger ice to set your stuff on

 not to mention the temperature down in Antarctica is cold in general.  if you warm a freezing temp of 8 degrees F up to 12 degrees F, it's not going to melt the ice.  it's still too freaking cold.  that being said a small part of Antarctica is showing signs of melt.  the Antarctic Peninsula is a very small percentage but it's also a vital ecosystem.  krill,  a lot of them.  only 1% on Antarctica doesn't have ice coverage..this is a continent the size of 1 1/2 x the continental US.  even still the Peninsula is less than 5% of the area but 87% of the glaciers in that western part of Antarctica have retreated.  studies only go back 50 years and the continent is so huge and research is limited.  there is much we just don't know.

 had a talk with him as i walked in the safety of my own brain.  i think it was Sandra tonight who asked if i'd been on a debate team in high school...nope, but at home it seemed there was always a debate going on. i tried to duke it out, my sister opted to just back out of it all.

 that goes along with our personalities.  i can be stubborn and determined at times. i have learned to not take the bait.  in that moment when i'm being baited...i stand no chance to win no matter how rational my argument or correct my facts.

 out on the dunes...Blossom loves it here.

 wearing new slippers.  fall is the slipper change out time.  i always try to buy a few new pairs of slippers and toss the old ones out.

 i started laughing as i was near the end of my walk today.  Blossom was on a leash and there was a dog approaching on one of those gentle leads, it was lab or lab-like so i figured it was just a puller.

 the dog was pulling it's owner towards Blossom.  the woman says, "he's really a friendly dog..." before she could say anything more the friendly dog lunged out at Blossoms face and tried to get a piece of her.  at this point the embarrassed owner just apologized. i walked on but soon i just started to laugh...Blossom was fine and that dog just might not be as friendly as his owner presumes.

 later on the bridge as i was chatting with the older guy another guy was headed towards bridge and appeared scared of Blossom. so i put her in a down stay and told him he was safe to just walk past her..she's such a good girl!

 Miss Breezy Chatterbug has been snuggling more with Rio again. that cat sure loves her dogs.

 this is U-Lake.

 rare that i cross paths with dogs that make rio look small, but this one did.

 leaves.

 and trees in the bog.

 the lights seems to have settled, fun watching them dance for a few minutes.  somethings just never get old. moose, eagles, fall and northern lights are a few of those things for me.

 so it's been a good day.  need to get some stuff done tomorrow...hopefully see about getting at least a large chunk of these mailed off.

 here is my crew for tonight.  i think everyone had a fun time and they are all great workers!!  Thanks Everyone!!

 speedy and i tie dyed shirts that she'd had made up with the WARIS Logo on them for when we have booths to sit at.  they came out nice but she felt a little splash of color would be good.  it works best if you use gloves.  i guess i will have a marked hand for a week or so . oops!!

thankful fors...1.  that the older guy i chat with on the trails is feeling good and recovering well.  2.  for good friends who will come and help you stuff and address envelopes cause they love walrus too.  3.  costco pizza..dang that stuff is good.  night.