Mixing it up a bit...

 thought i'd trade off between baby's and flowers to keep it interesting.  this baby is especially adorable.  if only they'd stay small and cute.  haha.  will post more of these cute bears in another post...think of this as a teaser.  :-)  like to keep up with older and newer stuff.  life gets nuts in the summers.  i've been snagging some pics from the web cam but those can be used on those slow picture days on the bridge seasons.  not too many slow picture days for me really

 i'm out there and when you are out there enough you see all sorts of stuff, especially if you aren't texting or flying past too quickly.

 dragonflies and butterflies are out there. saw a big one today when i was outside working in  the garden.  picked up dog poop which led to some raking.

 a baby grebe is sitting on the one adult grebe.  not the best picture but i thought it was still kind of cute.

 more babies at Cheney Lake.  this time geese.  so cute!! love all the babies.  Alaska is mad with babies right now.  they have a huge growing curve to prepare to fly south in these guys case or in the case of moose and bears to be strong enough to survive their first winters.

 obviously i am not camping right now.  in the end i started to pack and then switched gears and went to the beach. i have to go where my heart sends me.  today it was a beach day.  i was not alone...lots of folks at the beach.  we did nearly 5 miles doing that.  may still head out for an overnight tomorrow night.

 not off my night shift this stretch off, it happens some days.  just don't get moving and then stay up late.  it's after midnight and still here i am.

 chatted with my sister.  wanted to hear about her trip to Ireland.  she had a wonderful time so i'm happy about that.

 i need to plan very far in advance for vacation.  the dates were never really clear until fairly recently.  though Ireland would have been fun, it's a big and expensive trip.  there are places i'd want to hit first.  Iceland, Norway, Antarctica, New Zealand, Africa for a safari, Galapago's...you see a trend.  nature is where i want to be. who knows if i will ever get out to these places.  i haven't done the international travel thing. i have traveled quite a bit in Alaska which is a dream as well.  so much to see in this amazing place.

 Iceland is brewing though.  they now have direct flights from Anchorage to Iceland...really need to take advantage of that before that changes.

 Norway to see polar bears and walrus.

 stopped here to walk Blossom during errands, it's by the library....they had a fair going on, who knew!

 lots of baby geese here as well.  loads of little families out at Cuddy.

 Anchorage skyline.

 these are from a loop i did of Homestead, back trails to Moose Meadows i think it's called and then back around.

 always a good trek and i often forget about it in the summers. it's a good winter trail as well.  i've been doing a lot of walks alone this summer.  Rio has been a bit of a wild card.  i think i have her sorted out now. i've just been giving her that extra meal as Blossom and i leave and she seems fine with that.  she wasn't taking the peanut butter anymore.

 not sure how much walking she will be doing these last bits of her life. she's done grand though. surgery has for sure given her more life.  maybe she knows it's time to retire from the bigger walks.  it is funny, all these years i keep walking her, but in truth one rarely sees other mastiffs out "walking" they are couch dogs generally. maybe all that walking has given her more time though.

 good for humans, it's probably good for dogs. i've been walking steady for over 20 years i'd say now.  need to do more variety of other exercise as well.  for summer though, as long as i'm outside i am pretty content.  when winter comes i'll force myself to hit the gym more.

 caribou lichen below.

 watched Tom Hanks in Cast Away tonight. i have never actually seen this flick so i enjoyed it.  had seen some reference to his friend, "wilson" in something the other day oddly enough.  now i get it.  poor Wilson.

 a little plane had to make an emergency landing by Potters marsh on the road i guess. all went well.  airplanes always have the right of way and they can use any road they feel like to land if needed.  they tend to avoid busy roads like the Seward Highway...but when you must you must.  happy all went well.

 a motorcyclist was not so lucky on the Seward highway this week though.  when a police officer is trying to pull you over...just pull over.  he didn't and instead took off, which killed him.  i doubt whatever the cops had on him was worth losing his life over.

 sometimes the here and now seems so dang critical and overwhelming i guess...but when you look at the big picture, it's really pretty small.  short term choices vs long term choices.  will it matter in 5 years?  10 years?  most stuff won't really.

 they were doing trail work on this little side trail.  the bikers are using it more and more.  they were putting in a bridge.  the young workers told me they are spending their summers doing trail work. they do 8 weeks of trail work in Anchorage and then get to go to Denali National Park and work there for additional 4 weeks...so a nice reward for them.

 they were hand carrying the bridge in piece by piece.

 flowers along the trail...can't walk past them now!

 Mat Su valley is finally getting lit ski trails for winter.  that has got to beat them driving down to Anchorage for skiing.  should also help bolster cross country skiing in the valley.

 looks like some heavy bits of wood.

 back at the zoo for the rest of these.  they have a new baby seal.

 funny watching these guys move on land.  such a bother that they can't use those flippers more to move on land.  hopping  becomes common.  walrus and sea lions have it a bit easier as their front flippers work more like legs/arms

 these guys sure have sweet faces.

 baby and mama!!

 saw a nice bull moose today walking back up the hill to the car from the beach.  he was just a few feet off the trail.  was pretty chill as we walked by but still i didn't feel it wise to linger awaiting better photo ops.  being run over by a bull moose was not on my to do list for today.

 river otters i think is the proper term for these guys.  they weren't too active when i was there.

 the fox is pretty, but man did his enclosure stink...they seem cat like in many ways.  the scent is one of the ways

 no stink here.  just a beautiful tiger.  many of the animals at the zoo are animals one finds in Alaska.  the tigers obviously are not.  there are a lot of captive tigers, i think many get bred/sold to individuals and then out grow the abilities of the idiots who purchase them.  not sure how these guys came to be in Alaska but at least our temperatures work well for them.

 they are just striking animals.  would love to see them in the wild...but it would be intimidating i'm sure.

 they would have no issue with killing you.

 these coyote's were cracking me up.  there were squirrels running around the fencing around their enclosure...they were quite interested in the happenings and goings on of these squirrels.

 on high alert.

 was looking for the swans...should have looked harder, the swans have cute little babies too.

 looking down on the bald eagle enclosure.

 this one was laying on a nest i'm guessing.

 this guy looks rather annoyed.  it could have been the screaming toddler that was on the other side of the enclosure.

 his head feathers went up each time the kid screamed

 tiger at peace.  and some flowers that were growing in the zoo.  so pretty.

 i'll try to get to sleep before 3 am tonight, then i can make decisions based more on desire than time tomorrow.  i still could have driven some place and slept this evening.  i do have the freedom to go when i want...or not to go at all though

thankful for: A.  a relaxing day at the beach, super low tide  B.  mud between the toes and everywhere eventually.  C.  sleep...when you need it, it's good to be able to get it...peacefully