cranes, cranes and more cranes...

 so i do hope you enjoy cranes...if not, well enjoy my stellar writing skills.  haha.

 i am on call which means the phone can ring at any moment or not at all.  like sitting around waiting for a date to show up or a boy to call...memories of my younger days of dating, which were often unpredictable.  if i recall, i always tried to have a back up plan in the event a boy just didn't show. it really didn't happen all that often...but once or twice is enough to make one a wee bit paranoid..

 so hopefully i can get through this writing without the phone ringing.

 did a loop with both dogs in north bivouac.  couldn't go too far...all those roots are hell on the blind dog.  she's a bit of a weak walker anyway these days.  at 11 years who can blame her.

 was laughing as i was reading how the kids of Kotzebue are picking up trash around town and buildings that have lay waste for years were torn down to make the town look a bit nicer...

 it's too bad that it takes a visit from the POTUS for places to clean up and look presentable.  makes me wish the POTUS was going to visit more of these villages...believe me there are several that could use a bit of a scrub.

 i have been waiting for my phone to ring and for someone to say, "could you hold for the President?" but so far no such call has come.  i do keep putting little plugs in for the walrus in the comment sections of stuff...should have just flown to Dillingham and held a sign up...could have done that around town as well i guess.  i really need to be better at this activist stuff.  didn't think of it until too late.

 need friends on the inside...of course, i have never been in the popular crowd and mostly i am a leper socially.

 so many cranes out there...pretty awesome!!

 the POTUS was out in Seward today.  took big helicoptors out there. must have been a beautiful flight today...he hit exit glacier...which my brother visited when he was here with his family and then took a private boat out in Resurrection Bay....how does he know all these people here?

 had to laugh...Bristol Palin came out against the renaming of Denali...really...?  does anyone care what any of the Palins say.  my favorite was listening to the tapes of them at that party...total idiots causing bar fights in the neighborhood.  crazy people.  so many do not realize that our Republican Senators and legislatures have been fighting for this name change for decades...it's not a republican/democrat issue at all.

 it will be a bother i'm sure for a few businesses that are named after Mt McKinley but they can just keep their business name...ohio can be honored to have several businesses named after the President McKinley.  it really isn't about dishonoring President McKinley (thought honestly i know next to nothing about him).  it's more about honoring the names that things were called before others came in and decided to just change things to suit themselves.

 interesting Nat Geo article about the name and how there are tons of names out there for Denali...the natives have a few varieties depending on what group of people were naming. Denali was the most common name though so it seemed most fitting.  its a big mountain so it's not surprising that the natives in different areas had slightly different names for it.

 there was another Palin thing...it said she's said something about Alaska's many alien citizens...eskimo's being on her list.  i always hope these sort of stories are embellished or a joke gone wrong...i guess those natives did cross the bering land bridge with no papers all those years ago..but then the original folks coming over on the Nina, Pinto and Santa Maria didn't exactly bring papers or fill out papers when they arrived, right?

 people are great at taking their arguments to a ridiculous place.  there isn't much you can believe as so much gets to twisted.

 these below are geese...just in case you think i am a bad birder. there are a lot of geese gathered at Creamers field as well.

 these guys so reminded me of giant mosquito's as they came in for a landing.  i was cracking up watching them.

 may see if i can find a place for Rio to crash so i can then just travel with Blossom next week.  i have the cabin for a few nights and was thinking i'd take the back road, and cross the Denali Highway.  see what the weather is doing...and hope for no bear encounters.

 life is to be lived and that means some times you just go for it and hope for the best.

 mosquito's coming in for a landing.

 they were everywhere.

 i guess ISIS blew up some ancient temples in Syria. very sad.  i know it's nothing compared to all the human suffering going on over there right now, but still sad.  such a waste when these idiots destroy relics such as this.

 a little mushroom action.  today i really wasn't in a photo mood..that happens sometimes. i just walk to walk.  gotta be in the mood.  often it just takes one photo op that i can't pass up and then the camera just starts clicking.

 i've probably been disowned by several members of my family since they loath Obama and i have been following his travels here.  it's a pretty huge event here though really.  Presidents rarely do more than refuel in Alaska.  President Obama will be the first sitting President to go above the Arctic circle while in office.

 i was trying to position Blossom to show the size of these shrooms

 the fair is on and i guess a huge pumpkin crashed down and broke during the big weigh in...dq'd for that.  bummer.  i suspect i will bypass the fair this year.  it's not something i feel some need to attend each year. i do show up every 3-5 years i guess though.

 one year my brother was up here with his family so we went to it.  he bought several of those wooden moose candy dispensers.  he got hooked on those. probably still one at his house.  m&m's or whatever candy you want comes out the mooses bum.

 tossed my keys inside to show the size...

 i think this one below is edible..not that i am a big mushroom eater.

 the barn at Creamers.  they still do run it as a farm to a degree.  fields get mowed and rotated.

 no more cows though.  lots of trails and skiing in the winter, which would be fun.

 and cranes in the spring and fall.

 been a strange year though for me it seems.  not my usual summer.  no kayak trip. ;-(

 took this boardwalk.  looked like a nice little walk and some guys i met figured my blind dog could handle it no problem.  their one friend had managed it and he had a disability.

 this was the only section that had little side rails and then below it was just dirt

 then it turned to this...which was lovely but in some places like almost a 4 foot drop.  i was stressed with Rio on this path and eventually she took a slow motion fall off the boardwalk....first one foot, then the next and then...she was down.

 i was having a hell of a time getting her to understand what i needed to do to get her back up on the boardwalk.  some folks just walked past me and then the lady in the back, who was carrying a kid turned back and said, "do you need some help".  i happily accepted her offer of help and soon the others turned back to help me as well.  i was quite grateful.  Rio is no small pup and getting her back up there with her being scared was not easy.

 loved these trees though and it would have been nice to walk the walk.  i could have returned without the dogs as it was a short walk  Rio was pretty freaked out though so better to just call it a day.

thankful for: on call nights.  hate the waiting but it's nice to get a free day home.  the air in fall.  it's just different, i don't know why it is but it is.  cooler and crisp.  how this place is never the same...it is always on the move, changing and evolving.  the seasons have little seasons within them.