each day an adventure in alaska: last of August and a few more from Barrow...

lots of great hiking this week. tomorrow perhaps i'll make a day trek over to Seward and take both dogs to the beach. can't leave Rio behind too much. she loves a road trip...not really but she does love being with us.

these are from a walk in August from Westchester Lagoon. always a good walk. hell anywhere up here is a sweet walk...no matter the weather.

my friend asked if i ever thought of moving back to the lower 48...i just said, i didn't think there was anywhere else i'd fit in. i am a misfit and independent and quirky...those are traits that work well in Alaska. it's home, it's where i'm happy. on the trails i find all the peace and religion i need.

a friend who hasn't really been too much into hiking of late has decided to give it another go. happy to have her join me out there. hopefully she had a fun day. we headed up hanging valley. actually we got the worst of the climbing out of the way. took a break and headed back down. it was a over 18,000 steps and over 7 miles by my phone trackers so a good day.

some wind as we headed back so when i got home i headed for my heated comforter and a little Gilmore Girls.

not getting too much accomplished this week off, but it's been fun. stuff can always wait for another day. nobody died from having dirty dishes in the sink or not getting that last load of clothes in the wash. i'll have to get a few of those pre-winter tasks done over the next week or so. winter is headed our way.

yesterday was Monday walk, it was me LS and speedy. we got to chatting and we booked our usual route. a few others joined us for coffee...always a fun day. great to have the group back together again.

i left Rio at home for the Monday walk but then we hit the bog before i fed them their evening meal. a bull moose popped out on the trail in front of us. a woman with a few dogs seemed a bit anxious as that bull had been a bit close to her as she cruised by and it was huffing at her. thankfully, he headed back into the woods and we had no trouble getting past. those bulls in rut can be a bit of a challenge.

always best to give them space.

happy that a secret is out. i'm a good secret keeper but i prefer not to have that responsibility. always have to laugh at Sheldon on the big bang...he hates secrets. i can relate.

Permanent fund amount was announced this week. over $2000/person. always nice. i tend to just pad my savings account with it. always good to have some cash in reserve.

probably should have more cash in reserve but that would mean working more and hiking less. who wants that?

always love reflections. these are still at Westchester Lagoon. soon this will be frozen and ice skating will begin.

more splashes into the sunsets at Point Worzonof. i am obviously easily amused.

a new dinosaur has been discovered in Alaska i am hearing. pretty exciting news i'm guessing. a big plant eater. it was given a native name. Ugraunaaluk Kuukpikenis or ancient grazer. i have no idea how to pronounce the other name and won't attempt. i may have spelled it wrong as well.

sounds like they are getting closer to building a kidney from human stem cells. they are having success in rats and pigs with the technology.

forgot to charge the camera battery or take a spare battery today on the walk so ended up carrying the camera and not being able to use it. even tried stuffing it in my bra for a bit. the cold can really zap those batteries. that battery was dead though. all charged up now and ready to go for tomorrow. when i got to the lot i ended up helping a guy charge his car battery as it was dead. always wanting to add to that good kharma bank...you never know when you will need it.

you can see the rock flying above and then splashes below. always fun.

not always a straight horizon though.

just a blip on the walrus deaths...it just said they were officially investigating the incident. sounds like about half of the walrus killed were babies. makes me angry and just sick. for many the life of an animal has little value. more and more it's being shown that people who behave like this towards animals have little or no respect of other humans as well and this behavior easily translates to poor treatment of other humans. it's worth it to stop people with this mentality.

of course, it's often tossed around about the sanctity of life...usually as it relates to the human fetus and abortion. i'm always amazed that this sanctity of life seems to end there. so many don't care about the sanctity of life of the many children born and living in foster care or of the poor. of the other humans that are suffering from mental illness or addicted to drugs and life. after you are born you are no longer valued. often people don't concern themselves with those starving in other parts of the world or suffering from horrible dictators or women being beaten and having no rights.

the sanctity of life doesn't apply to migrants who are looking for a better life or refugees or to elephants, rhino's or walrus. there is no sanctity of life concerns for girls raped or killed, for folks who do not have enough money to feed their kids or live out of the elements.

i heard today that they found some pretty old salmon bones up north as well. humans have apparently been fishing for more years that we previously thought. the obsession with salmon in Alaska continues. long live the salmon!!

i am going to sleep great tonight. actually it's pretty rare i don't sleep great. perhaps it's all the walking i do. not sure, all i know is sleeping has never been an issue for me...or only rarely. a night here or there.

these are from Barrow. our guide stopped to collect fish from his net. he was telling us he'd bought this net but the guy he bought it from was a bit sneaky and lied about all the holes in the net. he must have gotten it mended but he was clearly not happy about this exchange. it's a small town as the guy who sold him the net turned up while we were there to check his net.

i want you to notice that he has on no gloves...this is the arctic ocean...gotta be cold. he mentioned that when he was a toddler his grandfather would put his hands in the cold sea water to toughen them up..

must have worked. he's wearing chest waders, neoprene i'm guessing but that is a cotton sweatshirt and he went in quite deep to the end of the net. he went in the water over and over collecting the fish 1-2 at a time.

he wasn't going to check his nets but we wanted to watch and there were some gulls trying to get at his salmon.

he would walk out, untangle the fish and toss them on the beach.

here is the catch of the day...well a few of them . more were still coming.

MW was surprised that he didn't bleed the fish as they always do. he and the other guy we spoke to looked at her oddly at the idea of it. of course, i suspect salmon is often fed out to the dogs too. the dogs could care less about the bleeding, but perhaps over the generations there are some nutrients that they get from the fish that way.

one recent story in the Alaskan news...i do hope the guy was drunk...apparently, a guy in his 20's stood up near the end of a recent flight and began peeing on the other passengers around him. he was charged with "offensive littering". what a strange sounding charge. could he also be charged with indecent exposure.

i've had confused patients fumble with voiding and hit me or my shoes. always pleasant. also had another confused patient that was a bit agitated pee in a heater vent. couldn't really stop him. i'm not going to get hit or shoved over something like that. you do what you can and then just keep yourself safe...heater vent be dammed.

some guy is apparently camping outside while working...i guess we usually call that being homeless, but i guess if you do it on purpose it's novel.

MW wanted to whack the fish and kill them, he wasn't too concerned about that either.

liked the black and whites of the fish though. my freezer has no new fish in it. i'll probably just buy from the store when i want it this year. i'm more of a halibut fan than a salmon fan though i like a brown sugar recipe for salmon i have.