up at 6am cooking for the dog...

 she continues to improve.  i just hope this never returns. i really don't like when my puppies are sick..they are so sweet... i do hope that her general good health is the reason she is recovering so rapidly from this.  these are all from the loop around Byers Lake.  there were some pockets of salmon that we ran into...thankfully, we didn't run into any bears or signs of bears on our loop.

 my health....well, it's dropping into my respiratory tract, as usual.  that is how it is with reactive airway disease.  a simple cold bug is never simple for me.  need to hit the inhalers.  the cough is ramping up.  coughing is exhausting.  need to call and see if i can get more cough medicine.  do miss my old doc in southern california.  he'd give me this narcotic cough med in pretty healthy amounts...not so of late.  now each dose i allow myself is like gold that i doll out.  fresh air and the walk felt good overall...just tire more easily.

 walking is how i know where i am health wise.  did a slow 5 miles today with Blossom.  wanted to make sure she didn't over do it either. felt bad, as work has called looking for help in both adult and peds icu.  if i go in extra now i will only get more sick later.  i used to plow through work, too guilty to call out sick  i've learned that doing this only meant i was sick for 6-8 weeks rather than 3-4 weeks.

 quite a few moose out powerline pass today.  posted some on facebook will post more here as i catch up on the summer.  not taking too many pics on my day to day walks. the calm before the snow so it's always a good time to catch up

 still have more calendars to sell and lots of stickers.  they are pretty nice!!

 not sure how many moose we saw today.  probably 8-12?  plus a piece of a dead rabbit.  thankfully, Blossom was on a leash...that dead rabbit looked pretty fresh and oddly, that probably would have done nothing to her gut...but i didn't want to test it out.  have kept her on leash to prevent any off diet meals.  i know at least once when some jerk put a bucket of poison off trail with the purpose of killing dogs.

 humans can be jerks.  disturbing article this week in the paper about the treatment/abuse of dogs in some villages.  of course, there was several comments denying the events that were reported.  reports of many loose, unvaccinated dogs, puppies.  rabies is a problem in many villages.  the local fox population are known to carry it.  when we were in Barrow i think i only saw one or two dogs off leash and loose.

 according to the article...on occasion a call goes out over the VHS radios that are in many homes that it's "dog elimination day".  apparently this means put any pets you love in the house all strays will be shot.  some villages put bounties on dogs...and pay for each dog shot.

 the story told of some teachers, who didn't stay in Scammon Bay long, who had seen dogs tied to the backs of 4-wheelers and dragged to their deaths by laughing teenagers.  these temporary teachers also saw dogs tied to posts with no place to shelter..they were told these were Alaskan dogs, not White dogs.

 as i said, there has already been some denials of these events or statements that these stories are told out of proportion or unfairly.  one must wonder how this impacts the next generation.  how do they learn respect for the animals or for each other when this is their example.  it also makes me think of those high suicide rates in the villages.  i'm sure many things are involved in that, but for those who are caring and kind souls this sort of thing could help lead to hopelessness.  the story was heartbreaking. hopefully, some of the groups that have been created to help change this situation get support in the villages and they can do more spay/neuter and vaccine clinics.  education is much needed.

 so much is said of the culture being in tune with the earth and the animals but all the work that is being done to protect the culture is undone when kids grow up with these sorts of examples.

 another article announced a new shelter opening in south anchorage that is hoping to help out with some of rural alaska's dog issues.  the people have to rise up though.  one can't just sit back and hope that someone else comes in and does all the work and then think anything will change.  those who live in the villages must be the change first.  others can help, but if the people of the villages continue to disrespect and mistreat the animals  then all of these programs will fail.

 pride in your community and your culture, picking up, cleaning up, caring for the people who fall by the wayside and for the animals...all of these things are needed.  it would go a long way to decreasing the suicide rates too i'd guess.

 the pumpkin massacre will happen on sunday evening...this means i need to clean house this week...always a good reason to clean when you invite people over.  time to carve the pumpkins!!

 TO on our wet walk around the lake.

 this is the bridge that i never want to attempt to take Rio on.  Blind mastiffs on hanging bridges not a good idea.

 Alaska Day this week.  back in 1867 Alaska was transferred from Russia to the United States as a territory.

 as i had stated a few weeks ago i think....the pull out of shell was more about then not getting enough oil and the price of oil being low,  than the goodness of their hearts or pressure from environmental groups.  i'm no fool....if business was booming or they were getting good results there is no way they would have walked away no matter how many environmentalists put kayaks in the water and protested.  still happy that the pull out happened and that the leases for those were cancelled.

 it's nuts to have no plan for how to protect the wildlife or sea in the event of a bit spill.  it's always been my big issue with nuclear energy.  all the waste and all these years later they still don't know how to properly dispose of it.  nobody seems to talk about that much of late.  it's probably just leaching into the earth...and eventually into the water systems.

 the rain distorted the above picture...kinda looked cool.

 this is an old homesteaders trail along the trail route.

 falling apart and they are allowing the earth to just take it as it will. always love that trees grow out of the roof.

 i think it was actually built in the 1950's so really not that old.

 a dead orca was found washed up in Petersburg in Southeast Alaska.  no trauma found, they are checking to see what they can learn about the animal.

 the aurora forecast on the paper seems to have changed now..it used to always just say low no matter what..i've noted this has changed to moderate.  it now seems to always read moderate.  cloudy this week mostly anyway.  yesterday we had blue skies and sunshine which seemed to make everyone smile.

 i got a relaxing massage, of course, i think this morning i woke up just about as knotted as before. fresh air helped. soon the sinus stuff will go away and i'll just have respiratory crap to deal with.

 last night i crashed.  was super tired.  woke early, back to bed, woke, fed dogs, back to bed.  it has been nice to get back out walking.  will try to hit the pool tomorrow.  i've heard that swimming is actually good as it forces you to breathe in that pattern.  i'm sure swimming overall is good for people with respiratory issues.  mine stem from growing up in smoggy LA.  it's improved over the years with all the regulations they have put in place.  when i was a kid we would have smog days, which were like rain days.  you weren't allowed to play outside.  we could sit in the playground or play games inside.  it was deemed too unhealthy for us to actually run around.

 i'm not a zombie believer.  i did have a producer call me and see if myself or anyone i knew in Alaska was preparing for the zombie apocolypse.  i spelled that wrong.  they had gotten my name from the Legends of Alaska folks.  i did a piece on that as i had found a "sasquatch" footprint on a walk in Anchorage.  i'm pretty sure it was a bear print smeared out with the spring snow.  i posted it in this blog under the title, "sasquatch ??".  it got found and i got contacted.

 in life it's good to be open to stuff.  say yes to things.  you just never know.  it's entertaining if nothing else.  so filming that bit for that show was entertaining and educational.  they twisted the truth up quite a bit, took liberty with the facts.  But, there i am...with the dogs on tv.  just say yes...i know growing up we were told just say no...but that was just for drugs.  i have skipped drugs...a lot of other stuff..i just said yes to.  maintain in control ( and by this be aware), dignity, it's over rated some times.  don't ever be afraid to look like an idiot or act like an idiot.

 you can see at the top below another of the cabins at Byers Lake.  it's actually the first public use cabin built in Alaska...Byers Lake cabin #1.

 we stayed in 2.  it's got the best view if the mountain cooperates.

 here we are drying off and resting after our walk around the lake.

 entry below by our current Anchorage Mayor...he must have stayed out there with family in the spring.  we forgot to write our entry.  oops.

 we were joined by SH for our second night out there.  a lovely and relaxing evening

thankful for: a.  medicine and access to it.  b. moose spotting and sitting out there watching them...always entertaining, never dull  c.  walking...i hope i can do it for many years to come