love the sound of rain....

 i seem to have taken more iphone photos than anything. today, again i was fairly lazy and slept in.  my ambition is always to get out and do some bigger hikes but then i find myself back in the woods, wandering and looking for mushrooms.

 clearly i am drawn to them and the woods bring me peace.

 i think also with the covid restrictions more folks are out on the trails, especially on the weekends so it's just easier to go to these less used trails.

 pine cones picked clean by squirrels in preparation for winter. i guess they store them like this.  who knew.

 so today i wandered around North Bivouac.  there are lots of trail variations and i took a few little twists and turns.  this place though, it changes week by week so you can easily travel the same trails and see very different things.  i tend to look at the little things.  i think i always have.

 each day i do a bit more on that last cabinet.  will be nice when it's completed.  the doors are nearly cleared off and then the staining begins.  still need to get the old paint off the rest of the cabinet face.

 my eyelid has been swollen this weekend.  been annoying more than painful really. not sure if it's some bug bite or a sty or what. everyone said warm compresses.  last night i only had washcloths which really didn't stay warm long so today i stopped and picked up something i could microwave.  i can already tell a difference.  hopefully, by tomorrow it will be on the mend.

 only ran into one couple on the trails today.  their dog was rushing mine.  it was friendly so that was fine.  they were rushing to put on masks and collect their dog. i just pulled mine off the trail.  i guess i should have masked up since they were, but we were over 20 feet from each other, nobody was doing any strenuous breathing and i feel like outside like that we are pretty safe. i just dealt with my dogs and they moved on.

 hit a few shops.  people just masked up.  most do.  you do occasionally see someone not masked or the mask on the chin thing. we will never get 100% compliance and i never expected it. 

 these are again from Homer mostly.  i did begin looking at some pictures from the big camera..right now from Valdez still.  i'm so far behind.  haha. some good sea lion shots though. 

 may be a bit more slim pickings for this years calendar.  i have a million photo's from the past that i can always pull from, even if some turn out to be ones i used years ago.  could be fun to sneak a few in there this year.

 i have vacation planned for October.  debating...just work it...or look into making this the year i head to Kaktovik? hmm.  may just look into it and see what the options are and how spendy that would be.  easier to stay in state.  i had planned to visit my brother in Boston...but i would hate to unknowingly bring this to him and at this point we have a 14 day post travel quarantine for out of state travel.  seems easier to just stay in state.

 you can see in the jelly above the middle section has been pecked at by the gulls...see the gull tracks around it.  they go after each one as the tide goes out.  those sea gulls are nasty really.  they peck out the eye balls of the salmon as they are dying.  no mercy. the sociopaths of the bird kingdom...of course, animals are not necessarily kind to their prey.  it's just how nature works.

 the dogs chilling by the fire.  who knew they could actually relax...i didn't!!

 maybe it just took 4 years to get them there.

 i feel terrible i missed her appointment.  terrible for wasting the vets time slot as well. 

 may hit Spencer Loop tomorrow in the rain.  haven't hiked that all summer and i could be home to do some more work on the cabinets. 

 was watching a program about farming and the future.  some interesting things being researched.  one hydro farm is located in an old steel plant i think.  all indoors.  no soil used, no pesticides needed. very little water required.  it was pretty amazing and the food is all grown clean.

 they were also talking about a future replacement to wheat that grows deep roots and i think doesn't need to be replanted each year.  just cut.

 stories in the paper of people who have had Covid. i think that is a good idea. i have also noticed some of the news programs highlighting those lost.  it's good to put faces to those who get this.

 love the bright green anemonies.

 bunches of rainbow trout were dropped into Cheney Lake recently...a common summer occurrence. it's a popular fishing lake...though oddly a man made lake...so the headline caught me off guard, "rainbow run at Cheney Lake" not really a real run.

 cracks me up that the trump campaign says they need to re-elect him so he can fix the issues that are happening now that he's not fixing. saw a meme the other day...something about the right yelling that protests shouldn't lead to rioting and looting.  agreed, but getting arrested shouldn't lead to death either.  there is a lot wrong in our nation.  my hope is that we are like addicts hitting rock bottom and we will wake up and make some changes that will ultimately be better for more of us...currently, the system seems to help a certain smaller percentage. 

 Ivy leaps beside the fire.

 i usually just delete many of the crooked horizon shots...it's a pet peeve of mine.  below is a much better horizon.

 it can be tough to get things level.  i find i tend to shoot crooked so i really have to just pay attention

 this is at Byron. i haven't hit too many of my usual hikes.  seems odd.  the entire year is odd though i guess.

 at least we haven't had the big fires up here this year. sounds like CA is having some.

 the beach is smiling..okay i helped a bit

 this is Ninilchik.

 was pondering as i walked today.  it's probably been nice for families to be home more together.  the Covid virus has no doubt helped families reconnect with each other.  remember why they like to be around each other.  even religion in our current world takes up a lot of peoples times. i really doubt that would be what God would want.

 hours and hours spent churching. my suspicion is that church really should just be more of a support group, a means of uplift and hope inspiring.  our lives had, in many cases, just gotten pulled in so many directions.  Covid has forced people to simplify and re-evaluate what their priorities are.

 the messages i recall from church seemed mixed to me.  we had this free agency but we were encouraged to hold fast to the iron rod and never stray from what we were taught...that seemed to go against the free agency thing to me. how do you learn and grow to the fullest if you hold fast to the iron rod and never venture out of your box, your bubble and your comfort zone.  the times i have had the most growth are when i was using my free agency, not when i held tightly to the iron rod of faith. 

 it can be frightening but it is also exciting to venture out of what is known territory.

 it's after 2 am.  that is the life of a night shifter i guess.

 some days your schedule is what it is. 

 the dogs do love their ocean time. 

 i do too...as evidenced by being silly on the beach

 well, i guess i should try and get some actual sleep.  i have work to do tomorrow. it is labor day!!

thankful for A.  work...in these times it's a blessing to have a job that is stable  B.  mushrooms, the remedy to covid crazy C. social media and texts....it's easy to feel isolated in a normal time and even more so in the era of covid