Lost Lake and a chat with the Capital...

 We had an absolutely beautiful day at Lost Lake. we lingered as long as we could and as long as we could stand the bugs out there.  the breeze was finally starting to pick up in the afternoon.  we ate lunch by the lake. it really was this pretty.  there was no need at all to enhance any of these pictures.  besides contrast and cropping i really don't do anything to my pictures. i'm too lazy to shoot in raw and i'd rather be outside than sitting at a computer...

 though with all this WARIS stuff i've been on the computer way more than i have ever been.  i should have been writing down the time i spent on WARIS stuff all along, but i have for sure started to now.

 took two vacation days this week and they have pretty much morphed into WARIS days. Hoping this all settles a bit once i have the basics done. tonight i've been working on the web page.  i took a break to write the blog as they have downtime at web.com so it seemed best to not fight it.  i'll have to try again in a bit.  trying to hook our new bank account up so people can donate.

 Katie met me at the bank and we opened an account.  WARIS has $10 in our account!!  go team.  my thanks to my childhood friend, Marcia, for the $10 donation. she sent it for my birthday.  seemed fitting to open it with her donation.  as a young kid she innocently asked me a lot of questions about all kinds of stuff, including the religion i was being raised in.  we had long conversations. she wasn't trying to sway me, just curious as she wasn't raised with any specific religion.  all that questioning helped me to see the world differently than the one way i had been taught.  eventually...well...here i am.

 Today i got a package in the mail from another friend from my days in Ketchikan.  another donation arrived along with a gift and a sweet note.  it's great to get encouragement for this thing i am taking on.  this week i have felt somewhat overwhelmed and anxious about what i embarking on and the kind and positive words are really helpful.

 people want to donate and they want to help.  it's time for me to set it up for them to do just that.  it's all set up i just need to get it on to my web page and then introduce the web page...to everyone.  it still needs a lot of work and i'm learning as i go. the page will hopefully improve over time.

 my neighbor did indeed come over in the wee hours of the morning and sprayed the wasp nest.  many dead wasps around it and i could see the nest is melting like and hopefully the larvea forms i see in there will die as well.  keeping dogs far away from the area so they don't get sick from the crap that kills the wasps. tried to just take them for a walk after i fed them but they didn't like that idea. Rio just wouldn't pee, Blossom kept sitting down.  they are creatures of habit.

 as long as they were in the side yard and i was out there with them i let them be in the yard.

 i made a dent in the chickweed situation.  day was nice out so i took to the garden with vigor!! at least it rips out easily.  the idea is to get to the bottom and then spray weed killer i think..more toxins for the dogs to avoid.  should just hire someone to re-do the entire yard. it's a lot of work.

 in between that i checked for email responses/wrote more emails and spoke to the legislative assistant to our senator Mark Begich.  he had called while i was out at Lost Lake and we had played some phone tag.  Bob King has been to Round Island and seems to be on board with not wanting the staff off the island.  i think he was getting ready to fly out...the phone cut off and that was that.  hopefully we will be in contact again.  i wrote a note through the senators website.  kinda cool though that one of my emails got noticed and responded to.

 chatted with my oldest brother, Ross, for a bit.  got to tell him about my call from the Capital...that is what comes up on the caller ID.  he's in New York on vacation.  sounds like fun.  guess everyone is headed to Texas again for Thanksgiving.  we'll have to see.  had fun last year, possible.

 also chatted with my friend, Carla, she finally has a smart phone. i was her first text and first phone call.  always fun to chat with her.  it was a quick call while i was waiting for Katie at the bank.

 funny...it was easier to get a bank account than a PO Box.

 Boddhi was enjoying some water time which is i guess unusual.

 couldn't stop taking pictures...it was just so beautiful.  takes your mind off of the bugs.

 Malaysian Air had another very bad and sad day.  a passenger jet with over 200 passengers was shot out of the air over Ukraine.  not sure who is responsible, so sad.  supposedly several of the passengers were Aids researchers who were on the way to a conference.  great loss for the world and my heart goes out to the families.

 who knows who is responsible and what if anything will happen.

 Israel has increased in their push into Gaza...it's full on war at this point.

 kept my wide angle lens on all day.

 Boddhi...he's such a handsome guy.

 Indy was more interested in swimming.

 my friends...everything is cooler in Black and White.

 Rio went to the vet for a check up. her tail is still slowly healing.  she still needs to have a bandage on her tail and the sutures are still in.

 we just walked around Kincaid today with the dogs.  it was looking like it could rain on my side of town but over there the sun was out and everyone was biking and enjoying the day. thinking tomorrow i may just hit the road with the dogs for a day excursion.  head north...not sure where yet. we shall see.

 lots of tarn action up there. love tarns. great word..kinda like taiga, another northern word.  further north there are pingo's.  gotta love Alaska!!

 after this i shall head back and hope i can get the web thing ready to at least get started and then...bed!!

 may try and organize all these papers and read more on my self learning books...how to start and run a non-profit.

 this is a tarn...not big enough to be a lake...too big to be a pond i think...also seems a thing that shows up in the higher elevations.  never heard the word tarn before i got here.

 Rio for sure gets more tired walking in the summers than the winters and more in general than in years past.

 baby tarn...or little pond?  i'm still gonna call it a tarn.

 this month is flying by fast!!  that is how summers go.  crazy!!  you feel totally wasteful on a day like today if you don't do some big thing,  but you still need to clean toilets, pull chickweed and wash dishes every so often.  my yard is a mess..this seems to happen every summer though.  i'm not one who wants to be bothered with yardwork...i'd rather be out enjoying this great place called Alaska!!

 soon winter will come and the yardwork will change to shoveling snow.  the chickweed will die off.  i really should just hire a lawn service..i say that every year.  i haven't gotten any projects done this year...i guess WARIS is my project this year.  next year i'll have to take on a home project. the fence no doubt...as i doubt it will last the winter.

 it's just so open,so vast out there.  this place is beyond beautiful...anytime of year really.

 cooked a turkey breast tonight.  i'd bought it the other day and looked at it yesterday and thought i had like a week to use it...today i realized that the date on there was really today and that i had to cook it today.  my brain wasn't getting that July was almost half way over.  nuts!!

 we took our time that afternoon returning to the cabin.  the wind had picked up, the bugs were a bit less and the dogs were pretty tired. Blossom and Boddhi kept wanting to break.  Indy seemed full of vigor but after we got back to the cabin he was the one that seemed the most sore.  i think he just didn't want to let on that he was beat...

 my desk is a mess...both of them. haha...really do need to sort that out a bit.

 yes...i never made it to the gym today...again!!  grr!! feel like i need to get this done though. then the next phase begins.

 Blossom and I

 the family...

 a few more of the lake before we headed  back to the cabin.

 Blossom gets nice and soaked...i should have brought her tennis ball out to the lake.  she is so funny...doesn't really get swimming without a ball to chase.

better get back to it and then head to bed... thankful fors: 1- being busy...it's good to feel productive and be engaged in something bigger than yourself. 2- to be healthy enough to  be able to get out and enjoy amazing places like Lost Lake 3-  cool friends who make me laugh

Seward and Lost Lake...

 just getting my day started, well not really.  got through my rebel shots from this weekend.  i had rented the Dale Clemons cabin out by Lost Lake for this week.  Bob, Tanya and Maddie joined me out there.  it started out a bit cloudy and drizzly but we woke to a beautiful day.

 i left the day before and crashed in the car with Blossom for the night.  apparently illegally. i guess you have to have a tent to be in the tent area and i didn't have one. nice couple next to me so we chatted that evening by their campfire. apparently they had gotten scolded for not having a tent up and had ended up going to the local hardware store and buying a cheap tent.  nobody came by to hassle me and i slept well in the Element.

 on the way out i cruised through the conservation center to see what the animals were up to.  they have some baby moose that they are hand raising for various reasons.

 and the usual cast of characters.

 my new friends at the campfire and i came up with various scenario's that i could use as excuses in case the crew came along to give me crap about not having a tent.  one was my bear encounter of last fall which they were impressed with hearing the tale.

 another scenario involved tsunami's.  the campgrounds of Seward are built in the area that was destroyed by the previous earthquake and tsunami of 1964. there are tsunami signs about that direct you to higher ground.  so we decided my other story would be that i had a pathological fear of tsunami's and Blossoms was my Tsunami Service Dog.

 our third scenario was simply to point out that we were surrounded by folks with open alcohol containers which seems like a greater infraction of the law.  thus i should be exempted.

 returned home to happy,well cared for animals, thanks to Val!! she also took a call for me from Washington DC.  hopefully, this WARIS stuff doesn't get me on some watch list...haha.  someone in one of our Senator's offices was contacting me regarding our group that is forming.  i think it came up on my caller ID as White House ?  anyway...just a sign that life is changing.

 baby moose are just too cute!!

 have so much to do.  gotta get this paperwork filled out and get a bank account opened. people are wanting to donate and i need to give them the opportunity.  i think it's just another one of those mental hurtles. i find i hit these as i go along. a reality check that ultimately i need to just leap and hope everything works out.  just reminders of how big this all is and my anxiety over whether i am capable. i think we all fear failing at things and we all may fail, but in the end, you have to just jump and hope you land on the other side ok.

 the lady at the bank didn't really make opening this account would be difficult.  it just opens up that i need to get that kickstarter going and the web page up and running. kickstart could help with the web as well.

 really do appreciate those little positive comments i get from time to time.  someone at work said that my facebook pages and web start beginnings look professional.  that is comforting.

 lots of babies at the conservation center.

 haven't backpacked since last year, my packs always seem to come in at 45-50 pounds, i've never been very good at minimizing.  it's 6 miles uphill to the cabin.  it was nice as it was cloudy and those few drizzles actually cooled you off. nice that it wasn't pouring.  did rain a bit while i slept in the Element.  i'm reading a book about how to start a non-profit and run one.  so far i haven't done anything glaringly wrong..that is comforting.

 it was a nice drive out and then i stopped by Blossoms favorite beach.  she got to play in the waves.

 they moved the bison with the babies...i found them. they get to be released into the wild next year...so excited for these bison and for Alaska to be able to replace what was lost to overhunting years and years ago.

 soon after i left the Conservation center i saw these guys on the side of the road.  a big family of swans.  they were hidden in the brush a bit, but i pulled over and watched them.  so cute.

 i didn't see them on my return drive home.  i also skipped the Conservation Center coming home.  after a trip you often just want to come home, shower and unpack.

 we booked it coming back down the trail as well.  it took us 4 hours to get up to the cabin and i think less than half of that to come back down.

 Lowell Point with Blossom. always strange to not have Rio along, but this trail would have been way too much for her.  sleeping in the Element was heavenly without her i must admit.

 Blossom happy in the waves. i did stop by here again before we left Seward for Anchorage after the trip.

 one of the houses down here is on the market...would love to be here. Tanya suggested we buy it as our WARIS office...!!  i like it...!!  anyone want to spot us the cash. hehe.  no...ok WARIS will stay in my little office for now.

 i really need to make some cold calls.  we stopped by the Sealife Center while we were in Seward before heading back and i made a few attempts to get in contact with the lady who runs it.  in the end i left a note on a makeshift WARIS card. not the best, but just want to make those contacts.

 they had young sea otter rescues there. you could see them in a tank outside...so fun to watch them play.  soon they will head to Europe.  not sure where yet i guess. it's a first, sending otters to Europe zoos/aquariums.  they are all three going together.

 brought several small games to play in the evenings with Maddie to keep her entertained.  we walked quite a lot over our three days so i think we were all pretty beat at night...well, everyone but Tanya, who could walk across the state and still be up to walk more.

 you do get used to having that heavy pack on, those first few hundred feet are always tough i find. then you just get into the rhythm.

 i still wouldn't mind having a massage..i should sign up for one.

 the cabin is lovely, roomy..i took the bottom bunk with the dogs and the ladder leads up to the loft where the oconnors camped out.

 the cabin has a front deck with these outstanding views of Seward.

 cloudy but clearing.  it did rain through the night a bit and we really did think it would rain the entire time we were there, but we got lucky...as did several other friends we knew who were out on other Alaskan adventures.  wish i could have done them all! another friend was kayaking in Prince William Sound and another friend had taken the train to spencer glacier...that has been on my list for years.  bummer!!  there is just so much to do up here and you never seem to have enough time or money to do it all.

 i do try to get in as much fun stuff as i can though.

 more views from the cabin.

 it was great to have the packs off and walk around a bit around the cabin...lots of wildflowers...

 Blossom and Boddhi were happy to be free of their dog packs.  they each had a pack on for the hike in/out.

 don't think Blossom was too thrilled but she is a good sport.

 Indy seemed like he needed a pack too as he is so energetic but i think he's a dog that doesn't know when to slow down so he ended up being the most sore of the three dogs over the week.

 Blossom slept well in the car in Seward while we ate lunch, shopped and hit the Sealife Center.

 she did find her energy for swimming before we left so i knew she hadn't overdone it.  often i just put her on a leash with her pack just to prevent that from happening. i don't think dogs are always good at pacing themselves.

 more wildflowers.

 a few grey jays were hanging out by the cabin.  so cool.

 we woke to this sunshine the next day.

 i need to get the laundry going and get these papers filled out.  haven't heard from the white house yet and i'm seeing some blue skies overhead. may be time to hit the trails and the grocery store. out of milk and eggs.

 felt so great to sleep in my bed last night.  camping can be made fairly comfy but never as nice as home sweet home!!

best get my day started...i mean moving.  grateful for- 1 safe travels again 2.  being blessed to live in this amazing place and be able to get out and see the spectacular views 3.  this opportunity, however terrifying, of being able to make a positive impact on a place i love.  may i be brave enough and strong enough to pull it off.