should be sleeping

 and i was  but i woke up around 4 am with one of those lovely tension headaches.  seems more under control now so i came in here to make reservations for next week.  Fairbanks with a friend i worked with at the Emergency Animal Hospital in L.A.  back in the 80's.  this is her 4th trip up i think. always fun....so we will drive up to Fairbanks and then come down via the Richardson Hwy and then the Denali Highway and back.  always fun.

 most of these are from Seward but above and the lower two are ones that LM took on our Valdez trek.  the dark area you see above is all salmon...packed!!

 the below shot was actually first.  Ivy figured out a very comfortable spot...of course, King Tusk noticed this and soon took over in the exact same position. silly boy

 we had a bit of a wind storm last night. no idea how high the winds were but there were some good gusts.  i suspect that with 4 less trees in the back yard the leftover trees took more wind...one tree did not like it and snapped.  i was upstairs and heard a crash.  when i got out there the top of the tree had snapped and fallen onto the fences...mostly my neighbors fence so we will have to see how bad that damage is tomorrow.  one fence plank is out on the fence bordering the two yards. 

 wasn't safe to explore it further last night so today I'll have to get out on a ladder and see if i can get a better look. doubt i can shift the big thing on my own.  hopefully  i can at least get the plank back up so we don't have dogs going between yards...although they would all probably love it.

 was in cleaning mode last night....had to make the anti-guest room back into a guest room...so that was successful.  still want to do a bit more cleaning up around the place.  always a good idea anyway.

 quite a few jellies out on the beach the day we were there. 

 worked 3 nights I'll head back again for 3 more Tuesday.  then my friend arrives on Friday.  we now have reservations in Fairbanks at Pikes for 2 nights.  will have to decide if we want to do 2 nights at Macleren, if we can get a room there...I'll have to call later.

 this week i worked ER, Peds and then ICU. so a nice mixture. haven't been to peds for a bit.  always nice folks working up there.  feel a bit rusty...kids always make me more nervous...being nervous is how i think we should always feel really.  if you are too confident in a nursing position you probably shouldn't be there...

 nursing should always be just a bit terrifying i think.  you have lives in your hands. i always just say a little prayer as i head in to work that i "do no harm".  i am always wanting patience as well because one really can be stretched as far as patience goes in this job.

 can only recall feeling a bit impatient a few times this week.  not the patients fault really...waking up with tubes all over has got to be pretty scary and then to find yourself restrained....

 when i made the switch from animals to humans i feared that it would be too disgusting for me.  the first time i had to clean up someones shit...it occurred to me that it would always be harder to be the one who was so incapacitated that you had to allow someone to clean you up over being the one cleaning you up.  there have been a few exceptions over the years..

 i think there are a few folks out there, who are so lazy, that they really do prefer to lay there and let someone else clean them. 

 we have finally gotten a bit of rain these past two days. of course, the aurora forecast is always the best when i am either at work or it is cloudy...those were both the cases one Saturday night.  just popped out a bit ago and didn't see anything. 

 anytime i wake up in the middle of the night here i pop outside, you never know really when those lights will be dancing out there.

 looks fairly flat for our trip north but sometimes you can get a good show even on a day that doesn't look that great.  so dark up there.

 opted to check out Pikes...haven't stayed there but i guess it's dog friendly as well.  looks a bit older than the La Quinta i usually stay at but i figured my friend may enjoy the history part of it. 

 we will explore Fairbanks the next day, hopefully even hit Chena hot Springs. 

 I'll check the hours.  will want to walk dogs,  look for cranes at Creamers, hit a museum, down town...

 we had smoke earlier this week.  the sunrise as i came home the first night was pretty.  my cell phone pictures did not do it justice.  below was fairly early but the smoke made the sun look pretty on the return trip from Seward.

 these were at Moose Pass.

 on the road.  so pretty. 

 there is a little fly in here, bratty bugs.  the other day there was a wasp that snuck into the house while i was tossing the tennis ball for the pups.

 took me some time to chase that thing down.  i was successful.  can't stand those things. they have been bad this year.  ate with a friend yesterday at the Bear Tooth, a wasp found its way into there as well.

 the smoke has made for some interesting photos this summer but i would have preferred there be no fires and no smoke.  it's been a hot and smokey summer.  feeling ready for the change in seasons.

 it for sure feels like this week we have made that switch.  the temperatures have cooled and feel more normal.  it was blustery last night for sure.  the colors are coming in for the fall. 

 hopefully,  we hit some nice colors on our drive north.

 these are Potters at sunset on that day i drove to Seward.

 took a few pics with the big camera when we hiked Portage Pass the day i fell.  feel like i haven't done many of the usual bigger hikes this summer...too hot and smokey really.

 the dogs kindly waited for me at the top before jumping in the water...what fun is water without a tennis ball i guess.

 the views are really awesome up there.

 the dogs cool off...it did look refreshing.

 another shooting, another day.  it's beyond ridiculous...still the same gun rights people defend their weapons before they even shed a tear for those lost and injured.  at some point society will hopefully become outraged enough to take action...if it's like most things people who break the rules will end up causing the rules to tighten for all. 

 you can't control every person but at some point you can't just keep doing nothing and expect different results.  Texas has made their gun laws even more lax...yet they are still being terrorized by the same bad guys with a gun...they always like to argue that more good guys with guns will prevent these bad guys with guns...the proof is there that this is not really the case in most instances.

 a cute sea otter pup has been rescued from Homer and flown in a little plane to Seward SeaLife Center.  those little things are so adorable

 a new record pumpkin at the state fair this past week....2,051 pounds....now that is a large pumpkin!!  it only took 89 days to grow that huge. there was a really cute photo of a baby sitting on top of the pumpkin...i think it was the growers grand baby. 

 Portage Lake/Glacier.

 big storm off the eastern coast in the lower 48.  haven't looked at news yet today. those hurricanes look awful.  of course, i think we get much larger ones up here but it's so remote it impacts few people...generally out in the Aleutians.  wondering if our wind last night was secondary to a big storm that looked to be over the Aleutians yesterday. 

 more laundry to do today.  more cleaning.  back to work tomorrow...such an exciting life i live.

 it's labor day weekend.  that will just mean more crowds at the trails.  not sure where we will walk today.  should do a real hike. 

 the pups enjoy a swim in fairly cold water.  they never seem to mind the cold.  it was a hot day though so that had to help..

 the views were spectacular!!  i finally made the trek down the other side to the lake.  the biting flies were in full force. not a trek I'd do on my own, too brushy.  so happy my friend was able to join me.

 the sun will soon be rising, I'll be able to better assess the damage out back.

 it's always something...so it's good to have down time in life to recovery from the stress of day to day.

 Alaska gives you plenty of opportunity to enjoy and relax.

thankful for: A.  the general health that allows me to enjoy the beauty of this place  B.  sweet dogs to enjoy this place with C.  a planned visit with a friend along with some adventures

escape from the cottonwood den...

 okay...the cuteness factor may be too much for you to take here!!  i will save the baby polar bear from the zoo for the next installment. black bear cub cuteness and polar bear cub cuteness would put you into a cuteness coma!

 karen joined me for today's final monday walk of the season.  we cleaned up the remnants of the tree decorations that we put up earlier and from another tree that won't be accessible through summer due to  bog.  i'd hate for all that stuff to become litter.
karen had seen on her way up that mama bear was on the ground and the cubs were out in the tree.  i saw black in the tree, but was late coming.

 we both stopped to check on the way back down the road and this is what we saw.  mama bear was on the ground with the other cub and this little one was slowly making it's way down the big tree.  it looked a bit nervous.  blossom started barking and i eventually moved the car to a better location.  that whole don't want to be the bad dog owner thing.  i did get to see the baby get down the tree though!!  so adorable.

 the little one made cute little calls to mama on it's way down the tree.

 ears back is probably when blossom noticed the bear and started to bark.  dang dog!  right now she's barking at a neighborhood cat.  she is not perfect...though pretty dang close.

 several folks out there with camera's so i'm sure there are way better pictures of this and the other cubs trek down the tree...but i'm quite happy with my little group of photo's.

 saying a little prayer on the way down, taking a look at how far down still to go

 and almost down.

 still tough to let go of that safe haven that they have lived in this whole time i'm sure.

 once down they did have fun in the snow and moved into the woods.  several walked up the road to follow the bears a bit.  i figured that was probably enough for one day.  not sure if they will return to their den for a few more nights or if they will just move on.  always learning more about bear habits and activities. i never would have thought they'd be sleeping in hollow trees.

 also learned that it can take awhile for their metabolisms to wake up and for them to be actually hungry.  you'd think they'd wake up starving, but they have to wake up their whole system.

 here the family ambles off together.  so many new things to learn and explore.  animals in the wild have a steep learning curve.  so fun to have these guys so close to home and i look forward to watching this tree in the years to come.

 will put in several from yesterday that i ran out of room for.

 someone did snow circles down there on the beach. i could see them clearly from the trail over the beach here.

 much more artistic than my attempts.  looks like just boots, not snowshoes for these.

 turned out to be another beautiful day today.  felt hot out there.  always amazing how "hot" 40 feels at the end of winter.

 i'm still debating a run to denali tomorrow.  not too excited to do the drive alone.  might be too much for my leg too early.  not much luck finding a place to crash with the dogs.  may have to spend some cash to do it.  there is some call for snow too so that is another thing to think about.  the road is open though so quite tempting.  not too many more opportunities before they open up for the season.

 the dogs on the dunes.  blossom always enjoys it here.

 the snow is melting and making little rivers in the sand.

 not the bear tree...or is it.  now one must wonder, which trees are housing little sleeping bears.

 the dogs enjoy their time at the beach.

 blossom has never seemed to mind the cold waters.  she is pretty dang happy actually.

 always love lowell point.  great beaches.  my dream alaskan house would be here...though the tsunami risk isn't very appealing.  hmm.....

 some signs of life on the shore...though actually i sense both of these are not doing well. the sea star was flipped over and the jelly just lying there.

 don't think i posted any of the sea otter though the ones i got were way to far out and the guy was sleeping so really nothing you are missing.

 have always loved this whale mural across from the sealife center.  big fan of wildlife murals anyway.

 these signs are all over town.  the rv parks and parkland are located in the tsunami zone.

 amy and lucy out walking on rovers with us the other day.

 didn't get my camera out on the trail today much.  here is karen down in the snow.  we crossed over and it was getting kinda soft out there...we avoided the areas over known lake/ponds.

 my only zoo picture from the day.  most of our zoo enclosures are pretty sad really.  they are small and these 2 polar bears live out a pretty pathetic life circling and circling.  happy to see the new little guy will be able to move on to hopefully a better zoo situation.  learned a bit about zoo life and all from my days as a volunteer zoo keeper at the los angeles zoo.  i went through their keeper training program and then was a volunteer keeper for several years.  most zoo's are always striving to improve enclosures for animals so that their lives behind bars are less dull.  our little local zoo does serve a purpose and does have animals for the most part that are acclimated to our weather.

 i do prefer to see animals out in the wild, but that isn't always possible for everyone and sometimes a zoo is the best place for education to begin.  our zoo here also plays a role in assisting animals like the baby polar bear.  takes a lot of care to keep a baby like that healthy until it finds a good home.  the cub was having fun and seemed to enjoy the screaming kids. i just felt bad as the poor guy needed another bear cub to play with.

 while at the zoo the volunteer at the baby polar bear enclosure mentioned that the snow geese were out at potters marsh.  since i was halfway to potters marsh i went ahead and went there.  above is a seagull of some sort.  they are all returning quickly to town.

 the snow geese will only be here briefly.  fun to get a good look at them . i texted friends that the birds were here.  karen went over later than i did and said a few sandhill cranes also stopped by.  so fun to have those guys coming back too.  i love the cranes call...so unique.

 there were probably over 100 snow geese when i got there. i do remember seeing some big camera's around potters when i was headed to seward but i didn't see what they were seeing that day.  hard to miss today though as they were everywhere.

 saw some canadian geese as well so they are making their way back here as well.

 alaska becomes a birders paradise in the summertime.

 it was a great day as far as wildlife goes for me.  so fun!!  the bear activity was awesome.  i'll have to try and get myself moving tomorrow and get to denali unless it totally looks like crap.

 most of my bird in flight photo's were deleters but i did get a few that i liked.  always love pictures of birds in flight though.  just more grand with their wings all spread out.

 don't they look pretty!

 so welcome back to alaska, snow geese.  enjoy your stay in anchorage and safe journeys to your final destinations.

 birds are pretty amazing in how they travel miles and miles.  we get those arctic terns up here and they travel all the way to and from antarctica.  simply astounding!  oh to see what they have seen and been where they have been.

so i'm exhausted from a day of fun.  hope you have enjoyed these pictures as much as i enjoyed taking them.