on the water, by the water!

 on the taxi back from holgate we stopped to pick up folks and mail and the captain also stopped for sea lions, whales and even a bald eagle. i had a great time watching the waves crashing on the rocks with the sea lions.boat was bobbing a bit so never the greatest photo chances.  cool to watch though.

 saying goodbye to holgate.  i still have a few more pictures that i will try and post tomorrow and then i can start posting all the fun pictures i've taken since i got back.  never a dull moment in alaska in the summers so i seem to always be behind in posting pictures.  it's like my photo albums now i guess.  the blog is.  then i move pictures to shutterfly and save them to cd's.  it's both easier and more of a bother since the digital age i guess.  it is nice to just snap away out there.  on my trips before digital i would have to plan for rolls of film per day and then toss in some black and white film to shoot off as well.
the nice part though was the batteries on my old film camera's were regular batteries that you could just replace.  seemed less sensitive to chillier weather.

 here we head up further into aialik bay.

 sunshine out there...so bob took a spot in the front and enjoyed.  maddie napped for a bit i think.  she was up in time to see the whales and sea lions though.

 we passed quite a few sea otters out there.  raft i think they are called when they are all out there together eating.

 these are of pederson glacier.

 just finished 3 nights work. first one i was in the adult icu.  the next two i was up in the peds icu running the dialysis machine.  it's been ages so i was nervous.  thanks christy for being there and helping me out.  i seem to rarely be put on the machine anymore and when i am put on it, it's for a super sick kid and it's that much more stressful.  of course the filter needed changing within a few hours of my arrival.  i never feel proficient at changing all that.  the father mentioned that the last time they'd strung it up outside room and then just switched them over.  i thought it was a great idea so they strung it up in the adult icu and christy brought it up.

 i was laughing cause she's like maddie.  not afraid to push buttons as it were.  i got brave and survived...all ran smoothly after the filter and lines were changed out.  that is always what makes me nervous, that filter going down. hoping you can give all that blood back.  not to mention that these patients are usually very sick and touchy.  i felt myself relax after it was up and running again.  i am the monkey at that point just running the machine.

 my schedule looks like it got flipped around and my weekends switched, this screws up summer plans. yikes!!  so i'm hoping i can get this fixed.  hope it's not too late for my lost lake cabin weekend.  right now i'm working when i should be playing.  i'll know more tomorrow.

 aialik glacier.  we did a pickup of day paddlers, tourists out there.  these were probably another group out there by the glacier.  nice day

 went past these other paddlers doing a really big crossing of aialik bay on our way out.  felt bad as our captain didn't slow much and i'm sure they got some nice swells from our boat.

 a raft of otters.

 a man further north was apparently killed by a black bear.  the season begins.  not much for details yet, but always sad and a reminder of what we can cross out there on the trails or around the house for that matter . there have been several sightings around town of bears, both black and brown.

 was at university lake today and someone mentioned a black bear sighting out there a few days back. today there was a moose with a very young calf...so cute.  got a couple photo's of it.  the baby and it's mom were behind some trees, i was wrestling two dogs and my camera, and several people were passing with their dogs as well at that time.

 the place was packed.

 lots of sea lions out on these rocks.  tried to flip it over to black and whites for a bit as well.

 like i said i love all the spray.  so beautiful.

 a guy came out to give me a quick estimate for getting my lawn together.  spendy, but several friends at work said it sounded reasonable.  just thinking it would be great to get some people in to revamp the lawn and get it nice.  i've been here almost 10 years i think and i'm clearly not the master gardener.

 luckily i have other skills.

 3 german tourists made the trek out to "the bus".  they got stranded and had to be rescued.  there is alays talk about "the bus" and if it should just be removed.  it's the abandoned bus that is now famous from the book and movie, "into the wild".  chris mccandless starved to death out there after venturing into the alaska wild unprepared.  he got stuck on the other side of the river as these folks did and couldn't find a safe place to cross again.  he died in the bus.  it's now become this destination for people and several have had to be rescued.

 rivers often become more swollen through the day. if it's sunny, there will be glacier melt and this will cause the river level to rise.  we have many hours of sunshine so that can melt a lot of ice.

 a grizzly bear was hit by a car out on the glenn this past week as well and died.  mostly it's moose that get hit, but hitting a bear can't be good for your car either. pretty solid animals.

 just lots of splashes and waves crashing.

 there were loads of dogs at the dog park today.  blossom was excited.  i had to stop and just do some training with her to get her to focus more. she knew a lot of the people out there today and they were people who always have treats.  made her a real nudge.  i finally just put her back on her leash so she wouldn't misbehave.  she's a great dog, but all that temptation can be too much for even the best of dogs.

 rio doesn't mind laying on the deck in this heat but she isn't too keen on walking.  when i say heat i know  i speak relatively.  it's been in the 70's all week.  it's hard for those of you who live in climates where 70's is considered cool to relate, but up here when it's in the 70's it is hot, hot, hot!!

 rio will have to stay home tomorrow.  planning walk with friends out to hidden lakes. more like tarns though.   it's a longer walk though so rio will have to stay home.

 otherwise, today was a pretty lazy day for me.  i slept great though.  work wasn't too hard for me.  mostly i have work to do on the hour every hour and between that i just try and stay available to assist.  i tried to get the bendibles in peds on some adventure.  the doc was there and she helped.  we ended up putting the monkey on a "hook" as bait and then having the batman holding the fishing rod and being dragged off the boat.  this makes no sense to you if you're not there.
the peds icu is decorated in an underwater scene and the bendibles are three plastic toys that have been commandeered by staff and as our entertainment put in various positions and situations to surprise and entertain the next shift.  i think at this point, it's mostly me creating the scenario on the rare day i'm floated up there.

 one last big crashing wave above and a splash of a different type below.  well the next two are whale blows.

 if you make picture bigger you can see that the blow is actually pretty disgusting and green.  usually i love green, but not when it's being expelled by a whale.  i recall some biologist telling how they had gotten nailed by the blow once and it was near impossible to get that smell off.

 this guy was feeding right up against the rocks at some point so clearly the depth drops off pretty rapidly.

 bear glacier.  we are almost back to seward when you pass by this.

 these are with the other camera or should i say with either the wide angle or macro that i put on the other camera body

 this one was taken from the cabin.  nice view.

 maddie entertains us with bubbles.

 i strolled along the beach a few times looking for interesting stuff.

 bark above and below was this totally cool rock.  it was so smooth and soft.  unlike any other rocks out there on the beach.

 this rock didn't fit in with the other rocks either.  carried and left behind by glacier retreat no doubt.

 another cool rock.

 not much of a geologist, just like the rocks.

 not sure what this is on this rock.  some algea growth?  who knows.

 maddie makes ice cream.  i had bought the blow up plastic cover thinking this would keep the ball safer on the rocks.  it was a waste of money though as it popped on the rocks pretty fast.

 scott sits on the beach enjoying the evening sunshine

 bubbles in black and white.  thought they were kinda fun

 great too as i was also sitting on a chair on the beach doing nothing.

 bubbles.  maddie was refilling her container with the salt water as i told her when i was a kid we would just refill ours at the sink and eventually when there weren't any more bubbles to be had we'd just add some dish soap and we were back in the bubble making business.

 she made some cool bubbles.

i'm tired and a bit hungry so i guess i'll eat a quick snack and the crash. i'll probably just mix new and old starting tomorrow.

more holgate...little camera

 i'm snacking on leftovers from the paddle trip.  cheese and pears that never got used.  you always seem to take more food than you need.  at times they laugh as i have my snacks and stuff divided into little plastic daily bags.  this did work well when we got stranded on shuyak island for 3 extra nights.  not much leftovers on that trip. i think i had my emergency top ramen and a few rice crispie treats or something.  very little.  so that extra food can be a life saver!!

 my standard paddle shot. i love to get them with the tip of the kayak in them.  probably gets pretty old to look at.  may have to weed a few of these out.

 these are from that first sweet paddle in the ice.

 bob and tanya have collected a few kayaks now.  tanya loves hers.  it's some sort of composite.  supposed to be light yet durable.  we tend to avoid fiberglass as the beaches are super rocky which can really trash a fiberglass boat.  their double is fiberglass.  i think that was a craigs list find.  several friends have gotten their boats used.  always people spending too much money on a toy they rarely use and then selling it.  that is when the real paddlers can swoop in and get the deal.  boats can be pricey.

 i haven't bought a boat yet.  not sure i will.  gets tempting after using it so many times.  at the same time. often i paddle places where it's not easy to get your boat to anyway.  shuyak, glacier bay, next year when we hit misty fjords.  hard to justify a purchase only to have to rent a  boat anyway.

 self portrait.

 i always go crazy for all the reflections.  when the water is glass like this you just gotta get the camera out!

 bob, tanya and maddie rack up.

 we had some great calving activity that afternoon.  i took some sweet shots with my other lens, those should come up soon.  i figure i'll flip back and forth between the two cameras for postings this week.  have to think of some nice little hikes and road trips to take this summer as well.  we cram everything in during the summer months.

 did get in for my 8 hours overtime last night.  one super easy patient who i think i must have taken care of in the emergency room last week.  major medical issues and being homeless are bad combo.  guy was sweet enough both times i've taken care of him.

 looks like it will be a lovely sunset tonight.  rained all night last night.  good weather to sleep in and then late this afternoon the sun came out.  walked the dogs out at the jodphur trails of kincaid and then around to the dunes for a bit.

 even got some yard work done.  hard to tell.  all the old beds need to be ripped up and replanted with flowers and such. my raised beds could use some mending as well.  saw my neighbor and chatted a bit.  she liked my thought that we had 2 aprils and skipped may altogether.

 we are thinking that perhaps that rock out there is the one quinton climbed up after we lunched.  we were all a bit disoriented looking for what we called "quintons rock".  the place just looked so different after 10 years...could be our brains have gaps due to the aging process too.

 the ice was quite thick on that side of the bay that day.  it changes with the tides and weather.  warm sunny days means more calving and more ice.  scott decided to play in the thicker ice.  too thick for me.  i backed out, but he had a great time out there.

 we spent quite a bit of time in the area of the glacier.  totally relaxing and so much to ponder in life.  where better to ponder than at the face of a glacier?

 we all loaded with some glacier ice and headed back to the cabin eventually.

 got a second patient last night.  it's always amazing to me how much variation there is in the aging process.  this lady was in her early 40's really but i'd have guessed her at nearly 20 years more.  one thing i have learned is that drugs and alcohol and cigarettes will take away your youth...and your life really. so many people squander these years we are gifted to live on this earth.  such a sad waste.  my work is often a reminder to live life to the fullest, enjoy each day and notice all the beauty and kindness that exists out there.  also a reminder to be kind to others, up here you never know when you will run into people you have met or when one of those people will return the kindness or save your life.

 hopefully that overtime will not get eaten up by taxes and will help pay for the hotel and car rental in nome.

 i have family coming up in august too, summer is just spendy in alaska no matter how you split it.  there is still so much i haven't done and won't have time for this year.  everytime i plan one trip i find several more places i want to go to.  so far in life i've been quite happy exploring the state of alaska. i  guess i should be longing to travel the globe, but i live in heaven already and the internet is a great way to see the stuff you can't get to.  there are a few places outside alaska that interest me, like galapago's, iceland, africa, austrailia, antarctica...who knows what i'll see over these next years of my life.  i have it good...i don't think i'll feel unfulfilled if i don't make it everywhere.  paddles like this are why i live up here.

 these are from the cabin area.  after our paddle we chilled above the beach outside the cabin before heading down and building a fire.

 we all love a good campfire and i think we had a few good ones last week as well.

 this maddie, george and myself making ice cream for root beer floats!  the ice cream turns out great.  i've been unable to get the lid off to clean it since i got back.  will have to locate some  manly man to assist me with this i guess.  old ice cream is apparenly like super glue.

 maddie made sure we all got in on the game of shaking the ball to make the ice cream.

 once that sun drops down below the mountains it does get chilly so the fire feels great!

 george, tanya, maddie and scott above.  maddie and scott below.

 the ice cream!!  so tasty!!  i'd brought that growler of root beer from the bear tooth.

 the clouds started coming in that night late.  we never had one of those pink sunsets on the glacier.  i know we had one last time we were there.  still cool out there to watch the day end.  it's after 11 and i'm still waiting for the sun to set here now.   i think it is actually going down now.  there is some pink/orange by downtown area.  it's still light enough you could set up tents easily without any other light source.  you could easily read on my deck as well.

 lots of snow still on the path to the cabin from the beach.

 maddie entertained us all weekend.  bubbles. when the bubble level got low i taught her to reload with salt water and it seemed to keep working.

 we also built cairns on the beach and then the guys sat in their beach chairs and hurled rocks at the cairns to knock them down.

 george won for the largest and longest lasting cairn.

 my feet got wet washing out the ice cream maker that first night in the beach water.  maddie was given me the spa treatment with warm rocks.

 view from inside the cabin of the glacier as i got ready for bed that night.

 more cabin shots.

 maddie loves her some bacon so we had two mornings of bacon.  okay..i love me some bacon when i'm out camping too.  i have a slice here and there, but out camping you gotta cook up the bacon!!

 lucky we didn't draw in that black bear with this smell!

 i'm a sucker for cairns as well.

 back out on the water the next day.  we were all pretty convinced that though it was cloudy the sun was trying to make it's way out.  we were all pretty wrong about that.

 this was as close as we got to mr sun.

 it didn't start raining until we were pretty close to pederson bay.

 well, maybe not that close to pederson, we did enjoy an hour or so of no rain and just clouds.

 various intertidal area's reflected.

 ice and paddlers.  we all kinda fanned out.  we did get to see several mountain goats on the cliffs above us as we paddled.  a few of them had little babies.  so cute!

 thinking these ice bergs were from aialik glacier which is beyond pederson. there is a glacier pederson, but i think it's no longer tidewater.  we all saw a small fire when we were in pederson but didn't really realize that there was a lodge out there with like 10 cabins.  they are really hidden, which is nice.  they must look back onto the glacier.  as we water taxi'd out we past pederson bay and dropped off mail out there.  then we headed to aialik to pick up kayakers.  so it was nice to be able to get over and see aialik glacier, which we hadn't done 10 years ago.

 tanya takes some time to paddle on her own.  so peaceful.  we didn't have much wave action though despite the rain which is always nice.  i'm cool with rain. i'd rather avoid the wind though.  paddling in choppy water can be tiring and less than fun.

 we have arrived in our destination of pederson bay...this is where maddie was "babtized" but we opted to not eat lunch here nor get out of our boats.

 soon after this we battled the currents trying to get out of pederson bay.  got pretty shallow in parts and the current was trying to beach you out there.  could have been a mess, but thankfully, we all got out with some strenuous paddling and encouragement from each other.

getting close to midnight so i should hit the sack.  may pop in a movie. almost caught up with the paper, do have some magazines to catch up on.  just a few hiking days to enjoy before i head back to work again.  maybe i should make my way to eagle river tomorrow for a stretch...always pretty up there.  who knows.  i really should work on the yard and plant some lovely flowers. hmm...wake and do a weather check and make a decision then.  good night.