First week in June-so far!

It isn't surprising to see a ship at anchor down Salamatof, but it isn't often  you get to watch it leave. 

It was pretty breezy on this sunny day, the gulls were everywhere. There was beach fishing for halibut, but nothing else, yet. I was pretty impressed with this capture of the gull landing. The sun was in my eyes, so I didn't see much more than birds. I hoped for something nice, but wasn't sure I'd get anything! 

 You can see how windy it was from the curled feathers on this ones back.

 Later in the evening, I decided to hop down to Arness Dock for the sunset. Yet, the sunset wasn't as nice as I'd hoped. The clouds, however, were fascinating! Like sky etching from a Master author.

 The inlet was grey, fog was at the base of the mountains, above were some fluffy looking edging, then the above that some stretched out bits of cloud. Eerie and interesting.

 I'm truly enjoying these late daylight hours. I took this lake reflection from the house at about 1030 pm one night. The mosquitoes are pretty intense, but hoping the dragonflies that are starting to appear will take a few of those out! There are babies on the lake now, also an immature eagle. So, not many will likely grow up. As my friend Elaine has said, "I wish all the predators would eat fish and berries!"

 Our lupine are quickly reaching maturity, soon the fireweed will follow. Jon is arriving on Saturday afternoon and Steve will come up the next Saturday. They will miss the crazy red season hoopla, which might have been their goal! Now, all we need is Tony!!

A busy Saturday!!!

Redoubt plume of steam-

Attended the Relay for Life in Soldotna. 

 Survivor Garden. Each petal or leaf has a name or message on it for survivors of cancers.

 There was a pancake meal served by the local Lions. This little girl was fully enjoying the leftovers!

 Reading of mom's name during the luminary ceremony. This relay was an afternoon one, so the bags didn't have lights in them. It was too windy anyway!

The older bull is starting to look a bit more like a  moose. There is a younger one in the area as well. 

 Porcupine!!!

 Sunset down by Arness Dock.

Fur, Feathers, and Fabric (and a couple other photos!)

One of the prettier days when the mountains could be seen from Dad's bench. 

A VERY scruffy bull moose in the area. I first saw him and was certain he was a horse. Then, as the car got closer, I realised it was a mangy moose losing his winter coat! 

Sunset over by the Senior Center- 

 The bluff is in VERY bad shape.

While down by Arness Dock, I spied this very young eagle. Not immature, as it has it's adult plumage. But, he's a young adult! There was also one swooping over the lake the other day. 

The babies are being born!!! I spied a pair of twins near the yard this morning and last  night, I spotted this mamma and baby. They didn't stick around for photographs! 

The author I met at the Kenai Fabric Center. I'm holding her newest book (it was left at the fabric store!) and Patience Griffin is holding fabric created for the quilts in her novels. Follow the link to find out more! 

I went for a short walk when I got back to the house and found a LOT of mosquitoes. Jon asked if they were in force yet. Yes, Jonathan, they are! 

Steve sent this photo of Dorothy and Jon on Memorial Day. Notice how Jon has his arm around Grandma? Color me one impressed mom! 

Loon!

 I was going to put all the waterfowl in one post, but I can imagine looking at dubious bird photo after bird photo might be a bit daunting! So, this one is just loon. I'd not been up here long before I noticed these lovely predators paddling around again. I'm not sure how long they will stick around, the lake is clear and there appear to be fish of some sort in it.Loon prefer clear lakes with fish.  I'd love to see them raise babies, but this lake is often a decoy lake. As they fowl look similar, except in size, it is difficult to know which is which. At any rate, often only one will be here being territorial and the other is on a different lake raising kids. If you read loon websites, their lethal boss gang methods are rarely mentioned. I've seen them at the far end of the lake watching a young duckling blithely paddling around and suddenly the loon is gone and seconds later, so is the baby. They don't eat them, or so I'm told, but they will drown the ducks they sneak up under. I was in the kayak one evening watching a family and an adult duck jumped into the air, followed by the sharp beak of a loon! At the moment, there aren't any babies around. I'm not sure how many families will be here this summer. Mum used to put out cracked corn for the ducks, I'm not going to. I assume some will settle here, we'll just need to wait and see!

This photo made me laugh. Auto focus is so annoying sometimes, but every so often something fun shows up! 

 These last three were a couple of days later. There is only one loon hanging around now, I think the other is nesting. Although, according to loon information, BOTH parents take care of the nest. Maybe they are taking turns on our lake? The birds have been just offshore. I've never seen them this close to the bank before, but the water is a bit deeper than usual summers.They are such a fascinating bird!

Waterfowl

Golden Eye are fairly common. Actually, the one we  see more often were not the Common Golden Eye, but the Barrows. The former has a lot more white on it and is a definite bright spot on the green water. Most of these photos were taken from the house through a window. For some reason the darn things didn't care to have me sit on the hill or on the bench near the water. Silly birds!!! 

We had some serious rain the first week I was in Alaska. It made me laugh to see the Golden Eye pair bobbing along on the rain pummeled water with their heads tucked under their wings! 

 This photo was one of those surprise shots. I had tiptoed outside and was focusing on the male when he noticed me and took off. Both of us were startled and I snapped the shutter in reflex. The picture isn't that great, but I was impressed it even remotely resembled a duck!!

This pair mom would have been thrilled to see. Last year was the first time we spied an American Wigeon male. It came up to feed with the mallards at mom's bowl of cracked corn. This year, there is a pair. The  lady looks a tad like a mallard, but not exactly. They are such a pretty couple!! I think he's still getting his summer feathers. The white on the top of his head isn't quite as white as it will get. 

It will be fun to see who else shows up around here and if any of them hang around! We could be a fly by sort of lake or maybe, just maybe, a few will attempt to raise broods. No matter, wherever the waterfowl eventually stay, that will be where they will build the best nest. 

Mother's Day Weekend

The Saturday before Mother's Day, it was decided we'd take the Mercury out for lunch. Steve drove the three of us to Walla Walla, where we picked up a very good meal at a place just a smidge older than the Mercury. The Ice-burg was first opened in 1952. It is always a super busy little restaurant. 

Steve noticed the locust in the parking lot was blooming. He said he used to suck the nectar out of the snapdragon like blossoms from a tree in their yard when he was a kid.  

Just a strange sort of angle. I was trying to get Steve and Jon, but not the young people I didn't know! It didn't exactly work. 

The menu is fairly extensive. Especially in the shake department. Jon decided to get a cheesecake shake. The burgers we received were wrapped in paper bags with little ears, I didn't get a photo of those. When the worker bagged them, she twirled them around, making 'ears'-pretty snazzy! I wasn't thrilled with the sweet relish. I didn't realise that was a choice I could have removed! The fries were excellent and all of us could have eaten more of those!

We opted to take our lunch to a nearby park. Steve and Jon moved a picnic table to the shade so we could eat our lunches in relative comfort. It was HOT!!!!!

Jon's shake was pretty thick and cheesecake kept getting caught in the straw! So, I fished a spoon from my bag for him. He was surprised I had one. I actually had two! 

After he ate, Steve went over to see the baby geese. The birds were fairly calm, but he didn't get too close. Later, we all stopped by the pond/lake and admired the lanky legged family. We decided they look a bit like emu! 

On Sunday, we took Dorothy to Roosters Country Kitchen for their Mother's Day brunch buffet. We left after church and boy were we glad I'd made reservations. It was very busy and all of us ended up completely stuffed with delicious food. I didn't get photos.  The restaurant was dark and I needed to get back to the house and finish packing for my trip north when we got back to Athena. 

I left Walla Walla around 7 pm and landed in ANC just after midnight. I got to Kenai on a earlier flight Monday, but needed to wait for my luggage. It was still scheduled for the later flight. The Kenai airport appears to be going through a complete remodel. I didn't recognize it and my view from the table near the dining room looks out onto a lovely green and rusty brown colored garbage dumpster. Thankfully, above the dumpster, you can still see the sky!!