The very last day

The lake was stunning my last morning on the Pipeline Road. Calm and not a speck of rain on the surface. 

I had purchased flowers to leave at the house in a crystal vase. I thought the new owners would like them. However, since the sale didn't close til the middle of Nov, I'm not sure what kind of condition the flowers were in when the new owners took possession!! 

This was a bittersweet thing to toss. A million years ago, when I was in HS, I was part of a Youth Conservation Corps team in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. I used this back pack. It is completely outdated, but it was a part of my life for a very long summer. It held many memories, but it needed to be put aside. Kind of like the house out north. The house has always been a place of comfort, but it is just a smidge of my Alaskan root system. That part wasn't as hard to pull or remove as one might think. The rest of my roots, though..Those are still stuck hard. 

one of my absolute very favorite Alaskan songs by The Redhead Express: 

When I was cleaning mom's vehicle again, I found this. I'm not entirely sure how long it had been in the car, but it is clean now!!! 

This angel was one of the oddest things ever. It was in Audrey's guest room and it was so pretty. I didn't really notice it at first. Then, I turned off the light and saw a glowing almost mustache shape. Startled, I turned the light on again and found this angel. It was what glowing in the dark! I giggled quite a while before finally falling to sleep watching the sky and listening to the surf outside. 

What a blessed place North Kenai has been in my life. I'm so thankful I was able to spend so long back in the place where my roots are. Not just a summer, but entire seasons in a full circle more than once. The Peninsula will always be in my heart, my soul, and in the rocks all around me. I'm so glad I brought so many back to Oregon! I'm so thankful my family adjusted to my travels and to flying back and forth, themselves. It truly is a great place to visit and belong. 

 

The Greenhouse Goes

This greenhouse has been in place as long as the house has. It looked ok on the outside..kind of. But, inside, it was a mess!!! It leaked and was not the nice heated spot it once was. I'm not entirely sure when the power to the greenhouse was terminated. I'm pretty sure it was when dad was alive. Anyway, a friend named Jim came over to take it away. Every time he was at the house, he kept wanting to remove it. So, it was only fair to let him do the deed when it was time. Janet came over that afternoon, too. 

First Jim took out everything nailed down and not so nailed down. There was a lot inside that just needed hauled off. Then, he removed the door I had fixed my first or second summer in AK.  Probably in 14 or 15. 

He asked us to stand clear while he was cutting. There was a lot of dust from the old fiberglass. He cut every single support he found along the roof. His plan was to pull off the roof and the whole thing would fall down. 

He got into his truck and pulled. It fell over just as he anticipated. And then immediately popped back up!! This is where the video Janet took is so much more amusing than the stills. Unfortunately, I don't know how to find it, except on FB! It is probably on my page somewhere...

Completely annoyed, Jim got back in his truck and pulled and kept pulling. This time, it crumpled up and stayed down!! Or, more accurately, fell over! 

He proceeded to tear it apart with hammer, crowbar, and sawzall. It took a lot longer than he thought it would, but he got it all done! 

He had to make two trips to the dump. I took him out to dinner after the first one, since the dump had been busy and the transfer station was now full. He then ended up hauling away the second load in the morning, after the dump opened. 

These last two photos were supposed to be before the truck, but I had forgotten them. The greenhouse was built on logs and those had rotted away. You can see in the previous photos the worn state of the fiberglass roofing and it really did need taken down and hauled away. Without it, the yard looked so much better!!! 

I was incredibly fortunate to have Jim come and help me. This was one of those things that truly needed more hands than mine to do. 

Optical Indigestion

In one of my favorite Alaskan stories, a visiting character to the state of Alaska said during a trip up the Inside Passage that he had 'optical indigestion.' I've never done that trip, but I can see it might fit almost anywhere up north. 

This is a mom and a calf close to the old Lamplight Bar Mrs. Mika used to own. I didn't get  a good photo of the calf. It was kind of annoyed with the hackles up! 

A friend and her husband and brother arrived to get a work bench from the shop. Dad would be glad to have it go to someone who really could use it. 

When my friend, Julie B, arrived from ANC to help me, we came upstairs to find another pair of moose in the yard! Right outside the window. 

It was neat to see them swim the lake. That isn't something you get to see very often. Even if you live on a lake! Bulls will swim it, but calves are a bit more nervous. They went across and were scared back to 'our' side by dogs at the neighbor's house. 

 Fall was so beautiful this year. The colors of red aren't as prevalent as gold, but they combined to create stunning tapestries of autumn. 

Dad had a hat in the garage and in it was a tall white feather. Probably eagle, not sure. I left it under the trees with the colorful leaves. 

A beautiful Wednesday- Moose edition!

Piffle. Dadburn new blogger program. This is supposed to be a moose, as you can tell, it is not. This is a photo of what I saw while photographing wildlife. It was taken first, but should be at the end of the post. I am having trouble figuring out how to remove a photo or move it--so, this nest is now instead of last. It was odd, I was watching the woods and saw white fluttering with birds. I couldn't tell what it was until I photographed it. I was VERY surprised, also glad it was empty! 

THIS is the moose post!!! When I was making the bed, I noticed moose out the window near the end of the drive. So, I grabbed my camera. I've not seen moose in not evening light yet this summer. There were two. A mom and a calf, the calf seems smaller than it should be. In August, babies are still small, but it is like this one was born later in spring. Odd. Mom wandered off to one side of the drive and the calf went to the other side. I was supposed to leave to do errands, but wasn't sure if I could! The car wasn't close to the house and I did not want to get in between the mom and her kid!

 Someone screamed by on the Pipeline on an ATV with their dog hot footing it as fast as possible nearby. Mom was NOT impressed. She dashed out into the drive to look for her young one, who came dashing back to meet her! 

They went off into the woods and I thought that would be the last I'd see of them. It wasn't. They were in the yard later in the afternoon. 

I didn't see the calf again, but mom was keeping an eye on me. I was outside with a book and heard noise. Yup, this gal was right outside of the mowed areas full of tall clover. There were a lot of people out and about on the road, so the pair kept nearby. When I was playing with the birds, I often heard snuffling sounds. I didn't see much of them after I took these photos, but I knew they were there!

 I was going to add more words between pictures, but blogger is highlighting them all and it isn't what I wanted them to do!

 I also saw one of them Thursday morning, but haven't spied them nearer than the end of the driveway. I think mom was eating daisies. She had a white spot on the side of her jaw! 

A beautiful Wednesday! For the Birds, post-

Blogger has forced users to use their new blogger plan. It has many issues, for the blogger, so I hope it is ok for a viewer! This post is from Wednesday afternoon on August 6, 2020. It was stunning and HOT and the little birds were intent on foraging for seeds. I tried to get pictures of them in their natural habitat, but it appears the preferred habitat was somewhere with black sunflower seeds! 

They were very ok with feeding from the palm of my hand and some even slid under my arm and hand that were draped on the bird feeder to get seeds still in the feeder! Since my arm was getting tired of being held in the air, the hanging feeder was a lovely place to drape the weak appendage! 

This one actually hopped all over my hand to find the right seed. The photos at the very bottom are a part of this set of pictures, but I couldn't figure out how to move them! 

This little guy was a MESS! I got a closer photo when it landed on the coated wire of the feeder, but it was too close and was really blurry. It is hard to focus a camera when the subject has wings and is liable to fly off in a second. I think the yellow all over the chest and beak was pollen. I'm not sure from where, but it was obvious this guy needed cleaning! 

I had one land on my shoulder the other day and this Wednesday one landed on my HEAD! Since they were being so tame, I wondered if they'd feed from my shoulder and this one did!!!! Their little claws didn't hurt at all, I was surprised. 

I will probably have more to share, it is so much fun to be able to feed these tiny friends from my hand!! Since they are getting so used to me, they are much braver. Even the voles aren't afraid of me and I opted to go inside when the one who lives in the wood pile ran over my sandal shod foot!! 

Last week of July 2020 in the north-

Sunday, July 26 was lovely. You could tell people were visiting the inlet by the trash I picked up. I didn't pick up as much as I could have, but I picked up a bag full. 

 I enjoy seeing the fun shapes in driftwood and stuff tossed up on shore. I found a log that looked quite a bit like a pug, but none of the photos I took showed what I saw!

 It was so incredibly warm, littles were playing in the water. That doesn't happen all that often on the inlet. Especially during fishing season. The man on shore was seeking halibut and I saw quite a few salmon splashing around and being caught on the nets set out.

 I'm not sure, but it looks almost like there is more snow than there was a few weeks ago. I'm not entirely surprised. We've had a lot of rain on this side of the inlet, so I can imagine it wasn't just rain over there!

 This is the moose that swam the lake. When I saw it, I wondered what the neighbor's dog was doing. Then, I realised it wasn't a dog and just a moose in neck deep water. It was moose paddling super fast, so my 2 photos were terribly blurred.

 This lovely Green Comma Butterfly landed on me for a second as I left the house on Monday. It overwinters as an adult and is considered uncommon, probably cuz it is hard to see and fast. It has green spots on it, somewhere...

 Our fireweed is blooming fast, it is more than halfway to the top this week.

The hilarious squirrel I watched. After it extracted all the seeds it could from this feeder, it opted for a mushroom entree. I'm anticipating it had a nap when it finished it's meal! 

 I didn't take many photos of the chickadees who visited me. They weren't fond of the shutter movements. I really wanted to try to take one of the bird on my shoulder (and yes, I hummed Zippity do dah!!). The lady grosbeak wasn't near me long enough, but she'd not have stuck around for a picture, anyway!

 I love how friendly the birds are here. Today it has been raining, or I'd go out and see who I could attract. The neighbors' are also shooting and there isn't much nearby! The little wings on the golden eye are  much too tiny still, but they can still run across the water when necessary! They scampered from the middle of the lake to the weeds on this side, lickety split!