Eagle

Patricia & I had company today while eating lunch, sitting in the truck looking out over the Tongass Narrows. There was a juvenile Baldheaded Eagle perched on top of a delivery truck resting his wings. Finished off my taco salad and decided to get a video of the young bird before he flew off in search of lunch. The video is not as good I would like but it’s worth a look. Enjoy!

Guard Duty

It's been a beautiful week of sunny weather, a pretty continuous 60°F with occasional rain showers. Farley decided to camp out on the mat just outside the front door today. When he got up to go into the house to look for something to eat, Mardi wandered out and decided to take Farley’s place on the mat. When Farley returned to his post he was a little perturbed to find Mardi there, but he managed to assert his presence once again by taking the space that remained. Who knew that guard duty could be so tiring and challenging? Just ask these sleepy kitties.

It's Getting Smelly

The skunk cabbage in the driveway and around the house are getting quite large...and "fragrant", because it smells just just like its name. These plants make up for the fact that there are no skunks in Alaska. Here is what the plant looks like in early spring. Don't be fooled, they can grow to be four feet high.

Just Another Weekend

We woke up this spring morning earlier than our typical Saturday mornings. To our delight two large black bears were transiting our property. They never did come completely out of the brush for us to get a few pictures. We’re still hopeful one day soon we can capture a picture to post on our blog site. After a quick shower and breakfast we headed out the door for our trip north of town to help a friend with moving a freezer. Waiting for us in the driveway was the Hillside Gang looking forward to their usual treat. It was a beautiful spring morning drive as we headed north of town.
After arriving at our friends place we off-loaded the freezer and strapped it to a dolly for the long trek to her house. As you can tell by the photos the path to the house along the beach was overgrown with brush and a bit rocky. All three of us then wrestled the freezer down a few rocks to the creek bank. Then we carried it across the slippery rocks to the opposite side of the creek and finally up to its resting place on the porch.

Having built up a thirst the three of us headed into the house for a drink and conversation. During this time one of the two pet cats she owns kept us all company, his name is Grover. He is an older cat who loves to be held and hangs around for an occasional scratch behind the ears. As he was trying to get my attention I snap a picture of him. Also took a few photos of some antique bottles sitting on a window ledge recovered from a wreck dive as the light shone through them. Quite a beautiful day.
Once we finished our drinks our friend asked us to hold a ladder while she took some time to clean out the gutters. The gutters were full of leaves which were preventing the water tank from being filled up on a regular basis between rain storms. After a few minutes of raking out the leaves the water started flowing again to her water tank.

We ended up heading back to town afterwards, but along the way we stopped at North Shore Gardens to pick up some flowers and some food for my bird feeders. We then stopped at a the market to pcik up a few items for lunch and dinner. Once we got back to the cabin we both worked on a few projects around the house. Pat worked on potting her plants and baking a few pies for church. I worked on the pressure washer and hung up feeder for the squirrels. Then I spent about a hour or so working a pastel painting. All in all it was a very relaxing day.

Pets

Was out filling the bird and squirrel feeders this afternoon and a few of the Hillside Gang showed up. This is Mister he is an older golden retriever who just loves to be petted, but of course he loves biscuit treats just as much. He belongs to our neighbors who live just up the hill above our property.

The black lab is Scout and belongs to our neighbors just across the hill from us. If there is a favorite among the Hillside Gang she would be the one. She will camp out in our driveway on a few afternoons looking for attention. Scout loves to play fetch but is reluctant to give up the stick most times. It best to have two sticks in play at once with her.

This is Farley our youngest cat (7 years old), he is beat after spending the night out chasing the critters. There was no way he was going to wake for me taking his picture. In the mornings, while I'm taking a shower, he will usually sit between the shower curtains meowing for attention. Or brings in a bird to show off before...well you get the picture.

Farley's Day

Working on changing the sheets on the bed but Farley and Mardi both had different ideas this morning. As you can see Farley was excited enough to crawl under the sheets then chase Mardi off the bed.

Orca Feed

On the way home from work when out of the corner of my eye I noticed some thrashing about out in the middle of Tongass Narrows. Pulling off on the side of the road I jumped out of the vehicle with camera in hand. It wasn’t long before discovering that the thrashing around was a pod of Orca’s feeding. Although they were out too far to really get some good video I still gave it a try. Last year about the same time when a pod came through Mountain Point area the camera was at home, this year I got lucky. Sorry for the camera shake it was difficult to shoot without a tripod to support the camera.

Blueberry Winner!

In preparation for the 2007 Blueberry Arts Festival, the local Arts Council holds an annual t-shirt and festival logo design contest. Blueberry Arts Festival t-shirts are a cherished and collected memento from each year's summer festival. Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council gives out a cash prize which is awarded to the creator of the chosen design. This year we submitted several designs for which the above design was chosen by the Arts Council. We are very excited that our design was chosen this year.

The Blueberry Arts Festival in Ketchikan is held on the first weekend of August, celebrating summer and blueberries. Over 7000 Ketchikan- area residents, cruiseship passeners and independent travelers attend this festival that features local and visiting artists, community organizations, gourmet food and blueberry delicacies, games, performing arts and visual arts demonstrations. Traditional Blueberry activities include the Blueberry Juried Art Show of work by area visual artists at the Mainstay Gallery, the Fun Run sponsored by the Ketchikan Runners Club, a slug race and slug weigh-in, a Trivia Contest sponsored by the Friends of the Library, a Spelling Bee, a Blueberry Pie Eating Contest co-sponsored by Tatsuda's IGA and WestCoast Cape Fox Lodge, and the Blueberry Battle of the Bands (a great turn out of bands), and the Best Blueberry Dish Contest.

Hope to see you all there.