Ptarmigan family

I didn't have my camera with me either time, but I saw a new ptarmigan family twice today. When I got up at 5 a.m., an adult ptarmigan was keeping watch so a smaller one could cross the open space of the lawn, over to the wild edges of the lawn. I thought it was maybe a male, then a female crossing. When I came home with groceries this afternoon, along the edge of the driveway, there was a large one, and then 3-4-5 ! smaller ones. They must be almost-grown chicks. I drove along slowly, just 3 feet from them. As usual, they cluck and twitter but then don't move away until you're right on top of them. They fluttered straight up into a tree just a few feet off the driveway. I'm glad to see this many chicks. For a couple years, I haven't seen that many ptarmigan in the woods--I was afraid that some larger critter had finished them off.

Summer flowers

This summer has been just gorgeous, and much warmer than average. Wildflowers, garden flowers, and the window boxes are just busting out in peak beauty.

Independence Day

It's become a tradition for me to go to Hatcher Pass on or around July 4th. It's a wonderful place to celebrate the best of what our country is, in its natural beauty. It also is timed well usually for Little Girl and I to cool down if it's been hot. This year, it has been hot! We had several days of mid-80's and I've been sweltering! Little Girl loves the rushing river at Hatcher Pass. The gurgling water is a curiosity to her-she always looks for where that sound is coming from! She cocks her head side to side and pokes into the water. It's also nice for her to cool off in the glacier-melt stream.

Gorgeous morning mountains

Guests were busy snapping pictures while I was making breakfast. When I looked outside, I could see why they liked this shot. The way the winds were blowing the clouds as the sun came south was gorgeous (it makes a big circle like a flat clock or dinner plate overhead). The sun doesn't so much rise in the summer as make a circle above our heads. In the middle of the night, it's to the far north, then does a little twirl overhead into the night hours when it returns to the north. It will start to sink below the horizon in late July. Next week is the summer solstice and gives true meaning to our Midnight Sun.

Palmer's little town celebration: Colony Days

Each summer, Palmer celebrates the town's roots with Colony Days. It commemorates the arrival of the Pioneer families who settled the colony in the 1930s. The weekend is full of small-town events like a classic car show, the parade, showing off the vintage tractors, a best smoked-salmon dip contest, bed races, etc. I tried to get a few good shots of the Forest guys with their chain saws and axes slung over their shoulders, but those pictures didn't come out well. Here is a farmer on his 1940s Massey tractor and the Palmer Chamber of Commerce team hustling against the IBEW union team in the bed race finals.

Early a.m. moose, cool video of flightseeing

I'm up at 3 am because the dogs at the farm next to me are going nuts in the woods between us. I don't hear others stirring, so I'm glad it hasn't waken them. The dogs are two Great Pyrenees who guard a small herd of cashmere goats that my neighbor is raising. The moose won't bother the goats, who are inside a secure fenced area, but must be close enough to have the dogs' attention. My neighbors, who moved here in the 1950's, said they've only seen bears on their farm twice since then, during very bad winters. Otherwise the bears prefer to hang out in the mountains that ring our valley, where people don't annoy them.

I was surfing on the web last night and found this cool video on Talkeetna Air Taxi's blog. The bush pilot who is the subject of this short online video is one I've flown with before. This tells a little bit about what it's like to be a woman bush pilot who flies around Denali: http://www.authentictv.com/UPLOADS/DEVELOPMENT/DANIELLE-H.264.mov

It's a Boy!

Oops--yesterday I thought the new visitor was a girl moose, but then last night, when he came back for a bite at 10 pm, we could see the little nubbins of antlers started on his forehead. We're not sure if he was bugged by our flashes going off in the house windows or if it was mosquitos, but he was ticked off and jumpy! I got a good video I will try to edit down to size to put on here.