north to alaska

Alaska, the Last Frontier. What do you think of when you think of Alaska? Igloos? The song, "North to Alaska!"? Polar Bears? Dog sleds? Snow? Wildlife roaming the streets? Here in Juneau, we don't see a lot of wildlife, but we do see the occasional bear and deer. Bald Eagles are everywhere and always fun to watch.

We went for a drive to the Glacier yesterday, about a five minute drive from our home, and this bear crossed the street ahead of us. Just a small black bear, but still, a BEAR!

We were able to watch it for a bit before the dogs zeroed in on it and started barking.... This is when the bear looked back at us, going, what is THAT noise?! We decided it was best not to cause the bear any grief, and left.

hawk

My mom was a fantastic birder. She knew the names of all her birds. Me? Not so much.... I love to watch birds, feed them, and am amazed at them, but I have a dickens of a time when it comes to identifying them. Or remembering what they are from season to season.

We have a hawk hanging around our place.... I believe it to be the sharp-skinned hawk. Heck, it could be just about any kind of hawk and I wouldn't be able to identify it correctly! REGARDLESS of which type it is.... I want them gone. They don't belong in my back yard. Or my front yard. I have birds. And little squirrels. And baby squirrels. I suspect that's why they're here....

It's not the first time we've had hawks hanging around. The fascinating part is the interaction between them and our Blue Jays. Now, I don't know how a Jay gets this certain job.... if he has to apply, or if he's assigned the job by virtue of being the oldest, the youngest, the dumbest, the bravest, or what.... But there's always one Blue Jay in the flock that is expected to keep the hawk away from the others. You'll see the Blue Jay flying, like crazy, with the hawk right behind. The Blue Jay keeps him away from the food source so the other Jays can enjoy their meal. Hawk free. It's interesting to watch. I feel sorry for the Jay that's been assigned this job. What if the hawk is faster? What if the Jay gets caught.... It's a brave Jay that gets this job....

instincts

Some might think the Stellar Blue Jays are a royal pain, but we get so much enjoyment out of watching them. You can tell the ranks of some of them. The Baby Blue Jays arrived a few weeks ago, the little fluff balls. They look like we do on a bad hair day with their down poking here and there. By the time they're pushed out of the nest, they've already learned where to go for the good food. And they know how to push my buttons to get more. And I have to admit, I'm an easy target and an easy student.... It's like they're at a movie theater, watching a movie on the big screen, as they peer inside our sliding glass door, watching us. They just stand there, on the stoop, watching.... and watching.... Waiting for their peanuts.

This spring we noticed that one of our squirrels had made a nest in the stairwell on the back deck. Of course we weren't happy about that, but what were we to do at this point? We couldn't evict her! We've just kept our fingers crossed that she didn't do any damage to the house. Now we have babies. Two of them! They started venturing out last week, trying to be brave soldiers. Yesterday the two of them were fighting. Mike said he saw one fall out of the tree and the other one came flying down the trunk after him, chasing him. I could just hear their momma: "You boys go outside and play. We don't rough house in the nest!"

Now the Blue Jays know the sound of the perklunk of the peanuts as they land on the deck. And they come flying. The adult squirrels learned that when they heard the Blue Jays squawk, that food was on the table, and they would come running for their share of peanuts. I've noticed this weekend that the baby squirrels have also learned that when the Blue Jays are around, it usually means food, and, now, they come looking for their meal. But they're still very timid around the aggressive Blue Jays and aren't quite sure what to do. Poor little brave soldiers. But they stick with it long enough to grab a peanut and head back to the nest. "Look, mom, Breakfast!"

We live such a simple life and these are our simple joys.

Have a good day. Nancy

redpoll

Yes, spring is on its way. No skunk cabbage showing its bright, yellow head yet, but the Canadian Geese have made their appearance on the Wetlands and I saw one lone Pussy Willow tree in bloom. We've also had a lot of bird activity, including these Redpolls that descended upon Juneau this past week on their way north. Thousands of them! Redpolls aren't native to this area which makes it even more amazing. According to our local paper, it's a bird phenomenon known as an irruption. Thousands of these tiny finches have been cleaning out bird feeders as fast as we can fill them and then they'll move on to the next food source further up north. Way cute!

my pathetic life

Blogging isn't as easy as I thought it would be and most days I struggle to think of something interesting to write about. After all, I want my entries to be interesting with a little humor peppered here and there and maybe a life lesson to contemplate occasionally or a recipe to drool over. I like variety. Then there's the photos to include. But the bottom line is it all takes time. How do you all do it every single day?! I'm retired. I should have plenty of time to keep up my blog, but I don't.

Know why?

I spend too much time taking pictures of lazy dogs....


Of dogs left behind.

Of dogs being spooky....

about shadows on the ceiling....

This is how pathetic my life is!

Occasionally I even play the game "I spy" with objects in the garden.... I spy something that starts with the letter "S." Look closely....


Of reflections in the window and.... I spy two little faces in the bottom pane....


And another reason I don't have more time to blog....

This is Chippy.... He's begging for peanuts.

Need I say more? Pathetic... just pathetic.... Nancy

a road trip to the glacier

Today you get to be a tourist. I thought we'd take a trip to the Mendenhall Glacier. It won't take long. And it won't cost you a dime! So come on! Let's go see what's happening at the glacier today!

This is the road to the glacier. It's just about a two mile drive from our home. You can see the top of the glacier there in the middle (the white area).


Since I came to Juneau in 1971, the glacier has receded considerably. Now there's so much rock and mountain exposed. It's a pretty incredible sight. You can sorta get an idea when you look at all the ice that has recently calved off.


I hope you wore some comfortable walking shoes as we'll be venturing out on to the observation trail. The forest service built this incredible trail and viewing areas for tourists where we can observe the bear in their natural habitat (eating, fishing, climbing trees, nursing, snoozing) without the worry of getting mauled. We're in luck today as I see sign of bear!

One of their many fine dining areas along Steep Creek. This creek is a favorite dining spot of theirs as it isn't very deep (inches) and the spawning sockeye salmon plentiful. You can see half eaten salmon along the creek banks.



Another sign of bear: their bathroom.... (the little red specks are either fish eggs or berries. Sorry, but couldn't get close enough (or want to!) to see for sure!


And we're not the only tourists here today. I wonder what they're looking at....


OH! A little black bear! Don't worry. The forest service guide (in the green clothes) has everything under control....


He's not shy around so many people as you can tell. Another forest service guide keeps watch below (his boots). We have plenty of guides around us for protection, if we need it. Don't worry.... They're here to protect us AND the bears and will remind you to talk quietly, walk quietly, hurry along.... as the need arises.


And yet another forest service guide possibly preventing the little guy from getting up onto the trail (and us!).


Even the forest service guides take pictures! Here, the little guy decides just maybe he doesn't want to go any further and returns in the direction he came.


And says "goodbye" for today.


I hear yells, "can we follow him? Can we follow him?"

No, we can't follow him! Why? This is why:




Trail closed for the rest of the season due to increased bear activity. Evidently a couple bear "rushed" some tourists more than once and the forest service had to close the trail to protect us. So the caution signs could keep us from passing through.... but what about bear coming from the other direction?




Hope you enjoyed the tour! Unfortunately, you were looking at the rotting sockeye when Mike and I came upon a momma black bear and two cubs.... One cub was way up high in a cottonwood tree, the other on the ground near its momma. After a bit, the momma walked over to the base of the tree and must have gave the treed baby bear a look, or something, because the bear started making these little bear sounds and scurried back down. Momma and two cubs went to their pad, laid down, and nursed. Sorry you couldn't be there to see it.... Until next time.... N.

BBJs

It's 5:00 a.m. and I have a migraine; second day in a row now. I'd probably still be in bed if it wasn't for the tap tap I heard. There it is again--TAP TAP TAP. Is someone at the door? This early? Can't be.... TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP again. Louder and more desperate. Now I know where it's coming from. I get up and stumble out to the sliding glass door and, sure enough, a whole passel of BBJs (Baby Blue Jays) are sitting in front of the glass door, on the table, on the chairs, on the gazebo, in the trees. Just waiting for their breakfast. And impatiently, I might add! It's only 5:00 A.M. for crying out loud!!!!!

My question is, how do they know I'll get up and feed them?! How do they learn that? Did their parents tell them I'm a sucker? As I talk to other ladies, Blue Jays don't even bother them, let alone knock on their door.

Did I tell you the story about my husband's shower? No? I didn't think so. I'm at work and he was in the shower. He said when he came out, he heard the two dogs barking like crazy. Our little Sadie gets in a real frenzy when she barks and it's like she can't stop once she gets going. The more she barks the more she shakes her head and the more she shakes her head, the more she barks. We have to physically put our hands on her head and gently direct her to her bed to get her sto stop. We have not been able to correct this behavior and I don't know that we ever will. It's a frenzy behavior for her and one can only imagine what horror in her history created it. Anyway, back to the story. The dogs are barking like crazy and Mike thinks someone is at the door and here he is soaking wet. Upon investigation he realizes it's only the BBJs tapping at the glass door and the dogs going crazy thinking some one's at the front door. Silly girls.

These pictures were taken last year but you get the drift. As try as I might, if I ignore them they've started flying INTO the door!!! All you hear is this heavy BANG! Blue Jays have their positions within the flock.... I wonder what this one did that he got assigned this job....?! When they get tired of trying to get my attention on the back porch, they just fly to the front porch and sit on the porch rail and stare at me or fly in front of the windows to get my attention. Again, I ask..... how do they know I'm their neighborhood sucker but more importantly, WHY ME???

believe it or not

Yesterday was somewhat of a weird day. I saw two things I never thought I'd see in my life.


Sighting One: Mike and I were driving home from doing errands. As we drove past the pond just up the road, we saw an eagle. He was dive bombing a duck! It flew INTO the water; it was actually laying IN the water! It came up with the duck in its claws but dropped it! It dove BACK into the water to try again! It was struggling and struggling, flying just on top of the water, dive bombing to get its prey..... then we drove out of sight.... I told Mike I wish I had had my camera with me, but he reminded me that this really is not something I would get any enjoyment out of seeing. But from a distant, where things weren't too focused and clear.... just enough that we knew what was happening.... I feel badly for the ducks here; especially baby ducks as they don't have a chance with the eagles. What are the chances of seeing something like that?


Sighting Two: Bucky and Michelle went away for the night, up Taku River and spent the night in their dad's cabin. Kona, their dog, had a sleepover with us. Sadie loves loves loves Kona and follows her around endlessly. She's her hero! And she loves Bucky too. When Bucky comes to visit, he's always trying to stretch Sadie to learn something new, to not be so afraid of life. Remember, she was a pound puppy and came to us afraid of her own shadow. She had been badly abused and neglected something horribly. Last time Bucky was here, he taught Sadie how to jump into the bed of our truck. Not a difficult task for most dogs, but for someone who's afraid of life....this is a big deal. We were standing around the cars talking, when out of the blue, here comes Sadie running and smiling.... and jumps UP, ONTO the BACK of Bucky's Cavalier car!!! I think she thought she was showing off for him, jumping into the truck, saying, "see, I can do it! I'm not afraid!" We couldn't believe what we saw and laughed so hard. It would have won us $10,000 at AFHV for sure!