From the Archives Part 3

Okay just a few more. These you could almost think there were from the present but alas they are from last SPRING. You can tell because there are pictures in which people have their mittens off and it is bright and sunny. Right now it is -20 below (keep mittens ON) and the sun stays low in the sky.

These were from one of my very favorite family outings of this year. We had such a fun day ice fishing and skating and it was absolutely gorgeous.

These next few were from the ice cave at Castner glacier.

The snow here is so dry during most of the winter you can't even make a snowball, so in the spring when it starts to warm up a bit we enjoy playing in the soft snow.

Okay that is it, I am ready to move on to present day postings! 

From the Archives Part 2

Again, just a few more that were waiting to be posted from this summer.  I think I am almost ready to move into the present and stop dwelling in the past...but the past was so much warmer!!

From The Archives

As I was messing around with the blog today trying to change format and upload videos and such  I discovered that I actually had a bunch of photos uploaded that were just sitting there all alone patiently awaiting words to go along with them. 

These pictures were from an incredible trip I took back in way March.  In my early days (before marriage and kids) I used to do this kind of thing all the time and actually got paid to do it! But it has been a long time so I was super excited to get the chance to go out with one of my former bosses and hassle some Harlequin Ducks out in Prince William Sound again.  This trip was a quick follow up to the work we did looking at the effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil spill on the Harlequin ducks.  We captured ducks and collected a small sample of liver tissue which was was analyzed to see if the birds are still being exposed to oil. 

The boat pictured below is the Discovery. We lived aboard the boat for 10 days while we were capturing ducks. Jeff and I first met on this same boat way back in 1996. Actually three couples met on this boat on that same trip all ended up getting married!  

The morning commute.

Removing birds from the mist net.

I some how ended up on the bottom of this tangle.

A happy girl and her duck.

Beautiful duck!

I assisted our vet and administered anesthia during the liver biopsy surgery.

The release.

The crew.

Old friends. I started working for Dan in 1995, my first year in Alaska.

Searching for the elusive Stellar's Sea Monkey.

Good times and an incredible group of people to work with. I do hope that someday when the boys are a bit older I can get back out and do this more often.

One Week Later, I am Back!

Now I know that two Sunday night blog posts does not exactly make a tradition but it's a step in the right direction.  I am just back from Fairbanks where I spent a lovely Saturday evening having dinner with good friends and a very pleasant Sunday afternoon at Lauren's baby shower.  I did not take the camera (I need to work on that if I am going to keep up with my Sunday night blogging) but I am excited to share some pictures from this fall.
It has been brutally cold (-35 to -20) this last week so it is also good to think about warmer days and pictures like these are good reminders of why we put up with this kind of weather in November.

The first three pictures are from a hike/sheep scouting trip Jeff and the boys took just south of Delta.

These next pictures are from a family camping trip along the Denali Highway at Tangle lakes.

Our nature boy.

THIS is why we live here!!

This reflection on the lake was utterly amazing.

Sam was so beat from admiring all that spectacular scenery

 that not even a lollipop could keep him awake, now that is tired!

See you next Sunday??