Memorial Day

This Dark Eyed Junko is singing an evening song

An eagle cruising near the Mount Dewey overlook.

Etolin Island as seen from Mount Dewey. This picture was intentially underexposed, the sky wasn't really that dark.

More of Spur

Christina's attempt at another waterfall.

Skunk Cabbage: Why is it called skunk cabbage? One is that it actually smells like skunk. Wrangell doesn't have skunks. (Yeah, I know...) Last year I was walking with a friend and all of a sudden I smelled skunk. I looked over to this little stream of water and there was a cluster of skunk cabbage. Also, in the beginning stages of growth, the plant looks like cabbage. When we first moved here, I thought there was a banana growing out of the ground because it has that banana-yellow color. During the Wrangell High School graduation ceremony this summer, one parent's letter to their graduate told a little story about how the graduate (as a child) had spent some time in the hospital because of eating skunk cabbage like it was corn-on-the-cob. Not a great idea!

A little added tidbit: Wrangell doesn't have crickets or snakes either.

Walk

Last week we walked along Spur Road and we hiked up a "spur" on the road that we had never been on before. It reminded me (Christina) of a trail in Rib Lake, Wisconsin. Of course the elevation change is quite different here. Ha! This is one of the pictures Quent took of me while walking up.

Proud that I made it to the top (notice my embellishment of Quent's baseball cap).

I really like this picture of Quent! He really loves the outdoors. I do too, but he far surpasses me with outdoor adventure. And that's ok with me! Ha!

We will leave it to your imagination of just how big this bug really is.

Ski Trip

May 21 before work I went up to the North Wrangell High Country Shelter to ski down. Had to get up pretty early so I could be at work at a reasonable time. This is a picture of the bridge at about 1000'. Looks like there is still about 5 feet of snow above the handrail. The stream above the bridge is completely covered and this is a stream that is big enough to go tubing in.

Notice the orange plastic on my feet. Yup, Garmont Adrenalines. Pretty nice boots. (Thank's for the recommendation Nate!) The nicest thing about them is that they are fully compatible with my snowshoes. That means I don't have to carry ski boots in my backpack. What a relief! Skiing down was trickly. Constantly changing from corn snow to crust on top of corn snow to hard icy snow, depending on where the shadows were. Should have waited a few hours but I didn't have that luxury on a Monday.

View of my snowcave... wait, what snowcave??? Yeah, even that is buried under about 10-15 feet of snow. About 18" of the outhouse door is now accessible.

THIS is Alaska!

Yeah, I'm a nerd! But I thought the sweatshirt was so appropriate for the setting!

Quent and I being normal.

Quent and I being normal again. *cough*

Misc.

Who thought that a pile of logs would be something worth capturing on camera?

Quent took this picture of a raindrop on a leaf. I think it's beautiful!

Pink Petals & Tiny Wings

This was my (Christina's) first attempt with taking a picture with a macro lens. We both didn't notice this winged insect until we put the pictures onto our computer. I love this pink color. Quent told me this is a salmon berry blossom.

Evening Colors

Warblers

Christina noticed a couple warblers from our upstairs window. This is a male Wilson's Warbler.

Here is a male Yellow Warbler. These guys added a little bit of yellow sunshine on an otherwise dull rainy day.

Woronkofski Island

We had a beautiful afternoon between squalls and hail. The clounds were moving past the top of Woronkofski Island quickly, giving many different photo opportunities.

Lots of interesting textures.

Birds

This Northern Flicker's feathers are being ruffled by the breeze as he sits on the peak of our house. It had our kitties excited when it would pound on the tin, they know it is the sound of a bird. Flickers are uncommon around SE Alaska but not around our house. We have a pair that nests nearby and there are several other pairs in town.

Went to Petroglyph Beach earlier today and saw a large flock of Black Turnstones. They are pretty in flight and I was fortunate that an eagle was chasing a gull nearby and scared these birds off their rock.

Notice the Bonaparte's Gulls flying with the flock of turnstones. This was after the eagle had chased them all off a rock.

This is what a Black Turnstone looks like when it is sitting still.

Us

I realize that Quent and I don't have a lot of pictures of us on our blog, so I thought I'd throw this one into the group of posts. We were just experimenting with our camera and this was one of the best shots. It's one of those pictures where you catch an emotion...some feeling. And I think what was captured here was, "I love you."

Once upon a clear night...

This isn't your typical moon picture, but I thought it was a neat photo.

Hummingbird

Quent took these pictures of a hummingbird visiting our feeder. I think the reddish color is so brilliant! It's really neat because the colors seem to change depending on the light.