Toy Time!!!

Yup, I'm excited. I got a package in the mail. The package contained none other than an EOS 5D Mark II neck strap that you can see around my neck.

I put the neck strap though the paces with some kitty photos. Tigger did a great job posing for the neck strap when it was dipped in catnip. He likes it almost as much as the spider plant runner. RIP spider plant runner.

The neck strap made Christina smile.

Even my co-worker Ron's Yorkshire Terrier puppy wanted to check out the new neck strap. Christina had to restrain him. Perhaps he smelled Tigger's drool on the strap. I prefer to think that he likes the neck strap's red stripes and white letters on the black background.
Oh yeah, the package also contained something else.... An instruction manual! Lots of good reading. Reminded me of reading my differential calculus textbook except for the fact that I stayed awake.

Birds and Boats

I was buzzed by an eagle at Petroglyph Beach

If that wasn't enough, it then proceeded to buzz the moon.

The Alaska Marine Highway ferry, Taku, presses through some cold weather fog.

A Little Ice

Bob Lippert and I tackled Rainbow Falls again. We ended up climbing it 6 or 7 times each. Whew! What a work out!

Yours truly. Bob is below.

It is kind of hard to tell but there is a cascade of snow coming down the falls. I think we needed a little sun shine on the falls to actually be able to see it. Say, isn't it 2009? Better update the year associated with the copyright.

Golfing...

Christina and I went to the golf course on January 2nd to make giant tracks. Christina used snowshoes and I used my powder skis.

Along the way she decided to impersonate a snowy angelic being.

Petroglyph Beach Revisited

The day after the photos in the previous post I went to Petroglyph Beach again and enjoyed the pleasant weather and fine opportunities for photography. A spiral Petroglyph is shown above.

Water and Snow

I took a couple of my new toys out for a little play time. I used my new 16-35mm f2.8 lens and a 4 stop neutral density filter (among a few other filters at times) to take this and the next 5 shots. This photo is of Shakes Island and the pier spanning the tidal area.

I noticed the sun and clouds were shaping up for something outstanding so I hurried (walked quickly) to Petroglyph beach where I knew some good opportunities were awaiting. This photo is from the viewing/interpretive platform.

From underneath the ramp.

Beach

High tide, sunset, Petroglyph Beach, a little surf equaled a lot of fun.

At this resolution, the fish petroglyph on a rock is barely visible. 30 second exposure.

Volunteer Trail

Christina took advantage of my limited mobility and slapped a little snow my way.

Snowshoeing

Christina walks down the trail.

Relaxing

Hmmm... There seems to be a bit of a theme going on here. Something like "Throw snow at Quent when he isn't ready and in an awkward position."

I was in a bit of a spot. I was balancing on top of a large stump with my ski boots.

Ski Trip

Nate and I decided to get out early and spend a day in the fresh deep powder up on a mountain. We were approaching the ridge top as the snow shower began to abate and a sunrise shone through. Here Nate and the camera face off in a stare down.

The clouds cleared just long enough for a view of the sunrise before closing in again.

Shoemaker Harbor is visible beyond the bowed trees in the foreground. While I was taking pictures Nate headed to the North Wrangell High Country Shelter a short distance away. As I turned to follow him I saw him trying to get from a snowdrift to the platform while bridging a significant gap with his skis. The next thing I knew he was listing to his right and down he went. Unfortunately he ended up breaking his bindingis skium, which put an abrupt end to his ski day before it even started. Not even duct tape was able to fix the binding. He ended up using water to freeze the broken part of the binding into place and at the end of the day he skied gingerly down the slope... and it worked! (For the most part.)

So instead of skiing, Nate decided to build jumps and I volunteered to test them. I also handed my camera over to Nate and he kindly took photos for the rest of the day. This and the next five photos are courtesy of Nate. It has been a while since I've played with kickers and my rust was evident. My arms were flailing and I was pretty much a one trick pony. Sure was fun though. Made me realize how much I missed the airborne side of skiing.

Playing

After the jump in the image above a ski popped off while landing. The other ski stayed on for a little while longer before it too released and I crashed into the deep powder. After a struggle I was able to locate one ski. Unfortunately the other ski was considerably up slope. I "walked" or perhaps "swam" upslope for at least 15 minutes trying to make it to my second ski. As you can see in this photo of me standing and waving, the powder was deep.

Nate's self portrait.

The view from up in a tree where Nate positioned himself.

Another jump.