Lunch in the mountains

We took lunch in the mountains to watch a pair of big horn sheep that have been in the area, then I walked the dogs to the unnamed springs for a swim. Bob stayed at the Rhino to watch the sheep and, lucky duck, saw a bit of courtship and mounting! We've been hoping another ram might come along and really make things interesting, but they seem to have the area to themselves. (Enlarge the picture for a better view.)

Tux

Tux

Our girl with the big desert-tough paws. She's not into mugging for the camera and I never manage to get a good picture of her.

Below, clay works. I am planning to single fire this load of sculpting clay so am applying glazes in the leather hard stage.

For the garden, cactus in bloom

Wall art

Below: A fold-formed copper heart that has been textured and flame painted. 

Pendant

Hungry Guests

Last week we had a visit from the horses of the Oatman Stables. One of them is able to open their pen gate and they get out pretty frequently. This was the first time they explored our side of the highway. What a wild bunch they are. We've been warned to keep our distance when they get out, but it was a delight to see the herd kicking up their heels outside our windows. 

This morning the town burros managed to open our front gate while I was showering. I found the lot of them eating fallen mesquite leaves in the yard when I came downstairs. Hooper was keeping them safely in the front yard, thank goodness. They can do a lot of damage unsupervised.

Stormy Weather

Hoopie

Plastics implicated in salmon decline

Bad news in an ADN story today. An environmental analytic chemist who teaches at UAA has found that phthalates released from plastics in the marine environment may be affecting the survival of juvenile salmon. Phthalates are added to plastics to make them flexible but are easily released into the environment, like when drinking out of plastic water bottles. They are ubiquitous in our environment. The oceans are full of degraded plastics. A 2000 CDC study found every single person in the study tested positive for phthalates. So why do we care? Phthalates can disrupt hormones and cause genital defects, breast and prostate cancer, obesity, diabetes... kind of nasty stuff.

So this UAA research was conducted on trout, which are genetically similar to salmon. Long story short, ocean debris, including plastics, is pushed more than a mile inland to a small pond on the Kenai Peninsula where the trout in testing are located. The water there is highly polluted with small bits of plastics. It's been found that DHEP, one of six phthalates being studied, is interfering with cell division in trout immune systems leaving them vulnerable to disease, and could be implicated in the decimation of salmon runs. This is some pretty hot research right now when Alaskans are wondering why so many runs are in disastrous decline.

Still kickin'

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