Two Necklaces

Here are the first two necklaces I want to post, but I am having a heck of a time trying to get decent photos. I really need lights and tripod and the whole shebang. Anyway, the top piece is copper with a leather cord. I think the large stone is an agate. The back of the piece is cut out and you can see through the agate. The blue dot is a glaze stone, a happy accident from a glaze firing.

The piece below is a fire agate we found near here. It's quite colorful in sunlight. This is a small piece set in flame-aged copper on a clear rubber cord. Fire agate is a natural gemstone found in just a few places in the southwest, this area being one. The agates formed during the volcanic activity of the Tertiary Period. (Is there any doubt this area was formed by volcanic activity?!) The iridescent rainbow colors of fire agate, similar to opal, are caused by alternating silica and iron oxide layers interfering with the light as it passes through the gem. Really pretty. 

Neglect

I've been enjoying the sun and neglecting the blog. The sun is a wonderful thing, especially after living like a mole in Homer.

Besides a thorough cleaning of the house I've been doing some metal work and will take pictures in the next day or two. I'll post photos from our trip down, too... maybe. I can't promise. I don't want to sit inside at the computer for long.

So, our proposed sale of this house is being set on the back burner for a few more years. After talking with an agent we learned just how much the real estate market here sucks, and it really isn't a good time to try to sell. I would rather sell the Homer place, but we'll see how Bob deals with that next year. I love Alaska and Homer is a gorgeous place, but the cold, short, rainy summers Homer has now are not enjoyable. I want to summer in a more pleasant climate. Like Sequim, WA. We would be close enough we could drive down and actually enjoy the pool from time to time.

The town burros stopped by near midnight at the full moon. It was nearly bright as day as I watched from the deck. Tag was beside himself with happiness. He followed them at the fence giving the border collie eye. A big white female seemed just as fascinated with him and they were nose to nose for a long time. Her baby would creep in for a sniff, Tag would snap, the baby jump and run. Two young males jousted and it was fun to see them all again.

The coyote pack is healthy. They yip and yowl every night. Tux takes off after any that come too close, but I think she has forgotten how limiting her hips are and limps badly after a night chasing 'yotes. Might be necessary to lock her in at night.

I put out a feeder for the hummingbird. There appear to be two now. The phainopepla are here for the winter, quail coo softly in the morning and we found tail feathers of what I think is a common poorwill. We've seen a few taratulas on the prowl in the evening, and tarantula hawk wasps are attracted when I water the plants. No rattlesnakes though we watch carefully, thank goodness.

In the Desert

After a harrowing trip through Canada we are back in Old Trails. (I'll post pictures of the trip later.) It's so hot, dry and sunny after cold, wet Homer. I am liking the sun, not so much the heat, but it is cooling off already. The dry wind has my hair flailing around and standing on end. That is so annoying. My skin feels tight and itchy and I can't seem to drink enough water. Humidity must be zero, maybe less than zero! Ah, the joys of the desert.

Debbie did a great job maintaining the pool and keeping the plants watered. It was disheartening last year to come back to a green pool and dead yard. But there is even a hummingbird feeding at a flowering plant this time! Funny how I can't remember names of plants after only six months away. It will be the same in Homer next summer.

We are putting the house up for sale. If we don't find a good realtor it might be an FSBO undertaking. Much as I like the house, we're finding this place is too far for us to be driving to Alaska and back every year, getting houses up to snuff at both ends after every trip. The place really needs someone to be here full time to keep up with maintenance; the sun is so hard on everything. I hope there is someone out there that will fall in love with our little oasis and just have to have it. 

End of Summer at the Cabin

We are winterizing the cabin now, putting wire cages around trees and shrubs to protect them from hungry moose and rabbits. The raspberries grew well considering they were eaten to the ground by moose last winter, damn them, but there were no berries for us this fall. The hardy roses are still trying to flower despite daytime temperatures in the 40's and freezing nights. Soon we'll be back to the dry rocky desert and I'll miss the color and life of my gardens.

Cabin and dogs, they'll miss the grass

Grewingk Glacier dressed in fresh snow

Caged rose safe from critters

Lilies blooming late

Climbing red rose 

Tree caged to stop moose from eating bark

Raspberry patch looking wild

Autumn

The leaves turn color, the wind blows and fall is over. Sometimes it only takes a few days. Time to put wire around trees and shrubs to protect them from winter moose and rabbit feeding while we're away.

Termination Dust

Fresh snow on the mountains after the latest round of storms. Winter is on its way and we are thinking about heading south with the birds. Waterfowl are staging for the migration. Today we saw a flock of cackling Canada geese hunkered down in a field.

The Endeavor is still in the deep water dock, weeks beyond the one week expected. It had to lower its legs during one storm. Fifty mph winds were threatening to topple it. The two or three tugs holding it were insufficient. The rig began to ram the dock. Considered an emergency, ADFG allowed its legs to be lowered to stabilize it. There is currently a law prohibiting the storage of jack-up rigs in Kachemak Bay, which means the legs are not allowed to be lowered to the substrate. The regulation was enacted in response to a situation a number of years ago where a rig got stuck in the mud of the bay and had to be blasted out. It caused quite a bit of environmental damage and the old timers who have been adamant about protecting Kachemak Bay didn't want it to ever happen again, so this rig's extended stay is becoming quite controversial.

Flame Painting

Bad weather continues. Gale force winds are expected tonight in our area and two to three inches more rain. This rain train (as someone called it) that is pummeling us is apparently a result of the loss of summer arctic sea ice weakening the jet stream so that the weather system remains stationary for an extended period of time. I hope something gives it a kick start out of here soon, but Accuweather shows more of the same for the next two weeks. Very glad we are not living near any of the rivers on the Kenai as they are already flooding and all this additional rain is bad news.

Anyway, being stuck inside has given me time to experiment with flame painting copper. I love the bright colors that develop when you use a hot flame just so. Below is a flame painted hammered leaf pendant on a braided copper wire chain with little turquoise bead accents that pick up the blues in the leaf very nicely.

This is another hanging goodymajig using found objects, flame painted copper scraps and an antique marble drop piece set on flame painted copper. The colors don't show up too brightly in the photo but they really flash in the sunshine.... when we actually get sunshine!

Lilies weather the storms

Still getting hammered by the weather. Flooding, from the Kenai Peninsula to Cordova, up to Talkeetna, and the Richardson Highway. Flooding like I have never seen up here. More to come through the weekend, too. The gorgeous lilies we planted this summer are blooming through the worst of it though, giving me  some cheer. Yellow, salmon and brilliant orange. A pink to open later this week. I love their brilliant colors!

Earlier this summer I tossed a mix of wildflower seeds out front to cut down on weeds taking over the area that was cleared during construction for the drains. They are finally coming into bloom with a riot of color. I wasn't liking the looks of it all until the colors started showing, now thinking I will just tame the area a bit next summer and make the bees happy with all these flowers again.

The Sandhill cranes have either taken off with the storm systems or are laying low until it's all over. We haven't seen them doing training flights since the rain began, but the Steller's Jays are back, peeking in the windows, looking for a handout. Noisy moochers. We only see them this time of year. As soon as I open the door to put down a few nuts they fly over and clear them out. They are fast and won't cooperate for a picture. Here's the best of several I tried taking through the kitchen window.

More storms

Two humungous storms with winds over 120 mph and rain up to ten inches in some places have hit southcentral in the last week. Another storm is on the way Tuesday night lasting through Thursday. Looks like we installed the French drains around the property just in time. So far everything is working as planned to redirect the water away from the house and yard. Unfortunately there was some degradation of the new slope from run-off before all the raspberries, wild roses, grass and wildflower seeds had a chance to really take root. If these storms continue it could get real bad.

We went for a beach walk today and were surprised to see how much the coastline has changed after the last storm. It coincided with a 20+ foot tide and the storm surge really hammered us. The picture below is our property. The dirt and clay under the leaning tree is totally washed out. There used to be a raised flat clay area where people sometimes camped that is totally gone now where Tag is standing. That tree is really hanging on but probably won't last the winter when these kinds of storms are normally expected.

More slope slumping further down the coast, below. There also used to be long tongues of clay from previous slumps stretching out to the beach that have been totally washed away with this storm. Even more amazing, a creek is gone! So much gravel and sand were washed in the creek was filled and all trace of it's path is gone. The water is dammed at the outlet to the beach now but I suppose eventually the creek will reestablish itself. The tides are going to be even higher, over 22 feet, during this next storm event! 

Is it a dog?

Have you seen this thing? It's a four-legged robot that looks freakily doglike. Military is developing it and seems that beyond serving as a pack robot it can interpret verbal and visual commands. Impressive the way it can maneuver through brush and over rough terrain, but it creeps me out.

Dogs at Work

I just learned about a program that uses high energy rescue dogs to conduct biological research. No, not research on the dogs themselves! The dogs conduct the research. They sniff out the scat of endangered species, from salamanders to elephants, that biologists use to learn more about them. It's the Conservation Canines of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington. Here is a link to a neat video explaining their grizzly bear research in Jasper National Park and showing the dogs at work.  Conservation Canines

This is a link to their website:  Center For Conservation Biology

This is a great program for the dogs, the scientists, and the animals they study.