Staying Even

 By my calculations, I successfully completed a resolution I made at the beginning of summer, which is a much better track record than any New Year's Resolution I ever made or even thought about making.

My spring resolution was to try to replace the three-and-a-half cords of firewood that I burned last winter, and that would keep me even because someday I will not be able to gather firewood on my own.  

I considered various ways to do that, including buying wood.   However, two things stopped me from doing that:

    1.  The whole idea of burning wood is to save on the high costs of propane that heats my house, and 

    2.  There is a wealth of beetle-killed spruce here, including some in my own yard.

So, I decided to do it on my own, as much as I could.

One thing that was an obstacle was that I no longer have the arm strength to pull the recoil starter rope and successfully start my gas-powered wood splitter.   The solution was to purchase an electric splitter.

I'd already made an age-related adaptation last year when I realized I could no longer start my newish Stihl chainsaw.   The solution was a battery-powered chainsaw and, as luck would have it, they were on sale in Anchorage.   I also wanted a second battery and a spare chain, but discovered it was cheaper to buy two on-sale saws than buying those two items separately.   I came home with two saws, two batteries, and two chains.

I bought a 5-ton electric splitter with a stand in Anchorage, and when my brother came to visit, we put it together.    He is better at following orders (a long career in the Army), while I am better at improvising and turn to the instructions only in emergencies.

Hold down the start button as well as the green lever to move the ram.

He studied the instructions and measured the bolts; I started sticking things together.    Together, we succeeded in getting all the pieces together and did a trial run.

All summer, as I was out along the highway picking up litter, I looked for downed dead spruce that would easy for me to get.   And I found several.

I also cut down two black spruce in my yard and hauled off the slash.    When I went to dump the slash, I scrounged the piles for more wood.

I kept it up all summer.    Finding, sawing, loading, unloading, spitting, and stacking in the wood shed.

The battery-powered saw is on the tailgate.

Just recently, a professional logger cut down two spruce in my yard that I didn't dare to cut.   One might have fallen on the well house; the other would have blocked the driveway.

The last of the rounds to split.   First trailer load is in the woodshed.

I hauled off three loads of slash and stacked the rounds in the carport where I could split them, rain or shine.

Today, I split the majority of the rounds and stacked the wood in the shed.   I have a few more rounds left.

By my calculations, I am more or less at my goal of three-and-a-half cords.

AGAIN!!!!

 Once again I am having trouble uploading photos.   I am blaming it on my ISP.    Rats.

Autumn at Tern Lake

 I hope the photo-uploading issue is resolved so I can show you some pictures I took recently.

These photos were taken last evening, the 18th, at Tern Lake, about 7:30 PM.

This one flabbergasted me, the way the clouds settled in the mountain ravines and added depth.

A lot of waterfowl have gathered at the lake, as they do every fall, before their annual migration.   I'll be sad to see them go.

Here is the lone surviving cygnet from the resident Trumpeter swans.   Left to right, among the opportunistic feeders, are two American wigeon, a mallard, a ringneck duck drake, and a mallard beside the cygnet.

This is a male ring-necked duck.  Note the white markings on its bill.    Late evening photo as the water reflects golden trees.

The swan family with the cygnet shaking out its feathers.

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I keep a close eye on this spot all summer, hoping to catch something resting on top of the grass-covered  tree stump.  I have a collection of photos of various birds, including a bald-eagle, on this stump.

 A mallard on a stick was as close as I came this year.

The following two photos are one of the three red-necked grebes hatched on the lake this summer.   As is their custom, once the chicks are old enough, one parent takes a chick or two and heads to another part of the lake, while the other(s) stay with the other parent.

Grebes are the best parents.   They take turns incubating the eggs and then feeding the hatchlings.

One of the trumpeter swans.

The evening "golden hour" is the best light for photography.   Well, so is the morning "golden hour" but I'm seldom up that early, unless I'm in Africa.

One of my favorite photos of the year.   The open (female) and cygnet in late evening light.

Winding Down the Summer

 Well, I seem to. be having problems with uploading photos.

I'll try again later.

Strolling through the Wildflowers

 

The hardest part about picking up litter along the Seward Highway is trying not to step on the wildflowers.

Bog orchid

Chocolate lily

Dogwood

Fleabane

Wooly geranium

 

Close up of yarrow.

Not a dandelion in the bunch.

Violet

Cow parsnip aka pushki

Close-up of just one stem on the cow parsnip bloom.

Pyrola aka wintergreen

Willowherb.   Less and a half-inch across.

Paintbrush and gernaium.

Oxeye daisy

Dwarf fireweed

Arctic Terns

 An Arctic tern rises from the water of Tern Lake after diving and catching a fish.

They'll be gone soon, making their annual migration to Antarctica.

Rare Edition of Half-Baked Alaska

 Mother Nature is watering the land so I'm stuck inside trying to avoid housework.   I decided to publish an edition of Half-Baked Alaska.   It's been many years, but some news of the day is just too good not to share.

Female mallard

1). A couple camping near Resurrection Bay in Seward were getting ready to eat some freshly caught and cooked halibut when a raven came too close.   As the husband turned his back to shoo the raven away, a bald eagle swooped down and took off with some nice cooked halibut.

Trumpeter swans with one cygnet.

2)  The Homer Police Department Dispatch received a report of theft.   A man exited a grocery store and began unloading his groceries from the cart.   He set a pack of ribs on the handlebar of the cart, and a bald eagle grabbed the package and took off.

       The reporting party said he had no hard feelings toward the eagle, and the eagle obviously enjoyed the dinner.

3)  A salmon hatchery in Southeastern Alaska has been experimenting with methods to keep brown bears from accessing public boardwalks near the hatchery.   In one effort, they shot a bear with a potato gun.

    The bear looked around to see what had hit it, saw the potato, and ate it.    Naughty, naughty,   Not supposed to feed the wild animals. 

Arctic tern.   These birds migrate all the way from Antarctica.

And, finally, a bit of KARMA from Alabama:

4). A man died of a heart attack while disposing of the body of his girlfriend,  whom he had strangled.   They were found side by side, and the man's pickup was still running.

That's it for this edition.

A hatchling red-necked grebe waits for food while safe on its parent's back.