Visit with Nancy and Bob - early September 2010

<>

<><><><><><>

<>

<><><><><><>

Hello Everyone.  I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.  I have had a very busy opening of school and wonderful visits from family.  Nancy and Bob-o and I went to Eagle River Nature Center for a morning stroll.  They were on their last 5 days of their 21 days sea and land cruise.  Nancy retired from teaching in May and this was her gift from Bob.  I get to benefit from her retirement as well.   You may notice that my photos are placed on the page side by side.  Haven't you noticed???  I am now using HTML code with my blog.  I am sure many of you think, "That is no big deal" but to a computer neophyte like myself, that is huge!  I hope to master a few more tools as I work on the blog this year.  Thanks to Kenny for all his patience getting me to this level.  I will definitely become more savvy as the year goes on.  I want to learn how to put photos on the blog in correct order. So much to learn and so little time!!!! So enough about me, back to the photos.  The Nature center is about 10 miles from my house in the beautiful Chugach Mountain Range.  It is the largest National Forest in the US.  My friends and I go hike these trails at least once a week. Last week, after working out in the gym, it was so beautiful we went to Eagle River Nature Center (ERNC) and about 7 feet from us was several BIG Bull moose grazing, and as we were exiting a Grizzly bear was about 50 feet from us pouncing in the water eating salmon.  Of course, I didn't take a camera nor phone because Shawnee did.  She fumbled with her camera and by the time she got it on and focused the bear took his meal to the weeds to eat the fish.  They don't eat their meals in the rivers.  Aren't they polite not to eat in front of us.  So Nan and Bob and I thought we could see some more bear.  Nope, nada, none.  We did find some fresh Bear Scat (aka Poop).  I should  have placed a quarter next to it so you can see how Huge it really is.  If you look closely you can see the berries and sticks. The yellow leaf in the  bottom left side was just a tad under a quarter in size.   We hiked out to the cabin and it had such a serene feeling to be the only ones on the trails.  Nan and I had to sit on the large rock while Bob took our picture and watched for the Poopy Bear.  Bob was such a good guy he climbed in the hollowed out log where the baby bear sleep at night. That picture is Bob laying sideways into the log and smiling the whole time.  We brushed off the log chips and berry juice from his coat as our way of thanking him for being such a good sport.  The bear signs are plentiful at the ERNC but we kept our mantra, "lions and tigers and bears Oh My."  to let the bears know we were around and to go away.  It worked! We never saw a bear. Bob had to help Nancy untangle her camera strap, her purse strap, and her hood straps.  Sometime we get ourselves tied into knots!!!! Thank goodness for our friends to help us when ever and where ever we are.  Lastly, is a photo of me in my fishing apparel.  I love wearing this stuff but forgot to put on my Alaska Tuff boots.  Beth and I wait all week to wear our "fishing" clothes because we love to look the part of a fisherman!  I will be putting more photos of my visit with Nancy and Bob and then photos of my visit with my Aunt Sharon.  (by the way, on Sharon's and my canyon trip the bear was chasing the fisherman).  Stay tuned.  It will be another week before I get back to my blog.  David is having a wonderful time on his Harley motorcycle trips.  He  is at Pickwick Lake this weekend on a Poker Run.  Judy, my golf buddy in Memphis, is David's Motorcycle Mama for this motorcycle ride on Saturday.  He is staying on Ron and Cathy Poe's boat and listening to Darryl Worley.  He is having his own wonderful adventures.  It is fun to hear about his adventures as well.
Enjoy your week.  I just watched Sunday Football, Bears beat Cowboys!!! Ye Ha!  Did I mention that I watch Sunday football from 8 am - 1 pm.  It makes it hard to eat chips and drink beer while watching Sunday Football.  Monday night football is 3 pm start so a lot of working people take an early exit from work so they can get to a bar to watch the Monday night game.  See some of the differences in our TV vs yours.  I will be running a 5K next Sunday for a charity so hopefully when I return home to recover, I will be putting up my next blog.