Key West

One of our favorite places in Key West is the Butterfly Conservatory... a huge greenhouse full of birds and butterflies amid tropical plants.  They flit about... even landing on shoulders or hats!

We really enjoy trying to catch pictures of the delicate beauties.  

The picture below is the world's largest species of moths... it lives only 4-6 days, so we were lucky to see it.  To show you how big this guy is, check the picture below it.

Atlas Moth

This brown beauty

is even prettier when it opens its wings!

There are so many species... it's hard to capture it all!

Winter - From Two Perspectives

We've had a bit more snow than normal this winter... but nothing like the 27 feet that Cordova and Valdiz have.


Just before we left, we had one crystal clear day -- the kind where the ice crystals on the trees make every shaft of sunlight sparkle like diamonds.

Denali from Mi 6 on the Spur

It was 22 below when we left Talkeetna and headed south to the beach house.  Instead of warmer weather, we were greeted by blinding snow on the pass between Portland and the coast.  There was even snow in a couple of places along the coast -- but none at the house.  The gales continued after our arrival, and, at one point, we found three of the four highways from the coast to the central valley were closed due to landslides, flooding or snow.

We had some debris around the house -- mostly pine needles and small branches.  In one of the lulls we got out and cleaned up a bit.

We finally got one nice day for a walk on the beach... and could not believe the debris!  Driftwood we expected, but a TV?  There were whole trees, and even some pilings from a pier.  The power of the ocean is amazing.

The wind-whipped waves were churning up the foam, and pieces would break off and drift across the beach like little sandpipers.  And the wind was sculpting the dunes.

1401 Fircrest

We signed the papers today, so we should be closing on the house this week. 

Jill and Bori did a walk-thru for us, and Bori found a couple of pieces of art he really liked...

Thanks to Jill for all the outdoor photos.

Here are a couple more photos 

of some of the indoor art we bought with the house

Winter's Last Hurrah (hopefully!)

In the past 36 hours we have had a foot of snow... the biggest single storm we've had all season. 

This storm was a whopper -- bringing hurricane force winds to much of the state and 1-2 feet of snow.  We lucked out and had no wind.   It is also weird because the air temp has stayed above 32... so the snow has been melting and coming off the roof in big chunks even as more is falling.



The snow was taller than the dogs, so we had to plow a path for them.  Orion headed for the cabin, only to get bogged down in the fluffy stuff.  The look on her face was priceless... a cross between "what happened here?" and "No Way!!!"

 

Then, of course once they get inside we have to get all the snow off. 

They are getting used to the towel routine!

We're digging out this morning so we can get to Birch Creek greenhouse.  The seniors are helping transplant seedlings and creating hanging baskets. (We help now and she donates plants for the Center's annual plant sale in June.) 



The Race is on!

Sunday was the restart of Iditarod 2011.  (They do a ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday, then truck the dogs up the Parks Highway for the "real" start at Willow... about 40 miles from us.)   The teams take off from Willow Lake, heading west across a series of lakes and roads before reaching the Suisitna River

We help out with the trail crossing at Crystal Lake.    The teams transition from the flat lake down a "chute"  (the summertime access trail to the lake), across the road and onto another lake.  This trail is heavily used by snowmachines, cross country skiers, and on Sun we even saw a couple of bikes with snow tires.  To keep the trail open for each team, there are flaggers at each end of the path... when we see a team coming, we communicate with the road flaggers to let them know to stop snowmachines from entering the chute and to get ready to stop cars on the road. 
In addition to our regular team of trail guards, this year we had a volunteer couple from Jacksonville FL... they got the assignment of trying to keep the crowds from encroaching on the trail on the lake.  The teams follow a set of markers across the ice.  We had some eager fans who kept getting inside the markers, leaving little space for the teams to get through. 

These pictures were taken by our friend Susie.  She and Brian had their snowmachine and went down to the start, then came back to watch with us.

Here's the starting arch where thousands of fans gather around the starting chute.

About 3 miles up the trail where we hang out, there's fewer people.  Here's our "camp" as Scottish musher Wattie McDonald went past... he's giving us a big thumbs up for flying the Saltire (St Andrew's) Scottish flag.

left to right... Barb (trail guard) in vest; two visitors from Montana; Scott; Wattie; Gretchen; Pat & Sarah (behind tripod), the gals whose nearby cabin is our Iditarod HQ; and Brian 

Iditarod 2011 Musher Banquet

On the Thursday before the race starts, all the mushers gather in Anchorage and draw their starting numbers from a mukluk.  We were invited to the banquet by Wattie McDonald from Stonehaven, Scotland. 

We had taken our Scottish flag to the race last year, and I got several pictures of him as he went past.  This year, one of our neighbors invited us to one of his fundraisers.  When we met him I got his autograph and I gave him copies of all the pictures I shot. 

Clan Donald

The banquet was at the big convention center... there were at least 1500 people there.  For us it was fun to see some of the mushers up close and personal.  Sitting at the next table was 4-time winner Martin Buser... and nearby was everyone's favorite DeeDee Jonroe. 

After dinner each musher goes up on stage and, after they draw their number, get to say a few words.

The girl holding the mukluk for Wattie's draw is a Make A Wish patient... she also got to be an Iditarider at the ceremonial start.

Wattie draws

Wattie announces he's #38

Current champ Lance Mackey laughs at remarks from Jamaican Newton Marshall as he waits to go onstage to draw his number.

At the banquet, I took copies of several of my photos and got the mushers to sign them.  I even got Lance Mackey's autograph. 

And before we left, we got a photo of Scott with Martin Buser, from Big Lake.

Don Bowers Memorial Race

putting booties on the dogs

We spent time on Friday at the Don Bowers Memorial Race.

This is a "rookie" race that is run by local mushers.  (It's a training race... hence the "rookie" title.  Mushers learn to follow race guidelines and the dogs get experience running with other teams.)  Our tenant Beth is one of the key organizers, and she asked us to help.   It started at the Willow Community center (same place the Iditarod starts).

a snack before we go

At the starting area we caught all the team preparations... 

harnessing the team

then we moved over to the other side of Willow Lake.  Officially, we served as crossing guards as the teams came off the lake and onto neighboring streets, but the real advantage was that we could get great shots of the teams as they came up the hill.

  

I put together all my photos for a "video" that will be shown at tonight's musher's banquet.  

Next up... the Iditarod!