What a beautiful sunny day.  I saw a momma bear and two cubs.  The bears went into the woods and were bleating and yelling for an hour.  I thought it was people back there making noise but no - it was the bears.  I took pictures of a rainbow after we had a cloud burst that soaked a Harley rider in front of me.  I got a lot of great shots of the glacier today.

WE HAVE A SUNNY DAY IN JUNEAU!!!  I got up and saw sun so I took the new camera out and took pictures.  The forecast was for downpouring rain so we are so very lucky.  I have a bunch of school work to do today so I am going to work and then get outside and take pictures.

Juneau and Douglas are so very amazing when the sun is shining.
These pictures were shot yesterday and it was raining lightly.  I was in my car shooting with the window down.  I like this old tug because someone lives in it. It has not moved in the 4 years that I have been in the Juneau/ Douglas, AK area.  There is a fellow that I work with who lives on a boat.
I think that would be interesting to do for a while.  I was talking to a gal who had her own fishing boat and she lived on it.  She also was a substitute teacher for me at times and she told me some pretty amazing stories of trying to keep the wind from ripping the doors off during major storms that blow through here. She was a graduate of Duke University and her dad was a Doctor but she chose to fish in Alaska and be a substitute teacher.

The streams are running strong.  The mountain tops are hiding in a cloud.  We have a high of 45 and a low of 30. Summer is over.  The cruise ships finished up last Wednesday.  It is just us locals waiting for the snow to start.

This is Juneau today and all the past week.  Can you say rain and more rain.  I am trying out my new camera and I finally got some reasonable shots.  It has so many things which can change the pictures and lighting modes that it is taking a bit of practice.  I had to take the pictures in the car because I do not want to get the camera soaking wet.  

Here is a dog chasing Polar Bears near the Beauford Sea.  The dog did fine - just playing.

http://www.logbookwasilla.com/logbookwasilla/2012/9/27/dog-chases-polar-bear-polar-bear-chases-dog.html

I got a new camera:  A Nikon CoolPix.  I really like it.  I took it out for initial pictures and it was super cloudy and rainy so the pictures are not the best.  The dark pictures are about 8 AM and the lighter pictures are at noon.  The pictures are a true representation of what it is like here in Juneau on this rainy and super cloudy day.

It was a rainy weekend and this afternoon the rain was a downpour.  Just a few minutes ago, we had torrential rain - quite noisy and loud.  With the regular downpour, we had rain running down the streets. I live close to the Gastineau Channel so the water ultimately runs off into the Channel.  In the valley, they get overflowing streams and have water getting near houses.  There is some snow starting to fall on the tops of mountains, there was a little white when the clouds let the mountains show through.

I will be in Portland, OR two weeks from today.  I am going to see my Grandson Bennie for the first time.  I have seen pictures but I get to hang out with the little guy.  I will sleep in the room next to him and they said he will wake me up at night.  Getting out of Alaska is sure expensive though.  

Here is a link to pictures of my new Grandson Baby B,  Benan.  He has had a good week keeping mommy and daddy up at night.  His dad went back to work so mommy is taking most of the sleepy eyed duty.

http://photos.haleylovettphotography.com/Portraits/Benan-Newborn-Photos-Canby/25380728_TbSQsM#!i=2088196540&k=Hvg2kdS

It has been rainy all week - make that super rainy - in Juneau, AK.  We have had lots of cruise ships in and I bet the folks are disappointed.  Everything is wet and muddy.  The tourist stores close in a week.  The tourist season is coming to a close.

Snow in Alaska.  Hatcher Pass has snow and Fairbanks had a freeze and is supposed to get snow.  We get snow 2 weeks or a month after places North so I am assuming we will continue with rain.  It rained all weekend in Juneau.  I am kind of glad because I felt like crap and I just crashed at my apartment.  I left a couple of times but had sneezing or coughing fits and went back home.  Today I still feel rough but I got an OK sleep.  I sneezed and coughed myself awake about 2 AM and was about to fall asleep when cats started fighting.

True Story from this weekend:  My son in law went to get a load of wood while the kids stayed home with Grandma.  (Mom was away taking a class.)  Dad got home with a trailer load of wood and the 1st grade boy, Shad and Pre-School Rana got their ear protection and gloves and went to work helping their dad, Gar, split wood.  Rana threw the wood that was too small to split, Dad put the wood on the splitter and Shad worked the lever.  They worked for an hour and Grandma and kids got the wood stacked.  Daddy then put the kids on the driving lawn mower and mowed the backyard and frontyard.

That is such a great way for kids to grow up.  I had a big smile on my face when I was told about the weekend my Grandkids had.

Ash, Brian and Baby B are settlling in but the parents are not getting a lot of sleep.  Thankfully, Brian's parents live across the street and can be called to go over in the AM and take Baby B to their house so the parents can get some sleep.

More Benan Pictures:

My youngest daughter had a baby 9/7/12.  I could not be happier.  I could be in Portland to help greet Baby Benan but it was not to be.  I will see them in a month.  Ash is in medical school and took the fall off to have Baby Benan.  She has been on bed rest since May so she is glad she can get moving again.  Whenever they lightened up on the bedrest, she would get contractions and ended up back at the hospital.  She was in labor for 36 hours and pushed for 3 hours.  (I said, 'you got off easy'  and her reply 'I was in labor for 36 hours and hard pushing for 3 hours, THAT WAS NOT EASY!")
I can put my foot in my mouth pretty good at times.

Benan is doing well.  Ashley is doing well and Brian is doing well too.  There was lots of family and friends to welcome Baby Ben into the world.  I was there in spirit but feel that I was well represented and people were sending me texts, pictures as things happened.

Benan was only minutes old in this picture.

I feel so very fortunate to say that little Benan and my other 4 Grandchildren are surrounded by adults who will love and guide them.  Even though I am not a direct fulltime person in their lives, they are in great hands and hearts.

Welcome Benan Schmieding.  

Bears!!  A hiker in Denali was attacked and killed by a brown bear last week.  The folks who found his body found his camera.  He was 30 yards away from the bear and the man took a number of pictures before he was taken down by the bear.  It is recommended you stay away 1/4 mile away from bears for your safety.

I have two bear sprays with me when I hike.  I have been within 10 feet of black bears when I was hiking.  (No bears seen this year though)  I have easy access to one can of spray and the second is in my hiking bag.  I have read a study which said that more people are killed from bears when they have a gun and try shooting than those who use bear spray effectively.

The Democratic Convention is this week and President Obama will make his case for re-election.  In my mind, it is a no brainer to re-elect President Obama.  If you are a millionaire and/or a billionaire - you might disagree because you would make A LOT more money with the Romney/ Ryan policies.
If you are middle or lower class, I THINK YOU ARE VOTING AGAINST YOUR OWN SELF INTEREST if you vote for Romney/ Ryan.  You will pay more for health care, taxes and wars WHILE GIVING THE WEALTHIEST 1 PERCENT A 4 TRILLION DOLLAR TAX CUT!!!

By the way:  WHERE ARE THE JOBS from the GW Bush TAX CUTS TO THE WEALTHIEST??
That has been a Trillion Dollars and the jobs are not there.

The Glacier and the arctic are shrinking - fast!!

I went to a presentation of 17 college students who spent 5 weeks studying Mendenhall Glacier this past summer.  It was interesting.  They had a variety of studies to do.  The meeting I went to was just a couple of days off the ice and they were presenting their initial results.

This past year was a good year for snow, better than recent years.  There are actually about 50 glaciers on the Glacial field.  One glacier is expanding - the one by the water.  All of the others are retracting at an amazing rate.  (I just read a report of how dramatic the ice reductions are in the Arctic and Greenland.)  I was so pleased to see they are sending teams of young scientists to study the glacier.  The glacier is up to 2000 feet in spots and many others are hundreds of feet think.

It was interesting to see the pictures and sort out the flow of ice based on the pictures.  If they are in an open area, it is free flow.  Then it goes against rocks and has to push through a canyon and the ice flow changes. I found it very interesting.

Pictures:  Here are pictures of my Perseverence Hike.  I did it again this week as well as last week.  The weather was better last week for that hike.  Today it was cloudy and it started to rain as soon when I got back to the car.