This is the Nenana River as seen from the Parks Highway as it borders the Denali National Park on the right.
I pass this spot almost every day to the train station to pick up or drop off guests and it still takes my breath away. Not only because of it's beauty but also because at this point I'm on a very high and very narrow bridge spanning the river. Looking down at the fast rapids gives me the chills!
This is my pick-up Van, looking cool there eh?
And this is my destination, the Denali Railroad Depot where I pick up or drop off guests.
The trains arrive and leave twice a day, at 3:45PM from Anchorage, leaving for Fairbanks at 3:55PM and at 12:15PM going to Anchorage at 12:25PM.
In the winter they only go in the weekend, one on Saturday going up to Fairbanks and one on Sunday back to Anchorage!
Yep, that's Alaska!
Since the little pond/swamp behind our RV has almost dried up for the summer we don't see as many moose anymore. The only 'wildlife' I could find this week are these furry creatures that showed up around the hotel and are munching their way through the willow shrubbery.
The reddish-brown male moth he'll turn into flies during the day but if it turns out to be a female she's in bad luck since the female moths are unable to fly because their wings are much reduced.
They get their name from the little tufts of fur along their backs; apparently these are called "tussocks" in some parts of the world.
I've been searching for the name of this very furry dark brown/black beauty but haven't found it yet?
On my daily walks with Sadie I sometimes follow a narrow ATV trail towards Healy that brings us high on a hill overlooking the valley and the village itself.
Healy is a very, very small village, one of those 'don't blink or you'll miss it' ones which is maybe why you barely see it in this picture, that and I was a little far away for my camera off course :)
Nevertheless there's a high school with a library, a chamber of commerce, 2 gas stations, 3 restaurants and one liquor/grocery store.
As for what seems to be my weekly flower update we now have these beautiful wild monkshood popping up (left) and lots of fireweed (on the right).
The weather has been cold and extremely windy, almost stormy I'd say, which brought in the dreaded 'chill-factor', brrr...
On the bright site, there were almost no mosquitoes at all!
Other than working quite a lot in the laundry room I've done a lot of reading. For fun but also to find out more about diabetes in cats. Merlin is finally reacting very well to the new insulin, his blood sugar values are almost normal, he's drinking and peeing much less and is reverting back to his old habits of yelling early in the morning because he wants out and sleeping on the keyboard of my computer...
He eats like a pig, loves his wet food (doesn't want to eat any dry food anymore off course!) and isn't loosing any weight any more.
We're both getting into the routine of testing and shooting insulin and are starting to feel much more relaxed about the whole thing.
Hopefully his pancreas is getting some rest and will start functioning enough again to get him 'off the juice' in a while!
I've been baking too, here's some of the delicious home made 'no knead bread' I made and some brownies that came out real good for once!
For years I've tried my hand on brownies but never got them right, biggest problem being, we lived at 5700 feet. Now they came out beautifully! I see a lot more brownies in the future!
The bread is from the Internet at http://steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html, 'so easy a 4 year old can do it'! She lets her 4 year old show you step by step how simple it is.
I just 'free bake' it on a cookie sheet instead of in a pot which makes it even easier!
As it says, no kneading involved, very few ingredients and it is delicious! Crispy crust and nice soft inside. Try it, you'll like it!