I was taking A home after school one afternoon last week when I happened to look over and catch sight of part of the Alaska Range. On clear days this winter we have been treated to some fantastic views of the surrounding mountains.

This is a tiny slice of the view out my bedroom window. See the tree in the background it is covered with red berries. The moose and assortment of wild birds and our neighborhood squirrel love this tree.
While I was taking a picture I caught sight of this fellow in my view finder and decided to try to get a shot of him.

Playing Catch Up...

I took some time off from You Moose Be Kidding to regroup and recharge! I think I am now recharged as for regrouped.... One can only hope! Every year I look forward to the coming year with anticipation that this might be a year of great things. This year seems to hold so much promise. Then I turn on the T.V only to find that O'bama is calling a basketball game!! :o.... If he is calling the basketball game who is minding the shop so to speak!!!! I know, I know for someone who swore she was not political I sure am getting political..... ENOUGH!! Back to the blog.

Above is a wonderful sunset picture that I took from the parking lot at the Alaska Zoo. The pink tint to the picture is that Alpenglow I have been telling you about. When the sun is just about to set and it turns the sky a real pretty mauve pink color.

The bottom picture is of the Chugach Mountains that are behind us. The storm had just given way to blue skies and snow that was stuck to everything not to mention the cold. I was waiting for A to finish up helping the 6th graders at Trailside. She helps out on Mondays and Thursdays so that she can earn points for Orchestra.

Snowflakes

I just thought that I would pass on an observation that I made recently.

Snowflakes fall in random shapes. While that is not profound or even earth shaking news what is is that they really do fall in the 6 pointed star shape that is seen in the beginning of The Grinch!

They look beautiful. I was waiting for A's bus and I opened my cell phone to look at the time and I noticed one perfect snowflake on my black glove... Then I noticed that there were more of them. They were different sizes along with the fluff. I tried to remember the last time I had seen snow... Then I thought to my self when have I ever taken the time to really look at it.... I couldn't remember. So I watched my glove and stared with awe at the perfect snowflakes on my glove. I tried to get a picture of them. But it was not meant to be.

I've tried many times since to capture a single snowflake. This is the closest I have come. Not bad !!! One thing that you can be sure of is that next winter I will have lots of tries. and who knows...

Iditarod '09

Getting ready to take their place at the starting line.

Lance Mackey heading down 4th Avenue after leaving the starting line.

Jeff King and his team heading down 4th Avenue after leaving the starting line.

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Underneath this banner is the starting line. Anchorage is the ceremonial start. They restart tomorrow in Willow.

Past Iditarods

This is what Downtown Anchorage looks like on the day of the Iditarod. Last year there were 96 teams entered.

The dogs are amazing athletes. They explode off the starting line. Its awesome to see them running down 4th avenue with sled and musher following behind.

This team is being moved up to the starting line. It gets noisy with the dogs barking. But that just adds to the atmosphere.