can you take some more Jet cuteness?

Our adorable puppy dominates almost every aspect of our lives.  Events are scheduled around Jet's needs, as it should be with such a young puppy.

Saturday, we went for a long walk to the inlet.  He was very well behaved (most of the time). 

With his dad ...

Inspecting his shadow ...

Looking cute for the camera ...

He was so well behaved that we did the same exact walk on Sunday with Rick's friend Jeff and his dog Kaylee.  Jet only tried to hump her once.  Or twice.  So embarrassing.  She was so not interested in this little whippersnapper!

Dog Days

We have both -- well, all 3 of us really -- been so busy with Jet-based activities.  Walkies many times a day is a necessity when your bladder is still pretty small.  Training and practicing sit, down and stay multiple times a day.  Jet's attention span is still very short, so several abbreviated sessions are required.

Still, we made some time for a long, long walk down to the inlet for some play on a very long rope.  He needs to burn some of the puppy energy.

First, we must investigate underneath this specific tree.

On our way to the inlet, Jet investigates something in the woods.  I think it was just another tree.

Taking in all the open space at the inlet.

My lame attempt at a Jet Film.

Bear Tracks!

On both Saturday and Sunday this past weekend, the 3 of us enjoyed our early morning walk along Cook Inlet.  We had not been going all the way down to the waterline lately because it was just too muddy.  Well, the recent dry weather has changed all that and the walk is now quite pleasant.

The mud is still soft enough to show plenty of footprints, however.

The prints were all along our path, some more pronounced than others.

Oops.  You can see the toe of my Mucks boots in the lower right hand corner of the above photo.  Now that I think about it, those prints look kind of small, like ones from a very young bear.  Which can only mean one thing.  Mama isn't too far away.

We never did see a bear, but now we know for sure that they are around.

A Movie of the Inlet

I decided to experiment with the movie making capabilities of my little camera. Not bad for a first try. I started looking north towards the Matanuska Valley and panned west to Wasilla and Denali in the distance (actually not visible that day), ending south at the mouth of Peter's Creek. The tide was incredibly high and we couldn't do our normal walk along the inlet. We had to take the "inland" route through the woods.





I love the way this video ends -- Xena sniffing the snow :)

Denali

Some of you may know it by it's old name, Mount McKinley, but here in Alaska, it's called Denali (Athabascan for The Great One).  Most morning, Rick, Xena & I go for a long walk, regardless of the weather.  What that weather allows, we walk down to the inlet (Cook Inlet), which is just a 5 minute walk from our home.

This morning, we were surprised by a pretty nice view of Denali.  This means that the sky was clear and cloud free for the 350 miles (give or take) between here and there.  I've decided to try and get a photo of the mountain from the same vantage point throughout the year.  It will make a nice montage when I get a whole bunch of them.

Here's the first photo.

Sandhill Crane

While walking along the inlet yesterday morning, we heard some strange bird sounds and saw 3 sandhill cranes. I was amazed at how HUGE they are! I managed to get one great photo (and several terrible ones).

What the Tide Left Behind

While walking at the inlet we had been noticing that Xena would occasionally stop and appear to be munching on something. Something crunchy. I could hear it. When I walked over to her and checked the ground to see what it could possibly be, there was nothing there.

Then, one day, Rick saw one before Xena did. A little fish, left behind by the tide. It was nice and dry and there for the taking, on top of the dried, silty mud. Quite a tasty tidbit for Xena.



On an unrelated note, I found something else on the dried inlet mud the other day. An injured dragonfly. One of it's wings was damaged and it couldn't seem too get off the ground. It's a little hard to see in the photo, but it was making quite a racket, so it was easy to find.

Our Walk to the Inlet

Every morning, the three of us take a nice walk. We do this year round, regardless of the weather conditions. It's a much more pleasant activity in the summer and fall than it is in the winter -- duh. Lately, we've been going to the inlet everyday. It hasn't rained in a while and the tide hasn't been super high in a while, so this means the inlet is hard mud and very easy to walk on.

The wooded walk on the way to the inlet is beautiful.


Sometimes Xena (the beautiful Bouvier) needs a little encouragement to keep moving. The woods are full of great smells! I would think it smelled the same as it did yesterday, but Xena thinks it always needs to be re-smelled.


Peter's Creek leads into Cook Inlet. Here's a view as it heads towards open water.


And the view upstream is just as dramatic.


I realized that I didn't take any pictures of the actual inlet! That will have to wait for another day and another blog post.