JUN 21, 23 .. THE BEAUTY OF ALASKA .. ON THE DAY OF THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

Thanks to our wonderful neighbor Eva.. 

Who sent us several of the below photos, I have added a few of mine to show you these random photos of Beautiful Alaska.

No strain, no pain, this Post is to simply give you a brief look at the awesome beauty we are surrounded by up here in Alaska.

Cap and Patti

JUN 17, 23 .. CHAIR 5 "OUR GIRDWOOD RESTAURANT"

When I write in the above title, "Our Girdwood Restaurant", of course all of you know that Patti and I don't own Chair 5. Even though we certainly have other favorites in Girdwood (The Bake Shop and the Double Musky Inn) Chair 5 IS our number one favorite restaurant in Girdwood because it sits precisely between the super casual Bake Shop and the "World Class" Double Musky Inn (read : bring money).

Well you all know about assumptions. I have to be clear here.

For "the life of me", as I begin this short Post, I have not been able to access other photos that I've snapped of Chair 5. Read : I was not able to find my camera's memory-chips file! As a result, this Post is much shorter than I intended because I have a lot of other photos of the interior of Chair 5 that I planned to use here.

Patti and I drove down to Girdwood this past Thursday to visit Patti's niece Eryn and her husband Jason.

After our visit with Eryn and Jason was complete, we two toured Girdwood and Mt. Alyeska Ski Resort, and then headed for "our" Chair 5. 

THANKS Eryn and Jason for this opportunity!

We are not able to "pinpoint" just when our last visit to Chair 5 was!

CHAIR 5, GIRDWOOD, ALASKA

We had a great table and a very pleasant view out of our window.

Nice huh?

Patti selected a Chicken Sandwich for us.

Assumption : We assumed our Chicken Sandwich would be a basic Chicken Sandwich, Chicken between two pieces of bread, neatly cut in half as many of you also would "visualize".

When the "sandwich" arrived, as you will see below, it was on an open-faced bun and we wondered how to "share it". In response our server said, "I will bring you a steak knife and you cut the sandwich any way your like."

Taa-Daa..

CHAIR 5 CHICKEN SANDWICH

"Patti I will eat the bacon. You eat the Avocado. Then we'll each eat one of the halves. We'll split the fries."

Let the two of us tell you! The above Chicken Sandwich was WONDERFUL! It was OUTSTANDING! So too were the fries.

Yes we will order it again in the future. $17.10 with a $5 gratuity.

Smiling,

Cap and Patti

Again, thanks Eryn and Jason for getting us down to Girdwood.

JUN 16, 23 (1/2) .. WHEN .. WHAT TO OUR WONDERING EYES SHOULD APPEAR .. WILD CRANES

Prologue : I want to thank two of our friends who greatly helped me with these two Posts. Gullible, who is almost a "professional birder" and Linda in Florida, who sent me the link I am including in this Post. Gullible said we were really lucky to see them so closely.

In my "minds eye", a Crane is a very large piece of construction machinery!

In her 60 years of living here in Anchorage, Alaska, this was Patti's very first ever Crane sighting here.

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Let's start out here with a very common generalization : Where on Earth does the time fly away to?

It seems like "Yesterday" but it was last Saturday, June the 10th, when Patti and I were out in front of our Condo, getting into our truck to do some shopping, when Patti very animatedly said to me.. 

"Cap! Quick! Look at the lawn!"

I did! Then I immediately grabbed my smart phone and began to "capture" two, wild, Sandhill Cranes. One was calmly (and I mean CALMLY) strolling our way. You can see the second Crane in the background.

Onward the "Leader of the Pack of Two Cranes" continued towards me.

These were not long-lens telephoto photos! Oh No! This chap was actually this close to me. I wished that I had something to hold out to him.

The up-close Crane, being far more aggressive (I am assuming the Crane in the background is his female mate) seems very curious about who I am, and what am I doing in his world?

The leader had absolutely, positively, no apparent fear or any discomfort as I was snapping away photographing him. The other Crane was quite happy to remain in the background.

 

Out onto the pavement he strolled.

Rather "brazen" (bold and without shame) of you Mate!

Behind him, his mate was keeping tabs on the surroundings.

Right out into the street his mate strolled.

Then she looped around and very sprightly caught up with him!

And? The time had come for Patti and me to move into our day and take leave of our wild, Sandhill Cranes. 

Below is the link that Linda in Florida sent for us all to enjoy.

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/sandhill-crane

Thanks so very much Linda.

Again, Gullible, thanks for your coaching me on this adventure.

Smiles,

Cap and Patti and we presume the Sandhill Cranes!

Please continue down to see Part 2 of 2.

JUN 16, 23 (2/2) .. WHEN .. WHAT TO OUR WONDERING EYES SHOULD APPEAR .. THE WILD CRANES RETURNED

We have to assume that you all have seen the above Part 1 of this 2 Part series of photos showing wild Cranes that visited Patti and me June the 10th, here on the front lawn of our Condo here in Anchorage, Alaska.

The following Monday afternoon, June the 12th, Patti and I were sitting in our Condo looking out at our view when suddenly a flash of activity raced past our wondering eyes!

I said to Patti, "I'll bet that was one of our wild Cranes!"

So I grabbed my smart phone and into our back yard I went.

As was the case the previous Saturday, the Crane was totally unafraid of me. And snap, snap, snap I began to photograph him.

It's as if he said to me, "Oh! You are back!"

He is now walking back towards the front lawn as he casually strolls through our car port.

Out past the cars and towards the street he is heading.

Goodbye to you our Wild Crane friends. As I write this Post on Friday the 16th of June, we haven't seen so much as another glimpse of them.

Our friend Michael, way, WAY down South in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, knows our next door neighbor who had told Michael that she had seen a group of four cranes in her common area back of her place.

Go figure huh?

For now we'll sign off .. Does The Shadow Know if we'll ever see them again?

Cap and Patti

JUN 5, 23 .. A MEDICAL PROCEDURE FOR PATTI ..

Back on December 13th 2022, after an upper endoscopy in Phoenix, Patti's Mayo Clinic G.I. Doctor ordered a follow-up, upper endoscopy to be conducted in 6 months.

For a number of reasons, Patti and I "opted" not to say word-one to anyone about today's Barrett's Esophagus upper endoscopy procedure for Patti. 

Why not bring it up? Simple! We ourselves are getting (in a word) "bored" with the entire campus of medical issues we find ourselves (anymore seemingly constantly) surrounded with. So, if we are bored, we assume that you too must be bored!

So why this Post? Some of you are NOT bored and really want to be kept up to date. For us to pick and choose who is, and who isn't, is an impossible task.  

So here we go!

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Monday, June 5, 2023

We had to get up very early (for us who sleep past noon or later) to meet an 8am check-in time at our local Providence Medical Center. The scheduled procedure time was 10am.

The day-surgery clinic is beside the Emergency Room.

In short order, at 8:15am, Patti was called to "come back" to the pre-surgery preparation area.

Amazing. Absolutely, positively, amazing and outstanding. The below event has never ever happened before at any hospital anywhere.

I was allowed to accompany Patti into the prep area! Usually (100% of the time until this morning) only the patient goes into the prep area.

This meant that I could sit with, and support, and be right beside, Patti for the entire prep. This was very comfortable for both of us. Patti said, and continues to say, this was VERY comforting to her!

Yes I was a great help for Patti.

"Cap where is the front and the back?"

With our two great minds working together, got THAT issue solved!

Voila! Patti was ready to go!

The two of us had well over one hour together before it was time for Patti to be taken into the procedure room. Time we each usually are alone, Patti in the prep area and me in the waiting room.

After the procedure was completed, Patti's Doctor was very pleased, pending the results of some pathology testing. 

And? After we two got home Patti said she was not tired and wanted to read her newspaper. I said, "Patti I need to get some more rest." Patti agreed and lay down (under the bed covers by the way) and the two of us slept soundly for over four hours.

And, at least for now, there you have it! 

Cap and Patti

Thank You Google ! It looks like I am back in business uploading photos here on blogspot Posts.