Company, kayaks, and cuteness

We were happy to see our first company from Outside on Monday - Richard and Lois. They were kind enough to bring some of our belongings with them on their vacation here, which was just a few days after our arrival. Here they are, on the balcony:

Then, on Tuesday, Jim gave in to his "must buy Alaska toys" urges and picked up two kayaks. Wednesday evening (yes, this was in the evening) Jim and James took them on their maiden voyages on our lake. Jim's in the yellow one, James is in the blue one.

They paddled down to the other side of the lake and saw where someone has a float plane docked, and talked to that person's neighbor for a while. Speaking of neighbors, James and I got to meet our two-houses-down neighbors, Rod and Wanda and their granddaughter Zoe. Jim had already met them. We all got to meet our next-door neighbor Brad, who is home from his shift on the slope. They're really nice, and Tate is pretty enamored of Brad, who fed her a huge handful of dog biscuits.

Also on Wednesday, James was washing the cars while I was pulling weeds in the flower bed, and these pretty bees kept buzzing the flowers. James got this shot of one just going into a blossom:

I can't say I'm too pleased with the field guide of Alaskan birds I bought a few days ago. I spent two whole days trying to identify the birds that roam our backyard, with no success:

Turns out they're spotted sandpipers, they just don't look anything like the photo in the book. [shrugs]

And this - THIS - is why I will always keep a camera in the car with me if I'm going anywhere further than the mailbox. James and I had gone on errands in Kenai and Soldotna, and were just leaving the Trustworthy Hardware store [insert angelic choir here]. Passing us coming into the parking lot was a pickup truck with this treasure in the back:

I LOVE this dog. If the owner showed up on my porch in the morning and asked me if I'd take him, I'd say yes without even thinking about it. He was riding along like he owned the world, so cool in his shades.
You never know what sort of thing you're going to see around here!