Life Goes On

So it's been awhile since I was last here...
Hello everyone Buford T. Porcupine ready to make way again. A lot has happened since my March posting. Amazing how everyday life can take control and one can get so busy feeling ten feet tall and bulletproof. That's when life hits you and hits you hard with lessons to be learned. April brought warmer temperatures as well as the returning birds. Birds around the cabin in the spring are always so exciting with so many different varieties showing up daily. You know where I am - up early, outside watching and photographing as many of the birds as I can. I made several trips up to higher elevations trying to find a certain warbler, ole Mr. Wilson. After many missed shots last year in the spring, I was determined to seek out this yellow warbler with a black cap on his head. Finally in May I was able to locate and get several pictures of Mr. Wilson, many I would be very happy with and worth sharing with others. Spring comes and with longer daylight, Destiny and I tend to run hard on may of our adventures. With that being said, that ole tune, I 've been everywhere, can lead one up to exhausting. Yes we've been everywhere, from Willow to Homer for the spring shore bird festival. Went out Seward on a cruise on the big water looking for whales and steller sea lions and whatever else we could see and then back to Homer to fish for Halibut and back home to Willow. Weather to say the least, it hasn't been a good summer for us due to a lot of rain and grey skies. In June our life came to abrupt halt as Destiny was facing some health issues that we had no idea were sneaking up on her. Destiny was diagnosed with colon cancer as well as having gallbaldder issues. Not much time was lost getting her in right away for the surgeries to catch the cancer at a early stage. Had we missed one key piece of evidence, time would only hurt us in the long run. Sometimes feeling ten feet tall and bulletproof and feeling that this kind of thing won't ever happen to you can fool you and hit you hard with all sorts of emotions. Needless to say with many weeks off from our everyday routines, giving time for Destiny to recover has put a lot of rethinking about how we lead our lives here in Alaska. Do you do things differently? Change your routines? You heal from these experiences, live life a little fuller and life goes on. Lesson here no matter how busy your life is, make your health the number one priority so as you can continue doing the things in life you so much love to do. For us it's all the adventures we seek out everyday while living our dreams here in Alaska. Oh the weather hasn't changed much. A lot of grey skies and more rain than we would like but we're back and getting back into our way of life up here. Some days are slower than others, other days we're off to somewhere locating some sort of wildlife may it be birds or the moose, brown bears on a river as the fish still keep coming. Staying very busy and passionate about what you love most what ever that might be in your life is what living is all about. Forgetting and ignoring your health, putting things off until later may creep up on you and knock you down for a shock just as it did for us both. Everyday since Destiny's recovery is a blessing. We now look at everyday just a little differently, live like your dying because you just don't know in your lifetime when these type of illnesses are going to creep on you when you least expect it. Mean while we're still out birding, hiking and taking all of Alaska in - living our lives to the fullest. Lessons learned and life goes on. I look forward to showing and sharing with you all some of our pictures from what we did take over this summer in the next few posts.

Hey see you on down the trail somewhere,

Buford T. Porcupine