Dipnetting 2018

I'm not sure I plan to report every day on the dipnetting, but I've gone up and done a couple periscope broadcasts. Yesterday was grey and rainy... today sunny and so windy! The surf today was insane. If you missed the live feeds, you can watch them on replay.

Dipnetting on the #KenaiRiver opening day 2018 https://t.co/Hi43HQvzTe

— Toni Reitter (@tonichelleak) July 10, 2018

Day 2 Dipnet report on the Kenai #Alaska #AlaskaLife https://t.co/Z8SyZHoLZk

— Toni Reitter (@tonichelleak) July 12, 2018

Tonight we are looking at having a Super Tide, with 23 foot seas near the mouth of the Kenai, which means they are closing the beach and making every tent move. It'll be interesting to see the reports of how that went - high tide is around 3:30am Thursday morning.

Favorite photos from 2015

There were so many beautiful moments this year, it's hard for me to pare it down as much as I have for the photos. I was going to go month by month, but that seems like too much work at this juncture, so it's in no real order, just however blogger decided to download them. There are more under the cut, as always, and if you would like to order a print please contact me via the comments section and I can work with you.

Here's hoping 2016 sees even more beauty!

I am in this photo, but I set it up so it counts. This was taken the last night
Dean and Mary Nichols were here for a revival. I hadn't seen Dean since
2010, and he hadn't preached at First Baptist Kenai since 2006! It
was good having them "home" for a little while. I miss them!
This group is just a small representation of the youth group my dad led
while Dean was our pastor.

As I said in yesterday's post, my dad helped Kassy
coach TBall... as you can see, it wen't well.

Sushi was very happy to wear his 49ers Jersey
and pose with an "official" NFL Network Football.

Sunrise photos on the Kenai River

On my way to work this morning I made a stop (good thing work is now just minutes from home) to take photos of the incredible sunrise we got to witness. I'd type more, but I'm tired and lazy and can't think of something to say... I'll let the photos do the talking (1000 words, ya know?).

As always, there are more under the cut.

Some photos from December

December was busy, it started off with me house sitting while very sick with a major sinus infection/head cold... to then working literally every day through till Christmas. I don't know how people with 2 or more jobs do it. Holy cow, it kicked my butt. I had very little time to go out for pictures, or get ready for Christmas. December is normally one of my favorite times of the year, but retail quickly kills that spirit for me. I want to be able to savor the season... I knew I was going to have issues, but adding in Church commitments (that once again I took on too much and I got criticized for it) and then a second job just threw me over the edge.

Still I had a few opportunities to break out the camera - we got another road kill a week or so before Christmas, and dad threw the bones out into the backyard for the ravens and magpies to feast on... and just like this past spring, an Eagle showed up. It was definitely a different bird from the last time as this one was skittish and once I took his picture he hasn't been back. Bummer! They're such awesome creatures. I managed to snap a few photos before he flew away. Not as many as the ones that came last time, but a few.

Then, the Sunday before Christmas I was able to go out onto the Kenai River to shoot some Engagement/Family photos for a former coworker of mine and her fiance. SO much fun! I have definitely missed shooting. Hopefully I get to do more of it now that most of my day/evening isn't eaten up by going to work in Soldotna!

I managed to snap a few of the area I was shooting that day, too... I LOVE the Kenai River in every season.

Enjoy the photos.

There are more under the cut, as always...

Shameless Plug - Because I can

So I've gotten a LOT of love and support over my latest series of photos (Midnight on the Kenai). I am SO SO SO humbled and grateful for the comments that I've received, some from photographers I've admired for YEARS. So thank you, everyone for your comments.

I've also been asked if one photo in particular is for sale - the Kenai Harbor at midnight shot is by far my most popular photo to date! And after a little work I HAVE gotten a few sizes and prices together and put them on my online store (provided by SQUARE)! I can take either local orders or add shipping and I can get that order to you.

These are JUST PRINTS. I don't have the ability to get professional frames and mats done for the order (as the only place I know I can trust here in Soldotna does charge a pretty penny and so it wouldn't be cost effective for anyone).

Anyway if you're interested you can CLICK ON THIS LINK to order the harbor photo (and later on I should have the Redoubt at Midnight photo as well).

Midnight on the Kenai in July.

I attended Conway Seavey's Concert in the Park on Saturday night. Show went from 8pm to midnight, and was really good! It's hard to think of the littlest Seavey as all grown up, but he is. If you were in the area and didn't go, you missed out on lovely weather and good entertainment.

But that's not what this post is about. I left around 11:30 (a whole 2 hours after I'd planned to leave as I had to be up early for church on Sunday), and on my way home noticed that the sky was bursting with patterns or light. So I pulled over when I got into Kenai and headed for the bluff to see what the river and inlet looked like.

I was not disappointed.

Even the dipnetter campsites were nice to photograph. It was the first weekend and the run isn't at its strongest, yet, so the beaches aren't as littered... yet. I expect that to change this week.

Anyway, here are my favorites from the other night. Love that midnight light!

Dear visiting dipnetters

To the 10,000+ visitors headed down to the Kenai Peninsula this weekend to hit the mouth of the Kenai River and dipnet for red salmon to stock their freezers I have one request - please be respectful. I know, it's the biggest party of the summer for a lot of you. Camping on the beach, there's ample opportunity to drink too much and play a little too loud. Most weekends, that works out great, but when you look at the sheer size of the camping group it becomes dangerous.

So, please, be respectful. Pick up after yourself, catch and kill what you are legally allowed to - don't practice sadism by catching other types of fish and torture it before throwing its corpse back in the water. Keep the crime in your city of Anchorage, don't bring it with you. Kenai has it's own share of delinquents, we don't need the big city's problems as well. So if you feel like you need to have a knife fight, take it home. You're here to fish to supposedly provide for your family, keep that as the only priority.

I know it's hard to use common sense when you're cold, tired, maybe drunk or hung over, but don't go out farther than you need to. Trying to wade into the middle of the mouth of the river will not ensure you catching more fish. News flash, they typically run closer to shore. Our first responders are too busy dealing with knife fights and drunk and disorderly - they can't be floating up and down the water 24/7 to rescue your butt.

With that in mind, don't overload your boat and swamp it. You lose everything, a lot of waste happens, and it's expensive for our town to rescue your butt.

Take your time getting here. I know, I know, the best camping spots go early - but if you're traveling this weekend to get here I hate to break it to you: they're already taken. I was down at the beach the other day and folks are already parked and camped. Sorry, you're too late. So stop playing chicken on an already overly dangerous road system. There are 10,000 of you coming this way, you want to get here, right? So take it slow, give other drivers their space, and enjoy the drive. It should be the least stressful part of your dipnet experience.

When you get to town, don't treat it like a Tickle-Me-Elmo sale on Black Friday. No fights need to happen in the checkout line because the last case of Miller Light, or the last bag of Doritos was taken right out from under you. If you HAVE to have the "fun stuff" bring it from home where your big city has several major box stores that have shipments almost daily. We don't.

Yes, I know we know you're coming. Yes, I know we can be prepared. We are, but it seems like you come in like locusts taking everything! It looks like a warzone in Fred Meyers the entire month of July. That isn't us, that's you. We do our best to host you, try and be a nice guest for a change.

Speaking of locusts, we have tried very hard to accommodate your camping needs, you food needs, your walking needs. Follow the signs. Don't destroy a VERY DELICATE ecosystem just because you can. You don't have to live with the consequences, we do. Maybe if your property taxes went up each year to deal with the extra cost of taking care of the mess you'd think differently - but, then again, I doubt it.

Take your limit and leave. Yes, we see you - taking a few extra. Or worse those groups - who I won't describe for fear of the PC police coming down on me - that get dozens of extras to use in their family owned restaurants. Uh-uh. That's not what Subsistence fishing is. This is a PERSONAL USE thing. You want to sell the fish or cook it up for pay? Yeah, you need to go to the COMMERCIAL FISHERIES. We have several in our area you can go and pick up from.


I know, I come off as sounding crazy angry. It's not just because my 20 minute commute will double for the next three weeks. It's not because I can't use the beach in relative quiet. It's just that this has gotten ridiculously out of hand in the last few years. Yes, I know it's not JUST people from Anchorage - the locals get nutso, too. And trust me, I rant about our issues just as much. But TEN THOUSAND extra potential problems arise when you arrive. So PLEASE, for the love of all things holy, BE RESPECTFUL. Let's make this a positive experience this year. If you promise to play nice, I promise not to rant about you next year.

"They're like locusts... After they've consumed every natural resource they move on..." - President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman, Independence Day)

Earth Day Sunset Photos

I went out and chased the sunset - not far, just to my normal spot on the Kenai Beach - last night as it was Earth Day and I haven't gotten to get out and shoot for the longest time. Between weather and just not feeling like it, I've been itching to go in the last week.

So off I went. I would've probably gone somewhere new - but with the new dog we have having had a meltdown when mom and dad went to church I didn't want to leave him alone... and they were later than normal getting home.

The sun is setting around 9:45 at night right now, in just another month it'll be closer to midnight. Then in June it won't really set at all! I love this time of year. Well... I love mid-May through September... right now everything looks dead and grey. April in Alaska is not the most picturesque time to visit. But there are still moments that remind you why Alaska is the closest we will ever come to Heaven this side of eternity (yes, I am biased).

It was a quiet night on the beach, we have about a month left until the beach is littered with thousands of people and fish guts during dip netting. I plan on going out and actually getting photos of the insanity that is dipnet season. I HATE that part of summer. I HATE how our beaches become over run and are not taken care of by those that use her shores to get the fish they supposedly need to live on. Not all dipnetters are bad, but there are enough bad eggs in the bunch that I just wish they'd all go away and leave our small community alone. Anchorage should stay in Anchorage.

So here's to the more peaceful scenes of the beach as the insanity of summer looms ever closer.

Mature bald eagle photos

We've had that Juvenile Bald Eagle visit the bone pile all week. It's been pretty neat to see, though he was getting annoyed with the attention and flying off more and more. Last night we were surprised to find a mature eagle on the bones. Looks like Jr. decided he needed his parental unit to keep us from bugging him.

Joke was on him, though, because we brought out the cameras again to get some captures of the beautiful mature bald eagle. Here are just a few (I may have taken over 100. Yeah, not sorry.) of the photos I took while he ripped into the carrion.

This week's animal shelter photos

Just a few, the shelter was busier this week than it has been all month - but still not close to full. That's a good thing!

They have birds, cats, and dogs all available. There's even a kitten (not pictured, it was at the vet when we were there) and a puppy!

Juvenile Bald Eagle photos

Here in Alaska when a moose gets hit by a car (or hits a car) and dies or has to be put down, the Alaska State Troopers have a list of people to call offering the meat. All the person on the list has to do is butcher and package the moose.

My dad gets the call for their church so that people who are unable to do the butchering can still get the meat. He got a call on Saturday night (during his and mom's Valentine's Day Date) that a moose had been hit and killed and that they'd be dropping it off at our house.

So all this weekend was about blood and meat and bones... and the bones are now sitting out in the backyard to let the birds pick them clean. Normally that means magpies and ravens but yesterday....

 But instead this guy showed up. He is an immature (juvenille) bald Eagle. I don't think I've ever seen one in our backyard munching on moose bones before. They normally perch in a tree or just fly over (did that a lot when Yuka and Lulu were puppies...) but this guy spent all afternoon ripping left over flesh off of a moose's backbone.

Kenai, Alaska in January... a photo filled blog post

Sunrise... Sunset...

Or, rather, Sunset... Sunrise. I forgot to share the sunset pictures I took last night (not all that exciting, colors were missing again) and today I switched it up and took sunrise photos. I was already out and about when the sun came into the sky. These were taken on the beach as well as on the bluff. You'll be able to tell where in the pictures each one was taken.

I'm killing time till the week of my birthday... The Flash comes back on the 20th, Arrow (and my birthday) comes back on the 21st... and then Sons of Liberty (MICHAEL RAYMOND-JAMES!) hits TV on the 25th. I'm going to be one happy fangirling couch potato.

Kenai Animal Shelter Portraits - September 10

Busy busy busy with three days left till I am headed to SoCal. I have today and tomorrow to pack. And I haven't gotten everything done that I need doing. Oy.

The cats were mostly kitties we'd seen before - a lot of the kittens from last week are still there (and there's a new litter as of yesterday who need a bit of nursing back to full health). ALL of the dogs we saw last week were gone! Adopted or moved to rescues! YAY!

Just three dogs yesterday, one of which was a BEAUTIFUL male Blue Nose Pittbull. He is GORGEOUS and has a wonderful personality. If I wasn't going away for two weeks - and if Lulu did better with big dogs - I would've come home with a new forever friend.