our winter snow arrives.....

we had another fun and successful monday walk. we had 10 dogs and 9 people. wow!!! lets see...tanya, andrea, sandra, melissa, gail, karen, kelly and her friend, katie and me. the dogs...i won't get those all. blossom, boddhi, indy, mandy, buddah, zoey, oscar, duke, and melissa's 2 dogs...i totally am blanking on their names. i'll have to ask again. they all did pretty good getting along. duke is the old man so he likes to put the other dogs in line a bit, but you figure 10 dogs and no fights....they all had a great time chasing each other, finding sticks and just running about being dogs.

tanya holds boddhi..she won't be able to do this for too long. i remember when blossom was a puppy in winter, she'd get tired and i'd put her little self in my down coat and she'd fall asleep in there. now she's 70+ pounds. also shown is andrea and sandra. i was trying to get a group shot, but the group was on the move still. i was too slow.

the group is on the move...this is an early picture with gail in the lead....well i guess melissa and i were in the lead at this point, since i took the picture. dang..i should have taken a picture of melissa. haha . below...well i gotta say that malamute pups little butt end is really cute. only a dog butt could be cute...those little human babies can have cute butts too i guess. so this is a picture of indy and boddhi's butt. ;-)

wait...i did get melissa. she's in the blue. tanya, andrea, melissa, kelly and katie. oh and a bunch of blurrs which are happy dogs. can you see all the tails waggin?

karen and sandra bring up the rear. the snow isn't packed underneath so the trail was a bit rough out there. very slippery. i probably should have put on my snowshoes and packed down the trail a bit. there are still roots that are exposed beneath and we all slipped around a bit. it was really pretty out though so i really don't think there was too much complaining. everyone is so excited that the snow had come. i suspect that was why we had such a big turn out. it's snowing a little bit more tonight. i have a fire in the fireplace....always relaxing.

blossom is a bit sleepy. she is very sweet and checks on all the walkers. she kept running back to sandra and karen to check in...and to rub her face in hopes that the snow balls would fall off.

with a large group. we get spread out a bit. i've yet to get pictures of melissa or her dogs as they tend to lead the pack, especially by the end. i'm so happy that she's made the drive in a few times, especially on a snowy day like today. traffic can be nuts on snow days.

we didn't see anyone else on the trail today except one biker and his dog...probably good seeing as we were a large group. below is karen, tanya, andrea and sandra. after the walk several of us headed to the coffee shop. i brought another loaf of the pumpkin bread that i made the other day to share. it was tasty as always. they just dropped a load of pumpkins to the street below on letterman. one didn't break...of course, i was saddened by the loss of potential pumpking bread.

i had another chiroprator appointment. it was busy there. i'm still not sold on it all and not sure if it's making any difference. i guess i haven't had a big headache since i started, but really i don't note any dramatic improvements. from there i headed to the gym.....finally trying to get back on track. i headed to the pool. got in nearly 50 laps. half with the kickboard. the jacuzzi felt great on a cold day like today.

lots on the news about the shooting in texas...was it just a random act of violence of an individual or was it related to extremism. frightening to think how easy it could be to infiltrate the military. will have to see what evidence comes up and what if anything the shooter has to say about what happened and his possible motives.

a nasty college soccer player taking out everyone in her path..including pulling a girl down to the ground with her ponytail or braid...that had to hurt and could have really injured her.

on a local note, a hairdresser called police to report a client had left and gotten into a car and appeared drunk. they sought her out, but sadly, they didn't get to her before she got into a wreck and an innocent person was killed. she was driving without a license as she has multiple arrests for drunk driving. i think all cars should just come with a standard breathalizer...not start if alcohol detected since so many can't figure out when they shouldn't get behind a wheel, even if told by society not to.

healthcare, economy....it can be tough to watch the news. rather head out for a dog walk.

here is the snow falling as seen in the streetlight last night. i love to watch the snow coming down. the flakes got bigger and bigger as the night passed and the inches were building up. i watched a movie from net flix while i watched the snowfall. so peaceful...

the movie i watched was called, "greenfingers". it's based on a true story i guess of an open prison in england with mostly lifers. these guys end up building a garden and gaining some self esteem and pride in themselves. enjoyed the movie.

took blossom and rio to the bog this morning. rio's stroll as it has become. they were both totally excited about the snow. the tennis balls get packed for the most part as they get lost in the snow so the frisbee's come out in force. blossom is a great catcher and the old man didn't seem to be out yelling. she caught some great air!! love watching her race about and leap for the toys. the snow attaches itself to blossom...by the end of the day she would be caked with snowballs. we have to stop and get the ice balls out from between her toes and pads. gotta be uncomfortable...doesn't really stop her from enjoying herself out in the snow.

love how the snow collects everywhere...just looks so pretty outside. all clean.

right after we got to the bog trail rio got jiggy...she gets super excited sometimes and just has to do spins and twists. i'm sure it's horrible for her knees, but how does one stop such glee!! she was so excited by all the snow she just couldn't contain herself...it's really quite hysterical!! i think in the shot below she is making a quick turn to spin the other direction. no way to catch this activity without video. i've never been too good at video, but this would be a fun one to catch one day. video would be great for blossom frisbee catching as well. blossom was just watching rio's spinning antics.

if there are any dog mushers out there, there is a fun job available in denali national park. apparently, the federal government employs 19.7 million people, but only one of those is a dog musher. they had a nice write up in the anchorage daily news about what the job entails and all. they have had the same line of dogs since the park was created. the job sounds cool, would be a dream for some people who love the outdoors and dogs. the current ranger is leaving after 10 years on the job. it's a demanding job that means thousands of miles of mushing in the winter, paperwork and shows for the tourists in the summers. i'm not a dog musher, but traveling all over denali national park in the peace and serenity sure sounds like a dream. i'm not tough enough...i used to dream of being a marine biologist, but the truth is days in the field are mostly just rough...but the beauty they get to see is enough to make me dream. i would have loved to study the intertidal zone. now i just explore when i get the chance.