HAPPY NEW YEARS...

thought i would toss in this random picture of blossom...it's blurry, but i love how she leaps into the deep snow after her frisbee. such glee...don't you think??

these two pictures are from prospect heights the other day. love when you can see denali mountain (below).

the next few i took from my front porch of the moose in the hood. there is a big rock in my neighbors front yard and she was using that to get a bit more reach for some bark. tasty!!

here she is just chilling in the hood. my friend hit one last week, her car is a wreck, but she's okay. i guess the moose had to be shot due to it's injuries. road kill moose are donated to charities to feed the hungry. the moose she his was 900 pounds...they are not small animals. i never bore of seeing them lumber around our neighborhoods in anchorage.

if you've never eaten those little betty crocker microwave cakes...you are missing out. i'm eating the molten chocolate i believe. supposed to wait 5 minutes before eating...not. HAPPY NEW YEARS by the way. it's actually the day after new years, but i'm a bit slow getting started today. it was a lazy day. i worked the last two nights in the peds icu. i had the little baby with the genetic issue. she is doing much better. wednesday night was a cluster. not sure why everyone has such a difficult time when there is a sledd patient in peds, but it's always a mess. drives me nuts. my acc friend michelle, ended up doing the sledd part wednesday while i took care of the patient. our charge didn't get that if i was scheduled in peds, the adult unit would assume (as they should) that i'd run the sledd. i was pretty ticked when i arrived, fearing that the adult units management was covering for our error. when the charge called peds management about her short staffing they once again suggested that i be put in the sledd room by myself as that is what i'd be doing in the adult unit. it's not a good idea to do that with a two year old when i have no back up near by and it's also not what the dialysis doc wants to have happen. if i were to take on the baby as a 1:1 instead of a 2:1 it would require 2 nurses just to let me zip off to pee. (one from each unit)

i felt much better once i found out that the adult unit management was not in to cover the peds staffing snafuu though actually the adult unit in general did cover it. michelle is great to work with and we had a pleasant night. of course, the dang sledd line clotted off at 6 am. luckily they stopped sledd. they were also able to save the hd cath and extubate her...she was much more stable for me last night. only kid in the peds icu so it was a pleasant night. chatted with the mom a bit. toasted in the new year drinking sparkling cider and eating moose jerky. we could see the various firework shows from the windows in the patient rooms.

renal doc called in last night and i mentioned to him the peds managements constant plan to put me in the sledd rooms alone. he was against this and i suggested he simply write an order as he writes the peds sledd orders that the patient is to be a 2:1 staffing as long as the sledd is on just to cover me. he agreed this would be a good plan to avoid this stress in future. so i feel much better now. hopefully, at least this element will improve.

i'm writing on a new desk top computer. hopefully, all works out. this is my first post on my new hp. it's that windows 7. i bought it at costco and i must say set up was a snap. the next day i went to target and bought a bookshelf. i was going to put it together tonight, but after getting the tree torn down, doing household stuff and cleaning up the area for the bookshelf i don't think i'm up for the headache that will come from setting it up. the computer was a snap...that bookshelf looks complicated. i need some more room on my computer desk with the newer bigger moniter screen. i'll hopefully be able to move the printer over to the little bookshelf.

walked the girls in the bog yesterday. quite eventful mile and a third....ran into 5 moose on the loop, rio got bit on the nose and met up with friend i havent' seen for some time....from walking. beamers mom..don't really know her name...i'm terrible at names, yet dog names are much easier for me to recall. obviously, the moose are moving into town for the winter months. they generally get thicker in anchorage this time of year. the other day i woke and saw a moose browsing on a neighbors tree's across the street. those pictures will hopefully load above. new computer...but still the old cable access. we'll see, eh? i originally thought it was a single moose, but the baby ran over after a bit to join the mom moose.

the day before i took both dogs to the big loop in n. bivouac. we were all due. very enjoyable walk. uneventful...saw several folks i've run into in the parking area as we prepared to leave, but saw not a soul once we all left the parking area in different directions. amazing how much solitude one can find in a city as large as anchorage.

the day before i gave rio a break and just took blossom to prospect heights. again there were several cars parked in the lot, but never ran into anyone while on the trail. great views of denali that day.

tried watching the rose parade on tv this am after work. i grew up in south pasadena and many of my memories of this time of year from my childhood and my adult years there are tied up in the parade and events leading up to the parade. as a child we sold rose parade programs for weeks before the parade as a way to make money for our church. we would set up at the sites they do the building and all that. we'd slip through and watch the floats develope. we also would wake early and sell programs at the actually parade. i remember you could see various floats making thier way up the larger streets in the wee hours to line up. we were pretty young but the world was a much safer place in many ways. overall, the parade route is still pretty safe. not sure many parents these days would send 8 year olds out to sell programs in the bleachers.

we did get to watch the parade though. those floats are amazing, the bands awesome...being that this was the only parade i was exposed to as a kid it made me a total parade snob. i mean no other parade comes close to the grandeur that is the tournament of roses parade. as i got older, in my late teens and twenties i spent more time on the 5 mile block party that occured through the night before the parade. cars would cruise colorado and you'd chill with friends along the route or cruise in cars up and down the parade route looking for pals. i worked at a vet hospital off of colorado blvd. a few years i partied/camped out on the route. in the early morning i would head to the vet clinic, sell parking spots and then go inside and do all the cage cleaning. so i missed the actual parade a few of those years.

my favorite years i chilled with my group of rebel mormon friends. we were half in and half out. sadly, lost track of greg and found out later he had passed of aids. we all knew he was gay, but it was a different time and we were all still in the church. we just never discussed it and i guess he feared he wouldn't be accepted. still makes me sad that he chose to disappear rather than risk bringing us in to his confidence.

i think they cut off the parade this am...it could be though that i drifted off in my exhausted state and the parade came to an end. i'll have to figure out how to find it online and watch it. those dang commentators are horrible and to much time is spent on them instead of the floats and such.

new years resolutions....hmm. socialize more as i'm a bit of a hermit. exercise more as that is a standard goal every year. get the bathroom tile done...get the house more insulated...hmm...drive to deadhorse. watch less tv so i can actually get more done. purge the crap that collects in households after you've lived there for a bit. get my pictures loaded up on a site so that if the house burns down i will still be able to access them. i'm exhausted thinking of the goals...how bout i just have a fun and happy year, i be grateful for all the blessings i have everyday and live each day to the fullest!