this afternoon i had a window of opportunity so i settled rio on the couch with some peanut butter and "law and order" and off blossom and i went to the valley of love!! well really it's just called powerline valley. there is a powerline that runs across the east of town and there is trailage for miles. in this one section by glen alps trailhead the male moose try to win the attention of the female moose. of course, this can be hard fought. this guy above was doing a right job of it. don't mind if i toss in some british wordage...i've been watching a bit of the james herriot series this week and it seems to be rubbing off.
not nearly the camera folks out today as the other day. it was much nicer for me and for the moose i suspect. i took blossom along and she did smashing. she had minimal interest in the moose and all thier carrying on and was much more interested in those who came to view the moose. she is very friendly. so besides the cameraman above you can see 4 moose in the distance. 3 males pursuing the one female. there were several other sightings of moose i noted in my brief walk out there, but these 4 were fairly close to a trail so easy to get to.
the moose in the foreground didn't seem to interested in attempting to take on the big moose in the rear. don't think he would have come off very well.
instead he ended up near the other male, even smaller than he and they both left the big moose and the she moose to their game. i had a few minutes before seen a she moose running through the valley. i suspect she was not pleased with her potential suitor. women can be fickle that way and in all species seem to enjoy a little of the game of playing hard to get. poor men...they seem to have thier games as well so i shant pity them long, eh?
i actually only stayed out there for like 15 minutes once i got near the moose. trying to think how close i was. i'd say within 100 feet. they glanced our way a few times but overall seemed to ignore us and do thier own thing.
on his own this guy is quite handsome. he and the other he-moose seemed to just be grazing about and ended up very close. then they started a game of sparring. nothing too serious, but it was fun to watch and listen to. you could hear thier antlers knocking about. sounded like wood hitting wood somewhat.
i will have to do this one of these days when i am not so rushed. i had the insulation guy coming at 4pm to get an estimate. i also arranged for my tub to get re-glazed. will be nice to get a few things done, then i can move onto more fun projects again. i really want to get the carpets out of the bedrooms. as much as i dread emptying out the rooms one by one for this i know it will be great to move out/in of the spaces again and toss crap that has accumulated over the years. donations will be made!! i'm hesitant to get rid of this crap carpet until mufasa is off to the bridge as it were. he's old and part of the issue at this point. it will be nice to be down to one cat. my cat that had that chronic urine issue has not been kind to the carpet. though i must say, with all the cats i've owned in all these years that is the very first cat to ever have an issue with urinating out of the box. his condition was medical, chronic hemorrhagic cystitis, but still it was dreadful. can't wait to clean up post cat. the plan is just to keep to the one cat. if i do get another one day, it will probably be a female.
on a happy note, it's been wonderful to see those miners in chili returning to thier families. i can't imagine being trapped underground for months...i'm sure i'd want a hot shower right away. last i saw they had 4 of the 33 out safely. quite the feat it sounds like.
this morning i finished my last book i've been reading. "the girl who played with fire". i think i liked this one a bit better than the first, but i liked both books actually. i'm about to begin the third book in the series, "the girl who kicked the hornets nest". the author died shortly after delivering the books to the publisher.
they really are beautiful animals.
in other news a woman attempted to see her 2 year old in the ukraine to organ traffikers. i'm supposing this would be a total sacrifice of the child. if they caught her one must suspec that others haven't been caught. that's pretty horrible. i always thought that maternal protective instinct was a given, but with my work i've noticed that this is not always the case. some people do not have that natural defense of children and some do and giving birth doesn't not assure this instinct. it always seems that if you carried a child in your womb for 9 months you would defend it to the death, but it's not necessarily so. i have one friend, whom i shall not name, but i've noticed that she seems to lack this natural instinct. it's not that she doesn't care for her child, but she's just never been overly protective of the child. things that i without children would naturally do and watch for she just doesn't seem to notice. my brother has adopted 2 kids and he is quite protective and watchful so it's not a birthing thing. i sense that some people in general have it and others just don't. obviously and hopefully more have it than don't. my friends husband, by the way, does seem to have the trait so all has been well. he just seems to be the main caregiver. i think in some societies children just aren't held to the standard that they are here. i've even heard of some places that don't even name children til they are closer to 2 years old as so many perish at a young age. it's like they don't bother to attach until the baby survives a few years.
survival of fittest, right. that is what these moose are demonstrating anyway. humans are going another way from what i see. fitness means less than demographics. when, where and to what social status you are born into.
ended my evening at the pool. did 60 lengths. the pool was packed with kiddies on the free swim side. must have been 30 people there. it got crazy in the lap lanes as well. a few guys got confused and changed lanes into the one i was sharing with a guy. nearly knocked me into the dividers. not as relaxing as some days, but i didn't want to get out of the jacuzzi after. that felt wonderful after a day in the chill.
just realized the sheets are not on the bed. i do enjoy fresh sheets but it's best to dry them before you try and go to bed. it's now after midnight...when did that happen!!
turned out to be a beautiful day. started out foggy and took til after noon to finally clear. fog is so chilling. bone chilling as it were.
had to take a few pictures of the moose sparring with the big mountains in the background. they aren't that prominent in the photo's but the distant snow covered mountains are denali, foraker and hunter. right to left.
below is flattop mountain. it is probably the most popular hike in anchorage. everyone peaks it. often people fall off of it. lots of scree at the top. not a trail i like to take blossom on and it's just too crowded for me most days anyway. gotta really be in the mood. nice views up there.
blossom seemed to enjoy the snowy frost on the trail as we hiked out to see the moose. she loves the snow.
around noon i headed out for a loop of the bog. since anchorage seemed to be covered in fog it seemed a reasonable walk today. as i walked it was clearing up. the sun hit the frosty trees and melting ice was dripping everywhere. kinda cool.
below is before the fog had totally lifted.
this morning i woke at my usual time, about 8am. i looked out the bedroom window and spotted this huge bull moose out in the neighbors front yard. i grabbed the camera and headed out in my jammies. pj's for me is an old pair of scrubs and a t-shirt. so i did toss on a hoodie. it was in the 30's though and quite foggy. so several pictures turned out less than optimal...probably a combination of me being half asleep, very chilled and there being a very large moose nearby with little protective coverage. some pictures came out kinda cool though.
the moose finally headed down the same walk i do as we head into the bog.
of course first he had to attack the bush in front of a neighbors house and then leap this smallish fence. was bummed these came out blurry as it was cool to watch him jump it. i think i was on the move when he did it, alas....
you still get the idea despite the photo's imperfections. that is the joy of blogging and not being a professional photographer. if i was a professional this would be considered a disaster, but as an amatuer blogger, well it's still quite wonderful!!
something about seeing these huge beasts just wander down the center of our streets here in anchorage. i never tire of it and never get used to the site.
of course i think the fog aided to the mystery of it all. blossom watched from the bedroom window.
loved this picture of the moose next to this car..shows how large a beast he really is.
lucky for me, he didn't seem to mind me following him about and i wasn't the only neighbor that noticed him. there was another couple down the street on thier front deck in thier jammies too. we all enjoyed him. when you live here, everyone seems to share in the joy of an animal sighting. i recall when i lived in ketchikan i lived on the water, (really miss that by the way) there was a bit of a phone tag system when one spotted whales in the water. no matter how many whales/eagles/moose....i see i never tire of it.
talked to my sister and my brother jeff today. i could see my sister then went to facebook to see a few moose pictures. in her comment she asked how tall this fence was. most are 6 feet here. that tends to keep the moose from leaping into your yard, however, i have heard stories of them being quite capable of leaping this height of fence. one friend told me they were amazed to watch a moose leap one with seemingly no preparation. just boom..over it went. so not a difficult thing to do if required...say a bear is chasing you i guess.
i thought this guy was quite handsome!!
here he is crossing in front of my house. he then wandered into someones yard that wasn't enclosed and then back out again.
yesterdays' monday walk was not well attended. there was a bit of rain so i wasn't surprised really. wet weather keeps people away and i especially didn't expect anyone to bring young babies. blossom, rio and i walked alone. i walk anyway, so no matter really. though, i often feel quite socially inept and in these situations i still have to remind myself that it isn't personal. i've always had friends, but i've never been in the middle of the life of hte party, always on the sidelines. always friends with people who are in "the group" as it were. often not invited to the party. i think night shift can be a bit of a drain on your social life. lucky for me i do quite nicely alone for the most part.
won't waste much time on what it means to be dating at this age. these old geezers hit on me. i don't feel like an old geezer myself so it's very strange. as you age you don't really see that you are aging and those who are old still look old. anyway, it's hard to conjure up the desire to date old guys for me. i just don't feel old enough to date old guys yet. then guys my age are probably thinking i'm too old for them and they want a young filly to go with how they feel. i remember reading some old journals, before i tossed them from embarrassment and i dated tons when i was in my 20's and 30's. my forties i've slowed down. bored with it all really. i never liked dating for dating sake. liked having boyfriends, but just to go out every night gets tedious. i remember when i was younger i was trying to sort myself out and what i believed. a few of my brothers kept telling me to just go to BYU, find a guy and get married. i repeatedly tried to explain to them how unfair that would be to whatever guy would fall for me since i had such mixed feelings on the religion. in the end i'm very happy i never took that advice. i sense i would have been miserable and thus made whoever took me on miserable as well.
rain does make the colours all seem so different. so i enjoy a rainy day. took a few random trails i don't generally take and wandered about yesterday.
this afternoon i had a window of opportunity so i settled rio on the couch with some peanut butter and "law and order" and off blossom and i went to the valley of love!! well really it's just called powerline valley. there is a powerline that runs across the east of town and there is trailage for miles. in this one section by glen alps trailhead the male moose try to win the attention of the female moose. of course, this can be hard fought. this guy above was doing a right job of it. don't mind if i toss in some british wordage...i've been watching a bit of the james herriot series this week and it seems to be rubbing off. 
not nearly the camera folks out today as the other day. it was much nicer for me and for the moose i suspect. i took blossom along and she did smashing. she had minimal interest in the moose and all thier carrying on and was much more interested in those who came to view the moose. she is very friendly. so besides the cameraman above you can see 4 moose in the distance. 3 males pursuing the one female. there were several other sightings of moose i noted in my brief walk out there, but these 4 were fairly close to a trail so easy to get to. 
the moose in the foreground didn't seem to interested in attempting to take on the big moose in the rear. don't think he would have come off very well.
instead he ended up near the other male, even smaller than he and they both left the big moose and the she moose to their game. i had a few minutes before seen a she moose running through the valley. i suspect she was not pleased with her potential suitor. women can be fickle that way and in all species seem to enjoy a little of the game of playing hard to get. poor men...they seem to have thier games as well so i shant pity them long, eh?
i actually only stayed out there for like 15 minutes once i got near the moose. trying to think how close i was. i'd say within 100 feet. they glanced our way a few times but overall seemed to ignore us and do thier own thing. 
on his own this guy is quite handsome. he and the other he-moose seemed to just be grazing about and ended up very close. then they started a game of sparring. nothing too serious, but it was fun to watch and listen to. you could hear thier antlers knocking about. sounded like wood hitting wood somewhat. 
i will have to do this one of these days when i am not so rushed. i had the insulation guy coming at 4pm to get an estimate. i also arranged for my tub to get re-glazed. will be nice to get a few things done, then i can move onto more fun projects again. i really want to get the carpets out of the bedrooms. as much as i dread emptying out the rooms one by one for this i know it will be great to move out/in of the spaces again and toss crap that has accumulated over the years. donations will be made!! i'm hesitant to get rid of this crap carpet until mufasa is off to the bridge as it were. he's old and part of the issue at this point. it will be nice to be down to one cat. my cat that had that chronic urine issue has not been kind to the carpet. though i must say, with all the cats i've owned in all these years that is the very first cat to ever have an issue with urinating out of the box. his condition was medical, chronic hemorrhagic cystitis, but still it was dreadful. can't wait to clean up post cat. the plan is just to keep to the one cat. if i do get another one day, it will probably be a female. 
on a happy note, it's been wonderful to see those miners in chili returning to thier families. i can't imagine being trapped underground for months...i'm sure i'd want a hot shower right away. last i saw they had 4 of the 33 out safely. quite the feat it sounds like. 
this morning i finished my last book i've been reading. "the girl who played with fire". i think i liked this one a bit better than the first, but i liked both books actually. i'm about to begin the third book in the series, "the girl who kicked the hornets nest". the author died shortly after delivering the books to the publisher. 
they really are beautiful animals.
in other news a woman attempted to see her 2 year old in the ukraine to organ traffikers. i'm supposing this would be a total sacrifice of the child. if they caught her one must suspec that others haven't been caught. that's pretty horrible. i always thought that maternal protective instinct was a given, but with my work i've noticed that this is not always the case. some people do not have that natural defense of children and some do and giving birth doesn't not assure this instinct. it always seems that if you carried a child in your womb for 9 months you would defend it to the death, but it's not necessarily so. i have one friend, whom i shall not name, but i've noticed that she seems to lack this natural instinct. it's not that she doesn't care for her child, but she's just never been overly protective of the child. things that i without children would naturally do and watch for she just doesn't seem to notice. my brother has adopted 2 kids and he is quite protective and watchful so it's not a birthing thing. i sense that some people in general have it and others just don't. obviously and hopefully more have it than don't. my friends husband, by the way, does seem to have the trait so all has been well. he just seems to be the main caregiver. i think in some societies children just aren't held to the standard that they are here. i've even heard of some places that don't even name children til they are closer to 2 years old as so many perish at a young age. it's like they don't bother to attach until the baby survives a few years.
survival of fittest, right. that is what these moose are demonstrating anyway. humans are going another way from what i see. fitness means less than demographics. when, where and to what social status you are born into. 
ended my evening at the pool. did 60 lengths. the pool was packed with kiddies on the free swim side. must have been 30 people there. it got crazy in the lap lanes as well. a few guys got confused and changed lanes into the one i was sharing with a guy. nearly knocked me into the dividers. not as relaxing as some days, but i didn't want to get out of the jacuzzi after. that felt wonderful after a day in the chill.
just realized the sheets are not on the bed. i do enjoy fresh sheets but it's best to dry them before you try and go to bed. it's now after midnight...when did that happen!!
turned out to be a beautiful day. started out foggy and took til after noon to finally clear. fog is so chilling. bone chilling as it were. 
had to take a few pictures of the moose sparring with the big mountains in the background. they aren't that prominent in the photo's but the distant snow covered mountains are denali, foraker and hunter. right to left.
below is flattop mountain. it is probably the most popular hike in anchorage. everyone peaks it. often people fall off of it. lots of scree at the top. not a trail i like to take blossom on and it's just too crowded for me most days anyway. gotta really be in the mood. nice views up there. 
blossom seemed to enjoy the snowy frost on the trail as we hiked out to see the moose. she loves the snow.
around noon i headed out for a loop of the bog. since anchorage seemed to be covered in fog it seemed a reasonable walk today. as i walked it was clearing up. the sun hit the frosty trees and melting ice was dripping everywhere. kinda cool.
below is before the fog had totally lifted.
this morning i woke at my usual time, about 8am. i looked out the bedroom window and spotted this huge bull moose out in the neighbors front yard. i grabbed the camera and headed out in my jammies. pj's for me is an old pair of scrubs and a t-shirt. so i did toss on a hoodie. it was in the 30's though and quite foggy. so several pictures turned out less than optimal...probably a combination of me being half asleep, very chilled and there being a very large moose nearby with little protective coverage. some pictures came out kinda cool though.
the moose finally headed down the same walk i do as we head into the bog. 
of course first he had to attack the bush in front of a neighbors house and then leap this smallish fence. was bummed these came out blurry as it was cool to watch him jump it. i think i was on the move when he did it, alas....
you still get the idea despite the photo's imperfections. that is the joy of blogging and not being a professional photographer. if i was a professional this would be considered a disaster, but as an amatuer blogger, well it's still quite wonderful!!
something about seeing these huge beasts just wander down the center of our streets here in anchorage. i never tire of it and never get used to the site. 
of course i think the fog aided to the mystery of it all. blossom watched from the bedroom window. 
loved this picture of the moose next to this car..shows how large a beast he really is.
lucky for me, he didn't seem to mind me following him about and i wasn't the only neighbor that noticed him. there was another couple down the street on thier front deck in thier jammies too. we all enjoyed him. when you live here, everyone seems to share in the joy of an animal sighting. i recall when i lived in ketchikan i lived on the water, (really miss that by the way) there was a bit of a phone tag system when one spotted whales in the water. no matter how many whales/eagles/moose....i see i never tire of it.
talked to my sister and my brother jeff today. i could see my sister then went to facebook to see a few moose pictures. in her comment she asked how tall this fence was. most are 6 feet here. that tends to keep the moose from leaping into your yard, however, i have heard stories of them being quite capable of leaping this height of fence. one friend told me they were amazed to watch a moose leap one with seemingly no preparation. just boom..over it went. so not a difficult thing to do if required...say a bear is chasing you i guess.
i thought this guy was quite handsome!!
here he is crossing in front of my house. he then wandered into someones yard that wasn't enclosed and then back out again.
yesterdays' monday walk was not well attended. there was a bit of rain so i wasn't surprised really. wet weather keeps people away and i especially didn't expect anyone to bring young babies. blossom, rio and i walked alone. i walk anyway, so no matter really. though, i often feel quite socially inept and in these situations i still have to remind myself that it isn't personal. i've always had friends, but i've never been in the middle of the life of hte party, always on the sidelines. always friends with people who are in "the group" as it were. often not invited to the party. i think night shift can be a bit of a drain on your social life. lucky for me i do quite nicely alone for the most part. 
won't waste much time on what it means to be dating at this age. these old geezers hit on me. i don't feel like an old geezer myself so it's very strange. as you age you don't really see that you are aging and those who are old still look old. anyway, it's hard to conjure up the desire to date old guys for me. i just don't feel old enough to date old guys yet. then guys my age are probably thinking i'm too old for them and they want a young filly to go with how they feel. i remember reading some old journals, before i tossed them from embarrassment and i dated tons when i was in my 20's and 30's. my forties i've slowed down. bored with it all really. i never liked dating for dating sake. liked having boyfriends, but just to go out every night gets tedious. i remember when i was younger i was trying to sort myself out and what i believed. a few of my brothers kept telling me to just go to BYU, find a guy and get married. i repeatedly tried to explain to them how unfair that would be to whatever guy would fall for me since i had such mixed feelings on the religion. in the end i'm very happy i never took that advice. i sense i would have been miserable and thus made whoever took me on miserable as well.
rain does make the colours all seem so different. so i enjoy a rainy day. took a few random trails i don't generally take and wandered about yesterday. 
still some fungi on the trees. the fungi may winter over, not sure. the mushrooms are gone though.
have been trying to load pictures onto shutterfly inbetween doing errands and such around the house. got my calendar made...hopefully it turns out nicely. i also made another gift item to share with friends this christmas...yes, it's time to start thinking about christmas...eek!!
mostly, right now i'm thinking of getting those sheets out of the dryer and onto my bed. have a great day. hope i didn't bore you with moose....
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