i really should be sleeping....

shot above from todays little drive out to beluga point. always a lovely, scenic way to spend an hour or so. that is sleeping lady in the background. wish i had some lovely northern lights pictures to show you. they appeared to be out here in anchorage. they were quite pale though and despite my plan to trek off these dark, cold hours to a place where the lights would be more visible, i am bagging the idea. i attempted a few shots from the yard. have never tried before and though i've been looking online at hints for taking pictures, there is a learning and experimenting element to it. perhaps one day...

thought i'd toss in a few pictures from tuesdays walk out in north bivouac. these chickadee's (i think that is what they are) anyway, they flit all about and sing while i walk oftentimes. i always enjoy when they hang out with me. took a few pictures of them the other day. a few came out nice.

they spend all the daylight hours eating the food required to stay warm and survive the winter. i'm sure we all wish for a chickadee's metabolism. what would i eat first? most hikes have been beautiful and uneventful this week. hit the dog park one day and totally blew off all walks another day. we have some large patients of late and i seem to have become the bariatric nurse. i can't say as that is a specialty i embrace. it's exhauting work, i can tell you that.

the hospital went live on the computers and it was my turn to go live on wednesday. i had been worried about starting out in icu as often those patient loads are pretty demanding. i must say my first night went very well, i felt very supported. they have been doing thier best to just give people one patient assignments on thier first computer day. my second day was a 2 patient assignment, but it was pretty cake for icu. one patient was pcu. good to get some basic computer work under me. i still will have to work through orders and order inputing and such. also admits could be challenging as well.

of course, peds seems to have gone crazy with patients. the hospital floated me up to peds icu my last night. was fine, just was a bit miffed that i was then given a pretty heavy assignment. not sure if they are just too busy or if the adult unit just planned better, but there didn't seem to be any thought of limiting patient assignments for those just getting started. the hospital seems to be willing to pay in for having lots of epic help about. i am quite grateful to karen who came in overtime to assist with epic training and ended up taking one of my two patients. the more challenging one as it turned out. i felt bad as i had thought the two were both the same acuity, those things can't always be predicted or they change i guess. people complain about the manager in the adult unit, but she does run an efficient unit and she works her buns off to make sure all the patients get the best care possible.

we are back to my drive today of turnigan arm. i love all the big chunks of ice that are left behind when the tide goes out. lots of mud in the arm, which gives the mud that darker appearance.

it's always relaxing to get out for a litte drive. we seem to speed towards spring at this time of year. i think the fur rondy and iditarod do help with that. sandra is getting here at 10:30 so i can ride with them out to the restart. should be a fun day. that is why i should be sleeping. the morning is going to get here fast and i'd really like to whip around the bog before i head out there. was going to go buy a little card so i wouldn't run out of room on mine..it's easier to just buy a new one that waste a battery in cold weather trying to erase pictures. batteries die out very quickly in cold stuff and the lake is bound to have a bit of wind on it.

i baked cookies tonight. overall i did have a productive day.

teh run with the reindeer was today downtown. i probably could have gotten down there. often when i've worked several shifts and i'm tired though, dealing with crowds just doesn't appeal to me. they posted the video's on kttu television. they had a reindeer cam. it was pretty dang funny. very short. may have been better watching it from home on the video cam. maybe next year i'll try and get the entire weekend off and put the camera in sports mode and see what i can capture. because of epic go live, nobody can take vacations right now.

i think these big drums play some role in preventing avalanches. i'm sure someone explained it to me at one time, but i never remember details such as that. i'm always amazed by those who do remember stuff. crazy. i'm totally missing that gene.

while i baked cookies i half heartedly watched some show on the unabomber. it was a very difficult thing for his brother to turn over what he suspected. i'm sure he's happy that a plea was reached sparing his brothers life. he was interviewed and once he felt fairly confident that his brother was a possible suspect, he agonized over what to do. if he didn't do anything, other innocent lives could be lost. if he did, he may be sending him over only to see him get the death sentence. always grateful that the choices in my life have not been so painful.

more ice shots

can't believe it's almost 2 am...

the tide was coming in i believe. it really gets twirling out there. it would be a very bad place to be tide in or out. okay to stay on the sidelines taking photographs though.

trying to think what i may need for tomorrow. i always overpack anyway...

don't want to be chilled though as then you just get miserable. plan to walk down to the main start on the first lake to take some pre race shots. was fun last year.

draggin myself out of bed tomorrow could be tough. miss my mom for that. we'd talk and she'd figure out what time i needed to be awake and she'd call to check on me. i am very good at pushing snooze or just shutting off the alarm in my desire to sleep.

i'll have to trek out to the coastal refuge soon and see if there are big chunks out there like these. it's like sedimentary rocks, you can see all the layering.

went shopping and even had a list, but sometimes i just get lost in grocery stores, wandering aisles, tossing junkfood into the basket. the worst times to shop are when you are tired or hungry...i was both.

the tracks always make for a good shot. this is where i should come to get some northern lights pictures. nice and dark and the tracks would be good in pictures...if i could figure it out. really need to get a real wide angle lens for that. perhaps that could be next pfd treat. that is if the pfd is big enough. you never know what the check will be til much closer to the payout time. free money is always good though.

had high aspirations of getting up early and heading to campbell airstrip trails for the end of the ceremonial start. there are only 60 something mushers and they start at 10 or 11 am...by the time i got moving they were cleared out.

this is the airstrip there, i've only witnessed one ski plane land there. used to walk there often as did many others. i think they've discouraged it of late. some still walk out there...and bike apparently. we just took a look, thinking of future years.

here was a sign at the trailhead telling you where to go so as to not interfere with the mushers.

this was as close as i got to the dogs. these ones were loaded and probably headed towards willow for the restart.

i had stopped into mcdonalds when they pulled in. yes, i occasionally eat at mcdonalds. always seem to get a happy meal and split it withthe dogs. can't imagine that could be so bad for me. well,i am going to bed now. hopefully, i'll have some fun iditarod pictures tomorrow night.