more ramblings through melting woods.

signs of break up continue to change the landscape of alaska. it gets difficult to plan hikes as the trail conditions vary day to day. we've hit nearly 50 a few times, we've also had snow which dumped an additional 4-5 inches and then we also had a day of severe wind. you just never know what the weather and conditions will bring. i need to venture out more, just have done the usual trails for time constraints. rather be out walking the dogs than driving to a place to walk the dogs. close by saves gas as well, which can be a bit costly these days. the dogs just want to be out there walking, they really don't care if we peak anything or have grand vista's. that is dogs for you. it's even more lost on rio, being blind. may venture out to potter to mchugh tomorrow if it looks nice like today. these first pictures were taken friday i believe out at n. bivouac. have done bivouac, rovers run and the bog a few times this week.

won't be able to walk these trails much longer. all that icy looking stuff is just boggy all summer. the mosquito's will take over soon enough. have seen some flying critters out there already. haven't been bitten yet.

today i had a massage. my friend has given me a few coupons to a day spa. thought i'd try one of those hot stone massages. the guy gave a good massage, but he apparently doesn't really like the hot stone massages so he didn't use the stones much and then just didn't charge me for them. i'm sure he told the owner that i opted to not go with it. i did like how the heat really penetrated the times he did use the stones. my knots are still across my upper back and neck. the massage therapist kept saying i have no knots. i never am without knots. bummer as i was hoping those knots would get worked out, but since he didn't believe i had them...oh well. i'll stick to my usual massage therapist at body mechanics. she always gets those knots worked out.

oddly, this massage therapist actually climbed on the massage table and straddled me for a few minutes of the massage. can't say that anyone has done that before. (well nobody i've paid anyway). he didn't sit on me or anything like that, so it stayed appropriate, just odd.

the night before i met up with my friend sandra. she'd bought us tickets for a local production i'm guessing of "south pacific". before the play we went to glacier brewhouse for dinner. the place is always a favorite with me. for her it's too noisy and crowded. i think she enjoyed her meal though. they do a great job with the food. nothing else matters to me. it's kinda ski lodgy feeling to me. i got my usual as i hadn't been there for some time. king crab legs for an appetizer. num. (okay, not as great as the never ending crab leg brunch in dutch harbor..that just rocks).

then i got my favorite entre. herb crusted halibut. it's always so tasty.

the play, well, i'm not giving it rave reviews. in the end i don't think sandra was all that enamored by it either. the orchestra did a great job and i enjoyed watching the maestro direct the music. i'm thinking we probably would have enjoyed what was in the other theater a bit better. george lopez was in town and that was also at the performing arts center. at first we were waiting there. it did seem like more of a george lopez crowd. the play people were a bit more dressed up overall. i'm jsut not that into musicals, what can i say. culture often evades me.

these were also taken out n. bivouac way. blossoms head keeps disappearing as her tennis ball falls into the abyss and she must dig and dig to locate it. soon many tennis balls will appear that have been buried all winter. it will be so grand. i can already see some yellow fuzzy bits in the backyard. unfortunately i also see some brown mushy bits. will have to make a run of the yard again tomorrow. no matter how hard you try to keep on top of the poop situation, spring comes and you find all the piles you missed. we call it poop soup. it ain't pretty.

suspect i lost a few roof tiles again with the wind this week . i was totally shocked that the electricity never went out. i got put on call that night, but only til 10pm. that was okay. i got to watch american idol and bones and then get overtime.

costco had some good pears. as a single girl it's hard to polish off all that comes from costco. often i jsut take the last ones to work. so far i'm getting through the pears okay.

the kitten continues to entertain. she loves the dogs and she and pogi now play a bit. fingers still crossed for the cats to really get to liking each other. i just hung my swimsuit up to dry and the kitten looked all fascinated by the dripping. always fun with the young, curious animals. every sound and sight is worthy of thier full attention.

i'll probably be up peeing all night. trying to load on water. sometimes the knots are worsened by me being dehydrated.

my last two nights of work of hte week weren't bad at all. kept steady, but not insane. felt badly as i got a call from my co-workers asking for help. i rarely drink alcohol, but last night i had decided to have some wine. obviously, i can't go to work with any drink on board. i'm a lightweight so it doesn't take much wine for me to get a bit buzzed . tasted good though.

started a bit of a frenzy on facebook this week. just wrote a comment about sarah palins daughter making over $250,000.00 last year by lecturing on abstenience. seems a bit silly to me, but it started a firestorm. got like 40 comments, got a bit heated. some people take stuff way to seriously. politics is politics. i just can't let myself get too worked up about it all. people can get pretty heated up though. i can get just as ticked off as the next guy, but for me nothings really worth staying pissed about. i've watched what that does. i really believe hanging onto anger is damaging to your body. better to find a way to release it and move on. personally, i think stress harms your body worse than anything you eat or drink can.

the above two pictures are from the bog. the top one shows you what happens to the winter trails. we have summer trails and winter trails. that one above won't be used til next winter. blossom loves this time of year, puddles appear and she will try and get in everyone.

it's 11pm and blossom is sitting out on her deck. she's happy that there are some bits of deck that are free from snow. it is nice to see patches of earth re-appear. nice also to not have to bundle up so much, nice to have to wear sunglasses til 8pm.

these two are also bog. have seen moose, none that i've taken pictures of. mostly back behind trees or brush. there was the one as i drove to the theater last night. northern lights blvd is one of the major roads here in town. it's always funny to see a moose nibbling away at plants in the median as cars rush past it in both directions. they seem totally unfazed by all the traffic. eventually, they amble out into traffic and mostly everyone stops and off they go. moose get killed each year around the anchorage area. probably close to 200 between here and the valley.

another day i did the gasline to powerline to tank trail walk. always nice. not too melted yet.

so these pictures are out there.

got in 30 laps today. earlier this week the pool was warm, today it was cold. brr. guess that can make me swim faster though.

seems i always get pictures of rio snuggling with the kitten, here blossom is seen to also get some snuggle time in with miss breezy chatterbug.

never seen a kitten take to dogs like this one. must have lived someplace with dogs previously.

think she's a bit more leary of blossom though as blossom likes to chase her when she chases stuff. rio tends to just lay about, blossom can persue her though.

these pics were taken on the day we got the fresh snow. while i was out on rover run loop the machines came through to do a grooming. the next day the grooming was all pretty much destoryed by the major wind storm. there were limbs down all over as i walked the same trail today. there were still a few diehard cross country skiers out there. can't imagine that was very rewarding. i've been bringing in my winter gear from the car today. will have to complete that task tomorrow. the changeover begins. will have to get my tires changed over as well soon.

there is the groomer. had to get the dogs off the trail so we wouldn't all get run over. the guy seemed pretty nice though...doubt he'd really run us over.

fresh snow is always fun. like moose,i never tire of it. this time of year, it melts back off quickly though.

blossom had a frisbee day out there.

this self portrait of me was a total accident. i was actually trying to get a picture of the dogs...not sure how the camera got directed at me. oh well. kinda funny even if not overly flattering.

no eagles out there this week.

there are mutterings of bear sightings and i think i heard of a swan sightings, though that seems a bit early. one day soon the canadian geese will show up. for some reason they are the ultimate sign of spring for me. they are so brazen and they come to town like they own it. they make alot of noise and it's like they are saying, okay spring get on with it.

i'm munching on some chips and dip. did read this week that someone studied double dipping and yes, it is a disgusting thing to do. didn't take too many double dips before the dip was totally contaminated with germs. ate some taco's tonight. i bought some little cans of tomato sauce to put in the meat and didn't notice til i'd dumped some in that it was preseasoned with italian herbs. so mexican/italian taco's for me. luckily, i hadn't dumped much in there.

the double dipping reminds me of seinfeld. sandra and i joked about some of the episodes with this play. she wished she'd has a pez dispenser to try and make me laugh in the production. my experience with culture also comes from looney tunes cartoons. it's pretty sad.

rio is always a trooper and comes along on the walks. i'm sure she'd rather be at home on the couch cuddled with breezy, but i think secretly she likes her walks.

some tiny critter footprints in the fresh snow.

just snow. gotta love it. soon it will be gone...well for a few months anyway. you can pretty much locate some snow anytime of year up here. sharon and i were hiking up hatchers pass in july a few years back and it started to snow.

watched "the girl who played with fire" the other day. that is the next one in the series. i think they've done a really good job so far. follows the books pretty accurately. have another movie from net flix i may put in tonight. it's called, "wild grass". i want to go see the new movie out, "like water for elephants". quite enjoyed the book. could be interesting.

just double dipped but i dipped the other end of hte chip in so that is probably safer.

hasn't killed me yet. good night.