walk, swim, sleep, read...the life of me!

it's working so far. i do eat on occasion and chocolate is a part of that diet. of course, i realized that we have no passed easter the last chocolate holiday until halloween. just boring chocolate for months to come. no cutely coloured and packaged treats. i'm sure i'll cope somehow.
today i did two walks. first i took blossom and rio for a loop in the bog here by my place. baxter bog is home to moose and loads of birds. love the peaceful sounds of all those shorebirds, magpies, geese and ducks blended together. we do get many various species of birds. the moose are regulars, occasionally in the summers a bear comes through. today a few rabbits hopped off the trail. luckily blossom didn't notice.

this moose was out there. only one i saw today.

little sunset action from the back deck. i've gotten the patio furniture out so that should assure us another snow storm at some point. it's been in the 50's i think the past few days. a few raindrops, but no snow fell that i noticed. managed to get some more leaves raked up today, saw some buds coming up and a few of the bulbs i planted last fall have started to grow. spring is coming. for now it's still breakup. summers here are fast and furious, everyone racing around the state seeing and doing everything they can. then fall comes and everything slows back down again.

once the animals were fed this evening blossom went outside and lay on the deck til i dragged her in after 10pm. can't believe they lay on this bed out there. i usually take on old bed and leave it out. it gets soaked with the rain, dries with the sun and soaked again.

miss breezy has taken to sitting on the top of my computer chair and napping. haven't seen her snuggling with rio as much though she does the love rubs with the dogs all the time.

tanya met me for a partial loop of spencer loop. south bivouac trailhead. i always love this loop in the summers. it's a great little butt workout, nice views, close to town. you can go 3-5 miles i believe. we did the smaller loop, taking a cut off due to time constraints. have lost a few hiking partners from this trail. guess there are a few too many climbing spots for some. i find it to be a great training hike. most of these trails out this part of town i like to have a buddy for bear reasons starting about now. no signs of em out there today though. the trail was mushy to muddy. the creek is thawing, blossom took a dip, big surprise there.

after we finished hiking i went to the alaska club for my swim. got there when it wasn't too crowded. did 64 lengths. yesterday it was packed when i got there. i think it being crowded made me swim faster. i did 70 lengths in less than 45 min. usually takes me a leisurely hour for that. i've been slacking back to 2 swims/week and only 50-60 lengths. trying to get back in 3/week and get in 60-70 lengths. may have to get myself some underwater music device. there was a dude there with a counter and that. all techno. very cool. no doubt all that cool equipment wouldn't help me look cool like he was. oh well, life as a regular joe or joesephine i guess the case would be.

the dogs had a great time. blossom is pretty wiped out this evening. poor girl. is she getting old, is it being out of shape. we'll see. may have to start her on some meds for hips or something at some point. rio tends to get shorter walks in the summer. those roots and all just get too taxing for her. plus it's too hot. now i realize that it rarely gets over 70 F here and for many that seems coolish, it's all what you get used to though. have to make sure i have a water source. blossom tends to overheat as well so i try to choose hikes with creeks or lakes for cooling.

views of anchorage and susitna.

indy and boddhi battle over a big stick.

these two are also from this mornings bog walk. followed a few ducks on the trail. they just kept walking along. no hurry.

there was a hit and run the other night here in town. a 28 year old died. guess they found the car that hit him, no word on the driver at this time. usually when people bolt it's cause they are freaked out or drunk. the accident occured at 3:30 am so i'd go with drunk. either way they make their situation so much worse by booking. seems like they usually find them anyway. teh longer it takes i guess they figure thier blood alcohol will be lower. i suspect the punishment for leaving the scene is far worse than if they had just stayed.

on other anchorage news, apparently one of our decorated officers has been an illegal alien and worked for our department for several years i gathered. just heard a bit of that on the news tonight, while doing other things so i'm not sure of those details.

chatted with a few family members this weekend/tonight. always fun to catch up on everyone. we don't always do very well at staying in touch. i think facebook helps. i definitely feel more in touch with our family that is so scattered. nothing beats a phone call for catching up and just laughing for a bit.

these last pictures are from the final monday walk of the season. summers get too crazy. will plan longer monday walks on the weekends i don't work all weekend. leave earlier and hit some different trails. will be nice to sleep in for the summers on my work weekend. we'll come back for year 4 of monday walks in the fall. has been a fun year again. always love the variety of people at times, just relaxed walking and socializing. i think we'll all miss the post walk coffee mostly. i baked some corn muffins for our final day.

it was tanya, lena and her son, maureen and i. and the dogs of course. the above to pictures are just part of the main trail that is currently a pond. the dogs enjoyed that, especially blossom.

kaya and manny try to sort out what's up. i think manny wanted to play with this small pup, but kaya really wasn't too sure he wanted to be involved. when he did, the bigger malamute would come in to "protect" his malamute puppy buddy which kaya really didn't seem to appreciate. kaya is so adorable.

watched "kings speech" last night. with all the royal wedding preparations seemed a good one to watch. i really liked it. so 2 very good movies this week. "kings speech" and "water for elephants". i located the book so i think sandra will take that to mexico next week with her. i also pulled out "the guernsey potato peel pie society" or something like that. i really enjoyed reading that one as well.

blossom is a little less muddy than over the weekend. lots of cleaner water puddles today to lounge in. baths are pretty much useless at this point. don't want to spend money to get her bathed only to have her sink into a mudhole again the next day. hte hose water would be too cold (for me, not her since she is in icy puddles).

she is so dang cute!!

oodles of puddles for blossom these past few days and she is loving it!

off to read and sleep...