water, slush, ice...break up!

sunday morning i got off work and took the dogs for a walk in the bog by my place. the sun was so beautiful out. this is a great time of year to get those morning bog walks in. could hear the sounds of canadian geese as i went into the house. of course, i was very sleepy and tried to put rio's collar on blossom. it was a bit chilly out there, but worth it. the birds are all returning to town. the ice and snow are melting, mud and brown will replace ice, but soon the green will come.

i'm watching my net flix movie for the week. "babies". if you've never heard of it, it's a documentary where 4 babies are followed for that first year of development. they tried to not interfere, just filmed. the babies were from different parts of the world. one from san francisco, one tokyo, another from namibia and a fourth from mongolia. different cultures and different ways to view this stage of life. interesting to see how different life is for babies in different parts of our earth. not something i'd watch over and over, but it's pretty eye opening.

life is quite survivable. of course they picked a baby from san francisco, extreme american child rearing. all the kids seem to have thrived in thier various situations. where there is love, anything is possible. the mongolian baby was on it's own alot, the baby from namibia was always surrounded. the namibia baby seemed the most free to explore the world around him. staying clean was not a concern. funny considering how dirt phobic we are in this nation.

often wonder if that makes our kids have less hardy immune systems.

do we really have more health issues or would a child in an impoverished place simply not survive with any real health issues. the autism numbers and the allergies and such are pretty staggering in our nation. not sure if these numbers are growing in other industrialized nations as well.

survival of the fittest is apparent with the kids in namibia and mongolia. in this nation, survival of the fittest isn't any sort of hard and fast rule. with our medicine, it's often survival of the least fit. will be interesting in the years to come. it's doubtful we will be able survive as a nation with so many people who are in need of government support for day to day life. the numbers just keep growing. not sure at what point the tipping point occurs. how many healthy, intact people does it take to maintain a culture, a community?

work kept me confused. i was pulled from my adult icu days 2 out of 3 to go to peds icu. the respiratory bugs are hitting kids with a vengeance, staff as well. i think i was floated to kids due to sick staff more than increased patient numbers. nothing crazy for me, can't say any day in an intensive care unit job is easy or routine.i do like that part of my work. this is no cubicle job. each day and each patient comes with it's own surprises. had a patient who was on vacation here from a nation far away. his wife spoke no english and he's very sick. hard to know what the cultural norms are across the globe when it comes to medicine and family. despite the wife and i not being able to communicate with words, it's amazing how much you can communicate with kindness and gestures. was able to allow her to help me with her husbands bath. it took much longer than a bath would normally take me, but i always feel it's good to involve family in these cares.

the intensive care unit is scarey and people fear touching thier loved ones. a bath is a great way to make them feel useful, needed. i think it also opens up the door for them to touch. not sure if her husband will be able to see his homeland again, but hopefully, i eased some of the pain and stress for at least a few hours. that is all one can hope some times.

only one more monday walk after this week. tanya and i decided. people scatter and the trail conditions deteriorate. has been another great year of walks. we do plan on starting back up in the fall. hopefully, i will still plan longer, earlier walks through the summer at least every other week. i do like the social aspect of the walks. it's through these simple times together that friendships develop. today it was tanya, lena and i, we were joined by bonita. i know she's wanted to join us for some time and hopefully, we will see more of her this summer. she brought her 4 year old daughter. she was a trooper out there. bonita doesn't raise wimpy kids. i like that alaskan kids in general do have more freedom to explore and aren't as over protected as some in the lower 48 are. bonita is a wonder. she took down a few trees today and had time to make some balm of gilead. she canned it up and i am now the happy recipient of one can of balm of gilead. i'm excited to check it out.

there is a movie i love, "spitfire grill". in it there is a little tune about the balm of gilead. a very sweet scene actually. tanya has her hands full with her malamute. he's getting protective of his pack of dogs. he and bonita's dog had a little spat, no blood drawn. just dogs being dogs.

here is bonita, myra and thier black lab (whose name just slipped my brain). i must be sleepy. i think myra had a good time. she did the nearly 4 miles. i think there was a chocolate shake reward for her efforts. sounds great to me!!

tanya, bonita and i used to all work at the providence icu. we're all in different icu's now. fun to get together and catch up.

blossom was the object of desire between boddhi and bonita's pup. there was humpage all over. dogs will be dogs. caught this 3 hump train out there. thought i'd add it to the dog humping wall of shame! bad dogs! don't feel to badly for blossom. when she gets dominated by the other dogs, she turns around and humps rio. rio is not the least bit concerned with being the dominant dog. she takes it all in stride. i haven't been able to break the habit. blossom is a great dog, but not perfect....i love that dog anyway!!

manny is growing and growing. puppies are so adorable. though those babies in the movie were cute, there are some really adorable animal babies out there. no competition.

nice to have a relaxing walk after working 4 nights. in medicine you work closely with a variety of personalities. i'll just leave it at that.

one of my bosses decided to return to floor nursing and step down from her management role. there was some quiet chatter from this big change. she isn't known for her people skills and i guess she commented to someone about not being a hugger. that unit has a high turnover rate. partly it's a busy, stressful unit, partly people who are driven to work in icu's are fiesty independant sorts, partly, some feel very micromanaged. a compliment can go a long ways. laughter is also good and should be welcomed. it relieves stress in stressful situations.

was thinking though that as these younger folks enter the work force it will require a different sort of management style to deal with them. these are the kids who were raised with every praise possible. they received accolades for taking a dump. parties have been held in thier honor for the smallest of successes. sadly, it may be a rough world out there for them when every failure isn't met with praise and compliments. making it even more difficult for someone who is not a hugger to manage these delicate creatures. i like a compliment as much as the next guy, and believe me they are few and far between in nursing.

for me, i've learned that i'm much more fulfilled if my patients and thier families appreciate what i do. it matters less what upper management thinks about me forgetting to dot an i or whatever. in the end, you try to do the best you can, but mostly you try and remember that you have a human patient and the people who love them.

we had yet another beautiful day out there. every day has been warm and wonderful. got out a few times to attempt to rake/sweep up the winter and start to prepare for summer. nice to only have a few months of yard work. not that i hate yardwork, but i think 4 months is sufficient. got some winter stuff in and cleaned up a bit.

several moose sightings in the bog.

no drama, no close encounters.

article in the anchorage daily news the other day that got me a bit riled up. this woman was convicted of a triple homicide with her then boyfriend years ago. she was 14 when this happened. she's been in prison pretty much since. tried as an adult. she of course, has 2 kids and is now 41 and is trying to get out of prison. her lawyers are arguing that she was young and that makes her less responsible. i look at that and think, so i guess because teenagers are impulsive by nature each one should be given a free pass to commit one or two murders in thier youth and be freed back into society in thier 20's since they've now matured and are no longer deemed impulsive.

my other issue is that this woman who has been in prison through her child bearing years has been allowed conjugal visits and has 2 kids which she is of course, unable to support or raise. always so frustrating that the victims lost thier lives and she is granted conjugal visits. just don't get when and why having sex was determined to be a right of prisoners. nobody can take away your right to masturbate, but surely we shouldn't be allowing convicted prisoners the freedoms and joys of sex. the sad part is she will probably win her case and be free to go.

with the spring thaw there have been the usual slippages into lakes and such. someone fell through the ice out at university lake and another guy fell down a crevase on a glacier. both were able to be rescued and are fine. always a good reminder to be safety aware.

these were taken in the bog over a few jaunts out there.

have kinda laughed as with this great weather everyone in anchorage is out and about, walking, biking...every mannter of activity. of course, i often see teenagers riding bikes with thier helmets hanging on the handle bars. i just shake my head. to me this probably means they were reminded by parents to take thier helmets. i'm doubtful their parents were insisting they take their helmets as a decorative piece for thier handlebars. could be a long summer in the icu's if the kids don't wear thier helmets.

these are some of the winter trails in the bog, fast becoming totally unusable.

there is still snow on the trails out there, it's melting fast though.

blossom has been quite enjoying her puddles and ponds. we have found 3 tennis balls this week. 2 today on the monday walk. tis the season. this tennis ball we found in the bog.

this "pond" is actually the grassy area of the bog. the ducks love it as do the geese.

reflections...always my thing.

another peekaboo shot of a moose.

have been asking around about possible aps for my iphone. what people have, what they actually use. have added a few here and there. got frogger for my phone and have had fun with that a few times. the koi pond is also cool and today i got a dolphin ap.

computer gadgets are here and there seems to be no way to keep them out of the work place. i felt a bit left behind not having an iphone or other fancy phone. doesn't seem right that everyone else could just pull out their phones and play games or peruse the computer and my computer time was "monitered" by the powers that be at work. there has always been distractors for workers. they have changed and have probably become more distracting. the work ethic is often lacking. my feeling is as long as you are caught up on your work, have at it.

of course, that is often not the case. not sure how management can stem the tide. can't watch everyone all the time. i'm always frustrated when these inane rules come down for all. we all are punished for those who don't do thier work. seems like those who abuse the system are never dealt with individually, general rules just get sent down the pipe.

can't imagine being management these days. people are so addicted to thier gadgets. i see staff frequently texting friends. like i said, if all thier work was done, who cares, but that isn't the case.

took the above picture to show that people are still cross country skiing out there. the snow is crap but there they are. this guy was wearing shorts as i think it was near the 50's at times this week. i just thought it was funny, you can probably see how crappy the snow is out there. die hards...!

the creatures are resting. i'm waiting for the laundry to be done so i can get my bed made and crawl in. love fresh sheets. the little things are what bring the greatest joy sometimes.

these last few are from a walk i took up on the trails of prospect height the other day.

anchorage and sleeping lady.

love roasted peanuts that you crack the shells off of, this last bag i got was a different brand and not nearly as rewarding. oh well. i'm a snacker. tonight it's peanuts, raisins and a few M&M's. can't go too wrong there i guess.

hopefully next week i'll get out and do some exploration. in the meantime, have great day...