may showers bring june flowers...

at least that is how it works up here in alaska. work this week was steady, busy, unusual and interesting. work in a hospital is never dull and though it can be really hard work somedays, i have to admit i like it. it's a challenge, mentally, ethically, physically, in every way really.
walking is the best way i've found to relax from all the stresses that life in the icu brings to those who work there. there is a grand perspective in nature that allows you to see that those events in each day are small, that the world around us will continue beyond us. one day this week i got the pups off to the dog park. above is from that beautiful day out there.

every day gives you an opportunity to watch the changes in the environment as we go from winter to break up to spring to summer and then back to fall. i always get excited as the plants i planted in years past erupt from the earth. these are both himalayan poppies. the blue flowers are just stunning and simple. these guys grow really well up here and i am totally cool if they take over sections of the garden in the years that come as they are always welcome.

the big mountain has been treacherous to those who attempt to reach the peak. one climber was rescued thursday after spending the night out on the mountain in wind and weather down to neg 30 or neg 40 i believe. the winds were 70 mph. this guy was 800 ft down from the top of the mountian which is over 20,000 feet up there. he had a fractured leg and pretty major frostbite. if you haven't seen any frostbite it's pretty nasty and painful looking. the impacted areas blister up and turn dark purple. often tissue is damaged beyond repair and amputations are necessary. who knows if those details will ever emerge in this case. apparently, when the helicopter dropped the basket by this guy who was just sitting there on the mountain, he just stared at it for a bit before being able to react. hypothermia is very disorienting. luckily, he was able to get rescued off the mountain, one of his climbing partners was not so lucky and perished. when the copter hovered over him, there was no movement and his face was deep purple. he was dead.

another climber fell over 800 feet today to his death. the deceased climbers are both from europe. probably spent a great deal of time, effort and money to reach this dream. hopefully, it was as grand a moment as they'd hoped before mother nature showed the power she possesses. it's the climbing season on denali right now and some years there are no deaths and some there are several. not looking to promising for this year so far.

hidden moose in picture above in the bog. they can sneak up on you. for how large they are, it's easy to walk past them and not even know they are there. my blind dog rio, generally alerts me to any moose activity as she smells them.

took a walk or two in the bog. once i walked from my place, north on patterson, through the neighborhoods to cheney lake and then back down to circle the bog, another time i circled the bog then took off into some neighborhoods and then down patterson avenue.

we were lucky that day as blossom's doodle friends people were outside doing yardwork and he let his doodle out so they could say hi. we talked a bit. apparently, he's never gotten into the various family dogs they had as the kids grew up, this dog has stolen his heart though, best dog he's ever had. he seemed to love talking about her and seemed open to letting the dogs play in the future. i love my doodle too. they are great dogs i must say and hard to be with blossom and not smile.

these are from the bog. as you can see the most beautiful green leaves have graced us with thier presence. totally lifts me up to walk through the woods and see all those baby leaves.

sat out on the lawn with the girls. got some grooming in. nice to leave hair outside instead of in some days. there was a breeze blowing and the pups were enjoying hte day as was i.

finally got a chance to run the new dialysis machine at work. we took the class back in january i believe, but i haven't touched the machine since. he was being taken off it at midnight so i ran it for the first 5 hours of the shift. of course, once he went off the machine i could get a second patient. the nurse next to me also had an open bed. the charge nurse gave me a choice between a gastrointestinal bleed and a brain bleed. i took the brain bleed. a few hours later as the other, less experienced nurse noted that i had chosen well. i knew in my heart that this choice was based on my years of experience. the night always ends though no matter how crazy and busy it is. the pediatric intensive care patient i had, i had also had for a few nights last week up there, which is often great. the family was super nice. the mom kept telling me i was thier favorite night shift nurse. she found out i got her breast milk in my eye. we laughed about that and then the doc joined us and we were laughing again when i explained that on her dictation of this child it had been written "the child was moving all six extremities". she had meant it to say "all his extremities". this program makes for some interesting and entertaining notes. i told her i'd figured out what the 5th extremity was,but was at a loss what the sixth was.

words are tricky and it's amazing how often the meaning can change with a simple gramatical or spelling error. i've seen it a few times here on my blog. my mother was big on spelling and correct use of language so sometimes i'm a bit mortified by what people post out there without seeming to care if it even makes sense when read back. this could be as simple as postings on dating sites or facebook. in my mind what you write and how you write can be a huge reflection of who you are. seems best to at least try to put your best out there.

of course, some people simple claim a learning disability and difficulties and so therefore they just don't bother. i have a friend with dyslexia who i know spends the extra time effort to put out her best work. college was a struggle for her when it was often not for me. she has the degree to validate all her hard work. for her i think the struggle with language just motivated her more.

for me, math was more of a struggle. despite math still being difficult i don't simply just give up and let the chips fall where they may. i just take the extra steps. i've had nurses laugh at me as i still must write down the formula's and do the cross multiplications to get the drug dosages correct. they just do such simple things in thier heads. i'd rather be right than wrong. it could mean death or injury if i don't make my best effort.

had a terrible example of use of language the other morning. i was curled up in my bed, almost asleep when i began hearing my neighbor screaming at her teenage son. it was brutal. the f-bomb was flying everywhere. it was painful to listen to and i'm never sure what one should do in these situations. i've only heard her get like this a few times. i jsut figure life as a single mom is not easy and she just loses it on occasion. there really is no excuse for such cruelty in words though. made me sad. made me glad though that for years i have paid the kid $5/night to stop by when i'm at work and let the dogs out. i'm sure it gives him a place to get away and the dogs probably make him smile for a bit. have no idea what had occured to bring on this outburst. it happened in thier front yard on a saturday morning so i'm sure the entire neighborhood heard it all.

still in the bog, amazing days we had.

this is where i saw that may showers bring june flowers. not sure if you can read it, but it was sidewalk art by the kids that i've seen at this house. kids just adapt to thier environment, right. just thought it was cute and funny.

the kitten, miss breezy chatterbug, was watching some birds at the feeder. thought this came out nice. have been trying to get a good video clip of her chasing after rio's tail as she wags it. it cracks me up everytime. she loves those little balls with the bells inside so the latest game i throw the ball up the stairs and she runs up to fetch it. she really is part dog i think. she's still more interested in the dogs than in pogi, but i think they get more and more compatible as time goes by.

she's curled up with rio right now, but both cats tend to curl up with me in the bed. she chases my toes around the sheets. it's all quite entertaining. i live a simple and happy life. have too much stuff, most of us do so hopefully, i can organize and simplify that aspect of life as well. clutter can weigh ya down. spent some time working on the piles of papers that seem to collect in homes. crazy how fast it all collects.

the cats got to go crazy with some catnip today. i heard little kittens don't get the whole catnip thing so she's obviously old enough to appreciate cat nip as she was playing as much as pogi.

had planned a monday walk today for 1p so that i could get a little extra sleep. destination was spencer loops. a trail across from our winter trail route. my phone rang at 1:25 pm asking me if i was coming. karen, amy and tanya were at the trailhead waiting. i felt so bad keeping people waiting. i'm usually not that person. when i got home this morning i was sleepy. blossom lately wants to sit out on the deck for a bit and not go right to bed after her breakfast so i snuggled onto the big couch with rio. when blossom barked to come in, i just must have crawled into bed without thinking to set the alarm. they were all so sweet and patient to wait for me. the world is full of good people.

turned out to be a lovely walk, enjoyed by all. since i was so late i'd thought i'd leave rio behind, she had other ideas though so i just brought her. i'm happy i did as i think she enjoyed herself immensely. the dogs enjoyed some creek time. rio pulled away and i dropped her leash, off she went into the dip for a wade. amy was kind and went down to rescue the pup. she is way too confident that dog. it's pretty funny. she would have never done anything of this sort in those first months i had her. i took her across tiny creeks and it would take 10-15 minutes of coaxing on my part.

it was a cloudy day when i went to bed this morning, but it really worked out to be a beautiful walk out there. the trees across town are getting thier new baby leaves, as we went up the hills we reached the top and the trees hadn't let loose of thier leaves yet.

overall all the place is green again. the growth will astound over these next few months. you can quite literally watch things grow here. i can tell changes just working my overnight and looking at the plants in the garden. it's nuts.

had to watch this weeks final episode of bones. poor mr nigle murray. he was killed off. always enjoyed him, though i'm sure there is only so much to be done with his character. still i was bummed. watched it at the web site as i always seem to work thursdays when it's on.

as much as i thought i wanted to do real wood or bamboo in the bedrooms upstairs, the practical side of me is starting to think i may go with laminate bamboo again. i have it downstairs and i've always been quite happy with it. the price will probably be much cheaper allowing me to do other improvements. still dreading clearing out the rooms.

the computer thing at work seems to be going fine for me. i'm finding that people who were organized with thier work, such as i am, transistion well. for people who are disorganized and have no time management skills it doesn't matter what tools you give them, they will still be disorganized and have poor time mangement skills. i see these co-workers stay late often charting. they end up getting paid overtime for thier inefficiency. my reward for being efficient is that i go home as scheduled and can enjoy the day. my goal is to not stay late such as these people do. often i've wondered if there isn't some reason they are avoiding home? still it seems those who are efficient should be rewarded financially and the disorganized punished financially...instead the opposite seems to occur. i know it's gotta be frustrating for management. it's about charting as you go, multi-tasking, staying focused and being organized.

the malamutes seemed to enjoy being out there together. it's always funny that like breeds will be drawn to each other. unless you are a domestic shorthair cat and a mastiff, they aren't even like species. it's cute though.

no swim today. got doing laundry and bills and dishes and such and then next thing i knew i'd missed the window of opportunity. usually after 4 nights of work, i'm just too tired when it comes down to it.

back in the water for a mud rinse and then to the cars. spencer loops was surprisingly dry. only a few patches of mud which were easy to work around.

a few shots of trees with thier leaves.

it's just so nice to see leaves again.

look at all that green!!! shall have sweet dreams of green leaves today. i know i probably seem obsessed, but when your world has been without green for so long it's a welcome and exciting change.

haven't even read todays paper yet. was at the web site and apparently some hunter out of nome was mauled by a grizzly. they ended up shipping him all the way to seattle. not sure why except that the guys face was no doubt so shredded he was going to need major facial reconstruction and perhaps we didn't have enough plastics to begin to meet his needs. his injuries must be pretty horrendous i gather. eek. the bear is dead. supposedly a very large bear.

rio immediately relaxed into her bed in the car when we got back from the trail. a sleepy dog is a happy dog, i'm a sleepy dog owner so i shall get some rest so that i can start it all over again tomorrow an head off for a walk.