Wednesday, February 29, 2012

snowshoe-swim-ski....

other than that i must admit i accomplished very little. but again another amazing day. save the to do list for a rainy day, right? of course, if the rainy day never comes, then nothing gets done but the fun stuff. i'm listening to an old favorite cd, mary chapin carpenter. "state of the heart". i always loved her voice and always enjoyed singing along. i'm still coughing and my voice is still pretty shakey. bummer. i'll probably play the guitar and sing a bit tonight. luckily as far as i can tell the dogs are tone deaf or just too sweet to let me know thier pain. if it wasn't after 9 i'm thinking playing the drums is a good substitute for singing!! tomorrow morning that is what i'll do. went snowshoeing with amy and tanya up at prospect heights. beautiful day out there. the clouds were there but there were breaks and some sun burst through at times. loved the sun being framed by these branches. now sheryl crow...another favorite. watched american idol, the girls. always enjoy the show. i think because i have sang and written music. everyone had that dream at some point. so it's fun to watch the possibility. it does give people a chance who would have no idea how to go about making thier dreams come true. sad to see someone's performance be a bit of a trainwreck when so many others were sent away who could have totally rocked it. would be tough to weed everyone out, things change when you are on a stage with a huge audience. you can't always predict that. my stages have always been small. little open mikes at cafe's or the monthly grind in ketchikan. tried to get to the pool early enough to beat that pm crowd. my last few laps though i hit the masses. suddenly my lane was being shared with 3 other plump white boys. felt a bit like combat swimming. was hit by the chick in the next lane several times as well. a few laps i was alone, but the person i shared with changed several times. i think in 25 laps i shared with 6-7 different people. feels good in the pool though. probably still have a bit of a walking pneumonia. the stuff i'm coughing up these past few days is back to not so pretty colours. more antibiotics or just hope it passes on it's own. gotta keep up on the inhalers. i think laika and ekko were scenting out rabbits. always lots of tracks up there. they kept going off trail with interest in thier eyes. no rabbits spotted. will have to just take my girls tomorrow so blossom can just have a fetching day. also no blood. monday her ear was bleeding, today it was her eye. she tries to play with the malemutes and i think she enjoys it at first, but she is no match for the level of roughhousing those dogs engage in. at one point i just put her on a leash for a few minutes. it seems to break the spell and then she goes back to just chilling with the humans while the other dogs wrestle. her tiny wounds are fine by the way. nothing major. leap year day. i'm just happy that the sun is staying out later and later. was nice to be able to add that ski in this afternoon. by the time i left the gym and hit the closest trail, which isn't lit at night, it was about 5:15. i was able to enjoy a good 1/2 hour of easy skiing with daylight. sweet! the snow had great glide to it. my skills at cross country are not very impressive. i tend to mostly walk or snowshoe as it's easier with the dogs. i've attempted skijoring with blossom, but she doesn't get pulling and i'm really not a good enough skier to pull it off. it is nice to get out for these short ski's and awesome to live someplace with so much access to groomed trails. it's not a problem to just pop out and ski for a few minutes. should try to get out there and shovel more. i did just a bit. at some point you almost give up with this much snow. i'm just telling myself spring will soon arrive and nature will melt it all. right...it's just going to be march 1 tomorrow. there was an article in the paper about not just feeding hte moose but relocating them. seems like alot of stress and expense to me. doesn't even sound like they will move them far enough. or possibly just by moving them they will just cause their death so that seems a bad idea...either by stress or by putting them out there in deep snow and making survival nearly impossible. if you are going to do that just shoot em here. not saying that is what i want, but i just think moving moose would be counter productive at this point. yes, the valley has lost over 400 moose this year. part of that is just ignorance on some of the drivers. people drive too fast for the winter conditions and don't take into account the moose population.on an average year we lose 200-300+ moose to road kills. wonder what the average deer kill numbers are in states with alot of deer? iditarod dogs will now be required to have kennel cough vax. seems kinda odd that it wasn't required before, but happy for this change. sounds like a good idea to me. that kennel cough is brutal and sounds terrible. i feel a bit like i have an extended kennel cough though. probably good that i just stayed home this evening and put the fire in the fireplace. i think rio was happy to have me home as well. this weekend will be rough on both dogs as i will be gone alot.the big mountain was starting to peek through as we hit the powerline trail headed back down to the parking area.eventually the range unveiled itself. always great to get a peek of the big mountains.these next pictures are out on the ski trails near the gym. started at the ball fields just sound of tudor road. some amazing views from there. like to bike around there in the summers as well. just gotta watch for moose and bears in the summer.my ski's. was exploring the trails this way a bit so see where they connect up with the campbell airstrip trails. this is just warning of a dog sled crossing. the iditarod dogs will actually take the trails i'm on for the ceremonial start from downtown anchorage. they only go about 12 miles. i just went to the bridge crossing over tudor road and back to the ball fields. a pretty easy ski. the teams will come over that bridge on thier way to the airstrip in campbell. usually i come to the bridge area to watch the dogs after working all night. this year i get to do whatever cause i'm not working. of course, all day i've been worried that i actually am working and just am confused. i do this whenever i take days off of work. neurotic moments. i'm sure we all have those. like driving to work and getting worried you left the stove on. shit like that. our brains don't seem happy unless they have something to get stressed about. apparently, north korea wants to talk about stopping thier nuclear program and letting inspectors in. will believe it when it actually happens. would be nice though. that whole nuclear power stuff makes me nervous. too many things that haven't really been sorted out...like the waste. the japanese plant that about blew still has all the waste there on the campus as they don't have a plan in place as to what to do with the waste. that just always seems crazy to me. this planet is pretty special. i'm always amazed at the diversity that exists. however you believe it all formed and got here it seems valuable to protect all the resources and diversity that exists here. i still shudder at the thinking in that movie, "jesus camp' where people think that when jesus comes again we'll just be given another planet earth so we should use all the earth has as it's here for our use. and abuse apparently. if god just created this earth for the practical use of humans, why have hundreds of thousands of types of butterflies, why even have a butterfly. why not just have a flat land mass for growing vegetables and only cows and chickens as animals. i figure if there is a god, that god worked pretty hard on each and every detail and thus i believe the expectation is for us to use with respect, sparingly as possible and to appreciate the amazing beauty which has been created and placed in our stewardship. this last picture was taken by my friend tanya in the parking lot. that is my element. i guess honda stopped with the 2011 models of the elements. bummer. great little cars. will have to keep mine as long as possible. these cars are all over anchorage. perfect dog car. my friends dogs seem to always jump in after the walks. of course, today i had little treat bits in my hand so that may have less to do with the car style and more to do with turkey jerky. me on the left, amy on right. should get my tax stuff together and get that done. the to do list calls, but so does the bed. my mini triathalon has made me a wee bit sleepy!!

1 comment:

  1. I can sure see why people do love it there - breathe taking. sandie

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