"sarahs key"

just watched a sad movie.  in school you learn the big stories of history, but it's the little stories that make it real.  have no idea if this was based on a true story, but i'm sure similar events played out repeatedly in that time.  the movie follows a modern day journalist who moves to paris with her husband.  she discovers some history about a family apartment that they are to reside in.  she follows the story to it's sad ending.  jews were taken from their homes in france, many never returned.  it was a good movie. i love a movie that keeps history alive and forces you ponder the thin line of peace we follow.  
i think we all hope that this is history that is never repeated, but history does repeat.  when and where and to whom is all that is in question.  my life has been relatively peaceful and safe.  i have never had to live through a war here.  it's very different watching events from afar.  so easy to keep yourself disconnected from it.  
my life is not over and one never knows when all will change.  it can happen very quickly.  times get troubled, people are convinced that those people or these people are the cause of all their troubles and it begins.  there are already troubled people out there who believe we, as a nation, are the cause of all their troubles.  just makes you think. each day is precious.  you must appreciate the life you have.  in those times, who will become your friend, who will be your enemy.  it's hard to know until that day. 
so many lives have been lost.  one must try to take a moment, from time to time at least, to remember them, each one individually.  people living and working and loving, just like me, only to become a victim of an anger that festers in every society.

all the leaves are brown, and the skies are grey....

 another day another walk in the rain.  it wasn't pouring though so all is good.  had a somewhat productive day, at least by my standards.  i'm not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow night.  feels like i haven't really had a stretch off.  how do other people work so much.  i hope i can continue with 3-12 hour shifts/week until i retire some day.  above is cheney lake.  there is quite a bit of snow in the background on the chugach.  we are on a crash coarse towards winter.  lots of geese on the lake, getting ready to fly south no doubt.  they were quite active when i stopped  by.  debated taking the dogs for a second  walk.  probably should have.  it's always pretty on the lake there. i had just run a few errands and was on the way home.

 yesterday i kinda felt a bit like crap again.  i'm coughing more so it's probably just phase 2 of the bug.  that is how it usually works.  initial virus, then it tends to meander down to my lungs.  so far just some coughing.  i sat at the computer a bit working on legalzoom.com.  i do hope it's not a rip off.  just wanted basics taken care of.  in alaska if you are not married, have no children and your parents are passed if you have no will when you die the state gets whatever you have.  not that i care too much, but i'd rather have people i know go through my crap and be able to sell off or keep what they want.  so i did the whole basic will, living will, durable power of attorney and a extra document to hopefully cover my pets in the event i die.  none of us like to see ourselves as not living, but it is a fact of this life.  each state has different rules.  my near death experience this summer on the boat and a past near death experience on a plane.  those near death experiences seem to be adding up.  i could have died several times and so far it just hasn't been my time.  i'm happy about that.  i'm hoping to have my health as long as i can and to be able to enjoy all the beauty that is out there.  still would like to write that dang book.  this winters project i have promised myself.

 did finally get out in the rain with the dogs.  we just headed out to the right after the bridge at campbell airstrip trails.  ran into some lady and walked with her a bit.  chatted with a few others, then ran into another regular trail walker.  you get to know the regulars when you walk as much as i do.  i've known many people for years just from walking.  this little bridge was covered with a few inches of water.  i walked safely across it.  a few young mothers with smaller children turned back rather than risk it. water is just powerful.  it's a good thing to never underestimate it.  the waters around here are high and running fast.  it's not impossible to slip and fall and end up in a predicament.  i opted to avoid the little short road trips. partly due to poor weather, but also do to all the flooding that is going around both north and south of me.  we did turn around not too far past the bridge as there were loads of trees down still that hadn't been cut up.

 watched, "i am sam" this evening.  that movie always makes me cry.  have also been curious about why when one drives around you frequently will see one shoe on the side of the road.  why? do people randomly toss out one shoe?  are people walking and don't notice one shoe falling off. i see these single shoes all the time.  very curious.  with all this water it's not too surprising that a person that has been missing a few months washed up.  sadly her boyfriend of 22 years was the one who found her.  apparently he's been going out every day since she disappeared looking for her.  sweet and sad really.  she was 63 and she used to walk all over anchorage.  one day she never made it home.  at least her body is now recovered and hopefully, it will shed some light on what happened, at the very least her family can have some closure.  always harder when no body is found i would imagine.  there are still 2 others lost this summer who remain missing.

 it's legal again to sit downtown.  i'm not a fan of our mayor, he had put this one out there, it originally passed, but the vote was reversed tuesday.  he's not a fan of the homeless.  seems like there are better ways to deal with the homeless than to make laws making it illegal for them to sit downtown.

 today lena joined us for a walk of rovers run.  rio still had the under obstacle.  she did much better today.  could be the added help of having lena there.  they obviously haven't been able to get to these trees yet.  a few more were down that weren't down last time i went.  the dogs are tired so a successful day out there.  i got some appointments made so again, a somewhat productive day.

 blossom got coated with mud, many puddles out there.  we went to this one creek, which oddly was the one creek in anchorage that appears to be at it's usual water level.  i tossed the toy in hoping she would get cleaned off a bit.  lena and i laughed though as it turned out she looked even dirtier when she came out of the creek.  i must have tossed the toy right into a muddy patch.  lovely.  tonight she was sleepy enough that i was able to trim her face a bit and clean out the ears.  she hates that part.

 had some show on in the background.  something about breastfeeding in public.  one guest had been asked to cease in an applebee's.  the baby she was feeding was almost 2.  the other lady was a professor at a university who fed her baby as she gave her lecture.  she said she had let the students know she would be doing it and covered up.  still some complained.  i'm chill about public breastfeeding in the first case, though i really don't think it's too much to ask to toss a blanket over the baby.  i accept that this doesn't always work, but seems reasonable to me to at least try.  the lecture hall though is no place in my opinion.  it's just not professional.  it's kinda like texting while driving...you can't focus on the task at hand while nursing a baby.  would you want your air traffic controller breastfeeding on the job?  womens lib is to make things equal not to allow one to breastfed while attempting to do their jobs. i would find it distracting just having a kid in the lecture hall let alone having the lecturer stop to feed the baby.  the kid just doesn't belong in the classroom.  if the kid is sick, then you may have to make other arrangements or just call out sick yourself.  the professor should have prepared ahead for the possiblity by pumping and having a bottle available, but really the kid just shouldn't have been in the lecture hall at all in my opinion.

 off my soapbox i guess.  i'm sure there is more in the news but i'm good for the time.  i like funky news items rather than getting into the meat of the current political crap.  people get too crazy over it all.

another day has passed, i'm alive and happy to be able to live this easy, breezy life.  off to snuggle with a few dogs and cats that always seem to enjoy homo sapien attention.

first monday walk of the year!!

 always fun to get back to it!

 hopefully amy and her little one will become regulars.  tanya, lena, karen and i were also along for the walk. the dogs were actually outnumbered, but not outweighed i'm sure!

 2 year olds seem to want to try and walk...i think the roots got to her though.  in the winter a sled will make life easier.  i left rio home today as well so she wouldn't have to battle all the roots, and water as it turned out.

 almost all the leaves are off in this section of the park.  those winds finally won out.  still many trees down, but the trail itself was clear.

 well, not really clear.  there has been a lot of water these past few weeks and there are warnings of flooding in  various parts of the state, including anchorage.  all the creeks and streams are running way over their normal.  amy, the other amy, joined us for coffee and showed us a photo of a local restaurant that is along the creek. their deck and chairs are under water.

 the dogs had a blast today as the trail had many very wet spots...above is the trail through on section.  we had to skirt around it.  lena and i were just here after that first wind storm and this creek bed was dry below, it was all quite dry then.  amazing how quickly things change.

 i was thinking about taking a drive down to homer this stretch off, but i think it's probably a bad idea.  so much flooding.  the roads could be dangerous. plenty to do here.

 the dog crew.  rio stayed home.  boddhi, blossom, indy and manny.  actually the picture above is indy making this weeks wall of dog shame.  he's humping poor blossom. blossom is tired tonight, a bit sore i think.  she's getting older now.

 i guess someone at work told someone else that they weren't invited to join the monday walks.  there are signs posted on the walls so that invites everyone.  people are strange.  then she mentioned an incident with our dogs, like it had just happened the other day, as being the reason she wasn't invited.  when i was told what the incident was i had to laugh. it actually happened when blossom was a puppy, she's almost 7 now.  some people hold onto shit for a long time.  i mean really??

 oh well, you can't please everyone and you'd kill yourself trying.  mostly i find people like this would never be pleased anyway so sadly, they hold themselves back.  not my problem!

 i think the dogs should all be tired tonight.  i took a short nap with rio on the couch and then headed off to the gym for some laps.  felt good.  just did 20 laps.  enough to feel like i got my workout in.  still have the dregs of the cold/sinus bug.  really hoping it doesn't get worse, but goes away.  that has actually happened a few times these past few years.  before that if i got any virus i got bronchitis. would love to skip that bit.

 haven't complained yet about the new format.  i'm trying to adapt.  it's a bother getting the picture you want as lead shot on top and any side shots are out, also you load the photo's and then select the ones you want, hit the use selected button and the program loads all the photo's on.  at least i didn't complain until half way down the page.

 her little one, i believe her name is sydney.  she is really cute.  amy had a cool carrier thing.  it has a metal bar on the bottom so the kid just stands on the bar and then is clicked in.  pretty easy actually.

 we took the photo op here at this big pulled up tree.  quite impressive in size. there were a few other trees that had partially pulled up.  i just remember one the last time we cruised through.

 kaladi's after was lovely as well.  amy and lena left after the walk and skipped the hot cocoa, katie and amy, preggers, joined those who came to kaladi's.  i had baked some cookies yesterday, but they were pretty dry and crumbly.  i never like hard cookies.  i had put them in a crapper container.  it didn't close properly.  so i brought a few honeycrisp apples instead.  those are one of my favorite apples.  you can't get them all the time.  i think everyone enjoyed them.  way better than crappy cookies.  some guy stopped me in the place as i walked past with the apples...he asked if they were honeycrisps.  obviously, i'm not the only person who loves the honeycrisp.  my favorite late night snack is cut up honeycrisps and cheese chunks.  can't go wrong there.  i have some nice white cheddar in the fridge that i'm snacking on.

 we did have to go over this one tree.  that was pretty much our only obstacle out there today, besides the water.

 actually, you can see amy's baby carrier things.  lena is taking a turn with the little one.  2 year olds rarely will stay in anything for a 4 mile walk.  we all took turns giving her a lift.  luckily, she's a good baby and didn't seem to mind who was holding her.  she napped for a bit.  too bad nash wasn't there to meet.

 one of many down trees.  lena and i had seen it all a few weeks back but it really had to be seen to appreciate the number of downed trees.  quite impressive.

 blossom woke me up early. i see she is in preheating my bed.  such a sweet dog.  thanks blossom!

 i really have great dogs.  i can't complain at all.  they are both so sweet.  the cats are cool as well.  they were pretty happy a bit ago.  i let a moth in when i brought blossom in from her porch nap.  both cats took off after that thing.  such joy!  my cats stay inside all the time so getting a shot at a real hunting experience is totally fun.

 lena, amy and karen.

 we were all impressed with the little tiny creek.  it's flowing over the little bridge there.  pretty wild how high the water level is even there.

 even blossom looks impressed.

 not sure she got herself saturated enough for me to call her clean.  i did brush her out before we headed out for the monday walk, but she was defluffed pretty fast.  she looks so cute all fluffy. i'll have to trim her face for the snow season.  she can't see if i don't.  not too many breeds of dogs need to be clipped for the winter instead of the summer.

 will have to make some calls to set up appointments tomorrow.  never got to it today.

 procrastination is the story of my life.

 do manage the walks, and the blog i guess.

so off to bed, will try for that to do list tomorrow...or the next day or the day after that!

walks, a sinus bug and a baby shower

still really hating this new format.  it makes loading of photo's a pain.

 did manage to make the picture i wanted first, first, but now it's glued with the second picture and i can't seem to unglue it.  so annoying.  there is also still no way found to turn pictures if they post sideways.  this wasn't an issue before. i  like to take some photo's with the camera turned for a different effect and it annoys me that those pictures now just can't be shared.

 was hoping those issues would have been resolved in the months that this new format has been out there.  the first pictures are from yesterday.  i  was feeling sick and  weak and tired. i think we walked only 3 miles but i felt every footstep.  feel a bit better today.  hoping i can avoid the worst of it.  still sleepy and snotty.  it was more wet looking out there.  dragged the dogs around the bog.  that seemed to wear both rio and i out.

 i had "hoarders" on in the back ground as i got my lunch ready so that led to me starting to work my way through my somewhat useless wardrobe.  i have way too many old clothes that don't fit anymore and not only do they not fit me, they would not fit my lifestyle even if they fit me.  so now i have 3 bags ready for donation.  hopefully, i can continue to purge some of my old clothes and then do some shopping for things that will be more practical.  it should at least help me avoid the whole pulling out clothes then discovering they don't fit.  more depressing that way.  better to just get them out.  everyone was laughing at the shower as i told them i have previously not labeled these small sized clothes  my "skinny" clothes, i always just called them my "cancer" pants. i figured i'd hang onto them in case i ever got cancer and was too sick to buy smaller sized pants, figuring i'd lose weight for sure if i had cancer.  i still held onto some that are a smidgee too small.  just in case, but i did well purging today.

 those shows are frightening....and inspirational.  i always clean out something after watching one.  of course many of those people are seemingly normal folks who just are lonely and disappointed with their lives.  i'm really not either of those things, but i know the sort.  believe me, there are a few relatives i worry about becoming hoarders at some point.  i do have my share of piles and crap, but  i do have a need to purge every so often like i did today.  still have more purging to do.  that closet is in need of a clearing out.  it's mind boggling to see people in those shows climbing agily around their mounds of crap, so overly attached to it all despite how clearly to the average eye the stuff is useless.

 i try to remind myself that even though i spent money on the stuff i used the stuff enough to have gotten my moneys worth, time for someone else to have it.  i'll have to call the arc or big brothers for a pick up.  rainy days are good for clearing out shit.

 i feel the worst for the animals in these hoarder houses.  i will just stick to my 2 dog/2 cat life.  that seems fairly managable.  it may not be when i get older though.  the one lady's house was being condemned and even when a crew came in and cleared out a good chunk of the stuff, it was still so damaged from all the crap that it was still going to be condemned.  feces and water damage.  eventually, the extra crap impacts the structure of the house.  wow!

 eventually, i stopped trying on pants and headed to amy's shower.  very nicely put together by tiffany and carrie.  ate, chatted and then watched the big gift opening.  lots of cute stuff.  she likes owls, amazing how much can be found for babies with owls on it.  my favorite picture was taken sideways so can't post...so i put it on facebook.

 hit a crappy movie last night. it was a clint eastwood movie, "trouble with the curve". it was terrible.  i really thought i'd already taken a swig from my nyquil.  it was really just that bad.

 kitty, elizabeth and tawny above, gail and lena below.  nice mix of folks.  i'm not the best at indoor shots.  i know they'd come out better if i'd bring my big camera, but it always seems so invasive for these gatherings.

 people are quite imaginative with their gifts.  i think everyone liked the quilt i made, i think actually they were all shocked that i was capable of any sort of sewing.  i'm not really seen as the crafty type...and i'm not, at all.

 linda made this baby gift in the shape of a motorcyclist...so cute.

 more of those gathered. i really didn't take many pictures.  hopefully, someone else got some of it.

well, to the end of another post.  i'm still sad that i've been forced over to this new format. damn you blogger!!!!