each day an adventure in alaska: a night at the zoo!!

cruising around in a fog today trying to remember what it was i had set my brain to doing tonight, then i remembered...zoo lights! there were way more people there than i expected! i just cruised around, enjoyed the lights and snuck peaks at the animals who were probably wondering why people were there at night. the snow leopards were out and about and their enclosure was actually the only one lit enough for snap shots. they are one of my favorite cats though so i was totally happy to hang and watch them for a bit.

first 3 nights in the float pool. oriented to the peat team. it's a rapid response team. team being me and the respiratory person i believe. paper work seems a bit cumbersome and i must say for my 3 nights nothing happened. not one peat call (pager never went off) and the phone only rang 2x in the 3 nights. strange to not have a structure after years of such a tight schedule as a nurse. i was getting anxious on the third night as i was doing it on my own and it's kinda nerve wracking waiting for the pager to go off. i suspect i'll do fine at this part of the job, but anything new is always a bit anxiety inducing. mostly i wandered around and did "rounds". i knew the first few months of this change would be a bit stressful and uncomfortable. it was a bit tedious just waiting around. my body felt great though.

campbell airstrip and the bog were the walks of the past few days. today i took the dogs for a short walk at kincaid park. i was determined to get to the native craft fair at the dimond mall. my thought was to try and buy a cool piece of artwork for the wall in the guest bedroom. instead i purchased myself a pair of warm otter/seal gloves. they are just partial gloves which i'd never seen before. i'll have to take pictures. it's the only "fur" i own. not gotten by trapping. the artist is also the hunter, native. i told her next year i'll have to try and buy a hat from her to match. she lives in ketchikan. i also bought a few prints from another artist from point hope. he tells stories in his art. there was one sad picture that dealt with the fall out of death from the nuclear bomb experiementation of years ago that cost many humans and wildlife their lives. he said he was 10 years old at the time. i bought two prints by him. (he gave me a deal). again, i'll try and take photos of my purchases. lots of cool stuff. this is my favorite show as the artists are all in from the various villages and working on their crafts at the booths.
i walked the dogs while the artist worked on my gloves. she was making them there at the booth. i'll wear them downtown tomorrow for the iditarod ceremonial start. i'll have to try and get to bed so i can get myself moving early.

the streets got cleaned up the other morning. i always love watching the big trucks working in the hood. one of these days i'll have to go out there with my camera and get some fun photo's.

these are at the sand dunes.

my rounds of the hospital took me almost 3 hours. i just tried to touch base with almost all the nurses and check on their patients. lots of places in the hospital i'd never been too before. i round twice a night if i can i guess. my late night round i carried a bag of candy, that always helps break the ice. it is a strange position in that you don't want to step on anyones toes, but i know at times i will have to. it'll be a balance between helping/teaching and just taking action. the idea is to decrease the number of codes by intervening before things get worse.

next week i think i orient to the emergency department. we shall see. i haven't done human emergency work so it will be another area that is a totally different structure than i'm used to. we shall see if this old dog can adapt. it does make me keen to learn a bit more and get my brain back in working order. that can't be bad.

kuspuks? i always spell that wrong. these tops and jackets are made and worn by natives for the cold weather. this was a pretty jacket. lots of these for sale at the native craft fair.

the rest are from the zoo. the polar bears and tigers were hiding i guess. bummer. this little seal was out and about. so were the fox. too dark for snapshots though.

it's a light show out there. i think it is originally set up for the christmas season, but they open it up again during fur rondy. special tickets for after regular zoo hours.

the lights are pretty.

the baldies were chilling in the red glow of heat lamps i think.

this cat was near the tiger enclosure.

these snow leopards coats are so dense and beautiful. the spots seem to just be sitting on top of the fur.

love their big pads as well.

the male and female were seperated. someone said the female had been chewing this guys ears and making them bleed.

most of the alaska zoo exhibits are smaller enclosures than one would like to see, but the animals looked well cared for. i was a volunteer zoo keeper at the los angeles zoo for several years. you take a zoo keeper course, can't remember how long that class lasted. seemed like it was once a week for at least 8 weeks or so. then you volunteer. i really enjoyed my time doing that. wouldn't mind doing that here, i think they have a pretty involved volunteer process. with my shift work it could be tough.

lots of zoo light animals scattered about the zoo.

these were just a few of my favorites.

the artist from point hope said they have an annual whale festival the first week of june...may have to try and make it to point hope for that. seems like there are loads of artists from there.

just looking at the position of the mushers for tomorrow. i'm hoping to try and get downtown early and see them all chilling with their dogs before they take off through anchorage. then perhaps i will take off and watch them pass by near the hospital, always fun.

was thinking perhaps i should try for this summer trip to nome this summer and make the plans while there to head there next winter for the end of the iditarod. that always has sounded like a fun trip. i hear you have to make arrangements super early though.