love to wake up at 2am, look outside and see a bull moose perusing the hood...so cool!!

 i watched him wandered slowly around the neighborhood.  i finally stepped outside for a quick shot even though i knew it would be crap.  no matter how often i see moose wandering around anchorage they still surprise and amuse me.

 these first ones are from arctic valley.  above from the saddle where you can see all the way down south fork in eagle river.  those are eagle and symphony lakes way back there

 these are leftover silo's from the cold war era.  and below again is the south fork. we were looking at our planned hike for the next day....hanging valley.

 i am on call at this time.  my week at work was one night in the cardiac care unit, then i was a sitter again...easy money but a long night.  the case was interesting though.  you must always be careful to not judge a situation in this business...you will often be proven wrong.  all to often people see a history and treat someone a certain way due to that history.

 tonight i started out in the adult icu but quickly found myself with an option to go home...then that quickly turned to me staying and being a sitter, then again turned out to be me going home.  i'm on call though so you never know.  i came home and crashed though.  slept like a rock for a few hours and then blossom woke me up.she wanted to go outside and that is when i saw the moose out there.

 my party was successful and fun.  there was a nice crew that showed up. maddie was sweet and brought several teddy bears to help desensitize me.  amy brought me a bear kit as well....love the bear mug.  big old bear face.  i put it in my cupboard so i see that bear face every time i get a plate/bowl or glass out.  makes me smile.  people stayed until after midnight.  i was mildly hungover the next morning, but have felt much calmer and in control of my emotions since.  thanks to all who came and joined in...will for sure plan more gatherings again for this winter.  it's about time that pool room gets regular use!!

 the next day i met up with kathy for lunch..she'd just returned from kaktovik.  looks pretty amazing. sounds like a spendy adventure.  they were lucky and knew someone there who gave them the inside deals, but it sounds like a bit of price gouging goes on and there ain't a dang thing you can do for it.  gas is $11/gal and the car rentals were running at $125/hour...yes...per hour.  the hotel room is $240/night per person about.  tours also charged by the hour and even if it says tour included you can't totally count on that.  lots of bears around and i'm sure she got some amazing photo's.

 opened the anchorage daily news to see another of my reader photos had made it in there. love when that happens.  so cool.  it was one of my tiny, hairy mushroom photos.  i'm easily pleased.

 my nights of not being to busy at work did allow me to do some required education on the computer.  it was my first time doing the pediatric advanced life support course on line.  you have all these scenarios to run through.  it's like a computer game for coding a baby/child.  takes some time to figure out where all the little buttons are to do the various things one does when a kid stops breathing, but after several unsuccessful bouts i got them all done.  often i'd just forget to push pause as my patient woke up and needed something.  then the simulator things you have done nothing for 2-5 minutes or however long it took for me to help the patient to the bathroom...oops.

 we could see a few local volcano's from arctic valley.  this is redoubt.  we also could see iliamna.

 wait i think above is iliamna and below is redoubt...hmm.

 have a stretch of days off.  tempted to head down to homer or valdez.  may see who has a dog friendly hotel room available and go from there.  not keen on camping out..it's getting cold out there.  we have had termination dust at this point, which is that first snow that coats the tops of the local mountains.  i could also take a day and just do the mad drive north. the first 30 miles of road are supposed to still be open up in denali.

 liked the ski lift chairs with the colour behind them.

 the amount of the check for the alaska permanent fund was announced, $900/per person.  it's heading back up.

 not sure what i'll spend mine on....often i just add it to my savings account, at least most of it.

 i've had the cable folks out a few times.  my tv comes on normal and then the picture is gone, i still have sound.  not sure if it's cable related or if my tv is going out.  my tv isn't that old so that seems strange, but all the electronics now aren't built to last so i guess i wouldn't be too surprised.  anyway, they've changed out the cable box and cord.  i have a new remote.  the guy came yesterday again, but it never did it yesterday, then after he left it did it again.  everyone there has been nice, except one guy and he was a jerk.  i complained about him.  he was just so rude on the phone.

 these are at cheney lake the day after i got back from my denali highway trek.

 there is a full moon out there now. beautiful night.  of course, friday with a full moon...could be bad.

 i moved one night with my patient that i was a sitter for up to the fifth floor.  i'm never up there...it's so far away!! i went to take vital signs and they had the manual cuffs in the rooms...that is what they still use.  good thing i still remember how to do that!  haha.  everyone was nice up there.  helpful to me.

 my patient at one point asked me if i was newly in love...i had to ask why?  she said i had a glow about me...nice to know i have a glow about me.  :-).

 my little wild flower patch in my garden still has flowers blooming.  strange but pretty.

 took care of an older guy who came to alaska in the 40's i think.  of course, life was much different back then.  he told me that where the hospital is now was still wild lands and that when they arrived they were directed to the land where the hospital now stands to pitch their tents.  many people lived in those big army type canvas tents the first years they were here in those days.  he and his wife were lucky as they found an apartment to rent.  i love chatting with these old time alaskans.  they have such fascinating tales.  life in alaska is still a bit on the wild side at times, but living here back in those days with the equipment they had then was no easy life.  being a nurse opens you up to a lot of folks you would never have a chance to meet and talk to...just another cool aspect of life.

 amy and lucy joined me for a walk that emotional post bear day.  thought this came out cute of them.

 snow has fallen in the interior of alaska and we may get snow this week as well.  things move quickly

 another walk in campbell airstrip..this was my first one by myself in the woods.  as usual i focused on the plants and wildlife and tried to put the bear to rest.

 lots of moose...i'm getting hungry.  may need to have a snack before attempting to return to sleep.  still just hoping the phone doesn't ring to come back into work.

 love the forest floor with all the red

 so pretty.

 the mushrooms look totally different...requiring more pictures!!

 more retelling of the bear story over my days at work.  loved that one alaskan co-worker seemed impressed by the tale.  she's not easy to impress, she used to be the boss in the adult unit, grew up in rural alaska.  i guess i would have thought she would have been more of one of those monday morning quarterbacks but she wasn't at all.  she got that this was a serious situation with a rogue bear that no doubt needs to be shot. she had also told the charge nurse that the patient i was giving needed to go to a good nurse and not some newbie...so she sees me as one of the good nurses.  who knew!

 another reader photo was posted the other day of a kid with his black bear that he'd shot the kid was 11 and was holding the dead bears head and had a big proud smile.  someone was offended by this...i'm not a hunter, but it never occurred to me to be offended by this.  kids who spent time outdoors and parents who encourage it should be commended.  as long as everyone is respectful of the animal and not wasteful i am ok with it.  we have loads of bears in alaska and they do need to be kept in check at times.  you won't see a kid smile that big after playing a video game i can assure you of that.

 was laughing chatting with my sister last night.  she mentioned something about the lower 58...i asked her if the united states had added on 10 other states recently that i wasn't aware of.  haha...slip of the tongue i'm sure...she said she had taken something a bit more powerful than tylenol for a migraine she was recovering from.  in alaska we refer to the other states as the lower 48.

 someones dog is barking out there...it's after 3 am.  i can't hear it too loudly but i'm sure their direct neighbors are thrilled.

 noticed they had a wine coloured skhoop...bought one.  so cute!! i was ready for a new and exciting colour.  love my skhoops!

 blossom peaks out between the trees.

 my sister mentioned all my mushrooms pictures and again this coffee table idea.  way too much work involved!! mushroom calender, maybe, kids book, maybe, coffee table book...don't hold your breath.  haha

 think i shall attempt to get another nap in.  then i can think about how to spend my days off.  fingers crossed the phone doesn't ring.

i'm perfectly happy sleeping until morning!!  good night.