just a tree trimming kind of day...

 first we trimmed the tree in the woods for the wood critters and then the O'Conners came over and trimmed my tree.  such a great family!!  thanks guys!!

 a few from the dog park the other day.  always love all the ice.  we are still having some freezing rain.  i guess the norther lights were pretty impressive where there weren't clouds sunday night.  i didn't drive out to see them though.

 i'm pretty sleepy again tonight.  this time of year just gets more busy with all the tasks of the season.  it's a fun busy though.  got some shopping in this afternoon before tree trimming.  several friends will be out of town for Christmas and i'll be working so this stuff before is more of it for me for this year.

 more runimating, but thankfully i was too busy with tasks to really ruminate to any great level.

 coffee after the walk was fun.  lots of kids and folks.  i made spice cupcakes this morning which were a hit.  had intentions of making cookies, but that never happened.  did make some chicken noodle soup which is always tasty.

 one of the ice on the beach.  as i said yesterday i never got down to the water level for fear of sliding down the hill on all the ice.

 did take a few minutes yesterday to attempt a few photo's of the skiers on the trails.  there was an organized race series going on. there seemed to be several stages with various ages i'm thinking.  always love that alaska and anchorage specifically has a really great cross country ski program.

 fun to get some black and whites of them.

 the paper printed some colour pictures that readers have submitted to yesterdays paper.  one i took a few weeks back made it onto that page.  it was of ice/hockey players.  so that was fun.

 the ice looked pretty crappy for skiing to me, but i'm a fair trail skier...i like it at the right temperature, packed and groomed.  i'm just not a good enough skier to go on this crappier trail.

 the Christmas cards are starting to make their way to my house.  so fun to get snail mail.  great to catch up with people.  not everyone is on facebook.

 made it to costco as well. so rio has a new bed for nights.  hope she likes it.  it was a bit more spendy than the usual beds i get for the dogs.  she does deserve comfort though so i'm just calling it her christmas gift for this year.

 don't think i'll have any trouble sleeping tonight. it's rare that i do.  worn out again today.

 we did do the big loop, which was great.  seems like it's been awhile since i have. the pool hasn't been happening so i really need to get back at that.  i also want to get back to lifting weights.  i need to get some tone to my upper body at least.  if i start lifting i can usually get a nice build pretty fast.

 as usual i stopped yesterday at one of my favorite local trees for some photo's.

 saw this pair in the bog the other day.  i couldn't pass them for a bit.  they did finally take a path out of the park and i could ten move on with my walk.  not too many people out and about on the trails with all this ice.

 a bit of snow and that will pick up.  there were some snow flakes coming down earlier but it seemed to be back to freezing rain by the time we got home.

 i'm waiting for the ice to go away before i try rio out too much out there.  with her age, one bad injury could be catastrophic.

 some fungi

 since i didn't go down to the edge of the water i walked blossom the other way down the tony knowles trail just to wear her out.  hardly any humans out there.  kinda spooky!

 lichen...such a bright yellow.

 handed amy the camera while we decorated the tree. thanks amy!!

 a few dogs kept trying to take off with the various garlands we had made and were trying to get to the tree.

 attempts to get a photo of me with blossom, mostly unsuccessful

 still a spindly alaskan tree but maybe a bit better than last years tree.

 the dogs had fun as usual.  one tennis ball chewed to bits.

 little lucy napped for much of the walk, but woke up when we hit the tank trail

 she woke up happy!!

 arika came with her two and nate brought his 2.  speedy came in as well with her wee one.  i think they all had fun.  it was sochia's birthday so thankfully i had made cake!!  syd got us all to sing happy birthday.

 sandra stopped by as well.  apparently arika had some splaining to do in regards to a bit of a tall tale sandra had told the kids and i had probably made all the more enticing. she was telling them about santra's magic beard.  if you put our hands in his beard you could come up with all sorts of hidden treasures!!

 everyone got their baby fix in!!

 a few from tonights low key tree trimming gathering. just me and the o'conners!!  relaxing and festive!!

 even rio participated in the festivities.

 blossom was less enthusiastic but she was willing to put up with the hat for treats!!

 smile blossom!!

 miss breezy chatterbug hung with blossom so get herself in a photo.

well, that is all for now. my eyes are ready to sleep so i shall.