it will be pretty low key for me. need to wake up and get the turkey in the crock pot, then i can nap again. take a walk, make the rest of the fixings, eat with friends and then...work! at least i will have good leftovers to eat!! :-) love turkey leftovers.
decided to cruise down to Westchester Lagoon and take a walk near the water. the cross country ski team from West High it looked like was taking a skating day. it did snow yesterday/last night but only a smidgee. great to see that the lack of snow hasn't kept their spirits down. everyone looked to be having a great time out there.
the city usually maintains this as an outdoor skating rink...they can't get the trucks out there until the ice is 12 inches thick. not there yet. that isn't stopping the city folk from getting out there. asked one girl how the ice was, she mentioned some good crackling noises but wasn't put off by it. i heard a big crack when a few teenagers were near the out take area. not really a great place to skate. they jumped, a bit nervous, and then skated off laughing.
was going to get the kicksled out but after walking the dogs and snapping photo's i was getting a bit chilled and ready to call it a day. yes, dogs...Rio decided to not be left behind again. she does seem sore these days, but she still wanted to go. with a bum knee i'm not in any hurry these days anyway, she may as well join us.
otherwise, i straightened up a wee bit and took a nap. prepped some stuff for the stuffing. cooking will happen tomorrow mostly. maybe i'll try and hit rovers run while the turkey cooks.
one of the Iditarod mushers was run over by a car while out running her dogs. she has now been brought to Anchorage with a broken back and leg according to news reports. on the plus side her dogs have all been rounded up and they all have only minor injuries.
there was another musher that killed himself recently after his dogs were removed for neglect. those dogs are at animal control fattening up. his friends are hoping they will find a home together...but that is like 12 dogs so might not be a realistic hope.
they are still trying to find the horrible person who slit a pit bulls neck and hung the dog from a tree. someone like this needs to be found and removed from society....not normal behaviour, very alarming and frightening that they have yet to figure out who was responsible.
that is the dog news.
sent a letter off to the governor elect so we shall see if that gets us anywhere. wonder if there are any rumors of changes in the fish and game positions? he seems to be putting together a blended team...i hope so anyway. this nation needs a new party...a moderate party. time to let both the democrats and the republicans know we are through with their shenanigans.
chatting with a relative for a bit today. it is funny. it reminded me a bit of one thing that annoyed me in the church of my youth. this facade that so many people put out there. just wanted to say, "i'm so happy that your life is absolutely perfect and that you have the answer to all the questions". when i was in and younger i really believed these fake lives that were presented to me and often felt very badly about myself. how could all these other people have such perfect shiny lives while i was struggling and felt so imperfect. i watched many of these perfect facades crumble before me as the truth of their way less than perfect lives came crashing down. i just remember finding the life stressful, i could never measure up there. i could never be what they expected everyone to be....
now i revel in the imperfect being that i am. i have no expectation of obtaining perfection and i really don't believe that any God expects us to become perfect. God just expects us to be kind, loving and to protect this beautiful earth that was created. some act like God created this for mans use and destruction. why then would God have made thousands of types of butterflies of all sorts of colors and wildflowers of every color and shape. if God made this earth simply for mans use it would have just had ocean, land and maybe cows and chickens...one type of salmon, cause why would you need more? Gods love is in the details. that water can be liquid, solid, steam...and all sorts of varieties of ice, more than i ever knew could exist.
the more we destroy this place and the life that abides here the more we are corrupting Gods love.
for sure never heard that in any church. who could create a building more beautiful than all the places in nature that God has created for us. what am i thankful for...the earth, the water, the sky, the lights, the sun, the flora and the fauna, even the mosquito's and spiders...it all works harmoniously together in perfect synchrony. spell check keeps flagging that but i just looked in Websters.
the seasons, the tides the moon...we are such a small part of it all.
lots to do to get ready for this season. not sure i'll get to it all. some years it's just less critical for me. i'll get my cards out and hopefully the tree up. gifts may be late...we shall see. i'll see what i can get done before surgery and then...well, the rest can wait. perhaps my Christmas gift to me will be to slowly work on some of these silly piles of paper...where does it all come from? drives me nuts and every so often i just have a purge event.
woke with a big knot on my left neck/back. slept on a tennis ball. i put it on the knot and hope it works it's magic.
the big mountain was out today. i think the lights could be flashing. got a different aurora notification app. i think it's the one my friend had. it gives me notifications. perhaps i'll brave the cold and get out there and catch a few more this year. hot flash...still a few of those to contend with. so annoying!!
laundry day. love fresh sheet day.
the state of Alaska spent 100K fighting same sex marriage...wish that hadn't been wasted on this battle and instead had gone to help the walrus. they say we have no money in the budgets and then they waste the money we do have on pointless battles. it's over...gays can marry. get over it, move on.
fergussen...not even gonna bother looking up how to spell that city. get your shit together people. it is sad when these things happen. what is that line in the song, "i fought the law and the law won". when an officer tries to stop you comply don't try to wrestle the cop. as soon as you take action against any officer they have my permission to do what they need to do to subside you. the risk of doing any crime is that you will get caught, another risk is that you may die.
we need police officers and so we need them to be able to defend themselves. don't give them a reason to shoot at you. it's sad that this young man is dead, it's sad that he chose to fight and flight instead of obeying the requests of an officer. it's sad that people are looting and burning their own neighborhoods and it's sad that his family is still egging on an already explosive situation instead of handling it in a way that prevents others from getting harmed and businesses from being looted and burned.
could the officer have taken different actions, that is something that can and should be looked at. from what i can gather most places have internal investigations when any shootings happen. are there bad cops, yes i'm sure there are. they are also human and despite training i imagine some situations can get pretty dang scary and sometimes training doesn't work to perfection. people are people. so you learn from the mistakes and you make changes. sorry for the loss this family feels, but it seems that things have been blown out of proportion by the media...again...the truth may have been lost in the fervor to get a story told. this community has become patsies. the fervor about the fervor has created more fervor. if it all dies down the news would just move on to some other thing and blow it out of proportion.
no criminal charges will be filed but the family can still sue the city for a wrongful death. it's not the same as having your loved on back but it's time to accept that mistakes may have been made on both sides.
fun watching this one biker collect a variety of friends and cruise around the lagoon. that guy must have gotten quite the work out
pretty skies. always nice to be able to watch the sunsets here. a bit cloudy in some parts all day. when i got in the car it looked nice towards the west side. i often have no idea where i'm walking until i get a look around the city and see where the weather looks good.
long train came by while i was out there. the dogs didn't get the long walk but they did get a lot of love from all those west high kids. i think Blossom was in heaven. she is so social!! she would be homecoming queen if she were a human and not a dog.
in the summers these trains seem to only be hauling tourists, now they are all about work.
pretty skies.
back to the skaters..
just loved these chain shots. so fun!
just as fast as they all piled onto the ice, they all piled back off again and skates changed back to sneakers and boots.
always great to see kids out and active rather than bent over computers screens, phones and games.
it gives you hope for the future. will this generation want to destroy the planet more or will they want to save it
i hope it's the latter.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night...
thankful fors:
turkey and all the fixings with friends and/or family. may everyone be safe and happy and may nobody be alone and hungry.
the earth and the cosmos and the trillion amazing and beautiful things that exist therein.
2 sweet kittens and 2 wonderful pups who keep me company and make me laugh.
