lucky moose to not be in Russian Jack Park this week.

 3 idiot/jerk/a-holes...that is the prevailing opinion in Anchorage and i'm in total agreement with it...anyway, these guys started harassing a young moose and escalated to pulling out knives and stabbing the poor yearling to death.  a guy on a bike yelled at them to leave the moose alone and then called for Police.
The jerks are all in Jail now, but there is one less moose in Anchorage.  a very disturbing incident.  it does seem that society is finally starting to see the correlation between these incidences and a future of brutality against other humans as well.  there was a call for swift and long brutal punishment to match the crime.  people in the comments about the article were wanting names and looking the names up of these people in social media. they are adults so the information is public.

 in the bog.
strange to me that we have such protections for people under 18.  growing up the age of baptism/also the age of accountability was 8.  surely kids that are 12-18 years of age know that they should not be harming animals or other people.  they should know not to steal or sexually assault.  i just think all these protections for youth are too much.  some of these crimes should follow them through into adulthood.  it sometimes feels like society is saying...go ahead and commit these crimes...just do it before you turn 18, after that we will release your name to the public.  shame can be a powerful weapon against crime. these guys who attacked the moose were in their late 20's to 30's.  only so much that can be done as far as the law goes in these situations but i hope they give them the most that they can.

 woke up this morning to rain and the sound of sandhill cranes. love that sound.  this evening after a baby shower gathering i headed to Campbell Creek Estuary.  i heard more cranes but never saw them. another day i guess.  back to work tomorrow night for three.  can't say i accomplished tons on these days off, but enough i guess.  walks in and for sure averaged 10,000 steps/day all week.

 did two walks yesterday since i had that competency fair much of day.  since i had extra to do i was there for at least 4 hours.  so both dogs joined me for a walk in the bog in the morning and a walk up to the creek across northern lights on patterson.  Rio was pretty tuckered out.  a dog sniffing last night turned into Rio losing her balance and falling completely over.  felt so badly for her.  not much i can do in those situations.  it was a very slow walk back home last night.  she was happy to stay home today.

 the sunset isn't til after 10 i think...so we caught it from the road last night.

 the pardoned family of black bears on government hill have been mostly caught.  they still need to capture two more of the cubs...that bear has 4 cubs, quite impressive.  they have the mom and two cubs...so they will all be relocated once they are all caught up.  the moose carcass was collected and donated to a charity.  they have a system here.  usually it is used for fresh road kill...the meat is donated to various charities who have people on call to harvest the meat.  so at least the meat won't be wasted..though the men will have that charge added to their cases...since they left the meat to rot.

 another idiot on the loose but caught now...she was pulled over for a traffic stop on the Kenai.  the police saw her crawling over the seat.  she tried to "hide" in her trunk...sadly she didn't get her feet into the trunk area so those were visible.  she had fake id but the lady was known by the local police and had a warrant out...stupid!!  we are in a world with a lot of complete idiots.

 my old home, Ketchikan, sounds like they had a pretty wild wind storm the last 24 hours.  hope all are well there.

 another local idiot...or IMHO an idiot is babtist preacher Prevo.  he's a constant annoyance.  people who preach from the pulpit politics  should not be exempt from taxes.  was happy that my comment got a lot of action.  always fun.  i really do need to start writing more flaming commentary...it is fun to  get published and i have a lot of opinions.  shouldn't i share them more?  haha.

 still have housekeeping i should do. the basics get done.  i'm not a hoarder, there aren't trails of crap leading through the house...when i die i don't want to be remembered as a woman who kept a tidy house..there are many things i'd rather have on that list than housekeeping skills.  i tend to have clean up times where i really go to town.  it's a good reason to have guests and parties...gives me that incentive to have a mad clean up day.  rather my eulogy be filled with other qualities than cleanliness.  i remember when i lived in Ketchikan and we'd had a stretch of rainy weather for weeks and weeks.  finally the sun was out.  the next night i asked a co-worker what she had done on that lovely day and she had said she'd had a lot of housework to catch up on so that is what she did.  i thought that was nuts!!

 Blossom enjoying more muddy puddles.  she had some car time today, but it's pretty comfy back there.  today we walked the gasline-powerline-tank trail. the day looked nice in that area.  later the blue skies returned over much of Anchorage. for some reason my "mapmyfitness" app had malfunctions on the gps twice today.  both times i tried to track my walk with in a few minutes it said i had already gone a mile when clearly i hadn't.  when i stopped and looked at the tracker it kept going and circling all over.  freak out. no idea what happened there.  never had it happen before. hmm?  anyone else ever have that issue?

 the big military helicopters and Army soldiers helped set up base camp for the climbing season on Denali.  they tend to do this each year and make it a combo training mission.  over 700 folks have already signed up to attempt the climb of Denali this year.  mid May i think is when it starts.  Nepal is still trying to recover from their quake.  Everest is shut down.   no more climbing...the season is over.  so that guys who were thinking they would just carry on were shut down.  i'm happy to hear that. seems disrespectful in that situation to continue on.  i'm not sure they allow travel without Sherpa's up Everest...the Sherpa's are done for the season.  those high elevation mountain villages apparently were hard hit by the quake.  the Sherpa's no doubt need to head off the mountain and take care of their families and friends.

 a few snow patches on the walk today.  last years climbing season stats for Denali were 1200 attempts and 430 successful summits.

 this is looking back on the tank trail.  thought the clouds looked pretty.

 a quick stop at the estuary.  sounds but no sightings...

 well except another large bald eagle nest.  this one is a ways away from the look out point, but as you can see...there is an eagle in there so an active nest.  there is another nest at Potters.  i'm sure there are plenty more.  there are quite a few pairs of eagles in the city.  seems hard to miss these nests as they are large. once the trees will with leaves though, they will often be more difficult to spot.

 turned into a pretty day.

 tough to get out of bed when the sky is grey and it's raining.  had to living in Ketchikan so i really need to get better at just getting my day started.  did get a few things done around here though.  should pay a few bills and head to bed tonight.  always the bills to be paid.  such a bother.

 didn't see anyone out here.  the tank trail there were just a few out there. happily no bears. i get a wee bit nervous about bears or wolves out that way.  better now that the trail is wide open but still...

 three nights of work coming up.  we shall see...

grateful for:  1.  the capture and outrage surrounding those jerks who killed the moose.  2. that most of the regular folks that live around us are not violent psychopaths.  3.  being able to get out walking and enjoy the beauty of this place.  grateful that i can take photo's and share them with people. have a nice day!!

the cat puked on the dog...so how was your day?

 that long fur of Blossoms doesn't clean out easily.  of course, she didn't notice getting puked on at all.  silly girl.  she is a bit tired after our walk today.  Rio stayed home, Blossom and i looped around little campbell lake....as you can see the lake is clear of ice.

 there are some hills so it is a bit of a work out.

 Dr appointment went fine.  fluid is okay, sign of the process. if it gets too painful we can inject steroids, pull fluid out.  in the mean time ibuprofen/aleve if needed and rest  it when i've worked it too hard.  he said it can take 6 months to a year for full recovery.  so i think in generally all is going well.  felt much better today actually after resting more yesterday so i may just need to take a rest day on occasion.

 today was not a rest day!! over 10,000 steps.  10 min of rowing and then 40 lengths of swimming.  love the pool!! love rowing, love hiking/walking!!

 he was also randomly saying that he'd read something about over 50% of folks over 80 have ahlzheimers or dementia i think.  huge numbers!! i'm hoping to be in the 50% that can keep my brain working.  easy to get thinking of early aging as i recover...so today was good. just going in and realizing that a little pain is normal and i am healing well, it just takes time.

 will have to do some class time tomorrow.  yearly competency fair...i have to do a bit extra since i'm in the float pool.  hopefully i can get it all done tomorrow and also get a walk in.  thankfully, we have extended daylight hours.

 little campbell lake from the other side.  no moose sightings or signs of bear

 this huge bald eagle nest has been there for years.  this pair must have been working on the nest today.  this one seemed to be minding the nest while...

 this guy brought over twigs and stuff.  i missed the shot in air with him and the twigs. fun to just sit and watch these great birds for a bit though.

 cruised down to potters but no swans noted...so since i was that way anyway..i stopped off at See's chocolates and got some candy.  :-)  my boots had mud on them from my hike/walk.  i noted it and stomped them off before i headed into the store.  as i walked past the counter the lady starts yelling across the room for someone to get a broom and dust pan.   do i offend?

 one of my bathroom trips at work in icu the other night.....i noticed that whoever had restocked the seat covers had dated the thing..?  i asked a friend there what the purpose of this was.  are we using too  many seat covers?  do they expire?  quite perplexing.  of course, silly things like this make me think of my childhood friend Marcia.  these are the sort of strange things we would always notice and have long conversations about.  why?  why? why?

 i don't always use my turn signal but i try to use it when clearly it will benefit those around me.  today i was turning left, a guy to my left was waiting to turn right and a guy coming towards us not signaling made a quick turn to the right.  i raised my hands laughing to myself and said in my car to no one..."oh your turning right!!".  as i turned left the guy who had been waiting to turn right was laughing and agreeing with what i had been saying to myself....i was heard without being heard.  funny little moment.

 death toll keeps rising.  saw one little article that some on Everest plan to continue to try to summit.  don't think they can without the Sherpa's so we will see.  seems a bit disrespectful to continue and risk making even more people require rescue.  the mountain is speaking and it would like a break from the climbers...especially those who care only for themselves.  Everest seems to be the mountain that if you have enough money you can get your hand held to the top of it.  obviously, not everyone makes it, but it always seems like a bit less of an accomplishment to me when people rely on Sherpa's to do the work.  a real adventurer would be able to be more independent.

just found it to be an annoying thing to read considering the devastation and lost lives.  many of which have yet to be accounted for.  they can find people alive for several days after these quakes, so not all hope is lost.  it's time for bed...good night..

grateful for:  1.  birds and their antics..always cool and funny.  2.  a good day of exercise.  3.  another day in paradise!

reasoning with a 120 pound dog is not effective..

 and yet i often find myself trying.  talking to her and reasoning with her to no avail.  she doesn't want to be left home alone but doesn't want to load up in the car.  i suspect she wants to just sit on the front deck...who knows though.  for sure a communication gap between the dogs and i.
swans are here and the geese and more birds show up every day it seems.  this par was out at University Lake.  so pretty.

 growth along the Turnigan Arm trails too.  spring is arriving earlier than usual but i haven't heard anyone complaining.

 headed here with Blossom before i started my 3 nights of work.

 this day Rio opted to stay home.  or maybe i helped her opt to stay home.  can't recall.

 work went fine.  first night i got to leave work early.  ER didn't need me and neither did the house so i was home and in bed before 4 am.  so maybe this walk was actually that next day.  hmm...

 amazing how days blend together.  who knows what happens what day. i'd say that i should be worried about dementia, early onset, but i've been forgetful my entire life so i really don't think it will be easy to spot those early type signs in myself.  hopefully i never get dementia or similar.  i think we all hope our brains hold out the longest.

 the next night i worked in Acc.  took a patient out, got a patient in and then in the morning both my patients were headed out.  transferred one and then got one ready for cath lab. so a busy morning but i got out a few minutes early that day as well.

 last night i again started in the ER.  was only there half of the night.  in the end they needed to call in a nurse to PCU, transfer a PCU nurse to ER to take my patients and then i went to Peds and got admits there.  honestly, the ER could have done without me or another nurse so that seemed a bit silly, but i don't make those decisions. i just go where they tell me to.  i try to avoid being in charge of anything but myself.

 was able to average out to over 10,000 steps/day this last week.  i was about 500 steps short last night, but was way ahead other days .  i had the music on and i was dancing but i ran out of time before midnight hit before i could get all the steps.  slept a lot yesterday.

 the other day between shifts i cruised the bog then took the hood up to Patterson and down.  with the app giving me distance and time and stuff it's fun to check out the various routes i take and see how far they are.

 these are my birds for that walk . geese and woodpeckers.  the woodpeckers have been very active in the hood. i wake up hearing that banging away each day.  so funny.  what a strange adaptation.  the world is a crazy place.

 have been trying to check the news. Horrible earthquake in Nepal, they also had avalanches after on the Everest so more deaths.  i remember reading interviews about Everest and the stream of bad luck they seem to be having up there. a lot of deaths these past few years.  many sherpas have lost their lives and more have again, along with climbers.  the death toll for this earthquake is still not tallied...over 4000 at this point for sure.  many villages just haven't even been gotten to.  these huge earthquakes are just amazingly devastating.  i'm always shocked by what a difference it makes in these places with no building codes as opposed to a place like Alaska or California.  i'm not saying we can't get trashed by a quake of the same magnitude but when you look at the damage, ours is generally much less. my thoughts go out to those of Nepal and the surrounding areas.  i know they must be terribly scared and devastated.

 i've noticed along Patterson Ave that people will put their own chairs at bus stops that have no bench.  this was true for over a year at a few bus stops further up the road and now they actually have benches put in.  now this one has chairs...funny too as these chairs have names on them.  so cute.  wonder when the city will switch them out for a bench. i'm sure it is nice for folks to have a place to sit and wait for the bus.  many who ride the bus are older.

 i think the quake was around an 8.  so very large. many avalanches and mudslides.  they are having a difficult time getting in to help folks and then large aftershocks keep occurring which worsens things.  saw a video someone took of the avalanche on Everest.  read that those who took refuge in their tents were some of the worse off as they became trapped in the tents and were picked up and slammed down.  folks from all over the world go to Everest and the surrounding area.

 in that article about the Sherpas and Everest. some in the local villages seemed to be saying they felt that the mountain decides if it wants to be climbed and they thought the mountain was tired of all the people up there.  probably of all the trash being left behind as well. they are trying to get helicopters in to get folks out.  it is a wee bit ironic to me that all these climbers can't find a way to climb off of a mountain?  supposedly the ways out are covered and unstable though. the air is thin and there is limited supplies i'm sure for experimenting with routes.  they are flying out the injured first so those who haven't been physically injured must wait.  there are many above the avalanche area who are trapped up there.

 they haven't had a quake that large in many years.

 i enjoyed watching these swans out there on U-Lake yesterday....everyone seemed to be enjoying the pair.  they don't often chill here.  lots of dogs out there too.  my pups were pretty tired by the time we got home.

 we were for sure not winning any speed races out there.

 have my appointment today to get my knee checked.  we shall see what the doc says. plan to walk dogs after and maybe see if there are any more swans out at Potters.

 the ice is pretty thin at U-Lake.  birds are so light though these swans can easily walk on top of the thin ice. not too worried about Blossom out there now.  she would just crash through this thin stuff and be fine getting back to land. the edges were open anyway so she'd have to swim pretty far in to be in any trouble.

 still need to make breakfast and it's nearly 1 pm.  took a late nap last night then lay around lazily watching a movie. so to bed late...movie and dancing at the same time.

 always love the swans they are so beautiful and graceful.

 they are working on the camera's out at Round Island.  the crew arrived safely. we are getting thank you notes out to the organizations that donated.  otherwise a slow week for me WARIS wise.  hand out my card at work, carry them around and then start up the conversation.  i'm always open to talk about walrus.

 little beaver swimming around.

 back to swans.

 and..then there are the mosquito's.  a few swarms of them out there yesterday. it's that time of year as well.

 the first bunch have hatched and are out and ready to attack and suck blood.

 quite the swarm of them out there yesterday.  no bites though.

 not as bad as the swarms i saw in Nome when i was up there. hopefully i won't get attacked up in Barrow this summer. they have daylight all summer so i chose late July/August.

 swans and grebes...the grebes are often spotted out there.

 there was also a huge and devastating volcano in  South America this week.  the earth is never shy about showing that it is more powerful than us all.

 guess i better get my day moving along.  do want to hit the gym later today for a swim and some rowing/biking maybe.  looks like we got some rain last night.

 maybe more coming.

thankful for:  A. buildings that have some earthquake resistence.  you can't always beat mother nature but i'm happy to live where we at least try a bit B. being needed at work, it's always a good thing.  needed and appreciated.  C.  that the swans are back..welcome spring