and so it begins....

 have never actually spread my pets ashes and it is working well for me. i combine some from Blossom, Rio Catalina and Baby Huey together in an old medicine container and carry them with me.  when the time and place is right i create some sort of memorial. i realize it is temporary and i had to remind myself that they are now spirits so impervious to the cold at this time.  they can simply enjoy the view and the memories of times we shared at the various spots.

 Huey's buddy was actually Butch, but Butch passed away in Ketchikan and is buried there as there was no respectful way to get his cremains returned to me.  seemed fitting to just add his ashes in with the other pups.  the first one above was out at North Bivouac.  clearly we spend a great deal of time there.  below i am trying to make another memorial at the open area on the way up to Hidden lakes off of Powerline Pass.  the puppies are not always helpful in this process.

 some of these were taken by friends, i think MT.  the cairn got tipped a few times.

 today it was 1 F when i woke up.  it's supposed to drop below zero tonight.

 Sundays and Tuesdays are working out to be longer walk days.  i need to get my work out together for at least Sat and Mondays.

 i do miss the pool.

 the rush is on for Christmas stuff.  can't say i have much enthusiasm but we shall try.  the cards are made and so are my calendars.  no shopping done.

 these are for sure MT.  hope she doesn't mind me sharing.

 Winston was in fine form.  it was pretty cold that day as well.  warmer than today though.  close to 5-10 i'd guess.  i loaded Ivy up with pink and purple as we headed down the hill.  she did share that with her lighter colored puppy friends.  sorry guys. not sure MT and JT were excited to take that extra mile or so up the hill but when i mentioned i'd brought some of Blossoms Ashes...well, of course, they had to come.  sorry for playing the deceased dog card and many thanks again for coming with us to scatter some ashes.

 Blossom and Rio had many friends these past many years and Huey was known in his day as well.  hopefully, these two pups can make many friends as well.  i'm sure the jumping will eventually subside.  :-)  she is a cutie

 MT adds some treats for the pups.

 attempts to get all the dogs on one rock for a photo op.

 Tusker had class tonight.  i think the other dog owners are a bit distressed as he is so mellow in class, i think he'd rather nap. i assured them i had another puppy who was not as mellow.  my yin and yang pair.  i have fallen for them both though.  so grateful to have them around.  i'm sure i've been a bit over protective of them these past few weeks.  just can't fathom losing another animal for some time to come.

 today we went to the beach off of Kincaid and they got to run and run.  i gave them some freedom.  it's probably a sign that i am starting to move forward more. i will miss Blossom for a long, long time.  it's been a year and i was still missing Rio.  at least they are together and i can take some comfort in that

 the ice is in at the beach.  haven't looked at the pictures yet.  love the beach with the ice.  it was low tide. they aren't as obsessed with the water as Blossom was...at least not yet anyway.

 i decorated the skeleton for Christmas.  check.  will need to ponder the Christmas Tree thing.  can just see those puppies trying to drag the whole thing out the dog door.

 the phone pics are always so jumbled.  just another view of the first memorial and below a moose we passed rather close to.

 we've had a few close moose encounters this week.  aside from Tusker letting out a little bark or two, which i was able to correct.  we have managed to pass by unscathed.  i'm hoping they are learning how to behave around these rather large ungulates.  on todays walk we passed 4 moose on the way in.  that was really in an only 1.5 mile part of the trail.

 one was right on the trail and we had to again, go off trail to get around the young curious moose.

 attempts to get pictures with my puppies are not always easy.  haha.

 it turned into a wrestle session.

 last night Tusker began looking up at the ceiling.  it was odd.  no Ivy, just Tusker. he did it like 10 times.  looked a bit spooked.  this was downstairs and the door to the room above us was closed.  i always think, when dogs do this, especially so close to a death, they are seeing something that as an adult human i can't see.  wish i could see her and know all was well.  he soon settled back down and that was that.

 here is memorial 2, up Powerline pass.  it was a few stones taller but Ivy jumped up a few times on the rock and toppled them. i'm sure Blossom and Rio would understand.

 Karen snapped this one of me and the pups on the very chilly Monday walk.

 thought it turned out well.  changed my profile pic.  time to let Blossom rest as far as that goes.

 seems like lots of break ins of late.  makes me ponder moving to some small town again.  did love that feeling of safety living in Ketchikan.  no big plans...just something i mull around from time to time.

  the pups love to run on the ice out there.

 it was also how i kept them occupied while i set this up.

 watched Gilmore Girls. don't want to do any spoilers, but i will say it seemed a bit awkward at first.  took them awhile to get back in the groove of their characters. the last one, fall, really felt like them again.  maybe that was part of the plan.  fun that they did that and i'm happy with it overall.

 back to work again tomorrow night.  hopefully, it's fairly chill.

 her color wears off it seems in like 5 days.

 they are pretty good snuggle pups.  happy to have them around. i'd be way more nervous if i had no dog at the house.  they are learning to bark, though oddly when someone stopped by tonight and knocked they didn't bark at all.

 the frost is building up with all this cold. they do keep predicting snow, but then they push back the day it will happen.  everyone is enjoying ice skating and kick sledding but we are also very ready for snow.

 a few from the start of walk out Powerline Pass the other day.

 some blue skies showed up and so did the big mountain, Denali.

 waiting for JT.

 dogs on the loose.

 always a fun and easy walk.

 guess i should look at some photos and head to bed.

thankful for:  A.  kindness, brave folks who are standing up for others.  B.  our forefathers...may their beautiful Nation stand protected, may all the checks and balances hold true.  C.  icy beaches...so cool. can't wait to see if any pictures turned out.

Ivy makes me smile...

 had to add colors a few more times, just to help keep me smiling.  her antics do that anyway.  Tusker is my steady, calm, snuggler.  they are yin and yang, which is great.  the sunsets are from a few different days

 more hikes to load, as always i'm behind in my photo's.  clearly i take too many pictures, but living here, how can i not take so many. it's beautiful.

 these were out turnigan arm after my walk at the coastal refuge.

 was thinking yesterday about a visit with my brother who was living in the DC area at the time.  a friend of mine had joined me at some point for this visit with my brother and his partner there.  we all had a great time!  what made me think about it was a tv show on CNN about the 80's.

 they were talking about aids/hiv.  in the 80's it was new and so much was unknown and nobody wanted to put in the time and effort as initially it was seen as some sort of curse on gay men.  eventually, of course, it became clear that it wasn't just those in the gay community that were getting it.  still it was slow getting money to study this new disease and to find help.  many in the gay communities got together and protested.  it's how things happen often.  enough folks get out and let those in the government know this is an issue that can not be ignored.

 much of the bigger fights were in the 80's but still the battle was raging on in the 90's.  in '96 when we were visiting we joined my brother and his partner on a walk in DC.  fun experience.  it's good to be on the right side of things in life.

 at the time we were there they laid out these series of quilts that had been made and were moving around the nation.  each quilt was about the size of a coffin and made in remembrance of someone who had died of Aids.  it was pretty impressive laid out on the mall.  i will have to scan those in my computer and share them at some point.

 earlier in the election process John Stewart had come on someone elses show for a bit of a rant.  i loved it.  he was just saying in part that conservatives do not own patriatism, or Christianity, or love of law enforcement or military.  there is sometimes this slant that if you are not a conservative you therefore hate all these things.  it's not true. it's also not true that one must be liberal to want to help others or help the earth.  we are mostly people who want our world to be peaceful and kind.

 sadly, since this election result there has been an uptick in unkindness.  since our incoming POTUS appears to be a racist.  he was a hero to many with all his birther crap and now many of those folks feel empowered.  it's sad to read so many stories on PSN about all these horrible comments and incidents of our fellow Americans.  we need to be on the watch and make sure that anytime we see or hear these sort of comments we stand up.  it's a time to be again, on the right side of history. no matter the other crap, on this we need to stand together and protect all the others.

 there is talk of irregularities in some states with the voting machines.  HRC did concede but if there were incidences of potential irregularities then the votes should be recounted.  the fact that HRC team will join in is not at all like when Drumpf stated repeatedly if he didn't win it would be proof of a rigged election.  i guess today he tweeted that the fact that he lost the popular vote is proof that it was rigged.  the guy is nuts.  he truly believes that 2.5 million votes are counted wrong and that he won both the electoral and popular vote.

 someone at work on break mentioned that Drumpf won't take a salary like he was saving us loads of money.  i just laughed.  the guy will use the office along with his teams of lawyers and accountants to make money for himself.  his family plans to stay in New York apparently making it necessary to pay for two full secret service crews.  one may live in a building he owns so basically, the guy who probably hasn't paid taxes for like 20 years will be charging all of us tax payers millions.  he charges the secret service members flight costs anytime they fly on his plane with him.  it's all a joke..

 sorry, just have to vent this crap every so often or i will go stir crazy thinking about it all.

 i'll move away from politics.  my papers have often gone unread...just tired of it all.

 and this is why i color my white dog.  it makes me laugh and it makes me smile.

 find myself often calling Blossom instead of Ivy or Tusker on trails or at home.  just waves of sadness that she isn't here anymore.  some disbelief.  twice now i have combined some of her ashes along with some of Rio Catalina and Baby Hueys and created a small memorial on the trail.  i'll have more on that later.

 today, i headed up towards Hidden Lakes with friends and had a second little memorial.  i think i may have made them walk further than they had desired but we laughed as once i said i had some of her ashes...well, they couldn't say no to me.  i pulled the dead dog card.  it was nice to have some friends along for this one and after they tolerated the fact that Ivy was made into a rainbow bridge of sorts again.  seems a fitting part of the memorial i guess.  of course their dogs got some color on them from the playing.  they were very understanding.  thanks guys!!

 these pics are up at Prospect Heights last week.  will try to do longer walks when i can.  may as well.  walking is the best thing for me mentally...that, writing and photography.

 no idea how these puppies still have energy but they do.

 met a friend for dinner after the walk and then hit target for memory cards since my camera said card full part way through the walk.  the other day i had my camera but had forgotten to put the charged battery back in. i'll have to do a blog post with a bunch of phone pics. i'm so behind.

 my work week...well my last night started with a patient extremely active in the bed. alligator rolls with a spine injury.  that patient didn't speak much but every word out was some sort of swear word.  i was cocksucker.  i think the neuro DR or PA, not sure, but she was F.....Bitch. my muscles were knotted up within 30 minutes of arriving to work.  eventually, drugs and restraints won the battle at least temporarily.  still had another patient to attend to as well.  there was a bunch of difficult to manage patients in ICU this week.  often i find myself joking...if only those tv shows that show hospital situations showed these scenes.  the stuff nurses really deal with in hospitals.  it's nuts

 my first night was in the ER and the second night i was in the ER until there was an ICU patient and no nurse..so i moved from the ER to the ICU with this patient at 5 am.  that is life as a float nurse, you go where they need you

 my foot is a bit sore and swollen from the walk today. that DR didn't put any restrictions on my activity. perhaps he didn't realize how active i tend to be.

 had a friendsgiving last night at a friends house...thank you JT!!  always fun. i was a bit sleepy, so i didn't stay too late and didn't blog last night.  i just crashed.

 took the dogs to Jodphur trail for a loop over to the dunes. they always have fun at the dunes.  we had a few moose at the start.  they didn't see the moose really. they are getting better at smelling them so i really have to watch them.  Tusker took off in the brush today and it took some effort to get him to return.  he is more likely to not listen of the two.  never saw what interested him today.  it was pretty thick brush.  porcupine?  moose?  no idea.  thankfully, he was fine.  i think since Blossom passed i'm probably much more neurotic with these guys.

 don't want any further vet visits for awhile and i have had more than my share of pet deaths this year.  do not want to risk another.

 walked them back on leash the last mile to do some work and avoid those brushy bits and the risk of him taking off again.

 we did the bog as well the other day.  i think i did skip one day of walking in between shifts.  probably wouldn't but Ivy still likes to pounce on me when i'm trying to sleep during the days.  that day i woke and when i glanced at the clock i thought it said 1:30 instead of the 11:30 it actually was.  i therefore got up and figured i'd start my day. once i realized it wasn't that late i attempted to sleep again, but i never really managed.

 this day Ivy was greens and blues mostly.  today pinks and purples.

 they aren't as addicted to water as Blossom was, still i feel on guard near it.  the concern this time of year is that in moving water like this you can fall in and get sucked under the ice.  a woman died a few years ago in just this situation. the water itself was not deep but once the poor woman, who was really fit, got sucked under the the ice there was no escape.  she drowned.

 Fata Morgana again on the Alaska Range.  always cool.

 we had a few flakes of snow but no real dump...still waiting.

 i redecorated my skeleton out on the deck tonight.  he's ready for Christmas now.  all lit up. bought a lit up fluffy puppy to sit by him and the skeleton cat.  strung lights on him and then i bought one of those laser type lights that you just set in front yard and it lights up the house.  no need to string lights.  set up in seconds.  love lazy stuff.

 ok..loads of pictures of a colorful Ivy.  it also serves as an early warning to others that shes a bit crazy.  and another bonus is that she is easy to spot in the snow.

 she looks cute purple today. my big camera had no space on card and soon after my iphone got too cold to take pictures. the batteries die off on all pretty quickly.

 it's all fixed now.  will have to try and get some pink/purple pics of her on the Monday walk tomorrow.

 we have had a few successful moose passings.  we had a close one on N Biv last week.  the pups were acting like they were smelling something.  i couldn't see anything, but put them on leash. i turned a corner and there was a moose right on the trail.  Tusker barked and i was correcting him.  she wasn't budging so i opted to take the dogs off trail and around.  when we were just a few feet from returning to the main trail i looked up to discover that there was a second young male moose on the other side.

 Tusker is so cute...

 sunsets from the road after the bicentennial walk i think.  not sure.  anyway.  back to the moose.  we were between a mama and calf.  the calf was a bit off the trail to our right, while mom was pretty far on the left.  i decided to hit the trail again and try to sneak past that young male.

 unfortunately, he got curious and started heading right towards us.  i booked forward with pups on leash and they were both very good.  no barking, no fighting me... we booked until we seemed safely past both moose.  kind of a strange cloud vs smoke from over that volcano out there. i think that is Mt Iliamna.

 moose tend to move into Anchorage more in the winter. especially if we get lots of snow.  easier to move around in town.  humans are kind enough to plow roads and sidewalks which makes moving around in snow easier for moose.

 the pups are active again.  playing outside...running in and out of dog door.  can't believe they are not exhausted. i'm creating super fit pups and i will have to do 10miles/day to wear them out.

 that is puppies.  thankful they have each other and can blow off energy wrestling with each other

 below is Mt Redoubt which is much closer to Anchorage.

 was a pretty sunset tonight. we could see loads of pink clouds....not full view as we were still on trail.  i had no camera options anyway....saved you all a few more photo's.

 guess i should head to bed soon.  elevate and ice my food probably a good idea.

thankful for:  A.  friends who are understanding of my need to have these memorial moments for Blossom.  B. long beautiful hikes  C.  safe moose encounters.