bruised but it's good..

 got my massage today.  hour and a half.  my massages are not always all that relaxing though by that last 1/2 hour i do usually finally relax.  i seem to collect knots and it's been awhile since i went to my therapist and she really works the knots...which means some pain.  i had a lot of knots after the puppy vs squirrel vs owner with leashes on wrist incident.

 my forearm was especially knotted up/tight.  it still is but it has all loosened up quite a lot.  there are some sore spots where she really was digging in.

 before i crash I'll see if i can schedule another appointment.  she is usually pretty packed.  she has married and had 2 kids since i first started getting massages there so now she just works 2 days/week.  can't believe i got in so fast this week.  much needed.  should do a few over the next few months to get back to my usual knot load.

 these are all from yesterdays sunset down at the beach.  there were 3 moose out there feeding, though i only noticed 2 on the way out.  all three were seen on the walk back. 

 the pups love it out here too as they can really get a good run in.  it's wide open and so they can chase birds or just romp....we lost another tennis ball.   so that day i lost the frisbee and the tennis ball. 

 i headed back out to North Bivouac for a dog romp before my massage so i wandered over to where the frisbee was last seen and was able to locate it again.  of course, i believe we lost yet another tennis ball on the way out there. it is going to be a long winter of tennis ball loses. haha.

 these two really are just more distracted by each other when chasing toys. 

 the cat just braved leaving the comfort zones to join me on my office chair.  she used to do this all the time before puppies and so it's nice that she is finally beginning to feel more freedoms again.  the puppies can be quite annoying to the cat, though Ms Breeze Chatterbug rather adores the puppies. 

 i think i have completed watching the 5th season of Downton Abby...so i believe i add a few rather's into my writing after watching.  haha. 

 it really is a good show.  here the puppies are seeking out a tennis ball.  really i just have to be more cautious when I'm throwing it that i pay attention. 

 bought a dozen tennis balls at Freddies today just to hold me over.  i noticed as i watched the show many of these new tennis balls migrated to the bedroom.  it must have been Ivy Rose as Tusker was happily snuggled up on me for a nap.  he's becoming a lovely snuggly dog. 

 Ivy has snuggle moments, but she tends to be all legs and licks.  she is the entertainment of the household for sure. 

 her personality cold be easily spotted even when she was just 8 weeks old.  Tusker was clearly the more mellow of the two.  both are adored immensely. 

 when i arrived home the calendars and Christmas cards i ordered had arrived.  i think they turned out pretty nice.  i also have plans for another painting project for gifts.  hopefully, my friends like it.  practical and fun i think. 

 this driftwood log has been out here for years.  must have been a big storm one day...it's sort of the guide for the way back to the sledding hill and parking area.  people bike from here to Kincaid i think.  gotta watch the tides all the time down here and it's not the same as the walk you can take at low tide in Homer. 

 loved the pups in the light.

 look at those sweet, sweet faces.  cute monkey scarves as well. 

 not sure they are as thrilled with the scarves as i am but they do indulge me.  Ivy still has a wee bit of pink on her

 look  at all that room to run!!

 it has been pretty chilly here this week, but nothing abnormal.  it's winter. 

 not sunset today really.  cloudy, threats of snow, but nothing really came down. 

 she used this cream on my arm, i need to check it out and buy some for home.  like icy hot i think.

 right after the sun dropped down.

 still enough light to get back up the trail and home.  this is like 3:30 now...solstice is just a month away.  then the light begins to return. i like winter solstice way more than summer solstice just because of that...the return of the light, whereas summer solstice means the days will be shortening. 

 every day is different here though.  the northern parts of AK are in total darkness until sometime in February i think?  can't recall exactly....a few months without  a sunrise/sunset....i think that may be too much really.  i can see it being difficult 

 these days i kind of like the early sunsets.  nice to take a walk and then head someplace and watch the sunset, head home, nap for work and then work all night.  still dark when i come home to sleep, which makes it easier to sleep.  i think try to wake up in time to catch a walk in the light. 

 getting out in the light that we do have does make the darkness more bearable.

 i think also that whole having distractions helps as well.  i see those who don't find ways to distract themselves tend to find others who also have no means to distract themselves and then they all drink and do drugs and often find themselves in our ER's. 

 if you are prone to excessive drinking AK is not for you....though i dare say you will find many who are like minded.  I've never been prone to excessive drinking myself.  never taken drugs so that was never a draw either.

 love those deep orange sunsets.  so pretty and the shadows that seem to fill the sky as the sun drops below the horizon...i guess some still believe the world is flat or oblong...

 these are the folks who refuse to believe that science has any merit.  though they do seem to spend a great deal of their day to day lives living the benefits of the many great scientists that have come before them. 

 Tusker braved the log long enough for me to take pictures.

 it is kind of a pretty driftwood log.

 sunsets and walking are the best distraction from all the politics we find ourselves in.  our iitoo has a rather unnatural attraction to dictators and oligarchs...i suspect he'd prefer the title of King to potus.  he sure likes Put...seems Put is to become our new GOP leader. 

 just seems to me the Christians in our nation have gone mad and lost control of their priorities and those of the originators of Christianity.  simple messages brought over 2000 years ago to the people seem to have been lost in favor of wealth and power.  greed destroys cultures and we are no better than cultures of the past, we are all here for a time.  nothing is permanent no matter how permanent it feels. 

 at some point we must just allow the GOP to implode as it seems to be doing and hope that at the end of it they lose power and common sense returns to DC on all sides. if we are to survive as a nation we will for sure need to put into law many things that we have always just had honorable leaders who didn't stray too far from.   which is ironic...the party that screams they want small government is proving so corrupt and morally bankrupt that they will force the government to have more controls in the end.

 you can see 3 moose below...must seek them out there.  thankfully, the pups weren't interested in them and they weren't interested in the pups. 

 one stayed still for the photo op...a common photo.  i best crash.  back for 3 nights work.  no Thanksgiving for me, though i am very grateful to have gotten a few invites. 

thankful for: A.  simple things, kindness  B.  talks to try to understand the hard to understand  C.  well made entertainment.