fur rondy starts....

 didn't spend too much time down there today but still saw some fun stuff.  the outhouse races are always lively and entertaining.  they seemed to have some new outhouse contestants out there!

 met with friends at Simon and Sieforts to celebrate KR birthday!  happy Birthday! loads of activities down town as the Rondy just got started.

 these are just from walking from my parking spot downtown.  easier to walk far away

 worked the last 3 nights so not much sleep at this moment.  will do a little blog and head to bed.

 did manage to get the dogs to the dog park.  some trails adjacent to the park were busy with the fur rondy sprint races..dog sled racing.  may walk campbell airstrip early and then put dogs in car and go try for some pics of those dogs...but i may also just do a short walk here and head to Seward or Homer or i may just sleep all day...haha.  i have no clear plan at this time...which is always dangerous for me. my lazy can easily win when i have no plan.

 work was half ER and half PICU..literally half.  my middle shift was split.  PICU was going nuts and they needed another hand or two.  thought the dinosaur outhouse above was cute.

 some are just cute or fun, often sponsored by various businesses in town or organization.  i think i heard a team announced Mormon something...didn't see it though . i found friends and it can be tough to get a spot for viewing as this is super popular.  we had dinner reservations too. 

 i needed some sleep today...you know at least 2-3 hours before walking dogs and heading down town.

 so the teams race their outhouses up the street, turn around at this point and then race back...elimination rounds of course.  so not sure who was the ultimate winner.  not sure it will make the big news of the day. didn't see the usual duckfarts team out there. 

 this one was about dogs and collecting your dog waste in our forests i guess.

 one by home depot.

 we've had some snow this week.  quite a bit last night so pretty deep and slushy conditions for outhouse racing.  the outhouses are built on old ski's for ease of pushing.  many a team member bit it though.

 had my appointment to look at cabinets.  took some time, not done with that stage yet, but got a good run and i have a 3d image that i have just kept handy to look at and make sure i do like it.  dark cabinets, so I'll want to have lots of lights available, a light counter top to off set that..every time i look at it though i feel excited about it and like it so that is a good sign....so much to do...had to write one of those lists

 need to get our speaker set up for the WARIS talk at REI and get the taxes done in there as well as plan the summers adventures.

 not easy to push these outhouses around in deep snow

 the plus side too is we should be good with snow for the Iditarod.  no move to Fairbanks this year. on my stretch off i do hope to get out of the city a bit and enjoy some fun photo ops whatever i end up doing to entertain myself.

 liked all the kids up on the sign trying to get a better view of the races

 you can also find light hearted political statements on the outhouses from time to time.  Alaskans are more than a little familiar with outhouses so i suspect we are a bit less weirded out by shared bathrooms... it's a hole that you poop in...do your business and move on...doesn't matter how basic or fancy that hole is...it's for pooping.  gotta keep things in perspective.

 these were the outhouses waiting for their next race.  we were on the way to the restaurant at this point.

so life starts to build up with the Rondy and Iditarod.  we are nearing the end of winter, the light is returning. for some reason Alaskans love to dress up silly and just be goofy.  it's how we all escape cabin fever i guess.  either get goofy or watch others get goofy.

 with all this fresh snow last night must have been a great day for snowshoe softball...another fur rondy event. 

 i think it's been a few years since i watched any of the outhouse races so it was fun to glimpse the new models. 

 we enjoyed a beautiful sunset from the restaurant as we ate...

 as we were leaving we caught the tail end of the fireworks.  can't go wrong with that.  this was before 7 pm....so we do still have darkness.

 we did want to move the building for a few minutes...it seems like it was a fairly short show. 

 always pretty though.

 a fun evening with friends!

 the dog park was fun as well.  we arrived at the same time as the Great Dane crew, who always welcome, "the twins" as they call Ivy Rose and Tusker. 

 Ferris wheel all lit up. yes, rides are available.  I'm cool not doing the rides, but the lights are pretty.

 then SH and i headed over to check on the progress of this years snow sculptures...another event i enjoy attending.

 people can be very creative. yeti below

 the castle is looking pretty cool as well.

 below is the back part of a tree trunk, in front is a cute fox in his den.

 the Olympics are wrapping up.  Kikkan got Gold in Cross Country skiing, US women's hockey got gold and even men's curling got gold.  always fun.

 feathered cape on some sort of super hero? not sure.  you can see the fox below.

 politics are still wild and crazy.  more indictments on Manafort and his partner Gates i guess is ready to plea out.  that probably won't be too great for Manafort...and maybe others.  those two had some shady financial crap going down.  it will be interesting to see who else, if any, were involved.  iitoo, his son and/or son in law may have gotten pretty soiled in all this.  suspect again that all were just hoping to turn the run into a money making scheme and never planned to win...probably got sloppy. Mueller is no doubt sitting on quite the story...when will we know more?  just have to wait and see.

 here is more of the feathered villain/hero?  not sure

 some sort of dragon coming along.

 the castle looks cool from all sides.

 this mastodon was pretty awesome looking too

 kind of fun to watch them evolve.

 guns are still the big battle...those gun maniacs are trying to make every excuse they can to avoid admitting that guns actually do kill people.  the kids who survived are not letting it go at this point...very proud of them . this despite now being called paid protesters and getting death threats in some cases.  the NRA is taking some much needed heat as well as companies that support the NRA.  not sure it will be enough to do more than make a few weak laws but any law that moves us forward to some more common sense gun laws is a good start. 

 Sasquatch from the back...and front below

 some famous faces..Lincoln, Ghandi, MLK and i didn't really get a look at the 4th head.

 native drummer..cool as well.  simple. 

 just a quick and minimally controversial post...too sleepy to formulate arguments at this time.  i will go crash and hopefully wake up early enough to find some fun

 sponge bob square pants...though we both decided they need to fix the nose. 

thankful for A. friends  B.  fun events put on by communities C.  fresh snow!!  fun to play in, pretty...winter isn't over and I'm cool with that.  :-)