enjoying the perfect temperatures...for me that is in the 20's!!

 

some from Fall and some from now. that seems a good blend for the blog these days.  Tusker will be showing up for years to come in the blog since i'm so far behind in photo's and i'm okay with that. 

today we hit the beach at Oceanview Bluff Park.  as i snapped photo's it occurred to me that i may be putting those photo's on a blanket one day. 

have done some rock painting, getting some Valentines rocks done. 

also restarted the ice hearts now that the temperatures are down a bit again. today i made hearts from the snow on the beach. works when there is a crust on the snow. i kick from below and shape them

went shopping at the boutique dog shop.  got some better fitting booties for Sunny. also a new coat to grow into. shopping for dogs more than myself

love this new beach i found...so always more to explore out there.

really liked these trees this fall

my stretch of work was spent in PICU, ED Holds and CTICU. always interesting.  some of it is now that i go where folks are out sick with Covid. 

there are still fungi out there, will have to wait until late summer again for the big mushroom bloom.

i'm itching to get back down to Homer again. i'm sure i will start escaping soon. 

i think this is Deep Creek.

left this whale tail in Ninilchik. 

looking across the bay at a glacier..so Alaska.

went shopping online for some dog clippers and books on grooming the poodle. if it's a basic cut, perhaps i can learn to groom him at home...haha.  we shall see. 

i've already been starting to add the brushing into our little training time in the morning at breakfast.  sit down stand and brushing.

back to January. of course, January is at an end. time flies.  

these are from the Manitoba trek.  Sunny's first camping trip. 

the waterfalls are frozen and looked so beautiful with all the colors coming through.

he's already getting used to his new life as a dog of adventure. he is super cute and it's fun to watch Ivy Rose get attached to him as well.  the cats are also tolerating him more and more. 

still has his snuggly tendencies. still eventually gets out of the bed at night and curls up with his water bowl.  i put just a little water in there that he drinks and plays with, then he chews the bowl and falls asleep. they all have their little quirks.

he seems to be recovered nicely from his little surgery.  happy to have that all behind me .

i packed much better for the walk out from the yurt. 

never needed the snowshoes but always good to have this time of year. 

here we are on the bridge

back at home for this shot.  Ivy is blurry...the puppy has his moments of zoomies and being annoying to big sister.  he's using the dog door, mostly follows her out there. still a few piddles on the upstairs piddle pad, especially on days i'm working/sleeping. more when i'm sleeping.  the plan is to remove the pads slowly. figure i'll try to add back the second flap on the dog door my next stretch off in hopes he will adjust to that pretty quickly 

he plays hard and sleeps hard.  so does Ivy though and that has never changed for her.  she looks pretty mellow next to him but he actually is a pretty mellow puppy. 

everything is a new experience.  need to start doing more leash training with him and get him into some of the big stores.  today he did go into the Bark Ak shop.  he was a little nervous.

my last night in CTICU was fairly tame so i did start a new Novel.  a strange one so we shall see. 

it's almost time to do the taxes...it's on the to do list.  got the pfd checked off the to do list several weeks back.  today i did go look at tile.  i could go nuts in a tile store...i just love tile so much! 

i brought some home to look at. a larger hexagon pattern than i was initially thinking but a dark grey and then an azure blue color tile, same size/pattern...could scatter some of the light colored tiles in on the floor in the downstairs bathroom. i think that would look pretty cool.  left the above memorial rock out there on the trail for others to enjoy. 

will need to prep more of those rocks. 

i also found a few tiles that look like wood that have a more textured feel so the dogs could have an easier time walking on those...for the main room.  so i brought one sample of that home and got the name of another lighter sample .

can't believe it's almost 9!  i slept in today.  great to get some rest again.  the puppy is starting to mold to my schedule more.

i kept him loose downstairs this stretch i worked.  put the gate at the bottom of the stairs to block those.  will probably do that again these next three nights i work. after that i may just put the gate across the upstairs bathroom door like i did with Ivy and Tusker so the cats get to have the bathroom to themselves...i think it also helps the dogs learn to not go in there.

inside the yurt....cozy.  probably more cozy than here some days. with the one flap that is more cold air coming in than normal.

camping in cooler temperatures. 

you can see the rope of a climber below. 

i really should be reading my retirement books that i bought.  time does fly and if i can retire a bit earlier from Prov at least and find another part time gig that brings in some cash and benefits that would be good.  there are a lot of options out there.  may be time in a few years to give my body and soul a break from life in the hospital. 

why work your arse off longer than needed...the tough part is we have no idea how long we will need to support ourselves once we retire.  how long will i live? i could die tomorrow or live for ages. how do you plan for that.  i think in the big picture you plan to enjoy the days you have.  some like working and stick with it for years...i am not sure that is me.  i don't mind having some place to go sometimes though.  also it will force me to mix with the other humans...it doesn't have to be as stressful on my body and emotions though. 

i'm happy chilling with puppies.  sleeping in and taking walks.  making little road trips.  

watching pretty sunsets...it's all good. 

there is so much to explore out there.  even if i explore the same trails over and over, up here they change week to week.  this place is so dramatic.  especially in the summers.  

things change a lot in the winters as well.  ice comes in so many forms and snow and little adventures like this.  

places just look totally different in different seasons so that makes it 4 times the adventure.  

most of the time i could care less if i ever go south again.  

thankful for A. my canine companions on the trails  B.  my human trail mates as well.  C. that i am on the second half of my stretch. 

boxes getting checked, but always more on the to do list...

 

headache all day so far.  bites.  need to walk the pups and get ready for the work run to start.

Sunny has survived his neuter.  so far, knock on wood, he has left his tiny incision alone. they gave me pain meds but no sedation, haha. he seems mostly unaware of his situation. 

my friend and i had a bit of a heated discussion on time to neuter. i do appreciate the concern and i will say here that the study is not without merit and age of neuter should be considered and it is up to the individual owner really when and if they neuter their dogs. we all have our own rational. 

for me...i think some of it was just getting it done and not losing my nerve. my last dog placed under anesthesia had a complication and that led to death.  so there is an aspect of getting back on the horse as it were. also, my other dog had major knee surgery this past year so i do not need more dogs climbing on her in attempt to hump and Sunny will be large.  for whatever reason, despite being spayed, she attracts the non-neutered males. just the other day it happened.  there really is no explanation but after spending a fair sum of cash...i'd like to avoid the other knee having surgery or doing damage to the knee that did have surgery. 

also i wanted to get him licensed and get Tuskers name off of that to avoid getting notification in the mail...each thing is just another shot of pain for me. 

i did speak to my friend, who is a vet, and i have looked at the studies at this point as well as counter views of this.  basically there is some merit but there is also some major flaws in the studies.  mostly, it is a retrospective study..it doesn't take into consideration things such as diet, genetics, obesity.  there is also a large number of animals spayed/neutered in this country...over 80% so that can impact the results of a retrospective study.  another aspect is finances i would say....who are the ones taking their dogs to places to have major surgeries done where these studies were conducted.  which of those dogs are not altered..often that is the cream of the crop, the breeders/show dogs so that further impacts the results possibly.  

that being said, there may be some negative impacts to early neutering.  i can accept that.  i take full responsibility for that.  overall i support neutering as it decreases the number of animals out there to be dumped in shelters...again, i pay for dogs so i am part of the problem.  i should be selecting from the animals that are already out there. rescues in Alaska are rarely of the breed types that i prefer and that is the point of breeding dogs to begin with...to have awareness of certain qualities that can be counted on. 

sadly, many shelters are filled with breeds and breed combinations that just are not ones that i desire.  so that makes me a terrible person in some folks eyes. we can't please everyone i guess.  so we just have to make our own decisions and live with it.  up here it is mostly sled dog/husky crosses.  high energy dogs that tend to stray, no matter when or if you neuter them.  certain breeds are prone to certain genetic issues so it is possible that the time of neuter just worsens these risks. i suspect some breeders love these studies as they can then point to the owners/vets for failings instead of their breeding programs. 

there are also a lot of shepherd and pit crosses...more breeds that do not interest me. 

i often feel oddly guilty about getting the puppy, like i am somehow disrespecting Tusker.  i do know that this is not true...my heart was broken and the puppy was a patch for the pain.  was that wise...? we shall never know really i guess.  he has been a great distraction for me.  i guess others do other things to distract themselves from pain of loss.  that is how many non-profits get started. it's also how many laws end up getting created. from pain comes action.  

more from the October trek and below from our overnight to Manitoba. above is clam gultch

will need to get these dogs walked before i head to work. a worn out puppy is less likely to nibble at his incision. still debating how to leave him tonight. now that he has access to the dog door i kind of want to allow that access.  one friend suggested preventing him from having access to upstairs just to decrease the area...may be a good idea.

birds leaving and heading south. 

yesterday i also had a Dr appointment of my own.

after Tusker passed i was in such a state of stress and distress that i was having pvc's...premature ventricular ectopy.  these stopped after i got the puppy.  taking antianxiety medications also helped decrease their frequency. yes, i take antianxiety medications at times. not daily but i had originally gotten the medications for flights, since covid my stress and anxiety have increased. the dog loss just exacerbated this.  i am back to just as needed.  prior to Sunny's surgery most recent.  

bums me out to admit that i have the chronic issue of anxiety but finding ways to decrease that anxiety is key and i think just admitting it as an issue is key to that.  

heard of a travel nurse in the lower 48 who left his assignment midshift.  initially they found his vehicle on a bridge but i have heard they have found his body.  health care workers are under a lot of stress, many workers are, teachers are very stressed from what i hear.  

speaking to my Dr she was also having some issues with rapid heart rate and this ceased when she took a much  needed vacation to Hawaii. we are all under stress and need to be extra kind to each other. 

we did an ekg, just an electrical snap shot of the heart, which looked just find.  we also did lab work which was also normal. so we will just monitor it all.  i have a great Dr.  she loves dogs as well and totally understands the stress of this loss.  

dang headaches....

there is so much i did not get done on my to do list.  it's distressing some times how little i accomplish 

i keep putting off getting the Element started.  the instructions said to have someone there when you hook up the charger. that gave me pause.  get nervous dealing with the battery, which is fairly unreasonable i realize. 

the frozen waterfalls along the side of the road are so beautiful.  

it was great to stop and relax after driving on the glare ice coming back from Manitoba. 

here is our little overnight yurt

the puppy did really great.

overall, he seems to be adapting well to life here. he's pretty mellow...i mean he is a puppy so they are never totally mellow.  that being said, Butch was super mellow even at a young age. he was 6 months old when i got him.  my males have tended to be neutered younger and the females a bit older. so far none of my personal dogs have lived longer than 12 years. i have no explanation for that. maybe i wear them out, or the diet i feed is a factor or i'm just not a great owner. way too many factors. they have shorter lives but they have spoiled and happy lives.  i waited until after her first heat with Ivy.  not sure i will do that again.  dogs in heat...eek!!

took us a bit of time to get the place warmed up.  

plenty of naps at this end. i'm good with that. i love to nap

he's already gotten so much taller

i do not have the answers to any of life's big questions. i only have the answers that work for me.  i can only do so much and then you just have to accept what comes.  Tusker died too young.  the age he was neutered had zero impact on that.  Rio lived longer than a dog her size normally does. she was spayed later. i just think there are many factors in how long dogs live and what things kill them in the end. 

correlation isn't equal to causation. 

i just hope that we all get to enjoy our pets as long as possible for as healthy a life as possible. i do know we all love our pets equally and all want the best for our pups and kitties. my friends are top notch and amazing dog owners across the board. 

all the dogs i know in my circle are spoiled and happy.  we all just want the best for them and i know we make decisions we believe are in their best interest.  we may not always agree on everything but i do believe we respect each other and support each other in the good and bad times. 

all hail to the puppies in our lives.  they bring us joy and happiness and security.  this has been especially true in the times of Covid.  the pets have made a huge impact in my own sanity and stress levels.  i come home to them and i'm greeted by a round of joy, comfort and happiness. 

hoping this headache chills before work.  sometimes just the fresh air will help

can't' believe how long his legs got since this photo a few weeks ago.  crazy how fast they grow

i'm trying to take lots of photo's but puppies move fast so many turn out blurry. 

the waterfalls are so pretty. not sure what the warm up did to them. will have to make some drives..

my gear was much better packed for the walk out. better organized. 

i'm guessing these ice candle things melted completely with the warm up.  i have ice hearts that are frozen again...my first batch thawed though. 

i need to pick up some food coloring.

camping with friends.

look how tiny he is here...

he weighed in at 30 pounds the other day. 5 pounds growth in less than 10 days i think.

the cats are tolerating him more and more. 

ivy has her moments of annoyance but she seems to enjoy him as well. puppies have a way of working their way in.

grateful for A. the ability to have choices and make choices.  B. the internet, it has information to support any viewpoint. haha. C. a clear ekg and lab exam