walking is still a mystery day to day. just never know what the trail conditions will be like in the spring. i'm guessing kincaid is full of tiny ponds about now and mud. today i decided to head to spencer loop. it turns into a cross country ski zone in the winter. i do enjoy the trail in the summers, though bear sightings occur there with frequency. i saw a bear on that trail once myself. i had my spray today and all that. no signs of bears. today was beautiful though, deep blue skies and we actually reached 60 degrees. lots of snow on the trail so i wore my cleats. still love glimpsing these wasp nests (i think that is what they are). saw several of them today. got the camera out for this one.
don't see alot of hawks around so i'm always thrilled to catch a sighting. i'm not sure, but i think this is a juvenile goshawk. beautiful feathers, not a perfect picture, but i loved how it showed off the beauty of the bird. 
a few signs of spring...above from today. below from a walk over to the par course on muldoon and norther lights. it's a short walk over there and i hadn't been for a bit. tons of old dog poop there so that was kinda gross. not sure how people can be so irresponsible. i mean it's one thing for your dog to go off in the woods and do thier thing but to leave it all over the trail itself? they probably walk in the same place with some frequency....just seems like you would try to keep it clean just so you won't step on it the next day yourself. of course, from conversations i have with people it seems that many people don't pick up the poop in their own yards all winter. i try and get out back at least once a week to keep up on it. friday as i was started home from the par course, the sky let loose and rain fell heavy mixed with tiny hail balls. we totally got caught in it, but i loved it. i totally enjoy a cleansing spring rain. so stuff is growing. you can see the changes everytime you walk outside or return to the same trail. you can quite literally, watch stuff grow up here. it's like nothing i've ever seen.
saturday was beautiful, but i was sleepy and had a lazy day. i really need to get myself motivated. it seems like that happens once or twice a month...don't remember that happening before or maybe i just track it. more likely, my old dog huey was more persistent on the walk thing. blossom and rio are quite content hanging around. blossom loves her walks, but she's not demanding about it like he was.
saturday was beautiful, but i was sleepy and had a lazy day. i really need to get myself motivated. it seems like that happens once or twice a month...don't remember that happening before or maybe i just track it. more likely, my old dog huey was more persistent on the walk thing. blossom and rio are quite content hanging around. blossom loves her walks, but she's not demanding about it like he was. sunday i did get up and out to the dog park. now that i think on it...these clouds were actually taken from the roof of the parking structure at work as i arrived one night.
i took this picture of blossom at the dog park the other day. that area to the left of hers was originally covered with grass. when i first moved here it was an unofficial dog park. i still know many people who i met in the early dog park days. it's now official. the dogs do cause damage. i know many folks at the dog park try and pretend this isn't related to dogs, but the place is really popular. i think it would probably be better to just try and find solutions to problems than just get defensive. so its' a bit sad to see the damage done at the park which i do love.
the pups were happy to get out there.
as you can see below the lake is still mostly frozen but the edges are clear so i felt safe with blossom. she just wants to get in the water and showed no interest in exploring out on the ice. you can see one of the winter "trails" across the lake. not too many of the regulars there. people scatter in the summers. so many friends i interact with in the winter on the trails disappear and i'll see them again next winter.
often this time of year i get off work and head to the bog. this little guy was out there this morning checking us out.
probably went over 6 miles today between the bog and spencer loop. i'm feeling it. of course, i went ahead and got some swimming in as well. i got like 28 laps in. i knew i was going to be sore after the walking so i tried to take it easy. i did manage a second day of swimming last week. the pool has 5 open lanes between 1-3. it was lovely there. i'm wondering if that will change once school is out. got 35 laps in that day though, which was nice.
below is just a picture from the start of spencer loop trail. it's on the south bivouac trail...all winter i hit the north bivouac side so this is the opposite side. this side is much more hilly and a totally bun workout. just when you think you've reached the top you have another hill. it takes you up to the top of the hillside skiing area. you can see the alaska range, denali, anchorage and the big ski jumps.
blue skies...
there are some of the views from spencer loop. you can see foraker on the left and denali on the right.
almost deleted the picture below, but couldn't bring myself to for some reason. my fair city of anchorage.
this is what the trail conditions on spencer loop were for the most part. there were also large patches of mud and area's where you dropped down through the snow to the water below. luckily, i didn't sink in over the boot. i may have on the way down but the next picture was my attempt at showing how the last part that brings you back down was just a little stream to be forded.
don't think it demonstrates the river quality of the trail today.
last picture is a sunset from tonight. love red skies like this. saw them in ketchikan alot.
just finished my 4 days at work. was floated to peds icu my first night. went well, love nice families. then back down to the adult work for a few and then back to peds icu. my adult nights were busy. nothing crash and burny, just steady, hard to keep up days. got an admit the first night and a transfer the next night. one lady had a genetic disease which can effect all the connective tissue in your body. i think i saw a cat with this once when i worked at a vet hospital. the skin was just not really attached. it was strange. the cat was dead. most cats with ehlers-danlos used to fare poorly in fights and then got leukemia.
i took this picture of blossom at the dog park the other day. that area to the left of hers was originally covered with grass. when i first moved here it was an unofficial dog park. i still know many people who i met in the early dog park days. it's now official. the dogs do cause damage. i know many folks at the dog park try and pretend this isn't related to dogs, but the place is really popular. i think it would probably be better to just try and find solutions to problems than just get defensive. so its' a bit sad to see the damage done at the park which i do love. the pups were happy to get out there.
as you can see below the lake is still mostly frozen but the edges are clear so i felt safe with blossom. she just wants to get in the water and showed no interest in exploring out on the ice. you can see one of the winter "trails" across the lake. not too many of the regulars there. people scatter in the summers. so many friends i interact with in the winter on the trails disappear and i'll see them again next winter. 
often this time of year i get off work and head to the bog. this little guy was out there this morning checking us out. probably went over 6 miles today between the bog and spencer loop. i'm feeling it. of course, i went ahead and got some swimming in as well. i got like 28 laps in. i knew i was going to be sore after the walking so i tried to take it easy. i did manage a second day of swimming last week. the pool has 5 open lanes between 1-3. it was lovely there. i'm wondering if that will change once school is out. got 35 laps in that day though, which was nice.
below is just a picture from the start of spencer loop trail. it's on the south bivouac trail...all winter i hit the north bivouac side so this is the opposite side. this side is much more hilly and a totally bun workout. just when you think you've reached the top you have another hill. it takes you up to the top of the hillside skiing area. you can see the alaska range, denali, anchorage and the big ski jumps.
blue skies...
there are some of the views from spencer loop. you can see foraker on the left and denali on the right. 
almost deleted the picture below, but couldn't bring myself to for some reason. my fair city of anchorage.
this is what the trail conditions on spencer loop were for the most part. there were also large patches of mud and area's where you dropped down through the snow to the water below. luckily, i didn't sink in over the boot. i may have on the way down but the next picture was my attempt at showing how the last part that brings you back down was just a little stream to be forded. 
don't think it demonstrates the river quality of the trail today. 
last picture is a sunset from tonight. love red skies like this. saw them in ketchikan alot. 
just finished my 4 days at work. was floated to peds icu my first night. went well, love nice families. then back down to the adult work for a few and then back to peds icu. my adult nights were busy. nothing crash and burny, just steady, hard to keep up days. got an admit the first night and a transfer the next night. one lady had a genetic disease which can effect all the connective tissue in your body. i think i saw a cat with this once when i worked at a vet hospital. the skin was just not really attached. it was strange. the cat was dead. most cats with ehlers-danlos used to fare poorly in fights and then got leukemia. we had a news story this week of a young military guy who recently came back from iraq or afghanistan and he killed his wife and baby girl and then tried to kill himself. i suspect we'll see more and more of these post traumatic stress guys in hospitals. we were talking at work how the vietnam vets who returned with issues tended to use drugs and alcohol and this group seems to be more violent. it was also said that the ww2 guys came back and just internalized their stress. jsut sad that potentially a large population of young males could be so impacted.
then you imagine thier young families trying to deal with this unpredictable violence. i can't imagine what a nightmare that would be.
then you imagine thier young families trying to deal with this unpredictable violence. i can't imagine what a nightmare that would be.
it's funny to be getting older and noting differences in the generations in general. i fear that many of our youth are ill prepared for the world we drop them into. seems we try to just give them all positive feedback, they are constantly supervised, not allowed to win or lose for fear of hurt feelings. i remember thinking too that it would be strange to grow up constantly being photographed, video taped. kids are the center whereas just a few generations ago kids were seen but not heard. not sure who this will all translate, not to mention the tech world we live in. you can't go anywhere without seeing little machines in everyones hands. i remember the last time i went to an aces game i looked around and everyone had either thier phones, texting, or some sort of game.
watched a frightening real life crime show as i got ready for work last night. sent chills down your spine. these two teenage males plotted to kill thier friend. they planned it for who knows how long and waited for the opportunity. they videotaped themselves planning this murder. then the morning of the murder they took the video to school and took video of thier friend cassie, who they were to kill later. they filmed themselves driving to the murder scene...saying cassie's our friend, but there must be sacrifices.....it was sick. i guess the tape cut out for a two hour period and next they are back in the car totally thrilled with the success of thier thrill kill. that there are now people out there who just want to kill to kill, not based on any anger or passion is extremely disturbing. i guess this murder happened in idaho.
the parents of the one kid, who the show talked to a bit, looked like normal suburban parents. they were totally shocked. obviously, there were signs and if they'd looked in a few drawers they would probably been shocked earlier...maybe early enough to save this poor girl. there just seems a disconnect in many of the youth of today. even the parents i had last night...just seemed like the mom was more interested in using the kids hospitalization to get back together with the dad that being concerned with her sick kid. just so strange.
i have totally rambled on too long about nothing. really need to start working on a book i'd like to write...someone said we all have a book in us( i think that was oprah). i've wanted to write something related to death and our views in this country. just seems like a topic that needs to be explored more, understood more. we no longer are allowed often to die with dignity. we treat birth one way and death another. haven't sorted out how i want to approach said book so there it is...meandering in my brain til i can organize my thoughts.
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