finally got out for a walk today. met up with maureen and kaya out at prospect heights for a little loop. blossom was thrilled to be on a real hike i suspect. it was a bit wet out, has been rainy all weekend. good for me.
most of the week i did neighborhood walks and tried to get blossom to play in the yard. with workmen coming and going it just gets too hard to get far from the house. above is one of my himalyan poppies in bloom. the one plant is really producing. i just love the colour on these flowers. the icelandic poppies are blooming nicely out in the front yard and looks like i'll have a bumper crop of lillies when they bloom.
the lilacs are blooming all over anchorage. it's a very popular tree here and the flowers are both beautiful and some of the best smelling flowers out there. i just love them. sometimes i just snip a bit off and carry it around with me. set it by the bedside and inhale every so often. probably makes me a freak, but it smells so wonderful!
was able to finally get the raised beds planted. who knows how productive they'll be. also got the deck flower pots planted as well. my planters have various license plates decorating them. this is my pride though. the northwest territories of canada as well as nunivat territory have these super cool license plates in the shape of a polar bear. not too many actual cars in those regions so not always easy to get the plates!
did the big neighborhood loop up patterson, over to cheney lake, around there and then back down to the baxter bog. on one trip i must have dropped my cell phone someplace. luckily, when i called it some nice guy answered it and left it in his post box so i could retrieve it. the iris's are blooming all over and the baby geese are getting bigger. aren't they cute!
there were several families of them hanging here. there was also a duck family there. i did brave the bog despite the mosquito's, but i think the rain kept them a bit at bay. of course, with all the workman activity in the house, the door has been open more than it's been shut and there is a large population of mosquito's who seem to have taken up residence. brats. i have some huge welts from noseeums. those things really get me. it's gross cause the huge welts end up draining whatever even when i don't touch them.
had a perfect 2 ventilator patient assignment my first night in icu this week. then i was switched to a sledd patient for the next 2 nights. kept me very busy, especially the first night. the second night is generally a bit easier. of course, i had to bring in some music as the family had gospel elvis and i just am not that huge of an elvis person, especially gospel elvis. i had to shut that down pretty fast. i brought in my classics with waves and nature sounds. my favorite of those is pachabel. i can actually have that in the background at work for a full 12 hours without ever going nuts.
my last night i just had a few babies on peds floor. they were both probably going home today so i volunteered to go home early and pass the babies off to my co-worker. it was nice after such a busy week to be home by 2am and in bed. slept like a rock!
i need to take a drive to the spot where all the wild iris grow. tanya always tells me where you can get out and check them out, but i haven't made it out there yet. maybe she'll show me tomorrow. would be a nice walk i think.
here is a picture of cheney lake. you can see all the white fluff on the lake. that is all cottonwood fluff. many people are highly allergic to the stuff. doesn't bother me except that the fluff gets everywhere.
blossom enjoys her puddle pool on one of the sunny days last week.
just a few more pictures of the planters all planted up. my old south dakota and california plates. never like throwing those out so it was fun to find the perfect place for them!
great article in the paper today. it was about how many americans are now basically getting tortured to death. we prolong life trying to cure the incurable and end up causing a great deal more pain and spending money that could better go elsewhere. spoke of the benefits of hospice but that most people spend the majority of thier last days going through more and more treatments, drug regimines and surgeries and they miss the opportunity to just go home, be with loved ones and pass away with dignity. the article emphasized the american never quit attitude and how that is impacting our end of life choices. very interesting. hope can cause so much grief and pain. i see it all the time. instead of using that time to plan for our demise we torture ourselves with treatments that only prolong suffering not life.
as you can see the bathroom tile project is coming along. tile guy didn't show up the next day so that was a waste. luckily, he'd said he wouldn't get there until after noon so i woke early and got to the gym for some laps. did 36 laps or 72 lengths. the next day after i'd spoken to him the night before the tile guy assured me he'd be there at noon so again i woke early to get my shower and swim in. waking up early is a tough thing for me so i only had 1/2 hour to swim so i did 20 laps or 40 lengths. at least that meant i got my 3 swims in for the week!! he worked until i had to walk out the door for work. i arranged for the toilet installer to show up and he found the tiler had covered the flange area for the toilet. so had to get tile dude to return to cut out the flange area. dude said he'd be there on saturday, but totally blew on it. was good actually as i was exhausted at that point and working so i got much needed sleep. tile guy showed up sunday to finish and put up the door and toilet dude came today.
overall i'm quite pleased. tile dude wasn't a perfectionist. the best tile work i've had in here has been the one guy that came and did the front entry and around the fireplace. this guy was a bit more of a slacker i think when i really am checking it. we were short a few of the white tiles for around the shower so he cut down some of the white wall tiles he had left. i do see that under the sink he did a pretty crappy tile job. it's not readily visible, but he left those ungrouted and unfinished. i have the grout so i'll have to mix it up. want to buy a thing that looks like a cake decorating tool so that i can finish up a few spots that need the grout or need some grout packed in. the toilet didn't sit flat so obviously tile dude didn't use a level for much of the job. so toilet dude wants me to wait a few weeks just in case there is a leak and then he wants me to put silicone around the base of the toilet. i'm very messy at this as you can see in any pictures of the tub.
i do like that the bathroom has some pizazz. not sure it will appeal to all. it's certainly not a safe, dull bathroom. i think too often when i looked at houses in the area they had no personality. i like a little personality. i remember the house i grew up in had just beautifully done tile bathrooms. they were very meticulous with the tiles and designs. you see that in many older houses in southern california. i was watching an episode of "the closer" tonight and they showed their main bathroom/tub. it had just that sort of tile desige. i couldn't quite repeat that in my house, try as i might, but i think this did the trick for me. looks better than it did previously, at least in my opinion.
the above picture still has the grout mess on it. the bright white grout really does make the tiles pop! mufasa and flat cat is checking it out. they haven't appreciated being locked up so much this week and still their litter is not where they would normally have it. i'd like to get the finish work done and get the toilet siliconed so that i don't shove cat litter underneath it.
finally got out for a walk today. met up with maureen and kaya out at prospect heights for a little loop. blossom was thrilled to be on a real hike i suspect. it was a bit wet out, has been rainy all weekend. good for me. 
most of the week i did neighborhood walks and tried to get blossom to play in the yard. with workmen coming and going it just gets too hard to get far from the house. above is one of my himalyan poppies in bloom. the one plant is really producing. i just love the colour on these flowers. the icelandic poppies are blooming nicely out in the front yard and looks like i'll have a bumper crop of lillies when they bloom. 
the lilacs are blooming all over anchorage. it's a very popular tree here and the flowers are both beautiful and some of the best smelling flowers out there. i just love them. sometimes i just snip a bit off and carry it around with me. set it by the bedside and inhale every so often. probably makes me a freak, but it smells so wonderful!
was able to finally get the raised beds planted. who knows how productive they'll be. also got the deck flower pots planted as well. my planters have various license plates decorating them. this is my pride though. the northwest territories of canada as well as nunivat territory have these super cool license plates in the shape of a polar bear. not too many actual cars in those regions so not always easy to get the plates!
did the big neighborhood loop up patterson, over to cheney lake, around there and then back down to the baxter bog. on one trip i must have dropped my cell phone someplace. luckily, when i called it some nice guy answered it and left it in his post box so i could retrieve it. the iris's are blooming all over and the baby geese are getting bigger. aren't they cute!
there were several families of them hanging here. there was also a duck family there. i did brave the bog despite the mosquito's, but i think the rain kept them a bit at bay. of course, with all the workman activity in the house, the door has been open more than it's been shut and there is a large population of mosquito's who seem to have taken up residence. brats. i have some huge welts from noseeums. those things really get me. it's gross cause the huge welts end up draining whatever even when i don't touch them. 
had a perfect 2 ventilator patient assignment my first night in icu this week. then i was switched to a sledd patient for the next 2 nights. kept me very busy, especially the first night. the second night is generally a bit easier. of course, i had to bring in some music as the family had gospel elvis and i just am not that huge of an elvis person, especially gospel elvis. i had to shut that down pretty fast. i brought in my classics with waves and nature sounds. my favorite of those is pachabel. i can actually have that in the background at work for a full 12 hours without ever going nuts. 
my last night i just had a few babies on peds floor. they were both probably going home today so i volunteered to go home early and pass the babies off to my co-worker. it was nice after such a busy week to be home by 2am and in bed. slept like a rock!
i need to take a drive to the spot where all the wild iris grow. tanya always tells me where you can get out and check them out, but i haven't made it out there yet. maybe she'll show me tomorrow. would be a nice walk i think.
here is a picture of cheney lake. you can see all the white fluff on the lake. that is all cottonwood fluff. many people are highly allergic to the stuff. doesn't bother me except that the fluff gets everywhere. 
blossom enjoys her puddle pool on one of the sunny days last week. 
just a few more pictures of the planters all planted up. my old south dakota and california plates. never like throwing those out so it was fun to find the perfect place for them!
great article in the paper today. it was about how many americans are now basically getting tortured to death. we prolong life trying to cure the incurable and end up causing a great deal more pain and spending money that could better go elsewhere. spoke of the benefits of hospice but that most people spend the majority of thier last days going through more and more treatments, drug regimines and surgeries and they miss the opportunity to just go home, be with loved ones and pass away with dignity. the article emphasized the american never quit attitude and how that is impacting our end of life choices. very interesting. hope can cause so much grief and pain. i see it all the time. instead of using that time to plan for our demise we torture ourselves with treatments that only prolong suffering not life. 
as you can see the bathroom tile project is coming along. tile guy didn't show up the next day so that was a waste. luckily, he'd said he wouldn't get there until after noon so i woke early and got to the gym for some laps. did 36 laps or 72 lengths. the next day after i'd spoken to him the night before the tile guy assured me he'd be there at noon so again i woke early to get my shower and swim in. waking up early is a tough thing for me so i only had 1/2 hour to swim so i did 20 laps or 40 lengths. at least that meant i got my 3 swims in for the week!! he worked until i had to walk out the door for work. i arranged for the toilet installer to show up and he found the tiler had covered the flange area for the toilet. so had to get tile dude to return to cut out the flange area. dude said he'd be there on saturday, but totally blew on it. was good actually as i was exhausted at that point and working so i got much needed sleep. tile guy showed up sunday to finish and put up the door and toilet dude came today.
overall i'm quite pleased. tile dude wasn't a perfectionist. the best tile work i've had in here has been the one guy that came and did the front entry and around the fireplace. this guy was a bit more of a slacker i think when i really am checking it. we were short a few of the white tiles for around the shower so he cut down some of the white wall tiles he had left. i do see that under the sink he did a pretty crappy tile job. it's not readily visible, but he left those ungrouted and unfinished. i have the grout so i'll have to mix it up. want to buy a thing that looks like a cake decorating tool so that i can finish up a few spots that need the grout or need some grout packed in. the toilet didn't sit flat so obviously tile dude didn't use a level for much of the job. so toilet dude wants me to wait a few weeks just in case there is a leak and then he wants me to put silicone around the base of the toilet. i'm very messy at this as you can see in any pictures of the tub.
i do like that the bathroom has some pizazz. not sure it will appeal to all. it's certainly not a safe, dull bathroom. i think too often when i looked at houses in the area they had no personality. i like a little personality. i remember the house i grew up in had just beautifully done tile bathrooms. they were very meticulous with the tiles and designs. you see that in many older houses in southern california. i was watching an episode of "the closer" tonight and they showed their main bathroom/tub. it had just that sort of tile desige. i couldn't quite repeat that in my house, try as i might, but i think this did the trick for me. looks better than it did previously, at least in my opinion. 
the above picture still has the grout mess on it. the bright white grout really does make the tiles pop! mufasa and flat cat is checking it out. they haven't appreciated being locked up so much this week and still their litter is not where they would normally have it. i'd like to get the finish work done and get the toilet siliconed so that i don't shove cat litter underneath it. 
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