bohemians in the hood!!

great week of walks as always. today was a post work sleep day. at home in my own bed i can sleep through nearly anything. slept great and the dogs just got a bog walk today. it has warmed a great deal which is tough on our snow supply. oddly, when you live in a cold climate that has snow on the ground for many months you do not want it to warm. i am not alone in this. getting above freezing or getting freezing rain just means that our beloved snow will be compromised. it's a bit heavy and slushy out there and when it does get below freezing the ice causes many car wrecks. rio has opted out of the walks for most of the week. she did the bog today, but otherwise she was quite happy to sit on the couch with her peanut butter treat and the remote control! okay so really the channel never changes, but i am happy that she is comfortable enough to choose to stay home if she wants. she is getting older. blossom and i had a mini photo session with the macro out in the snow on rovers run wednesday. it was just she and i so loads of frisbee time and dives into snow banks. as my friend amy likes to say, blossom is a velcro dog. everything sticks to her. snow, mud, sticks, leaves....she attracts it all. it was suggested that i like blossom more than rio. they are just totally different dogs. a different bonding occurs when you adopt a dog as a wee puppy and when you adopt a dog as an adult. ones not better or worse than the other just different. blossom requires more attention as far as play, rio is more of a dog to snuggle up on the couch with and watch tv.

growing up we always accused our parents of favoring my sister. it caused a great deal of personal stress. as i've gotten older i've realized it's not that my parents liked her more, just that she was so much easier. if she was asked to do something, she just did it. with me, everything was a battle. with seven kids or i'd guess even just a few, it's probably just nice to have an easy kid who does as asked, doesn't talk back. in the end i know they liked me...rio can be the more difficult dog. she came to me with seperation issues. she has come a long ways from when she arrived, but we've had our moments. an example that happens often and happened today actually....i noted that there was a big group of bohemian waxwings flitting about in the trees in the backyard. i grabbed the camera and went out on the deck with my slippers on. soon rio was scratching at the door. not to come out though. i opened repeatedly in order to allow her to join us, encouraged her to join us. she'd refuse, i'd shut the door, a few minutes later she'd be scratching at the door again. i'm right here...either come outside or stop scratching at the door. it can make you nuts. other pics from rovers runrio though, amazes me. how she copes with her blindness, how well she's adapted, how she keeps walking despite it being more difficult physically and mentally for her. it's impressive. she is in many ways very patient, despite her little panic attacks when i am more than a few feet from her. this is also why there are more pictures of blossom than rio. she's nearly impossible for me to photograph. she won't stay put while i take a few steps back to snap a shot. she immediately starts coming towards me. blossom poses...these were at a small creek just off the main loop. one of my days off, before the temperature warmed i did finally get my first ski in. just a short ski before my swim. the snow was lovely! wasn't out too long and i also didn't swim my full swim. testing out my new suit, which was fine and i had a roast in the crockpot. turned out really great. made some homemade potatoes and chowed that night. had burned enough calories between hike/ski and swim!anchorage has over 100 miles of ski trails i believe. if you love cross country skiing...this is a dream place to live. i love using the trails for all sorts of stuff so i find it a dream to live here. lots of tunnels connect the various trail systems. people commute by ski's, bikes..whatever, even in the depth of winter alternate means of transport are utilized...just watch out for moose. tuesday i joined amy, karen and tanya up at prospect heights trailhead. took a bit for everyone to locate it. it's awesome once you get in your head how to get there, kinda tough to explain. tanya and i meet here often in the winter. it's where her dogs got porcupined this summer. pretty loops with views of denali, anchorage, the alaska range and susitna mountain.whoops...out of order ski photo. just one of the trails!!our fair city of anchorage!bent down to get something out of my pack and got loved by malamutes! took a self portrait!laika rose leads the pack. she gets bigger and bigger! peds got slow, the adults got busy so i floated down to adults. had a good night, can't complain. when we stopped for photo op on trail, blossom got into my backpack and dragged her toy out. she probably actually had it in her mouth for like 23 seconds. it went back and forth between ekko and boddhi. ekko actually had possession the bulk of the trail. probably should have just put the thing back. now it has a little ekko hole in it. no biggie, but feel badly as i fear amy feels responsible. told her it was mine and blossoms fault. dogs are just dogs. they look awful happy and cute though. boddhi photographs pretty awesome! that is one beautiful dog!i think this is blossoms sad, "i want my toy back" looks.friendly tug of war. at the lookout ekko enjoys the vista's. denali came out as is often the case here in winters. there she is in the distance in all her glory...are mountains considered female? hmm.sunset in denali. on monday amy got stuck in snow, on tuesday karen didn't make it out of the parking lot up here before needing to be dug out. luckily there was a guy up there with a big shovel. i really should put a smallish big shovel in the car for these events.mentioned the bohemians. i just think they are beautiful birds!not always easy to photograph as they flit around rather rapidly.below is my "art" shot...a feeble attempt at capturing waxwings in action. not sure i even captured one of em in there!a woman died up in fairbanks. apparently she has alzheimers and was driving, got confused and lost and died of exposure. of course, i was wondering why a person who has alzheimers was driving. the article mentioned it, but didn't focus on it. not sure how far along in alzheimers one ceases to be trusted to drive themselves places. sad.got to visit with some friends today. ran into my friend ellie, haven't seen her forever. almost didn't recognize her as she's altered her form through diet. looks and feels much healthier...i'm all smiles for her. thought of her with that dialysis kid as she was always my other kid dialysis nurse. i miss her!!! tonight i went to dinner with my friend gail. great to chat and chat and chat!! those 9-5ers , m-f folks get tough to keep up with.i'm very excited about our summers trip. it's all already starting to come together. i think we have a plan to get out to round island!! permits are requested for 8!! now if i could just get excited for christmas. it's hit and miss. some years i'm all on top of it all, other years i'm such a slacker!! my plan is to hit a few of my favorite craft fairs tomorrow. first dog park with dogs, then native hospital crafts!! i think i'll let blossom and rio do a bit of shopping for me there!! that is sure to get my in the christmas spirit!! then the uaa craft fair!more waxwing action.not sure if i can find anyone to join me, but i'm wanting to go check out the rollar derby. just looks like a crazy, but fun night out. something different. met one of the team members when i went to work for my physical. not sure how it came up, but i mentioned to the nurse at employee health that i wanted to hit one of these rollar derby matches...she is on a team! can't remember her "name". i think i'll recognize it though. how bizarro is that?may have to check the feeders and fill them again...these guys looked to be finding some snacks though.was happy rio joined us in the bog today. lots of rabbit tracks. no moose sightings of late, but as the winter drones on they will become more and more commonplace in town.at one of the open area's there is a new field of little snowmen. not sure if this community will grow or if the project has been abandoned.another day, blossom and i did some loopage out in north bivouac. ran into our doodle friends, luke and emma. always great to catch up with thier owner! she is an inspiration to me. not sure of her age, but i know she is no spring chicken and that lady could totally out ski me anyday. odd cloud formationblossom enjoys more frisbee timeearly morning noise of trucks. our street is totally wide again. the crew goes street by street and moves the cities snow to holding area's til the melt. some complain about how slowly this all happens. i'm the opposite. i'm quite impressed at the great job these crews do. always enjoy watching the process of the streets snow being conquered! the trucks line up one after another and get filled by the yellow truck with the snow that has been scraped off the sides of the streets and moved to center for pick up.the machinery that is required to keep this city moving is impressive. bought paper for the christmas letter, now to write the letter, start addressing envelopes, figure out my christmas list....or just skip it and go to bed!! hehe!