it's a grand snow year..

of course, there are those who undoubtably don't think this much snowfall is as grand as i do. even i know that there can be too much of a good thing and i have my moments of thinking...not the shovel again. i do love the snow though so i will try not to complain about the shovel work involved at times. this is looking out my upstairs picture window. the snow is creeping up.photo above courtesy of my friend tanya. after another 8 inches or so of snow fell this weekend the temperature dropped today. it was close to 0 or below. of course, the trail for today's monday walk was stomped down enough to not merit snowshoes but not quite packed enough to make walking easy. it was a killer 4 miles today and pretty dang cold for all. we were all quite happy to hit the tank trail again and head for kaladi's. i am without hat, i took it off and on as i was overheating at 0 degrees. always seems odd. i was feeling my lack of sleep as well. we were trying to show off our frost. missed karen in this picture and the picture i have of karen loaded sideways as they occasionally do. this is amy, lena, tanya and myself. when you walk with 4 malamutes you are often stopped by the above roadblock on the trail. we ran into not another soul out there on the trails today. were a few other cars by the time we returned.blue skies and sunshine. i'm sleepy now, but also anxious and upset. joined amy and karen for dinner at serranos and then we went to watch "war horse". sharon and sandra joined us there. i'm not going to say it was a bad movie, it wasn't, it was really good, but it was also horrible. if you don't want to know any more....move on...spoiler possible.
it was just loud and pretty graphic war scenes and sad horse scenes. there are some happy moments for the horse as well and the last 5 minutes or so were totally tear inducing. i laughed of course as in those last minutes of the movie i started to hear all the sniffles and tears from down the row. i used to enjoy war themed movies and i think i still do, but it was pretty graphic at times and that included horses being shot and mistreated. the main horse befriends another horse and since we all know the main horse survives the war one gets the warm fuzzy feeling that he and his black horse friend who have bonded through all the hell of war will end up chilling in a pasture one day. not gonna happen though. i looked away many times during the movie to avoid seeing the scenes. can't say as i've done that since watching tom sawyer as a kid. injun joe was terrifying. mostly, i felt very anxious throughout the movie. too anxious to really feel all warm and fuzzy in those last scenes. i wouldn't see it again. the light is always amazing in this section.malamutes photograph well. such amazingly beautiful dogs. watched a few other movies this week as well. i've had a few netflix movies sitting around and haven't gotten to them so i finally did. one was, "the pat tillman story". a documentary. if you don't know he was a football player who joined the military and was killed by friendly fire in afghanistan. his family were obviously very involved in making this documentary and i really liked it. i think it did what they really wanted which was show him for the guy he was not the one the officials wanted to splash across the news. no clear answers were even given to the family as to what all happened. they did a great deal of investigating. some of the truth has come to light, but there is still much denial that will never be cleared up. how high the coverup went does seem clear and embarrassing. they were understandably pissed that their sons unfortunate death was used to promote the military agenda. it was just really well done and informative. when i went to work on thursday i found that i hadn't been put on the schedule. with all the changes in management in both units i really need to be watchful of the schedules. mine has been set for years and if there was a change i got a call. this may all be in flux, i really don't know what will happen. peds icu was very busy this weekend. i started in the adults on friday and was quickly pulled for peds. they had several vents. i'm feeling a bit unsettled and anxious about the possible implications of all the management changes and the impaction they could have for me so i was ruminating about what this busy weekend may mean. would it be proof that my schedule should be changed or proof that it should stay the same as then i am your backup. time will tell. i try to not cross bridges before i get to them in life. it's a hard thing to remember sometimes, but i do believe it's best to not freak out over things that haven't happened but that just may happen. so that first night the adult unit already had a few nurses on call, peds also had a nurse on call so i was given an overstaff..no call, totaly free! watched the other netflix movie, "emmanuels gift". my brain my blank a bit but i think it was set in Guana? apparently if you are born with some handicap or develope one it is thought that you somehow deserved it? this one guy, who is disabled, decides to champion for more rights and assistance for the disabled in his country. he starts by riding a bike across his country despite only having one functioning leg. this gets him the attention to get to the united states and eventually get the leg that wasn't functional removed and get a prosthesis. anyway....oprah was involved in the making of this documentary. it's one of those examples of an inspirational story not told in a manner that inspires as much as expected. not sure if oprahs people just aren't used to doing a full length film or what. it jsut seemed like it was all re-inacted and seemed kinda fake, which made it uninspiring. the guy sounds like he's made some headway in helping the people with disabilities in his nation so like i said the story is inspiring, but just not well done in my opinion.we had a lovely monday walk. i had intentions of doing a swim before heading to dinner and a movie, but that was just a crazy idea. i took a nap instead.sunday between shifts i woke to continued snow. i spent the afternoon shoveling out. it gets harder as the places to put the snow are few and one must toss the snow higher and higher. once i'd thrown blossoms frisbee tons and shoveled all i could tolerate it was time to drag the christmas tree of the past to the recycling area just over a mile from my house. blossom and rio happily accompanied me. i'm sure it looks odd me walking around dragging my tree, but it works.took some pictures as i entertained blossom and dug out. was thinking it may take some extra time to melt this spring meaning planting season will be greatly delayed. so my yardwork needs will be less this summer. valdez always gets tons of snow and this year it sounds like they are on track to at least tie thier record snowfall. record happened '89-90, 560.7 inches total. yikes! that is amost 47 feet for a coastal town. cordova also got blasted with snow these past storms and the national gaurd had to come in to help them dig out. you can see my deck is going bye-bye!that birdfeeder hangs like 4 feet off the ground and is now sitting on snow. the birds are having a rough time. i keep digging out the snow in the feeders and trying to make it available. the moose are also getting killed due to the deep snows. they avoid the deep stuff and stroll out on the roads.my shed is also disappearing. i must say despite all the snow this weekend the sidewalks were plowed on the route i drug my tree. i was happy. some complain about the road crew, but i actually think they do an amazing job. seems like people have some unrealistic expectations to me. a few moose settle in and endure the storms. saw a mom and baby moose as i drove home from work another morning. too dark to get any decent shots, and i was driving, but they looked like they'd been bedded down for hours and the baby just had it's head sticking out. they just looked so sad and cold! dog bootie put in tree as lost and found.anchorage averages nearly 75 inches of snow/year and we are already up to almost 70 inches. far less than valdez but still we are way ahead for the year. blossom is thrilled with the snow and i think she would actually be totally fine if it stayed winter all year long, though she does enjoy a good swim.took the dogs to the bog a few times over the weekend. this is a pond thing in the center of the loop that is always fair game for dog play off leash. below you can see the tracks of a dog chasing a frisbee back and forth. hehe.pond in bog.rio even came. she lifted her feet if we stayed in one place too long and one day after she'd done her duty as it were, she turned back hoping we would just skip the loop and return home. she does fine though. i let her skip todays monday walk adventure. happy i did.a few action shots.my work can be kinda disgusting and i always laugh as the crap that happens at work is never depicted on the tv/movies. took care of a very large man and during bath i instinctively popped a zit thing in his arm pit. that thing fired like a rocket. lucky i have fast reflexes still or i would have had MRSA pus in my eye. not sure how many cc's of fill a zit requires to be called an abscess. it was discussed. we often pronounce the hours of 2-3 in the morning as sex and secretion hour...it's when all conversations at the nursing station can deteriorate at a rapid rate. one must keep oneself entertained in the wee hours and nurses have some pretty fun stories to tell. if you don't get grossed out when you are eating at least.always great to see the sunshine out there. my bedroom windows allow for some great warm light in the afternoons and it's great to stretch out with a book and imagine yourself on some beach out there.

i think my post movie anxiety is begining to subside. as i left my house tonight to meet friends i realized that today was the 9th (well, now it's the 10th). as it turns out that meant that i was missing a class at work on the computers that i had signed up for but convinced myself was happening on tuesday. oops! totally missed that one. will have to figure out another day to check it out. a few more bog pictures from another day. i think i am now relaxed enough to attempt sleep.