i want another week off....

 the weather is just starting to improve.  it's finally snowing!! of course, i can't say that my walk today was totally pleasant.  under all that beautiful snow is an ice rink.  even with my ice bug cleated boots i was sliding all over the place.  my car was skidding around on my little driveway. rio fell three times trying to get to the car for the walk so i decided to just get her peanut butter and leave her on the couch.

 blossom happily chased her frisbee around. a few other brave walkers out there.  at one point i heard what sounded like a dog team waiting to run barking away.  apparently, it was really a few dogs chasing a moose. the moose crossed in front of a group of women and their dogs that had just passed by me.  was happy that i passed by without the moose running at me...with all that ice running from a moose was going to be a tough call.  poor moose. hate when peoples dogs harass them.

 when i got home and settled my lower back was feeling the pangs of pain from all that ice walking.  ended up taking a robaxin and falling asleep under the heat of my electric throw.

 decided that driving downtown to meet friends for dinner was a bad idea.  i know i'm a wimp!! rush traffic, ice under snow...just seemed like trouble.

 stopped by the store to buy some of that ice melter stuff, but they were sold out so  all i go was lunch.

 i did rovers run.  mostly i walked beside the trail as the trail was so slick  blossom seemed to do the same.  dogs are pretty smart that way so i like to watch what they do.  the snow was just thick enough that the cleats were pretty much useless.  going back on the main trail was much easier, i suspect because several folks had now walked it so the snow was packed down a bit and my cleats could get a grip on the ice below.

 the rest of the pictures are from yesterdays more pleasant trek.

 the sunset was a bit more impressive yesterday, but then i'm pretty happy with the return of the snow.  we just need enough to pack down and cover all that ice.

 i go back to work tomorrow night anyway.  so i'll mostly be going to/from work.  the main roads are pretty decent.

 love how the light reflects on the leftover water at low tide.

 lone ice berg out there.

 as the robaxin kicked in i ate my lunch and watched a bit of dr oz...not because i like him, cause he bugs the crap out of me actually.  charlie sheen was on there. not sure why....i think dr oz was hoping he'd lead him to some epiphany.  sheen looked to me to be withdrawing....probably in the midst of DT's.  he was jumping all over the place.  reminding me of micheal fox, except sheen doesn't have parkinsons.  pretty sad.  sheen clearly doesn't see his problems..life is great.  dr oz made zero headway trying to lead him into his big life changing moment.  i didn't watch for long.  soon the robaxin kicked in anyway.

 this is the trail at kincaid yesterday.  now add several inches of fresh snow to that.  this would be easier to walk on than what i walked on which was smooth ice. this was tough to attempt to walk on yesterday as it was all bumpy.

 some re-freezing designs which i thought looked kinda cool.

 did wake up and see a bit of the first american idol.  not sure about the judging panel.  the men folk will be good, the ladies...drama and princesses.  such silliness.

 hard to tell but the trail below seemed a wee big better than the one above.

 i'm so happy that i opted to leave rio at home in the end.  she does like fresh snow as much as the next dog, but it just wasn't safe for her out there.  probably pretty stupid of me to be out on rovers by myself. i could have fallen easily and been injured and it may have been awhile before help arrived.  it did occur to me a few times out there.  i went very slowly though and was super careful.  so rovers took much longer than usual.

 rio went out in the yard a few times this evening and blossom kept going out and laying on the deck as well. my deck is ice free and the yard isn't bad either.  the front is really bad.  i just didn't feel like venturing out to look for more of that ice stuff.  we'll see how tomorrow goes.

 more cool ice patterns.  it cracked under blossoms weight soon after this was taken.  i think she has fun crashing through it all.

 back to the dunes.

 haven't accomplished much this stretch off.  lazy week...

 liked the pattern of the ice/mud at the low tide out here.

 this one is back on the turnigan arm.

 this is actually a footprint that filled with water and refroze.  liked it.

 pulled over at a few places. beluga point for the longest time.

 also pulled into a pull  out to watch the sunset for awhile. i tend to be impatient with just sitting so i didn't last all that long there either.  the sun went down and then the light really started to get cool.  i probably should have stayed a bit longer.  it really got pretty as i was driving back into town.

 back at beluga point.  i wandered a bit there.

 got this months copy of "alaska" magazine.  palins husband is on the cover...really?  so many great things in alaska and they put him on the cover because of the iron man snowmachine race.  he's won a few times but not the last few years...are we really out of news in alaska?

 the dust was kicking up yesterday.  the melt, the freeze...the dust.  i did notice it yesterday.  i guess it put us in a bad air quality day.  not as bad as china has been.  it looks awful there.  you could just see the clouds of the dust in the air from all the cars driving around.  it was better once i got south of town.  i grew up in Los Angeles so i do have respiratory issues.  the air yesterday didn't bother me though.  i would say i have reactive airway.  when i get a bug it tends to drop into my respiratory tract rapidly and i can be sick for weeks.  it's gotten much better since leaving L.A.  i certainly have no desire to live in china.  that air looks terrible.

 i remember telling a doctor in ketchikan that where i grew up we would have smog days...on those days we weren't allowed to play in the playground but instead we would stay inside and play nerf ball or whatever just like it was a rain day.  the doctor laughed thinking i was making it up.  the air was really  bad though growing up.  i think it has improved some in that area.  in those days we also had bomb drills and earthquake drills, which really seemed like the same thing to me.  now they have lock down drills.  we never worried about someone coming into the school and shooting us.

 the weapons are more accessible, the people have changed as well.  what is it...i have no idea.  i do sense that all these violent computer games are a factor, just our constant exposure to violence through the media has to be a factor.  even babies sleep with violent tv shows in the background instead of lullabies often now.

 my one brother is all about the right to bear arms, though i don't think he actually owns any.  i could be wrong now.  long time ago that seemed to make some sense...we need to have some way to protect ourselves against a corrupt government.  i doubt owning machine guns is the answer.  our government has some pretty high tech weaponry.  should we be allowed to own drones and the ability to make nuclear bombs as well. i mean if you want to take on the us military you will need more than a machine gun.

 still don't think arming the schools is the best plan.  seems spendy for this sort of random attack.  better to teach kids to respect schools and education in general.  put the kids in uniforms and let them understand that individuality is great but they have a job to do...get educated.  have some control over the guns that are out there.  i'd be cool with people keeping some guns at home but i'm all for having things like machine guns kept at safe gun clubs.  do your target practice there.  i'm sure i'll hear it about that.  those kids may still be here if that mother hadn't taught her unstable kid to shoot and given him access to these high powered weaponry.  the guy that killed the fireman also shouldn't have had access to guns.  people do break laws.  keep your guns, but if you break the laws surrounding them you will pay dearly. i think any kid that brings any gun or gun looking thing to school should be expelled.  we need to have a zero tolerance for violence at schools.  it's time to give the schools back the power.  give the teachers back the power.  i'm sick of this "my child would never" "my child isn't responsible" attitude.

 blossom enjoys the snow.  she kept going out there.

 ate a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner and then i opened a can of frosting and smeared it on graham crackers.  my mom always did that with the leftover frosting when she made cakes..i skipped the cake making part of that scenario.

blossom in the snow on rovers run. she had to wait around for me many times.  she is very patient. hopefully we get more snow and the ice gets easier to deal with.