hopefully, my last 4 day stretch in awhile. just 2 shifts left before i head to the float pool. today i woke to a beautiful day. i was sleepy, but headed out for the monday walk. this picture above was from that, the sun was just in a cool cloud mix and i really liked this somewhat odd photo. just me and the girls today, speedy met me at the coffee shop afterwards. holidays. they are tough on the monday walk crowd. haha. i figured it would be a low turnout so i brought rio along for the stretch. she is always the trooper!
got an on call saturday night. probably the last one i'll get for some time. i'll either be needed in some area of the hospital or oriented to some place. i enjoyed it. blossom was out on the back deck above. have finally had the chance to shovel some snow this month, which is awesome!!
a few pretty mellow nights at work. had a few older guy's that were great to chat with. both had done a lot of travel about alaska for work. fun to chat with people who have lived in alaska for years and get their stories. how many jobs do you get to shoot the crap with such a wide range of people. always fun to hear stories you never would hear.
people do love to tell you about their lives, all you have to do is ask the right questions and be willing to listen. our lives seem ordinary on that day to day basis at times, but when one looks back at all the experiences we each have some amazing stuff to share. my job puts me in contact with people from all walks of life and affords me this peek into the fascinating lives of others.
blossom enjoyed todays walk free from any tennis ball competition. sadly, i took one of those cheap costco tennis balls and it was in shreds rather quickly. she still managed to carry the last bits of it back to the car. have a few terminal tennis balls in the car that need to just be tossed. heard those costco tennis balls got pulled off the shelf. i have to wonder if it's how poorly they were made. blossom is actually pretty good to her toys and they usually last pretty long so if a tennis ball perishes so quickly into the walk...it must be pretty crappy.
lots of folks out and about enjoying the day. it's supposed to get below 0 again tonight. just checked the aurora forcast app...looks pretty quiet out there until this weekend. lots of snow predicted for this week...we shall see.
oh my crisis of fat...i suppose others have a crisis of faith, but i already did that years ago...the dogs were deemed fat so it was my time to get on the scale...yikes!! i tend to avoid scales altogether as i find it a bad habit to get into. this winter i have put on a few pounds and i'm not happy about that at all. i made a list and hope to add to my first goal of the fall of limiting the amount of soda and chips i take in. i have cut really far back on those things. still work to be done. i did rovers run on thursday and the bog on friday. both days i started with one of my goals for my crisis of fat non diet. i decided that when blossom drops her toy for me to throw i can't just bend down and get the thing, i must do a squat or lunge to get the toy.
she killed me on the first day on rovers run. i must have done over 100 squats!! the next day was shorter but i did more lunges than squats. i could feel some muscles in my thighs that night!!
i'm better at exercising more than eating less, but i did take more healthy snacks to work to munch on rather than the crap i've been in the habit of eating.
not to worry, i've not given up on chocolate!! one good teaching from my childhood religion is the concept of moderation in all things. i have just added stuff on to that list that were denied me in my previous life. or perhaps i've over done the "all things" concept. i also brought the little lateral stepper back into the living room and put back in force the 5 min on the stepper for every half hour couching it in front of the tv. i don't mind if the tv is back ground noise while i do other stuff, but i will have to pay for vegging out in front of the tele.
gathering of friends tonight. always someone coming and going in alaska. it's just part of the life here. you meet new people and others move away. does make for some lovely dinners out with friends!!
above the amy's...!! below sharon with lena. we had to throw the gathering together rather quickly. we all met at "suite 100". they have good food and will accomadate a crowd. it does help to that they are centrally located. they lost a few points for not putting all the rib bones in my box for the dogs...i thought the box seemed awful small. i would have picked off all the meat on all the bones for the pups. bummer!! doggy bags at my house really are for the dogs!!
margauritte, jill, sharon and katie. we were so fast in planning that katie didn't even know anyone was leaving, she thought it was a gathering for me cause i'm going to float pool...no parties planned for that action..
appetizer of steamed muscles and clams! they made a great sauce for their steamers!!
me and sandra.
got a sweet thank you note from one of the calender drawing winners. always nice to hear kind words. it was a nice surprise. cleared out my locker in peds and my file there are well.
lena and margauritte above and my main course below. i got the ribs. great sauce and the ribs came all stacked up. sandra kept sneaking away with my fries...does help me with my crisis of fat though so i opted out of slapping her hands.
sandra, me, sharon and amy. amy got a babysitter tonight and i think she enjoyed her night out with the girls.
kitty, jean, sharon and mary. i hadn't eaten much today so i was happy to indulge. got a martini called a purple people eater. not bad, wishing i'd just gotten a tom collins though. more my taste. sandra told me i should ask for a doggie bag for my drink.
dessert was really tasty...cheesecake with chunks of brownie mixed in. amy and i split it.
a few more pictures from the night
and i thought i'd take a few more of me wearing my handmade akQguy scarf!!
a meteroite fell to the earth in russia. it was a bright flash of light that swept across the sky. people ran to their windows to take a closer look...then the powerful shock wave happened and windows broke and people were injured by the glass. what a totally natural reaction. it would totally have been the first thing i would have done as well. this thing entered the earths atmosphere at speeds of over 30,000 mph! it broke into many pieces over 20 miles up from the surface of our planet. it's crazy the power involved in this one asteroids trek towards earth.
another meteor passed within 17,000 feet i think of our planet, but no harm from that one. space stuff is always cool. so much we still don't know. we are vulnerable, these incidences are just a reminder of that.
sad story out of south korea...elder suicide numbers are increasing. the old culture was such that people worked their butts off so their kids would be successful, at great sacrifice. the children were then expected to care for their parents in their later years. some of this culture is dissolving as more and more of the youth are moving away from where they were raised for better opportunities. the government has only recently started any sort of pension plan for their elderly population and many are being found in a position of unexpected poverty. the pension plan doesn't include those who are already retired in many cases and if you are deemed to have family who are capable to care for you, you may be denied coverage. seems strange, but that was the old way the culture worked..it's not always working this way now and some elders have opted to commit suicide rather than ask for help from their kids or their government. both of which would be deemed shameful.
just sad news, like the news that the police officer gone rouge in california killed himself under siege. that whole story just makes one feel sad for all involved.
more sad news in that kake murder in southeast alaska, a young 14 year old has been arrested.
need some good news to counter all that.
there was this adorable video of young elephant playing in the surf in india i believe. that guy was having so much fun!! just made you smile from ear to ear to watch!!
no matter how much bad news is out there, the good news can be found as well, just harder to locate as they don't seem to enjoy telling anyone good news.
liked the shadows of the twigs on the fresh snow out there today. always have to find something of interest.
hard to see in this picture but denali mountain was out.
took the gasline to powerline to tank trail, then veered off to the back trails, stumphenge.
sleeping lady off in the distance.
gasline bumps into powerline
blossom with the sad bits of her tennis ball.
she still carried it around and expected it to be thrown regularly
creek above, below mounds of grasses under snow.
twig shadows.
blossom takes a moment from her tennis ball chasing to smell the roses as it were i guess.
i'm ready to return to my book reading and get a good rest.
reading a jodi picoult book. just easy reads, always a pleasure. this one is "lone wolf". finished reading "winnie the pooh". i do prefer reading on the ipad as opposed to the kindle. my kindle is older though. i like how the pages turn, the colour, the fact that the ipad lists page numbers and not just a percentage of the book read. i also like that i don't have to have a light on to read it.
another glass of water and i shall turn in.
not sure what i'm up to tomorrow. hopefully i can find some lovely things to take photos of while out on my walk.
I may have to try the dog toy workout so I can keep eating chocolate too!
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