more mixed bag pictures from past weeks...

 happy st patricks day!! thought i'd slip that in...and happy birthday to ian, my nephew.  this cute st bernard cross puppy is lena's sisters.  very cute!!

 i'm just off of 3 nights work. didn't end up orienting to the er this week, but spent all three nights in the adult icu.  nice to be in familiar territory for a few nights.  exhausting too. well, last night was.

 i try to be patient and admittedly i say a little prayer for patience as i drive to work each night.  confused people are not my best thing.  i know in my head they can't help it, but it can drive me over the edge.  sometimes i have to walk away.  these are the nights i am happy there isn't a nurse cam in each room.  i'm sure my behaviour would be cut and pasted and plastered all over you tube in a not so favorable light.  you catch yourself losing it and those are not proud moments at all.  last night was one of those nights.  just felt myself not handling it all very well at all.  hoping the patient doesn't recall my surly mood and that god forgives me my imperfections in the area of patience.

 i have a friend who works in an alzheimers unit and loves it.  my hats off to people who have that level of caring and skill. the world needs more of them.  the good part of nursing is that there are many options.  last night i should have opted to sedate more and just turn up the drips to keep the blood pressure up.  so i will just have to live with the guilt that comes from knowing you were less than the kind person you try to be.

 i'll take comfort in knowing that usually when i feel i've been awful and mean, most people didn't actually notice it.  life is a work in progress.

 i recall talking to a doctor friend in ketchikan after yet another super nice person died young.  seems that saying, "only the good die young" plays out across the world.  complete "f" up's seem  to be able to battle back from everything.  we decided that the screw ups just kept getting sent back in order to give them another chance to learn, the good were done with our fair planet and could move on to other, more meaningful existences.

 more of blossoms snowballs from the other day.  it was foggy that day but cleared. it's been clear for a few days now. cold in the mornings but warming into the 30's during the day... a perk of longer days.

 the rest of my week at work went fine.  good work crew, laughs, patients that didn't make me crazy.

 sand dunes..

 headed to the dog park today.  slept in a bit and don't think i got there until after 3pm.  still crowded out and the dogs had fun.  we did the bog yesterday.  3 moose. some people out there said the day before they'd seen 6 in there.  this is a loop that is only 1 1/3 miles.  it can get pretty busy with moose this time of year. have been seeing more at the muldoon curve as i turn on to patterson.

 the heat had yet another issue.  the house was 50 degrees when i came home from work friday morning.  i made an appointment for moore plumbing and heating to come out. i've heard they are good and i was very happy with the service.  they changed the sensor, which costs $18.  so with labor still not too spendy.  nice to have heat again.

 there was talk with a co-worker about going out tonight for st patty's, but i never heard from her and my text wasn't returned so in the end i was happy to chill at home.  did some spring cleaning...may as well get started.  seems like i get a call from big brothers/big sisters or arc of anchorage every week looking for donations so i'll start cleaning and see what i find that would be better off in a new home.

 the fog.

 besides there are just a few places that needed some attention.  well the entire house does, but the shelves i use as my pantry were overdue and the area between the bed and the wall.  wanted to take a vacuum to it all .  it's all reorganized now and looks good.

 guess i finally got approved for my leg procedure.  just want to figure out what is expected from me financially from our insurance.  then i can schedule that.  i've been doing longer walks, but the leg still hurts and is tired and achy. would be great if that procedure could improve that and my quality of life...summer is coming and i'd love to get some longer walks in pain free.

 the iditarod is officially over.  the red lantern has been awarded. the banquet ceremony was tonight i believe.  now everyone heads home.  i should start making my summer plans in nome soon.  i decided i should wait until after this iditarod madness ends.  they must be busy up there right now.

 anchorage beach out of the kincaid chalet.  liked the fog on all the chunks of ice.

 looked like the northern lights were out brightly last night.  thankfully people posted pictures. i guess you could see them from some of the icu rooms, but nobody mentioned to me they were out.  i was running around a lot though so not much time sadly.  i'll keep peeking out tonight.  if i really was smart i'd hop in the car and drive away from the anchorage lights.  it's so hard to get out when you are all happy and cozy inside.

 skier backlit by the sun on a foggy day.

 clearing as i came off the beach.  that should be fire island in the background with a lot of ice between.  it was low tide.  there is some water out there though.

 from monday walk a few weeks ago. sydney seemed to have a great day out there, watching all the dogs run around.

 she even got out a few times and tried her hand at walking.  this is at about the halfway mark.  we did the full loop.

 pj gives rio some lovings so i get to snap a photo of her.

 skipped dinner tonight.  couldn't figure out anything that sounded really good...missed my window of hunger.  currently snacking on cheese, pretzels and peaches.  washing it down with mikes! there are worse dinners i suppose.

 shooting at walmart yesterday i guess.  a wheelchair bound guy was there with his service dog. the service dog was not on leash in the store so the assistant manager came to let him know he'd have to leash the dog or leave.  as he was escorting him out is sounds like, the guy in the wheelchair pulled out a gun and shot the poor man.  very sad story.  hope things go well for him.

 sydney looks so cute in her snowsuit...just one of the monday walk gals.  pj and her sister joined us, which was fun!

 these are a bit mixed up...this is tanya with lucy.  she's getting to be so big!!

 so fun having these cute, healthy babies around...at work i just see the sick ones!

 more from the puppy. lena and i did rovers one day last week.

 manny is like the big brother.  i think everyone had fun meeting and mixing!  what dog doesn't love a puppy around..there are always treats where there are puppies!!

 learning "sit" is more fun in a crowd!

 the new pope is trying to adapt to his new life/job it seems.  thought it was good that they picked one from south america..it's about time.  guess he's not keen on all the pomp and circumstance that comes with the job.  probably good.  might shake things up in rome i guess.

 a few with the other camera at the beach off of the kincaid chalet.

 beach grass with the sea ice behind

 sure is a different beach in the winter.

 nome will go back to normal i guess.  there are folks stationed a bit out of town that alert those in town that a musher is 1-2 miles out.  the sirens then wail to let all know, no matter what time of day or night it is, that a musher is en route.  some greetings were more well attended than others, but there were always people out there to meet each team that came in.  very cool!

 strange case in the paper yesterday.  a guy died in a hospital with meningitis like symptoms.  his organs are donated to 4 different people. one of those people dies within a few years and it turns out the person dies of rabies he'd gotten from the organ donar.  rabies symptoms can mimic those of encephalitits and other more common issues.  it was a missed diagnosis.  it's pretty rare an actual case of rabies comes in, as far as i know anyway. strange and sad.  the other 4 recipients are doing fine and are getting rabies vaccines to prevent the disease from taking hold.  the article stated that there are only 3-4 cases of humans with rabies in the united states a year...so not one of the first things a doctor may check for.  so many freaky things can happen to a body.

 catching up on my reading.

 got to chat with some friends this week live...it was great.  always better live than via text i say.

 can't say i'm full from this meal. i think my cleaning energy has passed for the night.  i am feeling like sleep will be the way to go.  hopefully, no freaky dreams tonight. not a lot of sleep this week, heater issues and all that.

 here is my tree..had a good sideways picture..but still not way to rotate any pictures you load onto this blog thing.

 sledding hill at  kincaid.  this was the ceremonial start day.  lots of folks out sledding that day.

 my tree from the other side.

 loved this series of sydney.  she works so hard to throw the ball for blossom!!  blossom is delightful about it all i must say...such a good dog!!

 off to retrieve!!

 back in after her throwing break for a ride on the sled.

 karen above and below, with amy.

 pj and her sister...!!  i'll have to get someone to take a few black and whites of me with my family this summer when they come up.  jeff posted a bunch of photo's on facebook from us all years ago.  he has some of me jogging.  i can't recall ever jogging around a track.  i must have blocked it out of my memory.  always funny to see pictures of the teenage you.  i was so hard on that poor girl and she wasn't a beauty queen, but she wasn't as hideous as she thought she was.  she also wasn't as fat as she was sure she was.  those teen years can be hell!!

off to enjoy the cleaner area by my bed.  i'm sure i'll sleep better knowing that it's a wee bit cleaner! have a good day. been fun having the added readership due to the iditarod...hopefully some of you stop in again for some of the non iditarod posts. thanks!