mastiff fashionista!!

 i'm pretty sure she's the only mastiff in town dressed so fine!!  tonight i again did the rare thing and sewed for my dog.  i have made her at least 4 coats and now this neck/ear muff.  she just has those long floppy ears with that thin coat of hair so this is to protect her ears from frostbite on days like today.  i think it came out nicely considering my ineptness at sewing and craft type items in general. thankfully, rio is pretty mellow and doesn't mind at all being dressed.

 above is blossom last night with her two feline pals pogi and miss breezy chatterbug.

 rio today in the temperatures that were close to zero. we ended up doing a lot of loops and twists around north bivouac trails and were out there in the cold for nearly 2 hours.  my photo opts were many but i didn't take the opportunity as often as i should have.  dealing with 2 dogs, losing various items, doubling back to try and find lost items and the cold. so not very many pictures.  lots of cool frost out there getting started.  may just head out there again tomorrow, we shall see.

 not too long into the hike i noticed that rio had lost one of her booties.  they clearly make a difference as the rest of the hike she would stop and lift the one paw up.  dogs up here often wear booties in the cold and many tolerate them just fine.  blossom never took to them and i think her thick coat serves her well.  still one must be careful in temperatures this low.  rio does look lovely in her red coat and red booties.  once i add on her white neck scruff she will be toasty  i hope.  the red coat has paw prints as does her new white scruff.

 blossom seems completely oblivious to the cold and several times tonight requested to be let out so she could lay about on the back deck for awhile.

 we went out to the open area which in the warmer months is boggy and unpassable. i only saw a few small spots that had broken through.  there had been walkers and clearly a moose as well.  so if a nearly 1000 pound moose can walk on the ice i feel pretty safe.  still, i was alone so i am always a bit more cautious.  i put blossom on her leash before we got near the ponds that are deeper.  it would not be a good day in these severe cold temps for her to go through the ice.

 she was raring to go though.

 i stayed up late and watched, "frozen ground".  it was filmed in Alaska and was based on a real story up here about a serial killer.  the guy was a baker up here in anchorage.  was married with kids, guess he seemed normal enough to those around him, but in the end he was killing women.  mostly prostitutes from what i could gather.  he must have waited til his wife would go out of town with the kids and then he'd pick up a girl and hold her hostage, rape her repeatedly and eventually put the victim in his plane.  he'd fly the victim out to a remote location then release her only to chase her down and "hunt" her like an animal.  one girl escaped but the cops at the time didn't pay too much attention to her story.

 liked this odd snow design on the pond. looked kinda human or like an ink blot.

 anyway, one cop eventually did see a pattern and found the one girl that had escaped and eventually this serial killer was captured.  from what he movie said he's doing life with no chance of parole.  i think he finally admitted to maybe 17 murders, they only found 11 i think.  he'd kept a map with
x's marking the location of the bodies behind his bed, that was finally found by the police.  interesting case, sad.

 a few more pictures of rio's new neck scruff.

 she's so cute...in her own sweet way.  there is a 7 year old mastiff looking for a home apparently on friends of pets.  tempting to check her out.  female, overweight.  not that i need another gas passing, snoring beast in the house, it's just that these larger dogs can be harder to place.  everyone seems to love big dogs, but i think they don't realize what all is involved.

 made it to walmart today and did pick up a few small gifts for some family in Texas. i should make that christmas letter tonight.

 had a hard time sleeping after watching that movie.  probably not a good idea when you live alone to watch a movie about a serial killer and then try to sleep.

 these are a few of the ice crystal shots from today.  nothing too outstanding, i haven't quite got the hang of putting the frost in a picture that really shows how cool it is.

 you will just have to be patient and perhaps one day i'll get the knack.  black and white does seem to help a bit though.  makes it less blue anyway.

 it's just amazing how delicate they are and how intricate they can be as well.

 it does get chilly trying to get down and hold still for the macro.  i really should have done the long johns and ski pants over regular pants and skhoop.

 another day, more frost. perhaps a trip down the sledding hill on the south of town and then hit that coastal refuge...might be fun.  may need my cleats for that too.

 at least i'll have more sun and could just time it so i'm there for tomorrows sunset.  always a great place to enjoy the sunset.

 each blade of grass gets coated with crystals...pretty in the light.

 wanted to hit stumphenge, there is lots of ice crystals there.  should hit it a bit earlier to get the light.  maybe a good one to hit before i start back to work thursday.

 after the walk of today i was chilled and trying to push myself to head back out and redeem myself for my lack of photo taking today.

 eventually, i headed up to basher trailhead and caught the tail end of the sunset.  pretty.

 so hoping tomorrow is a better photo day.  did get some stuff done that's been on my mental list.  happy i found that material for rio's  neck scruff. i had decided last winter that she needed something for her ears for this winter so hopefully it works.

i better try and crash a bit earlier tonight.  no scary movies.  perhaps i'll start a new book.