more cold temps and the last of Texas...

 it was still cold out there so i just headed to campbell airstrip trailhead for another loop. ran into these guys and joined them for part of the walk.  emma and luke and their owner, gil.  super nice. loved that they had booties on.  she even matched the booties to their collar colours.  blossom still stops quite often to pull ice out of from between her toes.  it's probably kinda painful, but she's hated booties when i've tried them.

 we met a few of gils friends and headed up the airstrip.  it's been a long time since i've done that loop. at the top of the airstrip they took off back towards the main trail head as they had limited time and blossom and i carried on with the loop.  it was slightly warmer than yesterday but still below zero.  i'd guessed yesterday at near -15F.  gil said her car had said -17 out there yesterday.  thankfully, anchorage rarely has much of a wind chill.

 it did cloud up through the day and by this evening there was some snow falling.  felt warmer tonight to me.  they called for a winter storm with blowing and snow, but it hasn't been bad at my end of town.

 it is funny as you are walking out in these temperatures there are always these little pockets where it gets even colder for a bit. haven't noticed any warm pockets but for sure there are cold pockets.  my fingers were getting chilled so i dropped a few of those hand warmers in my gloves.  they take 15-30 min to start to work.  probably should have started those earlier.  anyway, in the end i decided to just do the walk and try and get some crap done.

 hit the grocery store and the post office to get boxes..should have had the boxes ready to mail as there was absolutely no line.

 nice to get some stuff accomplished at home today.  laundry, dishes, cat litter...

 even got my hour of writing in.  i am making it my goal to sit down and write for 1 hour every day that i am off.  somewhere between 9-11 pm.  so i only added 3 pages to the novel, but i have to read back and edit a bit and then move forward.  my character has flight of idea's which works for me and my writing style.  so far i like it. not sure  if anyone else will.  figure keep writing and see what it turns out like.  you never know until you actual finish a thing.  can't hurt to try.  i have always enjoyed writing.

 so not too many pictures today.  the rest are pretty must the last of Texas.  a few from a walk i took sunday.  i left when my brother and his wife were having choir practice at their place.  the music was nice but i didn't want to be a bother and i love to walk.  stopped for donuts, called my other brother jeff and then walked more.

 Texas fall isn't like an Alaskan fall or what i've seen in pictures of back east.  but it's still pretty.  found these brightly coloured leaves to admire.

 loved the conrast of this bright on next to the ones that were all brown.

 also stopped and visited with these horses and the donkey.

 not much action there, but still cool. we don't run across to many horses or cows here in Alaska.  they do exist but not as prevalent.  i guess there is an island or two that are overrun with cows, leftover from a ranch that is no more.  there is talk of getting them off the island as they are taking over and destroying the land for the wild birds especially.

 got a package from lands end...the pets are so sweet to order me some christmas gifts. haha!  they may order a few more.  not much under the tree otherwise.  i'm not a household where a new car will show up in the driveway christmas morning. do those houses really exist?  what would that be like?

 there are some beautiful trees in Texas.

 liked this horse with the green..green is in short supply up here right now as well.  fun to have that tree in the living room, though it's getting pretty dry already.

 liked this tree as well.  i think this is actually the tree in my brothers neighborhood that i was obsessed with.

 had to write some words with the things i found around so i wrote these in the planter at my brothers house.  joy out of nut casings i picked up on my walk

 and laugh from the leaves in the planter.  the winds were blowing a bit so i think laugh didn't last very long.

 walked around old town with my brothers, Eric and Tom. it was relaxing and a nice way to end the week.

 looked like a cool old building but it was actually a cool new building made to look like a cool old building.  well done i thought.  really pretty.  lots of brick in Texas.  it is pretty.

 we wandered over to this old silo.

 kinda cool

 my brothers again.  funny how they naturally posed the same way.

 this harley was decked out for the holidays.  when he rode there were lights and christmas music playing.  pretty cool, really

 don't know these people, but i liked the effect with the lights.

 already thinking of new years resolutions.  i think the writing got me thinking about it.  obviously i need to re-commit to a work out routine.  i really want to commit to lifting free weights again, followed by the swim.  weights are good for old bones and for toning as well.  i have some free weights at home that i use, but it's not as regular or thorough as it should be.

 my sister in law helped me collect rocks for this word and i think came up with the word as well.  liked this one with rocks in the sand

 not sure who did this but there was a lot of human artwork on the beaches and in the rocks. this does seem like it was dug out of the soft rock i think.  kinda cool looking. when i was writing "dance" i set my backpack down and left it there.  blonde move.  thankfully we found it right where i'd dropped it down by the word dance.

 this last one was taken by Karen, thanks Karen!!  group shot from monday sans Karen as she was taking the photo.  syd was starting to meltdown and it was getting a bit too chilly to set up the little tripod for a remote shot.

i have downloaded the latest National Geographic and my latest copy of Readers Digest arrived today so i have some fun reading tonight before i crash.