sunrise, sunset....

 woke to a  beautiful sunrise out my bedroom window.  grabbed my camera and snapped a few from upstairs. still too sleepy to make my way outside.  nice and pink though.  very cool.

 love having a view from my bedroom.  my other amazing view was when i lived in ketchikan.  i rented a place on the water for over 3 years and it was fabulous, i can't lie.  i think i paid $850/month rent.  it was a tiny cabin, but it was great to watch all the boats and whales and sea lions and sunrises and sunsets.  the bald eagles woke me with their chitter and one even dropped a salmon on my deck as it flew over.  scared us both when he swooped down to retrieve it just as i had decided to toss it back off the deck to the sea.

 i did eventually crawl out of my slumber and it was another warm day.  the snow is still solid, pocked up from foot steps during the warmer days.  rio opted to join us on the monday walk.  she was debating i could tell, i even got the peanut butter on the couch and she stepped over it to come walking.  she does seem better with the pain meds being given every day.  no more whining and she's back to coming for meals rather than me taking them to her.  signs of things to come  i guess.

 saw this guy on the way down campbell airstrip road.  i decided to pull over and watch him for a bit.  we also saw one out on the trails and karen saw one on the way to the walk...then lena texted to say she and jason and seen two more moose right by their house.  i decided there must be some sort of moose symposium in town.  topics, "the effects of human encroachment on feeding/breeding in our local moose population".  seems like they were getting a good turn out.  no doubt the expanding human population is a huge concern for the moose crowd and i'm sure they were very vocal about their views on the matter.  "moose...pro-human or against".  i fear we would not come out ahead on the argument.  that being said, we do plant tasty things, turn the sprinklers on during "hot" weather and keep roads and trails plowed just for the convenience of the local moose.  i'm quite sure that is how it's viewed.  we aren't all bad.

 just the 4 of us and 3 dogs.  at some point rio's coat fell off and i had to make my way back to retrieve it.  this took much longer than expected and was much further back than i had thought.  thankfully, it's a holiday so nobody was in a big rush.  i did try to jog/walk to speed up the process. rio, as usual, was a bit disturbed that i'd walked off and even more disturbed when they tried to turn around and come back to where i'd backtracked.  she's very sensitive.

 nice to just have a day of a few of us regulars i must say.  we skipped coffee, though i had made brownies.  i stopped and did a wee bit of grocery shopping and then later met my friend, anita, for dinner.  she's a drug rep for a veterinary supply company and alaska is her area.  she flies up more and more and when she's here we go out to grab a bite if time allows.  always fun.  we've been friends for years.  we met back when we both worked as vet techs at eagle rock emergency pet clinic in los angeles.  that group became a second family in many ways.  some of those friends from there are still very dear friends.  those friends that even if years pass, you get together and it's like not a day has passed at all, the conversation just starts again.

 another friend from my days in eagle rock called me tonight.  we talk quite often.  i am very lucky to have so many really tight friends.  one can never have too many people in their lives.

 watched "amelie" tonight.  haven't seen that for awhile.  always enjoy that flick though.

 alaska's kikkan randall is set for another olympics.  she just keeps getting better.  she is a cross country skier and one to watch.  she's a sprint racer.  probably our best hope for finally getting a medal in cross country skiing.  i think the usa has only ever won one medal in cross country and it was bronze i believe.  not sure.  anyway...hoping for the best for kikkan and team usa in sochi.

 pot legalization seems inevitable. i have never myself smoked a cigarette, let alone pot.  can't say that i'd fight too hard to prevent pot from getting legalized.  anything done too much can turn bad.  i think Obama is getting some guff for not opposing the legalization. i'd have to agree that i've seen much worse come from alcohol.  i rarely see someone in the icu because of a pot overdose or due to pot related cardiomyopathy or pot related encephalopathy.  don't have them there with liver disease related to put use or going through pot withdrawls.  just doesn't happen.  the car wrecks are more often than not alcohol related, not pot related.  the murders, rapes, suicides are also more related to alcohol use over any pot use.  legalize and tax.  the war on drugs has gone on for years...i guess i'd say let this one go and focus on drugs that have a more negative impact.

 cute young moose.

 okay, i'm sure i took way too many pictures of him.  oh well.

 sunrise again with my little camera.  it was closer and this was a broader view of it.  this is my bedroom view...sweet chugach!!

 above is the moose we saw out on the trails.  below...well we walked past my moose poop art today and i decided to add the smile...as i did blossom was busy removing and eating the moose poops from the original "smile".  dogs love moose poops.  there were several comments about me using my bare hands to do this creation.  karen posted a picture of me barehanded adding the smile...don't be so afraid of germs folks...moose mostly eat bark and then they are ruminants so it's highly processed poop...comes out in these neat little packages.  not to mention they are quite frozen.  we live in a society of germaphobes...i'm around germs all the time, i've made my peace.  sometimes in life, you just gotta let go of all the little fears and worries and have fun!!

good night, germaphobes!!