more March Madness...

 days are getting longer and are staying beautiful.  i'm hoping for a trek to seward tomorrow.  will have to get my arse started early though to make a day of it.

 some from a walk with O's.  prospect heights.  below in the distance you can see the fog has rolled in across the inlet.

 the girls

 boddhi is always a handsome dog.

 dueling with stems. fairly safe...no dueling gear required.  not sure you can take fencing courses up in Alaska.  we do have pretty much anything, at least in Anchorage i guess.

 these warmer spring snowfalls are great for snowman making.  i really need to get a sledding outing together again.  it's been too long and the hills should still be good for it.

 after my food colouring mess from last year this year i used oreo cookies and carrots for decor.

 i think he came out smashing.  it soon warmed up and my snowman toppled over.  blossom was more than happy to clear  up the oreo's

 we have had many lovely days out there.  today was another one of those.  i opted to head out to Eagle River Nature Center so i texted a friend who lives near there and she was around and joined me.

 took both dogs and we walked the 1.7 miles to the river and back.  blossom was a wee bit disappointed that there was no tennis ball tossing, but she seemed to recover pretty quickly.  lots of folks out there for her to socialize with.  she's quire social and must stop and greet each person that she comes in contact with.  so a fun romp for them both and for Gretchen and I as well.

 met with a friend for dinner.  was supposed to be more of us, but the others got caught up in the beautiful day and never made it.  Scott and i enjoyed catching up.  we've both lived in Alaska for years and know some of the same folks from living in Ketckikan at the same time.  he was able to help me get a deposit together for this summers kayak out in Misty Fjords.  so i will try and get that mailed off Monday.

 these are again from the Portage Lake walk....from the little camera i think.

 these are early on.  we must have just left the parking area.

 looking back.  it was a bit windy out there, pushed us towards the glacier and then make the walk back pretty tough.

 cracks...always a bit unnerving.

 made it to the gym, did the rower and then got on the stair stepper...discovered my gut was still not entirely back to normal.  figured the pool was maybe not going to happen today.  hopefully, another day and my gut will be returned to it's normal happy self.

 you can see a bit of the wind here on Miss Blossom.

 still looking for that jet from Malaysia that disappeared.  they had been focused on the pilots...one apparently had a flight simulator at his house.  i never thought much of that as the guy had posted photo's of himself in the simulator on facebook.  seems like if you are really a terrorist you would probably not do that.  seems like now they are looking at some bits that have been seen via satellite way out to sea.  the area is not easy to get to really.  i think everyone is hopeful to just find a bit of the plane just to know that it's not been hijacked and being retrofitted as some sort of bomb.  haven't heard that for a few days.

 the news drones on and on about it all though.

 selfie

 Putin has claimed Crimea as part of Russia.  the rest of the Ukraine is still up for grabs apparently.  was listening to NPR as i drove and there was some joking that the government of Ukraine has asked for donations to fund their military.  that led to the basketballs March madness and the offer of 1 billion dollars for anyone who can guess correctly all the games...which led back to the entire Ukrainian military should make guesses so they can possibly win the billion bucks!!  haha.

 last week i did notice some missing Malaysian jet jokes on facebook.  i found them to be a bit rude and a bit too soon to post considering the poor folks and families of the missing.  sometimes people lack tact in these matters.  i hid them when i saw them come across my streaming.  can you imagine if you are a family member checking in  on fb and then you see one of those.  jokes can be fun, but timing is critical.

 someone posted the video for "another brick in the wall".  funny.  loved it as a teenager but seeing it now as an adult tax payer i saw all the destruction of a school and thought...those bratty teenagers destroying school property!!!  from what i recall that video came out before MTV did.  i seem to recall MTV showing up soon after i got out of high school.  and this video came out before i left high school.  i remember when...seems to happen more and more as i get older.

 we are of the generation of yesteryear.  so much of what we have lived through these next generations see already as ancient history.  i don't feel much like i'm ancient history, but apparently i am.

 the Alaskan earthquake of 1964 that was a 9.2 is making it's 50th anniversary.  i'd be happy to not be here for another 9.2 quake.  sounds quite scary...i'd for sure not want to be in some precarious place such as on this lake when the big one happens.  you can't really live your life avoiding things in the event of another big quake, but i am often aware as i go about my business of where i am and how that may not be a good place to be if said big quake occurred.

 i think it's been 25 years since the big oil spill in Prince William Sound.  there are still some court battles that have raged on post spill and there are still some signs of the oil out there according to scientists.  i think the otters and other animals have pretty much rebuilt their populations since then.

 apparently it is legal for police in Hawaii to have sex with prostitutes...as part of their investigation.  that seems like a grand idea...haha!  who passed that law?

 this month is flying past.  i feel like i'm so behind.  the to do list keeps elongating...too pretty to work on it most days.

 the house needs a good cleaning which usually means....i need to throw some sort of gathering as a forced cleaning motivation.  it's always good to clear out and toss crap.  i get in those moods some days. i'm overdue for one i know.

 blossom doesn't have thumbs so i have to help her with her selfies...no she doesn't have a facebook page.  she does have this blog though.

 a guy skijoring out on the lake.

 these were on the way back to the parking area.  we had the wind coming right at us.

 from the conservation center

 a few from a Monday walk. speedy and Lena

 syd rowing her sled

 a few from a day outing with T and Maddie.

 that is Portage Lake in the distance.  another day and it was windy and rainy...would have been extremely dangerous to go out on the lake for a stroll that day i think.

well, best get myself to bed at a reasonable hour so that i can take my roadie tomorrow.  good night