i think most of these are from  a day out in Hatchers Pass, always a favorite.  the season is quickly winding down. blink up here and you may miss fall.  the colors are changing here in Anchorage.

 3 nights work are again in the past.  not my best sleeping week.  one day this crew started working on my street.  large trucks and excavators were right in front of my place pulling up large slabs of sidewalk and concrete.  then lifting them up and dropping them in a metal truck.  wasn't sure i'd get any sleep that day...eventually i must have managed to tune it out and slept for a few hours.

 can't be mad at the work crew.  it's my abnormal work schedule.  still, life as a night shift worker can be tough. the world does not work around your schedule.

 my week was peds, peds and ER.  i think i may have been the only one to get a lunch break in the ER.  you get lucky some days.  did my last 4 hours in the acute area.  i think my co-workers were happy to let me take one particular patient.

 not that it was a difficult assignment...except perhaps from an emotional standpoint.  i've worked peds for years, you have to just compartmentalize things.  acceptance of the facts of life and our inability to change some of those facts. some times all you can do is provide as much comfort  to a situation as you can.  we can't fix everything.  that is harder for some than others.  the doc was great and the family was taken care of by all...there are some really great people in medicine.  nice people, kind people...

 the walrus are again hauling out in massive numbers at Point Lay. hopefully, everyone leaves them alone and all they have to contend with is weather and polar bears.

 apparently a guy got mauled out on the Kenai. there was just a blip in the online paper.  not much information yet.  it did say he didn't have a gun or bear spray.  sounded like it may have been a pretty bad attack.  seems a rather unpleasant thing to have to go through, but people do survive i guess.

 i just have the little camera to look through from the Denali Highway/Byers Lake run.  some times those fall colors out there just seem unreal.  amazingly beautiful.

 i'm a sucker for fall anyway though.

 a magpie chills on the beaver hut out gold mint trail.  today i just managed a trek to the dog park.  Blossom was thrilled. i really thought Rio was going to join us but she made a last minute run to the couch.  she seems happy of late though much less interested in hitting the trails.  could be all that cottage cheese and hot dogs she gets staying home.  for sure she is weaker since her major surgery. VM worried that she fell a few times, slipping on the kitchen floors.  she gets nervous on those slippery floors. i have made it easier for her these past few months. there are still a few spots that can get her.

 joined a friend, GT out at an Italian place for dinner. it's out in Spendard.  i'd never heard of it, guess it's been open for like 20 years.  food was really good.  haven't really driven much around Spenard.  some community revitalization has been happening in that part of town.  dessert was a cheesecake with caramel and chocolate....so tasty!!

 beavers are pretty impressive.  this is the area they have dammed up here.  University Lake is a great place to go in Anchorage to see the work of beavers.

 liked all the reds and fireweed plants against the mountains that day.

 finally got the wagon out of  the car. still have to get the full spare off the roof.  perhaps tomorrow.  hopefully nobody decides to steal it.  we had a brief break in the rain today so i zipped outside and got the lawn mowed.  still need to pull out my new weed whacker and tackle the yard with that.  keep it under control. not too much of the season left. now it's just getting the yard ready so that spring goes smooth

 love the bright colors in these guys

 it's almost 1 am...moving slowly. did get a few things accomplished so not a bad working day.

 tomorrow at least an abbreviated start to the Monday walk.  planning on 11 am starts this year so that will mean a bit earlier for the coffee.  work with school hours a bit better for the moms out there.

 Blossom always enjoys a swim out at the beaver pond.  so far i've never had an issue with the resident beavers.

 view from higher up. Palmer

 drove out a bit of the arch angel road.  it's all redone and ready to drive.  need to hit reed lakes.

 this little stand of trees was on the way out of the pass.

 super pretty.  i am short on words tonight.  short on sleep as well so i shall turn in.

thankful for:  A.  fall colors and ever changing seasons.  B.  family...we aren't always the best at keeping in touch with each other. i know that there is love there and support if i need it and that is always a good thing.  here is hoping that we all make the effort to reach out to each other more.  you never know when one member needs your support sometimes unless you make the effort.  i try to randomly call my siblings, not sure they are all doing that with each other so much.  i am now willing them all to do so though....i am grateful to have so many siblings.  made growing up more interesting and fun.  C.  sun dogs....sun halo's...always cool...and i am grateful for rainbows too!!