throat is sore....hope that is temporary.

 starting to feel sick comes with the territory of nursing and i've been in peds/picu quite a bit these last few weeks which exposes me to some brutal bugs.  we shall see.  it has been awhile since i got one of these peds bugs..i get cocky thinking i am above getting sick these days...but those bugs get us all.

 was in Picu the last two nights.  i'm guessing tomorrow i'll be there again, when that place gets busy it gets really busy.  it's hit and miss in pediatrics though.  the census can change so much in 24 hours.  today i ended up getting the day off because i needed to do my PALS check off.  that is 3 hours at least i think it was.

 have gotten a few of those things done on the to do list so that is cool.  tomorrow i need to hit the post office and the bank.  the calendars had some movement this week and so i like to put money in the bank asap.  hoping we can use some of the money earned to have a gathering and speaker.  hoping we can involve the other friends group.  together we can create an alliance and hopefully protect all the special use areas of Alaska.  they did come together for Round Island as we were building our friends group WARIS.  the Anchorage coast Refuge and the McNeil River groups were super helpful. There is also Palmer Hayflats.  there are 32 special use area's and only a handful actually have friends groups associated with them.

 it's sad that you have to fight so hard to protect the wild spaces and the wild critters that live in those places.  thankful there are others out there who also are passionate about specific areas though and work hard to protect them.  i wouldn't have thought one person could make a difference but one person can bring a situation to light for many others and you can make a difference.  never under estimate the power that we all have within us to influence the world around us.

 these pics are from a hike up Little O'Malley. some fall colors left and some ice already in the creeks.

 a friend got lucky and saw several bull moose up in this area the other day. i had debated going and i should have...turned out to be a good day for a moose spotting adventure.  the sunset was amazing as well that day.  the big bulls congregate in this area...powerline pass this time of year, the rut.  you can, at times, see a dozen bulls and cows out there and watch them sparring.  pretty amazing.

 rainy off and on today.  as i drove home from my class i saw that it was yet another beautiful sunset out by the water.  it was a bit late for me to take advantage of it.  the pups were waiting at home and so i needed to get home and feed them.  no walk today.  i slept in and then had to get to that class.

 did make it to the bog yesterday.  no big sightings.

 Anchorage from Glen Alps trailhead area.

 the day before, tuesday, before work i did a loop with Blossom out in Kincaid. i drove into the park to look for more rutting moose but i saw none again.

 i did see this adorable porcupine up a tree by the road going in the park.  they have the sweetest little faces.  i pulled over and took a few photo's of the guy, when i stopped by later he was still up the same tree but he was curled up napping.

 of course, me pulling over prompted others to pull over to see what i was seeing.  that little porcupine got many photos taken of himself that day.

 above you can see some sheep that were in the area of little O'Malley peak.  so cute.  as i headed down this guy moved closer to the trail...i'm sure it was a great treat for many hikers that day to have these sheep so close to the trail.

 Blossom was enjoying any bit of snow she could find.  she'd be thrilled if there was snow year round...which actually you can generally find snow year round some place in Alaska.

 guess some lady took some spice and went nuts in one of our local Subway sandwich shops. she locked herself in the bathroom for over 2 hours and came out naked and swinging.  she apparently tore that place up!!  that spice is bad news!!  it's been bad with the spice up here this year.

 Happiness is a dog in the snow.  Rio tends to avoid the snow if possible and all inclement weather for that matter.

 loved the reds up there that day.  always amazing.

 have 4 packages ready to be shipped tomorrow if i can get myself moving.  should make a few other fun packages for some of my younger relatives.  i do have stuff for the Halloween bags for the Monday walk in a few weeks.  there will be extra stuff...always fun to get surprise snail mail from Alaska, right?  haha.

 will crash pretty soon though.  see if i can kick this bug with sleep. i have the movie, "still alice" in from Netflix so i wouldn't mind curling up with that tonight.

 this is the last bit of the Little O'Malley trail before you hit the top.  from there you walk across what they call the Ballfield and then you have these lovely views over Williwaw Lakes.

 this is the view back down powerline pass.

 i'd just told the pair in the picture below that there was a mountain sheep near by so they went off to see if they could get a closer look.  saw them on the way down and they were pretty happy to report they had gotten in pretty close and enjoyed their little side adventure.

 i think Blossom enjoyed her day out there.  she turns 10 on the 28 th of this month...crazy! she's still a puppy to me.

 a little closer look at the colors.

 my head is a bit foggy tonight.  sorry...will probably be shorter on words and opinions.  i'm rarely short on opinions.  took some tylenol but it really hasn't changed how i am feeling

 snow!!

 need to hunt for the straw that goes with my drinking glass.  i had set the plastic glass on the floor to prevent the cats from breaking it by knocking it down.  now the straw has disappeared...i suspect the cats have used it as a play toy...the hunt begins.  cats are great at making strange things toys and losing them.

 i took the side trail off the main shoot heading up to the top.  i wasn't really concerned with distance for the day.

 Blossom was content to just chill with me.  we watched others slip and slide in the mud and snowy bits.  that was entertainment enough.

 my lack of ambition can be seen in all areas of life.  i hike/walk until i feel like stopping and then i turn around.

 that is a better view of powerline pass.

 you can see fire island and the inlet off in the distance here.

 quite the sweeping views from up there.

 looks like this sheep was enjoying the day as well.

 headed back down and across the creek

 or if you are Blossom...you just get in the creek and lay down for a bit of a belly cooling session.

 i'll write a note to my niece, who is my "penpal".  she's so sweet.  not the best at getting back to me...but it's more important for me to write to her i think.

 i got up close and personal with a few moose the other morning.  these are taken with my iphone.  this mom and baby crossed the street i live on right in front of my car...i mean she must have nearly brushed up against my car....well not my car, the loaner car from the dealership.  i took my car in for work, she's almost over 100,000 miles and so the 90,000 mile stuff, plus change to winter tires and there was an airbag recall.  i had the brand new loaner..i took a deep breath and hoped she wasn't annoyed and would take her annoyance out on the loaner car.  she didn't.

 well...hope i didn't bore you.  i really am wiped tonight.  my throat hurts worse since i sat down...dang it...go away bugs!!

thankful for: A.  cute moose and porcupines and all the other critters that share our fair city boundaries .  B.  passing PALS again...a skill you always hope you never need but it's the hospital so you know you will  C.  fog, it was foggy the other morning...always love how everything looks in the fog of morning.