COEXIST...my word of the day...

 Never an issue for these pups really.  just an issue for humans.  animals just take life in stride.  kill when killing is required, but otherwise who cares who's drinking out of the same water hole as you are.  President Obama said in a short speech that he was ashamed by those who would try to prevent these refugees from entering the states who would say maybe only Christian refugees...all the people who are paranoid and freaking out.

 Honestly, if those in the West or i guess more of if the general populous coexisted with those who are believers of Islam, these terrorists groups wouldn't stand a chance.  Humans aren't like dogs though.  they have a much harder time drinking from the same watering hole without constantly being worried that the other beasts will take all the water or attack them.  perhaps we have evolved to a point where we have completely lost our basic instincts.  an animal tends to know when to have a real fear or concern and when there is no danger.  they may be wrong from time to time, but they seem to pick up on that and then they move out of a panic state.

 it is just sad that these people who desire to lead our nation are spreading hate and encouraging this negative attitude towards helping others who are desperately in need.  even worse that so many seem to be getting sucked into this negative battle of words.

 These are out at Oceanview Bluff Park.  probably some good sledding happened there today.  we got several inches of fresh snow.  i worked last night so i slept in..by the time i was up the trails were a bit packed down.  it was a bit of a workout for both Blossom and i out there today.  not overly packed down but too much for snowshoes...so we were hoofing it.

 Blossom has laid on Rio's beds and sniffed the blankets that we'd had around Rio the other day.  tonight i pulled those up and put them in the wash.  seemed best to leave them out while i went to work the last 2 nights. she does seem a bit quieter than her usual. it will be hard to leave her and head to California, but i know Val will spoil her with loves.

 after stepping on water bowls that have been spread all over for Rio's sake, it occurred to me last night that i no longer needed 5 water bowls scattered around the house.  we are now down to 2 water bowls for Blossom and 2 small ones for the cats.  i'll no doubt be cleaning up spots of Mastiff drool for months.  a friend who had lost hers said for months she'd see a bit of drool some place and she'd laugh and clean it up...life with mastiffs.  haha.

 i still look for her when i wake up or come home from being out.  Blossom and i have walked the last 2 days without having to worry about settling Rio in.  for some time i have adapted life so that i wouldn't leave her alone more than once and then possibly a second time leaving her with Blossom, like for going to work.

 Today, as i expected, my regular vet called.  she was really upset about what had happened that day.  apologized profusely, said she would understand if i never returned but hoped i would.  she said there would be a meeting and possibly someone would no longer be working there due to this.  she just felt like she can't have someone working there who could be so uncaring.

 i later texted her to say that i appreciated the girl who called back.  that she was clearly just trying to rectify the situation, for me it was just too late that day and i had made other arrangements.  all went well as far as Rio was concerned in the end.  we got what we needed.  i felt the first desk girl was more clueless than uncaring.  nice that she called and apologized though.  life is as it is and you have to be willing to forgive.  as they say...shit happens.

 i mentioned to her that as long as she was having this staff meeting she may want to mention the use of cell phones while in rooms with clients giving treatments to dogs.  while Rio was getting subQ fluids the other day the tech was texting and took a call.  this also upset her as she said she has rules about this.  so not a great way for her to come back from her vacation.  i know she has always had a soft spot for Rio.  it would have been great if she could have been there because i know Rio had worked her way into her heart  i know the desk girl that called me back has always liked Rio.  i was at the movies soon after Rio was treated for colitis recently and after the movie i hear,"how is Rio Catalina".  took me a minute in the dark to figure out where the voice was coming from, but it was her.

 so...time heals wounds, life is as it is.  people screw up....mostly you forgive because it's best for everyone.

 will be up late as i was suddenly super tired this evening and took a nap.  i'd gotten up early to play in the snow.  tried to hit a store to shop and then i realized how very,very tired i felt.  so i put back a few things i had debated purchasing and headed home.

 my last two nights at work kept me busy.  i was in ER one night and then in the adult ICU the next.  between the dog park and work i got over 16,000 steps for that 24 hour period.  haha.  gotta love work.

 probably a bit of a blur in some ways.  did have Rio on my mind a bit.  thankfully i work with many dog lovers.  nobody bats an eye for you calling out because of your dog.  they understand that our pets are our families.

 lots to do to get ready for my trip.  i leave in less than 24 hours...i'm sure i'll get it together.  it will go fast, it always does.  hate the travel part, love the visiting part.  also hate getting packed and all that.  really, i hate leaving the animals.  i miss them as soon as i start planning a trip. once i'm on my way to the airport...you just let it all go.

 have hoped to get some of the Christmas stuff taken care of.  we shall see.  did get the Christmas cards all addressed.  that tends to be a way i get the gift giving part of Christmas organized.

 Blossom wasn't keen on my selfie idea.  could have been the extremely low temperatures.  it was -14 as we left the animal hospital after letting Rio go.  i worked the next night and as i left work that morning it felt nearly tropical.  it had warmed up into the low 30's.  amazing how warm that feels after it's been sub zero.

 i love winter though.  my whole mood lightened when the temperatures dropped and then lightened more when the snow was falling down.  we all watched it out the patient room windows all night.

 bummer to leave just as this snow hits.  hate to miss any time in Alaska.  it's just so beautiful here.  i have little need to travel outside of Alaska.  every day is a vacation here.

 loved these of Blossom on the ice.

 stopped on the way to our walk today as i spotted a large bull moose on the side of the road in the woods.  he had a lovely rack and the snow had settled on his rack.  looked cool, him walking around eating with this snow stuck to him.

 when we got to the trailhead we were greeted by an old dog friend.  a friend had rehomed the dog and this was only the second time we've seen him in the year.  he looks great and happy.  the new folks just adore him and he has blossomed under their care.  she didn't recognize me of course, but after we spoke i reminded her that we had run into each other in the bog soon after they'd gotten Indy.  the two pups were again thrilled to see each other and played a bit.  we saw them later on the trails again.  so cute.  she says he is no longer dog aggressive. he just needed to build confidence...which he's been able to do under their care.

 NPR was speaking the other day about President Bush right after Sept 11.  that speech was really great and they were speaking a bit about that and also how he had made sure to emphasize that Islam doesn't equal terrorists and that we needed to not make the leap that every Muslim is some sort of terrorist.  while i may not agree with all that happened after that speech....at that moment i must say he did shine in the words he spoke.  i see no such leader in the Republican Party currently.  they are seeming to be a racist and scary bunch.  so negative...it's frightening to even ponder any of them in that office. not that i'd say the Democrat group is anything i'm ready to jump for joy at.

 Blossom is for sure slower these days.  she is 10.  is it Rio...or have i just been so preoccupied with Rio of late that i didn't notice her slowing.

 i will say...the cats are not altered in the least with the loss of Rio.

 much talk this week about the FDA approving genetically modified salmon...or as Alaskans call them, "frankenfish"  no support for these fish in Alaska.  they don't even have to label them as genetically modified.  i'll shop in the waters of alaska for my fish..

 a bill passed i guess to make it even more difficult for these refugees to get in to the US.  it's already a rather restrictive process.  people should really be more focused on our less restrictive rules for student visa's and such...those are more of our weak areas.  then i laugh because Canada will now take in something like 900 refugees/day.  we have pretty porous borders with Canada.  those who are paranoid about these refugees would probably be better off vetting them through our process.  the fact remains though...most refugees are not your suicide/terrorist types.  it's too long of a process for someone to be stupid enough or patient enough to try that route as a terrorist.

still i find the attitude of my fellow countrymen sad, embarrassing and shameful when it comes to helping the many refugees out there.

 a veteran has left his full time job to try and make a go of helping other veterans who are homeless and otherwise troubled.  he is walking the communities for 22 days to raise awareness as i guess the reports are that 22 veterans/day kill themselves in our nation. he wants to make public service his lifes work.  sounds like he's still trying to figure out how to make that happen but i do applaud him his efforts and wish him well.  was just writing about how helping our veterans and our own homeless population should be something that people here get involved with more at the community level.

 i realize the VA is a federal government based organization but there are many local levels and local ways to get involved.  just another one of those hot ticket battles this week.  suddenly people who could care less about the veterans a few months ago are suddenly angry that Obama was going to help the Syrian Refugees before we clear our streets of all the homeless.

 my neighbors to the left are moving i guess.  saw the husband yesterday.  he's sad to be leaving this little neighborhood.  you could tell he was really bummed. sounds like they are moving into his wife's fathers property which is larger.  i suspect for him this feels like he's stepping backwards.  they bought this house that they have been living in....i get that.  it's too small for their needs, i suspect his wife feels that more than he does.  not sure yet if they will rent it out or sell it.  there is pride in being a home owner.  maybe more for some than others.  felt badly for him.

 the last of the government owned research chimps will retire to sanctuary.  happy we are closing the door on that era.

 so many animals at risk out there.  i'm signed up to try and help the walrus...there are so many other species at risk. ultimately you just do what you can in life.  at least you have to put up the fight.  sometimes the fight is a fight of words.  so far for WARIS that has been our best option.  newspaper articles and letters, emails, petitions.  words have power

 these moose are from our bog walk.  as it turns out it was Rio's last walk.  we took our time and we had to extend the distance to avoid this pair.  they were right on the trail and moose are not animals that give up their location very easily.  city moose are not concerned with what your walking plan is.  we ended up going out to the neighborhood and then returning back into the bog in another entrance.

 makes me smile that Rio got a chance to sniff moose before she left this earth.  she always got excited and i could see that she was pretty excited when she caught that scent on that, her last day of walking.

 this is the young guy.

 bombing in Nigeria by another terrorist group.  they don't deserve to be named i've decided.  just crazy cults as far as i can see.  violent cults.  live off of brainwashing the weak.  many have recently been on a kick of killing elephants in order to sell the ivory to fund their terrorist activities.  more lives lost, human and animal.  i'd prefer we keep any troops off the ground for as long as possible.  rather drops bombs on these jerks...can't even ponder the hell that would happen to any ground troop captured by these violent idiots...none of us want that.  just don't want to ever give these evil jerks the option.

 a patient's wife was talking about how the Syrian terrorists want to establish the site for the apocalypse to take place...we both seemed to agree that we were all for clearing all the decent folks out of Syria and then we'd be happy to create an apocalypse for them...not for nuclear bombings, but it would be tempting to collect all the terrorists in one area and then just bomb the hell out of them.  good riddance.

 not sure why i took this shot.

 joined a friend out at Kincaid for a walk.  liked this little snowman someone put out there. they show up everywhere.

 always fun to walk with KR.  i have found some amazing walking buddies over the years.  always a few favorites.

 actually i think i impressed that patients wife...as they were walking in ...they passed me and i said to the nurse bringing them back, "rock?".  you can spot those poor souls with kidney stones pretty easily.  looks damn miserable.  more common than i knew.  fun working in the ER really.  i used to work ER for dogs and cats and i think i have always loved that atmosphere.  i ended up working ICU's which i liked as well.  fun to be in the ER, which i think i had thought in nursing school was where i would work.

 a 74 year old is missing in Unalakleet, early alzheimers i think they said.  when you wander off in the bush in the winter the outcome is rarely good.  thoughts for her and her family and friends....so hard.

 guess i should get off this computer.  pay a few bills first then do a wee bit of packing..i'm running out of time.  eek!!  such the procrastinator. haha

 will be off until December.  still have calendars and stickers for sale.  hit our web page. i will get them mailed off in time for Christmas when i return!!!

thankful for:  1. snow  2.  old friends  3.  warmth, safety and indoor plumbing.  :-)