so someone else lied today. haha

 was a bit of a mixed day for me.  cold still...super cold.  on the plus side.  Potters is now skatable.  people have been out ice skating...great time for this!!  will hopefully get my kicksled out tomorrow!!  that always makes me happy.  loved the color above. beautiful evening out at Palmer Hay Flats.

 i still discover new places for me and expand the places i can wander in this area.  this also makes me happy.

 tried to leave once and did leave but Rio had been a bit distressed to be left behind.  as i left i got a text from a friend that one of our friends had to let her dog go yesterday.  cancer.  another friend had to let her dog go a few weeks ago.  it made me feel bad for leaving Rio when she didn't really want to be left.  so i turned around.

 we did a Rio walk in the Bog before heading out to Palmer.  my swim hopes were defeated yet again.  the thing is...i must get my arse out of bed earlier.  that is really all it is.  i really do want to get back on track with the pool and workout.  it's really just a matter of getting back in the habit.  it's so easy to get out of the habit on these things.  over the years i've had good years and less good years.  i think i just got out of habit after my knee surgery last year and now i just have to flip the habit.

 nice to get Rio out there though . as we headed down the street to the bog these 3 dogs came running up from behind.  no owner in sight, off leash.  they were friendly so that was good.  with Rio we were moving slow so the girl with the dogs got ahead of me and then i never saw her or the dogs again.

 pancake ice forming.

 as i was heading back out to my street from the Bog i ran into this lady.  she was asking if i'd seen a malemute.  i said i had seen one with a girl, but there were 2 other dogs.  she then said that was her dog it had been with her kid, but that all the dogs had been on leash and the malemute had slipped it's lead.  i had to let her know that those dogs were never on a leash at all and were running free from the get go.  her kid had lied to her.

 i kept referring to her kid as she or her...the lady then let me know that her kid was a boy.  oops!! embarrassed i tried to cover by saying i was paying more attention to all the dogs as they were loose.  she didn't seem too upset, more, i think just in that flux of figuring out what it all  means in her life...she looked a bit tired and said, "it's okay, he's gay..." and then opted to stop with further explanation.  i knew i was a stranger and i required no further explanation though you could tell she had felt almost obligated to go there with me, but realized it wasn't important.  then we both walked out of the bog together.  nice lady.  she did say she would be speaking to him about the dogs being off leash.

 clear skies out there today.  very few clouds.

 did enjoy a quiet evening by the fire,baking cookies, snuggled under my electric blanket.  it's the life!!

 otherwise, i really haven't accomplished much these past few days. the days are flying and i will soon be off to California.  would like to have some of Christmas taken care of.

 a few things have come up with these Paris attacks.

 a few things posted about how the attacks in Beirut have been ignored while everyone stands up against the violence in Paris. why is that the articles i read asked.  i can think of several reasons.  these attacks are unusual in Europe and here and in many other places in the world, whereas they seem to be so common in parts of the middle east that they all seem to just move past them.  you don't see the flowers and candles set out at the places of bombings in the middle east as you do in other places it seems.  violence has been the norm there as far back as my memory serves.  if it wasn't terrorists it was the guerilla's.  holding the Israeli team hostage at the olympics...that was my first glimpse of the violence in the region.

 most Americans relate more to people in Paris.  we don't understand the lives of those in the middle east so saturated in violence.  so angry, so much hatred.  it's also no doubt related to the fact that right after Sept 11 happened.  those in Europe were mourning our loss and supporting us and standing up for our nation..whereas the people in  the middle east seemed to be celebrating in the streets.  was that true of all folks in the middle east, no, but it is the memory we have.  we don't recall others standing out against those celebrations.  in fact, it still not all that common to see those from the middle east really stand up against the terrorists.  they are afraid no doubt and now with all the refugees swarming across the borders it seems that many of the rational folks in the middle east are giving up attempting to live in the hell that has become the middle east and they want out.

 i'm all for helping those who are helpless. as i said yesterday, it does come with risks.  when you get swarms of folks in suddenly you can't always screen them.  there is always the risk that radicals will come across borders as well.

 other articles try to remind us that the radicals aren't living the true values of Islam.  i'm sure that is true and that many aspects of the Muslim culture and religion are peaceful and good....but i do know that many nations under Islamic Law forbid women from voting, driving and even getting educations.  you can't pretend that there aren't some fundamental issues that come from such a restrictive religion. people may choose to live how they will as long as they can live peacefully with others who do not live as they live.  how do you choose to leave if you have no rights as you are female.  it makes it rather difficult.

 so i do stand with Paris and many of us do because we do not want the violence that has become so common in the middle east to become common in our nations.

 if they were ISIS terrorists that did these acts they certainly weren't concerned with what religion any of the people they were killing were.  they were just about killing.  they are a brutal cult of Islam, since they seem to want us to believe they are Islamic.  they have no humanity in them as is seen by their history of beheadings and burning people in cages while alive.  they have no place in a civilized world.  at some point the people of the true Islam need to stand up against those who would destroy their religion through these violent acts.  where are they? are they just powerless against such an evil force.  i feel badly for the rational and good people who live in the middle east of all religions.  their lives have been destroyed by those who seek to kill for the sake of killing.

 enough of the violence though.  the world still has beauty.  there are still good and kind people in all regions, of all races and religions.  we are by and large simple in our desires in life.  we want to live in peace.  we want to laugh.  we want to learn and to work and to raise families and to watch out for each other.

 switching gears...never enough punishment in these cruelty to animal cases. a Soldotna man beat a dog with a lead pipe to the point it had to be put to sleep.  his punishment was decreased from a felony to a misdemeaner and he got 1 year prison...180 days suspended with 4 years probation.

 we need to take animal cruelty cases more seriously. these people have been shown over and over to escalate into violent criminals towards humans as well.

 grasses through the ice

 saw a blip online about how several Mormons plan to protest the new guidelines for baptism for children of gay parents.  they will get their records removed.  several commenters thought it odd that a person was there to help them with that paperwork.  if they wanted to leave, why did they not just walk away, not pay tithing, just stop showing up.

 i had to laugh.  it's really not as simple as that.  you do need to write a letter that will cover you and prevent the church from attempting to engage you in some church court.  if you just walk away as i did initially, the church will locate you each time you move and will call you and visit you and send you emails and such.  this is annoying at some level, odd at another level or for some just feels a  bit like harrassment.

 in the end, for myself when i moved from Ketchikan to Anchorage i decided that would be the end of that for me.  i wrote the letter in a manner i found on the internet to be most effective.  it still took several months.  there was no drama and eventually i was informed my records were removed.  i was also informed that my baptism was revoked.

 a cute thing got started in Palmer i guess.  Disney like Princess wigs are being made for girls going through cancer treatments that lose their hair.  super cute idea.  love cleverness such as this.

 thought of a co-worker the other day.  we were talking at work and i mentioned that this co-worker, Tom, had disappeared up here the summer of 2001.  i'd worked with him in Ketchikan.  saw him on the trails a few days before he headed north.  he was to hang out in Anchorage for a few weeks before taking his next nursing assignment.  he was a travel RN.  he never showed up to that next assignment and though there were strange circumstances and his car was found, he never was.  i do think of him from time to time.  people do have a way of disappearing in Alaska and never showing up again.

 love how smooth the ice looks.  this is where the river meets the inlet.

 a creek fills and empties with the tides.

 digging these pink hues.

 Blossom enjoyed her day.  hours outside.  it does take some time to reheat after being out there though.

 my camera's all died.  the batteries fail in the cold temps after a bit.  i usually have spare batteries and i do again now, but i hadn't packed them in there.

 this was just ice on a bridge with the colors of the sunset behind.

 this next group of shots was taken on the Gasline-Powerline-Tank trail.

 was a smidgee nervous but never saw any bear tracks.  there are still some sightings though perhaps these cold temps this week will lure the bears into hibernation

 i'm all good with them sleeping for a bit.

 this was right after our snowfall.

 our Kodiak Bear cubs that were chilling at the zoo this summer have found new homes and are adjusting.  2 are in Wisconsin and the third went to Ohio.

 switched to black and white...always love how life in winter looks in black and white.

 there was an amazing video taken out in Kotzebue.  hundreds of caribou running on the ice in the background and hundreds of spotted seals in the water in the foreground. crazy.  great to see healthy numbers of animals.

 i am getting tired i guess.  do want to get moving quicker tomorrow than i did today. can be tough when you perpetually stay up late

 on the tank trail.

 several old jack-o-lanterns left behind in the bog...moose feed.  so far it doesn't appear they are going for it.  seeming to go for their regular favorites instead.

thankful for:  another day of walking and enjoying nature, pink skies and cookie dough.  :-) night