our town is full of ice. people are ice skating on the side streets. it happens sometimes. i may take the kicksled out for a spin in my neighborhood tomorrow, not thinking much will change overnight. kicksled, walk Blossom then i need to hit that pool. it's officially the New Year and i must put the exercise back in to my exercise program.
these are out in Eagle River. some guys out biking on the river. it's not a small river.
today i went out for a walk with my Ketchikan friends. we hauled the kicksled out so they could play around a bit on that. this is the weather for that. you just have to adapt in the winter...find the activity that works with the weather of the day.
later we headed over to Bear Tooth to catch a movie and meal. not sure how many theater pubs exist out there, but this city loves theirs. that place is always packed. we saw "the Martian". i've nearly finished the book. really enjoyed the movie. so far i'm loving the book as well.
new laws have come into effect i guess across the nation. some no doubt good, others bad, some just crazy. the year turning over is in many ways just another day in truth, but it does make a good place to start new laws and personal resolutions.
i need to take down the old calendars and put up the new ones. gotta transfer all the birthdays over to the new ones...upstairs and downstairs. i have a few calendars to choose from this year to put up. i generally get a few in the mail as well from nature groups that i've supported.
heard on NPR today that Saudi Arabia had put over 40 people to death recently. not sure how fair their court system is...many were for speaking out, protesting i suspect but were called terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. for sure would want to be careful in some of these nations not to get on someones bad side or make oneself known to the government. i fear i would not last long in these places. i've never been good at shutting my trap...my opinions tend to just fly out of me.
had a few minutes as i was driving to listen to a Car Guys rerun on NPR. those guys always crack me up. just hearing them laugh makes you laugh. i seem to always miss their show when i'm out and about so fun to catch it.
is the gas still leaking in CA? haven't heard anything for past few days. its a slow methane gas leak...a bit of a disaster. it's on it's third month of leaking. haven't hear of that being stopped yet. yikes! seems bad to me.
my watching of the "idiot abroad" series is over. not that many episodes. his time with the dwarf is in the past. the last trek i think the one guy saw for himself the unfair treatment his new friend/foe was getting. he probably also discovered that though it seemed the guy was being idiotic and politically incorrect in dealing with all things dwarf...sometimes being catered to is not always beneficial. the new friend was wimping out on a walk up a mountain after opting to take the run of it. the idiot kind of shames him into completing it.
i suspect sometimes those who have physical impairments are coddled a bit and get used to it. independence is always a good thing. the guy has apparently been in several movies, star wars included. the idiot is always rolling his eyes and belittling this career. says he's just dressed up and it's not really acting so anytime the guy tries to involve himself with drama...the idiot gets annoyed. it's pretty funny. they are made to dress up as pandas at the Chinese Panda center. the guy who goes in the exhibit with them is not in costume and the new friend tries to go all out "acting" like a panda bear. the idiot just tries to express to him that the producer really just likes to make them dress up oddly...thinking it's best for the show. he's obviously given up caring.
the idiot wants to visit these conjoined twins in this small town in India...the dwarf is pissed/offended...he is eventually forced somewhat to sit on the stage with the idiot and the conjoined twins at a town freak show. this is how the twins make their living. it's India. in truth, i suspect in their minds it's good work. they are getting paid, fed and have a warm place to sleep. there aren't always as many options for people living in other places. they could have been out on the street begging just as easily.
not that i'm a world traveler but i do think you have to be careful not to judge the lives of others based on what you are used to. people live differently in different places. is it all good and fair, that is doubtful. where they still have freak shows we've almost gone too far the other way. we live in the land of politcally correctedness. it's madness really. you can't turn around without risking offending some wimpy American. seems we used to be tough...but i fear we are just getting softer and softer.
little series about helping drug addicted moms stay off drugs and be better parents. i'm a bit more harsh in my stance i guess. i feel like you have had 9 months to prove yourself a worthy parent...if the tox screen is positive you have failed and your parental rights should be severed. just seems like too many of the kids end up needing to be rescued later and by then they will have trouble finding people willing to take them in..not taking sterilizing of anyone, but it just seems like they have no difficulty getting pregnant but they do have difficulty keeping it together. i know, some of them turn it around after they have a baby...not enough. why experiment on the kids and risk that next generation.
i don't always have rational answers to issues that are out there, but i just have seen too much of the back and forth. so many cases in the hospital where i hear co-workers saying that for sure this time the kid will be taken away from the terrible parents and i just encourage them to not get too attached..that kid will in variably be headed right back there or often they will go to family members who maybe aren't much better at their parenting skills.
many villages in Alaska have health aids for medical services in the village. there are 4 levels of health aids. to pass on each level takes training and field experiences. once they are on the jobs they are often doing things way out of their scope of practice if they lived anywhere but Alaska. here though, they are the best option in these remote places. there is a great deal of pride in these crews out there. taking care of family and friends in places far from standard medical care options.
at level 3 they can bill medicare and at level 4, the highest, they are deemed a community health aid practitioner. the job is helped by modern video conferencing with larger hospitals who can talk them through procedures they would not normally do but need to in emergencies.
before i lived in Ketchikan i suppose i was probably more apt to mock small town medicine. after living there for 6 years i have a great deal more respect for nurses/docs and health aids/ems staff in these small towns. you have to master many things and jump in on things that you are not familiar with or have only read about. you may not be able to get people out of your town in a timely fashion and you will have limited blood supplies and resources available to you.
these are out N Biv way.
sunset...i think this one is from my bedroom. always a good view out there. i like my place. it's not huge or fancy but it's home. homes are more spendy now. would rather just put some money into making changes here that work better for me, than starting over.
Blossoms favorite toy..tennis balls. whoever made these chuck it toys...many thanks!!
enjoying the lights on trees on Patterson
Blossom seems unfazed by them.
each school here seems to have an ice rink and a sledding hill. this ice rink is no doubt getting some action this week...
this is a house in the neighborhood. the blue things are made using buckets. the middle ends up being hollow when you dump it and then you can put lights under it. pretty.
the rest are more from CA. with all the ice out there it seemed nice to return to some beautiful, warm, sunny CA photo's
waves are relaxing and always so pretty.
i did get lots of beach time at various beaches enjoying the sounds and sights of the ocean. our beaches are very different than these. still beautiful, just different
don't think i could fit in down in the lower 48 very well anymore...not that i really have ever fit in anywhere. i fit more in here in AK than i have ever felt in the lower 48.
the colors are just so beautiful
i'm still feeling itchy all over..just since it was mentioned that my patient had buggies. i'm 98% sure it's all in my head but there is always that small percent chance that the buggies made a leap for me. you can really psych yourself out though. i may have to buy some stuff and have a nice hot shower just to clear my brain. i'm pretty tough about most stuff in nursing but the buggies really gross me out
i dealt with buggies in my work with animals but that never bothered me really. gross but i didn't feel at risk. most mites are species specific.
every so often i hear a bit of a breeze outside. first i met my friends out at Kincaid today but the wind was really howling out there. rather than be miserable, we headed back over to this end of town. wind is always tough. it can really blow right through you.
tomorrow i need to pick some dates and be ready on Monday to make a few more summer plans. you have to jump on it...the summer will get away from you and you'll be stuck without any fun adventures..watching from the sidelines as everyone else goes off doing fun and cool stuff.
my cousin above on the beach.
you can now carry weapons openly in Texas. in other news...kids accidentally shot an average of 5 people/week in 2015. they were headlines right next to each other. i'm sure that was no accident. haha.
wonder if the iditarod will be moved again north? hope this lack of snow and warm weather isn't an indicator of another no snow Iditarod.
so instead of making new years resolutions...one article suggests just making a bucket list for the year.
my bucket list for places to go and things to do:
bear viewing, grizzly and polar bears
get 2 paddles in this summer
get to Kennicott Mine...been on the list for years
get to spencer glacier- i have cabin booked so that is a good start
hike exit glacier
start making plans for 2017 trek to Iceland with friends
get back on track with my 10,000 steps/day
get back to pool and work out. 3 days a week get there and do something!!
remodel Kitchen...that is the toughest. so hard to know how to start, seems overwhelming
so there they are listed. i have this past year put my grateful items at the end of my blog. i'd like to continue doing that. i feel it's always good to end remembering how much i have been blessed with and keeping it positive.
that is me directed stuff on the bucket list though...perhaps i should add a few other directed things to the list of 2016
clean and donate at least one space a month in the house. purging is good for me and for others
donate new items to shelters human and animal at least once a season.
pen to paper notes to E P-V
carry subway gift cards to give out to homeless...easy and useful i think.
this is the old pool in Victoria Cove in Laguna beach. this was taken on the same day i took shots of this same pool completely full and overflowing. tides can be crazy out there.
there is the tower...a landmark in that cove.
closer on the tower.
i need to look up those Alaskan Geographic courses as well and see if any will work out for this year. i'd be up for the mushroom class for sure. may have to get my membership updated though so i can get the discount
off to look dates and get more fun planned for the summer. can't get to all things every summer but you just have to give it a shot and see what things may come!
grateful for: A. people who can take an ice filled street and make it an ice rink. positive thinking and a good outlook on life can take you a long ways...and with a smile B. more fun times hanging with my Ketchikan crew. C. that despite feeling the itch, no critters have been spotted....yet. :-(
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