ice sculptures...

 decided to head downtown after my workout and see the ice sculptures before it warms up or snows on them. a few good ones.  seems like i've seen better other years.  these are a few of the favorites.  not much fun stuff for kids to play on this year.  sometimes a few of these seem to find themselves in the big Fairbanks Ice sculpture contest.  get the impression this can be a tester for some artists for their Fairbanks run.  not sure where the Iditarod restart will be this year.  hearing they may decide soon. i should have enough time that i could head up there.  may be even i could find a dog sled tour to take while i'm there...and there is always Chena hot springs.

 workout two for this week three...so far i'm on track.  today i did 30 min elliptical, 10 min rowing and 35 min of free weights.  have always enjoyed free weights so may eventually add more time and exercises to that part of the workout.

 i crashed as soon as i got to bed. still feel badly for not coming through for the PICU crew last night.  i was way too wiped out though.  more than usual.

 beautiful day out there for the Monday walk.  got my friends to make it 11:30 so i could sleep in just a bit more.

 i thought this one above was Jesus from the front and then i saw the flag.  it's a soldier.  sadly, it appears that we lost 12 men this weekend out on training in Hawaii, helicopters...those are so dangerous.  they found rafts but no survivors....my heart goes out to them and their loved ones.

 things are moving forward in Iran, hopefully, prisoner exchange, meeting terms of nuclear deal supposedly and sanctions lifted.  hard to trust many of these nations but i think at some point you have to try.  the sanctions seem to harm the innocent people the most and and i suspect this just causes us all more issues after years and years of it.  they see us as the cause of all their hardships.  they miss out on education, opportunities.  an entire generation is lost and that makes them more susceptible to joining terrorists groups. over simplified i know but...sometimes we over think things.  sometimes in life, things are more simple than you imagine.  we need some countries over there to be stable.  maybe, shockingly, Iran will turn into the good guys.

 while i was downtown to look at these a homeless guy knocked on my car window.  scared the crap out of me.  ended up giving him a pair of the gloves i'd bought on sale.  i suspect the guys is a drug addict though so he will  no doubt sell the gloves for drug money...see i don't always have a cheery, positive outlook.  i can only hope the person that buys them needs them and uses them.  all these drug addicts...such a waste of the gift life is.

 another avalanche in Hatchers Pass has taken a life.  it's part of winter.  especially these strange winters with warming/chill trends. a frozen layer below followed by lightly packed snow makes it weak.

 the rest are again from Pinnacles national park.

 Pete Kaiser won this years Kuskokwim 300. he won last year as well.  so some dog races are taking place out there. one team scratched when the human got frostbite in her eyes.  that sounds uncomfortable.

 there is a harlequin great dane, 18 months looking for home.  not sure i'm ready for that.  i do love big dogs and miss my big dog.  when i think about it, i'm really leaning towards another doodle. besides they want money for the dane.  in my opinion if you buy a dog and then 18 months later figure out you need to get rid of said dog, you shouldn't be trying to get money for it.  you should just be looking for a good home to mop up your screw up.

 liked how this one was framed.

 in honor of Breads loss this week, i worked out to the music of Bread today.  i also worked out to Bryan Adams and Pachabel...just a bit of variety.  everyone has headphones on in the gym these days.  not much chatter.  so things have changed a bit in gyms over the years.

 liked Pinnacles in black and white.

 had my mammo today...was going to head  to gym from there, had my gym bag....but i had forgotten my tennis shoes, can't work out in my snow boots.  later i was going to head to the ice sculptures downtown from the gym...a friend opted out so again i headed home to change shoes again.  cleats this time.  chilly out for tennis shoes and it can get icy by the sculptures.  always think of KR who fell there and had to deal with a nasty injury...makes me extra cautious though.  it's tough being single and injured...so best to avoid it, right?

 drug trial gone horrible bad in France.  one dead, several others pretty ill.  they were healthy test subjects, mostly looking for side effects...they found some pretty terrible ones.

 at coffee one friend was talking about a show she was watching about this DR who was telling people they had cancer and treating them, when they really didn't.  some died of side effects to the harsh drugs...there were hundreds of these poor people duped by this guy so he could collect money for treatments. imagine going through cancer treatments and all the stress of thinking you had a possible terminal illness only to discover you never had cancer and never needed any treatment.  that is horrible...what a cruel and selfish person that guy is.

 Bergdahl will go through court martial trial and then decisions will be made regarding his POW and Purple heart.  there are a lot of stories surrounding this guy.  he walked away from duty and camp is the story and put others lives at risk as they went out searching for him.  he has paid quite a lot by being held and tortured for 5 years, will be interesting to see how it all plays out though.  he's a guy you feel badly for and don't feel badly for at the same time.

 one patient last week...was a regular drunk guy...said he is clean 2 months now.  sweet, happy guy...fun to chat with him and congratulate him on his new soberness.  hope the best for him.  you always hope the best for these folks.  often there are sad stories about how they end up drinking, homeless or on drugs.  i'm sure not all though, some just got hooked in..goofing off and never stopped or figured out too late that they couldn't stop.

 i feel lucky and blessed that i don't seem to have that addiction gene.  i can have a glass of wine every few months and that is all...for many though, that just isn't the case.  destroys lives though, i know that, i see it all the time.

 loved the scenery out there.  so many beautiful places, we go to the ones we can and enjoy through other media those we don't make it too.

 for sure a perk of the internet and modern world is our ability to armchair travel.  great documentaries, blogs from places beyond our reach. it's awesome.  my blog is public...yes i know it is.  haha.  i love that when i look at  where my hits come from it can be from all over the world.  i post pics on MyShot with Nat Geo from time to time and it's cool to see that my pictures are seen and enjoyed by people the world over and i in turn get a glimpse into day to day life in other parts of the world.  we can be changed by seeing the differences of those in other nations...but also seeing that in truth in many ways we are all so similar.  that is really evident in photography. we all find pieces of beauty around us.

 we all have people, places, pets and things that we care about, that have meaning to us.

 we all seem to love nature and wildlife in whatever form is available in our area.

 feeling thirsty...gotta put the ice machine to work.  that has been a nice purchase.

 water drank, ice cooking and snacks gotten.  doing much better at flipping.  lack of sleep yesterday did help. it's getting time to get out exploring more.  we have a bit more light which helps.  probably will try my next stretch off for some short road trips.  you start to get a bit stir crazy.  do want to keep my gym activities up.  i'm too out of shape and i do have a desire to improve my health and losing weight and toning up is a good start.

 todays snack items...Nilla Wafers and Chocolate covered Macadamia nuts.  reminds me i still have some Thank You notes to get out there.  when i was younger my friend Marcia was like a boom-a-rang getting thank you notes out.  i'm not as good as she was and is, but she did teach me the value of the thank you note.  something about a little hand written note.  with all the modern stuff we have it's a good thing to remember that being grateful is always a good thing.  when someone is kind to you..thank them.

 lichen...loved everywhere.

 such pretty colors.  later that day when we returned it was cloudy so nice to get to see it all sunny and beautiful.

 haven't heard anything back from Fish and Wildlife about the poached walrus...perhaps i should encourage others to email them and ask about this?  anyone want to help me rattle them a bit and give us some answers?

Grateful for: A.  music to go with exercise, really does make it more fun  B.  friends and laughter C.  efforts to make our world a bit safer.  thanks to those who try, thanks to the military who protect and defend.