i'm now one of those people...

 hit the gym today.  i've already had my membership so i'm at least not a new member, just someone who is beginning again at the gym.  i've been a slacker.  time to get serious.  machines/weights and pool.  want to make the most of my money spent and get in better shape.  strengthen my legs...especially my knees.

 so i may be one of those folks who returns to the gym in January, but i will stick to it longer than the masses!!  go team ME!!

 so i started with 15 min bike, 10 min row.  some ab reps and then to the pool for 30 lengths.  you have to start somewhere.  also loaded up on some more veggies and fruits.  should start all meals by eating those and filling up on better foods before hitting any crap.

 i always feel better when i'm working out.  not that i'm a maniac about it, but you do get energized by getting into better shape.  first goal will be to get out of bed at a more reasonable hour.  easy in winters to linger and sleep longer but the sun is returning slowly so i need to get out there more.

 these are in Kincaid.  starting to catch up on pictures...the wind and ice have helped with that.

 so these are October/November pics.

 working on summer plans.  if i don't plan it out and make commitments i will not get in the fun stuff i want to do.  so far...i have Spencer cabin for the 23/24.  train ride to the lake/glacier and then a hike up to the fairly new cabin.  hopefully i can get Blossom to join me on that one.

 tomorrow i will call and try to get Holgate Cabin.  i think i will try for June and plan on perhaps hitting Kennicott early over my Birthday or Homer is always good that time of year as well.

 will plan on signing up for the Autumn mushroom course at Denali.  i'm always digging the shrooms so would be fun to learn a bit more about them.  Mid July...Bears!!

 then wrap up again by trying to get Byers cabin over Labor day and do the crossing.

 this is from a Monday walk this fall.  haha

 watched a few Ted Talks earlier.  want to cut out regular tv watching and am thinking i will shut it down to basic cable.  too much of a time suck.  rather listen to music or ted talks or read...or hit the gym, right?

 the guy on the ted talks is the next guy in line following a Harvard study of lives.  it's gone on now for over 75 years.  the team has been monitoring the lives of  some old Harvard guys and a group of kids who grew up in a poor neighborhood.  many have passed and they are now including women in the studies.  what makes people happy?  people it seems.

 well, relationships that matter. i suppose the relationships just have to be satisfying.  not just a husband/wife thing, but having many satisfying relationships in your life. i would have to add that i suspect you pets can also be adjunctively a satisfying relationship...not in any sick way.  just caring about others and being cared about.  having people you can depend on and trust in your life.  staying miserable in a bad relationship is not the answer but that doesn't mean couples that have satisfying relationships never argue.

 when asked at a young age, many would say, financial success would make them happy or being famous...but it turns out those things are not really indicative of general happiness.  i'm sure most of us wouldn't mind having both...money and a satisfying relationship with the other humans around us.

 on the radio the idea of forgiveness came up.

 there are often times in life where someone hurts you are upsets you or just does you wrong.  can you forgive and move on, do you?  if you don't i find it just eats you up...never impacting the person who hurt you.  they move on...because, they really don't care or they wouldn't have hurt you in the first place, right?

 i'm always amazed at what people will put up with in others.  probably one reason i'm single...i wouldn't, i didn't see the need.  perhaps i should have put up with more or maybe i just didn't find a person whom i trusted enough with my heart.  i knew life wouldn't be happy, happy every day but in general i do feel any person you choose to spend time with should make you want to be a better you.  should make you feel like a better you.  not talking cheerleader all the time, sometimes reality checks are just what are needed.  you can have your course corrected with respect and caring though.

 you should also make them strive to be better humans as well.  no relationship should tear you down or expect you to put up with things that you shouldn't put up with.  i always told myself in my dating days....if you find yourself making excuses for why a person isn't treating you like you know they should...you need to walk away.  they just don't care about you as much as you will need them too.  now that is called, "he's just not that into you". much simpler i guess.

 so often people do make excuses for bad behavior in partners, but also in friends...and hell, in kids and pets as well.  we accept it rather than finding a way to improve it or walk away from it.  i mean, some things are minor, but some stuff people tolerate is pretty major and negative.

 planning trips it can get stressful for me.  will everyone get along?  are there certain personalities that will have a difficult time.  this year i say...just get along. i want it to be fun for me too.  not going to cater to any specific persons needs.  adapt yes, but cater, no.  i tend to get along fairly well with a lot of different people...especially for a few days.

 it's sad that some people have a difficult time blending with a variety of folks...but in truth, in the end, it's sad for them.  there was a time to sort yourself out and at a certain age, well you should have done that already.  i will not pamper someone who will do nothing to try and understand their own failings and weaknesses.  blaming others only goes so far.

 this were back when we had snow in Anchorage...haha.  we will have snow again.  just on a little ice run.

 noted a few whiners out there...a week of bad weather and they are crapping on Alaska in general.  3 years ago we had record snowfall.  weather is weather.  patterns happen and i've no doubt there have been stretches of warmer weather at times in Alaska's past.  it's still ice out there so it's not really warm...just not covered in snow.

 there are far too many whiners out there anyway.  quit being cry baby titty mouses!!! haha!

 today Blossom and i walked gasline to powerline to tank trail.  i hadn't been back since i took a pretty nasty fall a bit ago.  figured it was good to get back over there and just do it.  i did wear cleats and took my trekking pole with me.  i'm not a total fool.  walked a bit slower than others out there, but we did fine.  those are the drag bits about getting older. it's too easy to cut back after a fall. questioning yourself and your abilities.

 felt a bit like  a seal getting out of the pool today.  watched this old video of these guys tap dancing many years ago.  they were jumping over each other and landing in the splitz and then sliding back up without using their hands to help them get up....i couldn't pull that off when i was young.  pretty impressive.  i'd like to improve my strength and flexibility though.  it's time.

 i can feel my muscles right now...which means i done good today.

 didn't hit the neighborhood with the kicksled though.  they had dropped some sand out there through the night. still slick out there, but tough on kicksled with the sand on the ice. haha.

 plane loaded with 8 crashed in Anaktuvuk pass area.  all supposedly survived...sounds like pretty bad injuries for many.  probably split up between the local hospitals in Anchorage if they were really bad.

 guess some vigilante sorts have taken over a fish and wildlife office at a refuge in Oregon.  i'd have to agree that if they weren't white guys more would already be being done.  these guys plan to stay there for years...that time needs to be whittled down to less than a week.  go down dying for all i care.  more whiners in America from what i can tell.

 what a surprise...Trump is now featured in Terrorists video's...proof that Americans hate Muslims...thanks for helping save lives and bring about world peace!!  what an idiot!!  sadly, there are many who will vote for him.  people are getting nuts in this nation...the future is looking bleak. i try to avoid much of this sort of news as it's too depressing. less for him than for the fact that he has so many followers.

 meanwhile...back in reality...stories of the female refugees plight come out.  it's already pretty ridiculous what women in these cultures have to deal with but put them in the position of being refugees and in stressful situations and the abuses worsen.  as was said...everyone knows there are two ways for a women to pay when attempting to get their families to safety.

 loved the snow on this mooses antlers.  this guy was on the side of Campbell Airstrip Road.  just had to stop and get some pictures of him.

 was pondering in the shower again today...i do good pondering there.  what if any ivory found to have come from poaching would be put on a hold.  once every 5-10 years fish and wildlife could hold an auction for the ivory.  the money made from that would then be used for arctic studies and for places like Round Island.  just don't feel that anyone but the animals of the arctic should benefit from the ivory that was poached. one could easily send out a buddy to shoot animals and then just direct a friend to where these dead animals could be discovered...since that guy didn't kill or poach them could they then lay claim to the ivory.  will have to investigate the laws surrounding ivory and collection of it more intensely.

 to protect the walrus in this state we will have to find a way to make sure that any ivory trinkets sold have a purely subsistence based history.  seems like there is too much unknowns in the current system we have.  i'll look into that a bit before i crash for the night.

 guess the Aces won the night after we attended.  oh well.  they did at least score one and my friends got to laugh at the salmon being flung onto the ice.

 see...an article about the impact of an extremely warm El Nino event.  events at this level have only come around a few times over the past 6 decades.  there is an end in sight.  at least temporarily.  in general, with the earths warming trend we can apparently expect more El Nino events.

 rain falling in the arctic in the winter is already negatively impacting the caribou herds up there.  any snowfall turns to ice and the ice makes it more difficult for the caribou to get to a grass food source.  Western yellow cedars have also seen losses.  the snow protects and insulates the roots in the cold weather. ice doesn't insulate.  i would guess this could devastate our frozen wood frogs as well.

 always the afternoon sun through the trees as it prepares to set by 2:30 or 3pm.

 Blossom doesn't care much about sunsets or snow.  she's just happy.

 the light hits the trees behind her

 this is the light it comes from.  winter sunsets are always stunning i find.

 doesn't seem real

 i've come to the end of another rambling session of words.  what will they matter in years to come..they will be read by a few here and now and then forgotten and buried in the madness of  the internet

grateful for: A.  having money to buy groceries.  B.  the great feeling after one has exercised fully C. summer planning.  so much fun!!