snow and wind in Portage Valley...

 still got a walk in.  i was started on a second walk but Blossom and i were both getting pelted in the eyeballs by snow pellets.  tough to see and my eyes were getting a beating.  Blossom sat down and gave notice that this walk to Byron Glacier was not going to happen if she had anything to do with it.

 since i was there...and needed to use the facilities anyway...may as well stop in and see what the animals at the conservation center were up to  these moose were all staying inside away from the inclement weather

 Blossom and i did do a nice stretch on the Trail of Blue Ice.  so we got the minimum steps in.

 was wet and chilled when i got home so i curled up on the couch with the heated throw and slept.  so i was a fail this week on getting my 3 work outs in..week seven.  i will have to forgive myself and accept that yesterday i had nearly gotten 20,000 steps in.  week 8 will be back to my normal.  Wednesday is our lecture...still no email from our main speaker.  fingers crossed he shows up.  otherwise...i may be talking walrus on the fly.  eek!!

 the musk ox were braving the weather.  actually the wind was super crazy right at Portage Lake and that area.  there were ice bergs by the visitor center and waves crashing over them.  pretty cool to watch...from the car.  attempts at photo ops were quickly ceased as the camera lens would get wet too fast.  even in the car some gusts gave me a good push. always a bit unnerving.

 did get through lots of shredding...that always feels good.  at work nurses write pt stuff down on paper, which we tend to refer to as our "brains".  those have to be shredded and for some reason i tend to bring those home with me...was saving them for a bit as i figured they could come in handy for the book i had started but haven't really worked on for a bit.  there is risk in the book of leaking too much information which would be a violation.  figure i'll just shred it all and let the stories in my head just come to life.

 paper just seems to pile up in a house...drives me nuts.  now i have all this WARIS paper as well.  need to get a better filing system for that.

 my computer is starting to get older so i wanted to work on making sure information from on here is saved to discs.  lots of WARIS stuff that i wouldn't want to lose so i spent some time tonight backing up all that stuff just in case of a major crash.  above are some Wood Bison and below the cute little Sitka Black Tailed Deer.  so cute.

 doubt i got much for great shots as it was pretty wet out.  flakes mixed with rain at this point.

 Portage Valley was covered in a fresh inch of snow.  there is talk of snow in the next day or so...like most of us i will wait and see to believe.

 big elk

 these guys were also just chilling in the weather.

 i didn't see any bears out so they were probably chilling in their dens out of the weather.

 should have stayed in Anchorage i guess...but it is nice to get out of town and actually kind of fun to see places in different weather patterns.

 these were on my walk out there.  got lucky and the weather wasn't too bad in the trees.

 headed over to one of the campgrounds in the area.  closed of course.

 always these odd patterns in the ice that form

 not sure what the cause is.

 ice and snow are pretty fun to watch in all the variations that exist.  so many different patterns...water just is amazing in how many forms it can be found.

 i had debated briefly going through the tunnel to Whittier just for fun...but the weather was just so crappy.  oddly, often you will find totally different weather once you get through the tunnel.  not willing to risk it today.

 my goal was to get back to Anchorage in time to hit the gym...and i did make it back in time.  the spirit was willing but the body was weak.  some times you do just need a day off so i try not to be too hard on myself

 bought a few swimsuits that will work ...gotta love mail order. you can try swimsuits on in the privacy of your own home, better light, not in some tiny room in the middle of the store.

 always love these old stumps...crazy.

 fun to get out there and see them in the winter frozen in

 Portage lake isn't frozen at all.  the ice bergs were from glacier calvings. the wind no doubt had pushed them far from the face.

 no wild animal sightings other than those at the center.  smartly, they were probably holed up somewhere.

 murre carcass....it's not over.  still some deaths.  he probably got weak, caught on land and couldn't take off

 these were taken at Byron Glacier trail....we did not get far at all.

 you can see the snow flakes whizzing past in the one below and probably above if you click on it to enlarge.

 waves crashing on this ice berg.

will try to do some purging of paper this week.  always a good goal.

 i have a few bags of clothes that are ready to take to the center.  i'd always rather just give crap away then try to sell it.  too much bother, strange folks coming to your house/calling.  not for me.  i figure i have gotten use out of whatever it is i bought and i'll just pass it along. if someone else is enterprising and wants to re-sell my old crap..more power to them.

 this was one of the young moose there this summer.  getting so big.  sweet face

 well, i shall head to bed...if there is fresh snow out there in the morning i want to enjoy it!!

thankful for:  A.  safe travels today despite the wind and weather  B.  cute animals to enjoy before i headed back to Anchorage C.  plumbing ...such a lovely invention!!