each day an adventure in alaska: healthy and happy

had my check up today. went over my labs and all that. looking good so far. always great. i did laugh as the girl took my blood pressure and then rechecked it, saying it was really low. when i asked what it was after she was done she said something like 98/60. in truth that is actually a normal blood pressure. adults in America probably are rarely at that though.

these are again a variety of shots. often make play toys out of boxes before i cut em up completely for recycling. more fun that way. not sure how often they have played in it. today an agility tunnel arrived in the mail that i'd ordered so i put that outside. that was way more fun. the box cutter will take this guy down before the next recycling pick up.

my HDL is awesome so that means i'm good cholesterol wise again. probably some allergies, which i'd suspected with how i was feeling during spring/pollen. pretty minimal. just some residual heartburn from my choking incident the other day.

managed a swim tonight. 25 laps. i was booking.

these are out at Reflections Lake. the site of poor Tuskers incident.

met a friend from Ketchikan tonight for dinner.....:-) always fun to catch up. Ketchikan was such a wonderful place to live, filled with totally cool people. amazing how anytime i run across anyone from there the conversation just flows like not a day has passed. there is just something unique about living in small town Alaska. you become part of a family. i do miss that living in this larger community, but i always got my Ketchikan peeps, no matter where we all are!!

puppies still doing great with their loose recall, sits and downs. adding in more leave it's and settle and go mimi's. just keep building. i have little moments where i worry i'm screwing up...that all those nut jobs on the internet were right and i'm a fool to attempt to raise siblings. i think all will be well. it's not an easy job training one pup let alone 2.

i've pretty much given up the separate crates on different floors. i discovered that which ever pup i ended up putting in the upstairs crate got all riled up by the cats. they clearly see the upstairs as their domain and when the pup was placed sleepy in the crate it was soon greeted by two cats meandering around the crate until the puppy was all wound up again.

got my new glasses, thank you costco. i think they should work for work and driving if needed at night...again, up here i won't really need to be doing any night driving for several months at this point.

above is the scene right before Tusker went down that embankment and into the water.

he's actually more brave in many ways than Ivy despite Ivy seeming to be more dominant. of course, give him a bone and he's going to defend it. i've actually had to take them away from him a few times. he gives Ivy a good growl but i can just take it from him no problem. today i took them to Cabella's. you can take dogs in there and i figured we'd do a little dry run and see how it went. rarely see any other dogs in there and lots of folks

buddies on the beach

guess Cruz gave up running for POTUS so it appears that Drumpf is the last man standing in the Republican Party for the job. pretty unbelievable. not that i'm a fan of Hilary either...at some point i found myself hoping that perhaps they both at least pick good running mates and then die shortly after taking office. that is probably not the best way to be seeing a Presidential election but i'm just trying to bring a little hope to the world. our nation will probably survive the next 4 years. i really think putting Drumpf up just assures a Democrat in office, which i'm quite alright with. they at least seem to accept climate change and want to protect land and animals...and help the other humans.

this is poor Tusker all drenched.

they gave me a pneumonia vaccine today. it didn't hurt at all at the time...pretty sore now...was it swimming that irritated it or is this just a sore vaccine....the worst is tetanus....that one always kills.

swans out there, today i heard sand hill cranes passing by Kincaid. also saw a great blue heron the other day...all the birds are returning. so lovely.

been in Kincaid the last two days.

i know bears go there too, but it always seems to have less bear activity.. i have little puppies, that's a quick bite for a bear.

of course, then i saw several bald eagles out there today and they may try to make a meal out of a puppy too.

those talons are dirty and sharp...gotta keep them safe from all this stuff out there just waiting to pounce on them!!

it's easy to see why this lake got it's name. i'm a fan of all things reflective

a little sand piper bird

the pups do get rewarded for all their good walking by getting a few moments off leash in safe areas. at this point they just opted to lay about and chew on a log.

this gull caught a fish and then took the whole thing back...me a human can't handle a small piece of meat and this bird, so small, can easily inhale an entire fish without chewing or choking at all. go figure.

curses to blogger for not having an option to turn a photo...!!

this was another tree, log i guess, another photo op with the puppies.

blossom seems to be enjoying the puppies overall. she does seem to get tired of them more at night,no doubt when she is more sore. she also will really give them a grumble when she has a bone or other tasty treat.

she's pretty tolerant and when i think i need to give her a break and i make the pups move away from her...she comes right back for more.

how much to allow them to wrestle? that is always the questions. more i'm sure in between shift when i'm super tired. is it harming them? i don't want them to think this is how one behaves with every dog they meet.

i try to use those times to distract them and do some quick training.

use the energy to my advantage.

these are today. we did a loop in Kincaid which brought us to the dunes. a few moose at the trailhead and then part way in there was a noise above me and a moose coming down the hill through the brush. i moved the dogs along past it and we never had another encounter.

someone added a bench in this area..so i decided to sit a spell.

a few photo ops of the pups with the water behind. always nice

they sure are cute, right?

not really looking forward to work. exhausting right now. they keep being busy. i did get some of the mandatory education stuff done these past weeks....just proving that i still know today what i knew yesterday. so silly. if only people realized what a waste JAHCO has become and what a financial drain it is on hospitals.

so many things start out as good ideas with good intentions only to roll out of control and become ridiculous drains of money, time, effort and staff.