week two and i'm still on track!!

 these are from a few walks.  above is U-Lake and todays Monday walk below.  sunshine and ice prevail.  mutterings of snow, one can dream.  :-)

 good day at gym today.  went yesterday as well so i am on track.  minimal 3x/week at gym and 2 swims/week.  feels great to have that muscle soreness that comes from working out. had found a great app that has loads of examples of some of my old favorite weigh training exercises.  wish i could figure out a way on it to pull the best to the top or load them into a self created work out. it may be that this doesn't exist.

 i have lifted weights off and on over the years.  my best years being in CA i suppose.  i rode bike everywhere then and lifted weights 2 hours 3x/week.  don't think i've repeated that level of fitness since, but i have come close on several occasions. weights are always a good way to tone i find.  love rowing and elliptical as well.  so i'll work up to a full routine.

 plan to reward myself after 6 weeks with some new gym wear.  it was funny to me looking around.  men get to wear baggy stuff and the women, no matter size, seem to all wear tight, form fitting apparel.

 still getting my routine back.  i like music and this is way easier now than it was decades ago.  figured i'd use my iphone...with the last upgrade it seems all the music i had loaded from my cd's over the years would no longer play...unless i paid an annual fee of $25 to put all my music in the cloud...now it plays again.  it's quite a bit of music.  i do have little ipods that i could also use for music.  think i'll load my little one in the gym bag.  gotta charge it up first.

 yesterday i had forgotten to take my ear buds...tried the headphones that the Alaska Club had on machines, but my head has always been freakishly small so those never stay on my head.  yesterday i just did rowing and elliptical, today i added weights and 20 laps in pool to todays workout.

 loved the light this day out at U-Lake.  Christmas will last months in the woods in Alaska, which is nice.

 sunset one of these last few days.

 these are from todays Monday walk.  just Blossom, Speedy and I.

 this couple hiked out with their skates...Speedy and i were jealous...we'd talked about how perfect that would be last week.  actually happy to see some folks going for it.

 we chilled there while they laced up and kept the pup, Ivy,  below satisfied by using my chuck it to get her running.  she stole Blossoms ball a few times, but she had her own ball as well.  below is a bit blurry but it showed the dog was happy, which i liked.

 we headed out stumphenge way and thought these big cracks were  cool.

 Blossom on the cracks!

 ice is looking pretty dang thick out there.

 one perk to working in hospitals and especially in AK hospitals is all the stories you have access too.  meeting folks who are over 100 or near 100...they just have some amazing stories to tell if you can find the time to chat with them.  i always feel like any patient who is in that age bracket deserves all of the attention we can give them.

 so great when they are amazingly clear headed and still able to have their independence.  not all are blessed with that.  my friend is going through that with her folks.  my folks both were blessed to have been able to keep their memories intact.  it makes taking care of your elderly folks that much more stressful and difficult i imagine when they are forgetful and confused.

 have had several friends who have had to deal with this with their parents.  i recall one friend talking about how distressing it was to have her mom get agitated and refuse any grooming attempts when she had always been so fussy about this her entire life.  having a parent have times where they have to be reminded that you are their daughter would also be distressing.

 these are at a beach...of course, i can't recall which one.  north of Santa Barbara on the way to Atascadero.

 of course, my mom's brain remained intact but she sat around watching Fox news all the day...haha.

 there was this group of gulls on this beach

 upon closer look i noticed that some of these gulls were pretty cool and unique looking.

 bright bills with a little Groucho Marx hair do

 went a bit crazy taking pictures of them  gulls..but look how cool they are!  i'd never seen any like this before.  there was a lady there on the beach who was also enjoying them and she'd never seen them there either.

 strange news..a guy, who sounds like he has some serious mental health issues drove from North Dakota to DC with a truck loaded with guns.  his plan...to kidnap the Obama's two dogs.  the guy apparently made claims upon being taken into custody of being Jesus Christ and of being the son of JFK and Marilyn Monroe.  no idea what his plan was if he got the dogs. thankfully, the first dogs remain safe.

 the idiot in Philidelphia who shot up that poor cop seems like he was making claims that this was connected to the terrorists group.  mental health people often blend religion into their rants and ravings and take actions related to this.  that police officer was amazingly brave and was even able to fight back.  thankfully, the nutjob gunman was apparently a terrible shot.  there have been a few incidences with police but we must always remember that most of the police in this nation are good guys who totally deserve our support.

 sunshine and cool birds. anyone know what kind of birds these are?

 i mean, i know a type of gulls, but what sort?

 a girl and her mom were murdered the other day...the students at her high school and at a few others in town all dressed in blue the other day to show their support and as a tribute.

 this little beach was one of many nice stops along my drive north in CA.  i have always loved that drive so it was fun to be able to repeat it a bit.

 these days keep getting away from me.  still stuff to do, may have to head to bed soon though.

 big bunches of seaweed, always cool, unless you are in the water and get wrapped up in it....then it's kind of creepy.

 always love to pop those balls.  haha.

 these are big.

 look at that sunshine!!

 we were cloudy here.  i actually can get rather happy for a cloudy day after many days of sunshine.  too much sunshine can be a bit dull to me.  i love a good rainstorm ( in the summer) and a good snow storm in the winter.

 passing the birds on my way back to the car again.

 it was time to hit the road.

 some cute sandpipers as well out there.

 very relaxing...

 time for me to settle in for the night.  more to do tomorrow....you know, the to do list stuff that i didn't get to today. haha.

grateful for: A.  getting healthy and having the opportunity to do so  B.  cute pets to share my life with.  they make me smile  C.  a general positive outlook on life...it's a choice.  we all can make it!!

tree decorating for the birds

 fun day as we did our annual tree decorating for the birds on the Monday walk.  i think we found a nice tree on the Tank Trail.  perhaps others will add to it.  it was fun making our own birdseed ornaments though some trial and error occurred with this.

 tonight i've been busy painting since i wanted to do some original artwork for my local gifts.  was going to bake, but this seems like more fun.  my brother gave me this ultimate art/paint set from Amazon so seems like i should be putting it to good use, right.  i may have a crafty side yet.  :-)  can't post any of those pics yet...Christmas time is secret time.

 the rest of these are in CA. i think these are actually at 1000 steps beach in Laguna or just south of it.  have more pics to get through.  lots more pelican shots as i  have always loved pelican's. they are cool birds...like sandhill cranes in that they are kind of pre-historic looking.

 clearly i was obsessed with and missing bigger wave actions as i stopped often down there and took way too many pics of waves.  just love the light as the curl happens and the spray off the top.

 my very untanned feet in the CA sand.

 see loads of waves.

 this pelican seemed to have a side kick.

 loved the synchrony in this shot.

 do need to get started on this summers trips.  i think i may do the big trip as a trek to Hallo Bay to look at bears and Kennicot Mine with a side trip to Valdez for a paddle.  also hope to get Aialik cabin for a trek out with a few friends who want to paddle.  other friends are wanting to do another, long overdue paddle in Prince William Sound so perhaps this summer i will make up for the lack of paddling last summer.  we will put off Iceland for another year and save more money for it.  i just got some books today to do research.  was looking online and it does look like you can rent cars there already set up for camping and there is ample camping sites available so that would lower costs once there.

 will try to build up Alaska Air miles as you can use those to travel to Iceland so that could help lower costs as well.

 people seem to perish at an alarming rate in the Alaska prison system.  not sure what is up there.  i suspect some of it has to to with the large numbers of folks in jail sleeping off a party night.  too many to be adequately watched by folks not really trained to be dealing with the volume of drug and alcohol related arrests.

 up to nearly 25% of our states permafrost may be gone by the turn of the next century.  permafrost is as it suggests ground that never thaws in the summers.  natives use this to keep food frozen through the short summers, they are now finding these permafrost cellars are failing.  this will surely release much more carbon in the atmosphere.

 had a kick watching these birds ride the waves and fish in the waters around the wave action.  don't really remember seeing this many pelicans around there when i was a kid, but it could just be that as a kid you don't notice it all that much.

 the Mayor of Juneau was found dead in his home a few weeks back.  it looks like natural causes.  still always strange those sudden deaths.  this one just more public.  at least i'm pretty sure it was ruled natural causes, they did do the full investigation.  don't really think anything big and suspicious had turned up but he is the Mayor. any politician...you have to make sure i guess.

 chatted with my sister a bit.  we generally don't talk politics and we just dabbled a bit tonight.  don't think she totally keeps up on the news events but enough to have opinions.  we both agree it's all a bit frustrating and we don't trust any of the politicians.  of course, i tend to have even less faith in the Republican Party at this time.  these candidates they have out there...WOW.  frightening.  i mean the Democrats are screwed up but the Republicans seem like a mess.  not a fan of Hilary as the front runner of that party.  i feel like there are so many who just hate her, is that who they really should put out there.  almost like it's just to piss off the conservatives more.  of course, then there is the Republican frontrunner, Trump.  he is just crazy and scary.  everyone keeps saying, "he won't get elected" but he's still out front in the polls it seems.

 we are in trouble either way i suspect.  damage will be greater with Trump i fear.  so now we consider our election by who will maybe cause less damage in their time in office.  for sure it's not because we have any faith in any of the candidates.  go Bernie!!  :-)  hopefully, something better comes along that will give a little hope for the future.  i'm not seeing it though.

 we keep getting light snowfall.  hasn't amounted to much yet, but i'm good with the snow falling..it's a good trend.  hoping for some sledding before too long.

 i've been a total fail in the exercise plan.  aside from walking.  i need to kick start my routine.  that is always the hardest part for me.  once i get into the rhythm i usually can get it together.  once out of the habit my lazy side makes it difficult to get started and easy to find excuses.  today, i shopped.  of course, shopping is a rarity for me and it is that season.  still my gym bag is calling me and i need to start responding.

 love these birds....so fun!!

 did get myself a few gifts.  a girl can never have too much fleece!!  we don't dress up in Alaska, we dress fleece and down and though we may not impress those in the lower 48 with our fashion sense...we are warm and happy in our chilly world.  most of us would much rather be outside on the trails or in the mountains than wasting time shopping for impractical clothes.

 we wear snow boots and skhoops and lots of layers.

 still reading through back papers.  little article in the New York Times that was explaining what all is involved for Syrian refugees to enter US and why it can take up to 2 years for this process to happen.  my sister had wondered where they are in the meantime and it does say, as i told her, most wait in camps. starts with registration with the UN and interviews there where they make referrals for resettlement.  after that a series of background checks and interviews.  3 fingerprinting stages, medical checks, US immigration, FBI and Homeland Security must sign off on them.  again...the thing to be concerned with are more slack, student visa's and fiance visa's.  i'm sure these will be shored up more after what happened in CA

 one letter to the editor sarcastically suggested a more stringent vetting process for Christians seeing as many of the multi person shootings have been by extremist Christians.  i just wish people would settle down and live normal lives...leave hate behind, mind your own business.  who has time for all this anyway.  clearly we aren't keeping people busy enough in this cush life we all live.

 once you remove the work of constantly looking for food, water and shelter people go to hell.  we have too much free time with our basic needs met. we have far too many choices and it stresses people out.  i mean just go to the store and there are 20 different choices at least for toothpaste or tampons.  it's a bit overwhelming really.

 loved the light on the bird in these.  so pretty.  waves, water, sunshine, birds....for sure a happy place to be.

 i have desire at this point to return permanently to CA.  the traffic, the smog, the violence, the emphasis on material things, cars, clothes, thinness.  who you know, how much you have.  those things don't appeal to me.  of course, if you gave me a house on the waters edge, well, then i may be tempted back.

 there was an absurd amount of litter in some places though which made for sadder beach walking.

 tomorrow i need to do some WARIS work and get some mailings prepped to go out.  still a few Christmas things to get in the mail as well.

 doodling about possible remodel ideas for the house.  that is always a time killer.  dreaming...always dreaming.

 i'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.  did make it for the 11 am time slot for the Monday walk.  we enjoyed a meet at the coffee shop after.  i'll have to try for next Monday but i also will be finishing a 4 day run.  suspect i may do more time in the peds/picu as they have continued to be busy. you always hope to clear out the peds units a bit for Christmas.  no kid wants to be in the hospital over Christmas.

 hospitals get busy anyway as people try to get surgeries done before the end of the year.

 a guy in Ohio apparently sets up a zombie nativity scene.  strange.  people are very strange.  not sure what would possess someone to do this.  he says it's art, the local religious community is not buying it.  we have freedoms though i think we should try to be at least somewhat respectful of others beliefs and i'm not sure making the virgin Mary into a zombie accomplishes this.

 that is enough news reading for the day.  i really should get to bed. it is 2am after all.

 pelicans in flight.

 so pretty.

 not sure why i like this but it's kind of a mess really.  then there is the spray and the gulls.

 sunshine.  the warm sort is long gone.  did finally get my mileage in today.  thank you Monday walk.  supposed to be blizzard warnings in Turnigan.  not sure what happened there.  i guess parts of the Aleutians were taking a beating yesterday.

 my faith in weather forecasters has deteriorated of late.  they seem to be wrong more than they are right.

 this guy didn't plan his wave ride very well and went for a dip.  he did fine,  just funny to see him all tossed about in the wave.

 i spent much time as a kid being tossed about in those waves.  pretty amazing what we did as kids and survived.  a young co-worker was enjoying us older nurses tales of our adventurous childhoods...you know without constant parental observation.

thankful for: A.  freedom as a kid, free to roam and explore and learn and grow  B.  that my ornaments held up for the most part...not sure how long they will last on the tree.  a moose may come by and demolish it all through the night.  C.  friends, traditions. old and new ones.