Iditarod time...

i still have to look at a few from the Ceremonial start in Anchorage. the big camera. it was -7 with a wind chill down town.  i wandered around until they started to run and then i headed closer to home to a turn that tends to make for some great crashes. 

there wasn't a big group headed out the next day and my back has been a bit sore these past weeks so this was the first year i've skipped the restart in Willow. only 38 teams so the drive i think kept some folks from wanting to go. Dallas is back in this year.  will he get another win...he's hard to beat. 

i get the Iditarod insider on their web site so that gives me access to videos.  last night i watched the restart in Willow. not too exciting.  one dog seemed to get loose as the team took off.  never heard anything about that so they must have got it caught and back in line.  another time a guy, who was helping hold the team, got pulled under the dogs as they were getting excited to take off. as the dogs took off he got pulled out the other side by other crew.  no mention of that.  the announcer seemed to be doing this for the first time.  she had difficulty pronouncing some of the names.  i mean names of veterans, she was just reading.  she'd even start with "this says...". oh well.  hopefully, a new generation of crew are getting installed.  the race has changed over the years...like most stuff, kinder, gentler. less wild like it once was. more safe for dogs and humans overall. always a risk though

the moose are always a risk. near where i was it looked like a moose held up the teams for the ceremonial start.  i suspect it was the same moose that i encountered later that day at the dog park. that is where i have my spot. right by the park. i went home grabbed the dogs  and headed back.  Sunny took off...there was a moose. that moose was annoyed and Sunny got charged a few times. i yelled and ran the other direction which got Sunny to come back. he was leashed the rest of the walk

every so often i question...should i let them run free or should i leash them. dogs have short lives and i really do not want them to have an even shorter life. it makes me nervous any close encounters like this, in the summer there are also bears out there. i lean towards more off leash fun for them than not.  more in winter than summer. the bears...they can kill me to. those dogs run much faster than me. i suspect humans have these sort of issues with human kids.  how much freedom? when do you protect, when do you let them learn?  i would be heartbroken if anything happened, but i think their lives would be less joyful if i let fear of what may happen limit their activities at all times. 

Dallas had another run in with a moose rather quickly on the trail to Nome.  i guess an angry moose was giving the teams grief out there. one musher slugged the moose in the nose.  makes me think the moose was close but passing. Dallas much have had a more dangerous encounter. one of his dogs ended up having to be shipped to the ER in Anchorage.  Dallas shot the moose.  the rules are that you dress the moose out i guess. anyone that comes behind helps. the moose blocked the trail anyway.  

the dog has been discharged from the hospital, the moose...just discharged. 

i won't have nearly the number of photo's of dogs like most years.  i have a lot of dog photo's.  it is fun and hopefully, next year we have a bigger crew for the restart run.  this week i start doing 2 shifts/week so that may help my general aches. slowing down on the heavy lifting.  

will ponder some other job to make up a bit of the money loss perhaps, or i could pick up random shifts.  we shall see. i'm not that excited to pick up more shifts overnight. 

it may be nice to do some totally different work.  no clue yet. just getting more and more ready to wean myself off of the hospital work. 

enjoying reading more. getting my steps/walks in.  yesterday felt more lazy.  thank you LS for stopping by to help me get the outside dog kennel back up after the wind had blown it over and snow had covered it up.  i did get the dogs out for a leash walk...which is good training. 

not sure what i'll do with my extra free day tomorrow.  probably be terrified that they will call and say i didn't start the two day week and i better come in to work. i'll probably look at the schedule again tomorrow morning to make sure. 

i did manage to get some days in Homer scheduled for April, May and July.  so that will be good. the web site has been strange. sometimes just saying no rooms available, when i called them, there were rooms available.  also room 12, sl cheaper before the season starts wasn't listed. anyway, the call got me sorted out and she said they would check the computer site. make sure there aren't glitches. so we have 3 escapes for low tides at the Driftwood. 

watched a series about these "schools" for difficult teenagers.  many of them are by the same guy but he rebrands them and restarts them when the cruel and abusive stuff gets places shut down.  the girl who did this series was at one that's been shut down. they just walked away from the place and so this girl and others who had been forced into this place have gone in there and removed records and video. crazy it was all just left behind. 

anyway. there is a bit of a Mormon connection in that the family/guy who seems to own a large number of these programs is or was Mormon? there are 100's of these programs/schools in Utah. these guys donate a lot to Republicans mostly. there has been a lot of abuse of all sorts.  one guy was breaking down about his treatment.  he started a riot, ended up in prison and said prison was a cake walk compared to the cruelty of this "school".  their education was not accredited and so those who ended up graduating had a worthless diploma. Utah is like the point of origin for much of it.  the programs cost little to operate as they often feed very little, use the kids for labor, have poor or no training programs for employees. it's a cash cow.  now they are even doing programs focused on adopted kids/foster kids so they can get government money. 

it's almost like the parents are duped. sounds almost like the parents are the cult members, believing all the hype of a fix.  giving over power/control of their kids. not being allowed to really have much contact/visits.  the kids are just the victims. often the kids get taken from their homes by staff that literally kidnap the kids.  strip searches, violence, abuse, which is mental, emotional, sexual and physical. 

lot of post program suicides, drug overdoses. so whatever "fix" they say they give is generally temporary. these kids later will be hesitant to get help since the help turned out to be a hell. anyway, i think it was called Program, con, cult...something like that.  interesting. 

today was beautiful.  i ended up going out to N. Biv and doing the big loop. then i just took a drive down Turnigan Arm. turned around after Girdwood.  just a pretty day.  lots of reflections.

as the weather warms and the roads improve...it's a great time to wander a bit further from home.  we all get a bit of the cabin fever.  some fly out, hit some warm places when it's cold here.  this is one of my favorite times. still snow and frozen lakes, more light...lots of fun things to do. 

spring seems to come rushing towards us once the fur rondy is done and the dogs take off to Nome

mostly, right now, it still looks like this. 

i like the white stuff so i'm okay with that.  it warmed into the 30's today.  

Portage Lake is still frozen from reports...tempting to head out there tomorrow. who knows.  depends on what i feel like doing tomorrow. what the weather looks like.  i tend to go where it looks best. 

these guys could care less.  i also want to avoid too moosey areas after Sunny's last run in.  that really does stress me out though.  brat. 

later i dropped an empty bottle near him and he about flew out of his skin...so that terrifies him but charging a moose and having said moose charge back...fun! 

luckily he does move fairly quickly...but so do the moose. these are from the Ceremonial start.  the dog park is about 100 feet behind those viewers.  this corner is action filled. 

lots of spills and near misses. also you can watch the experienced teams take this curve with ease and skill. 

i took lots of video's. fun to catch them flying. 

this one above is from todays drive. the pictures get all mashed once i put them on the computer. 

this team is stopped because there's been a spill. 

above is again from today's drive.  look at that reflection! wow!

this is Ivy attempting to retrieve a tennis ball.  down there deep is a small creek. the ball was not recovered, but she did give it a valiant effort. she always does

this shot below was supposed to load first.  can't always tell what will happen when i load shots. 

grateful for: A. all the fun Alaskan experiences like watching these teams every year. B. friends to hang out with. C. dogs, dogs and more dogs. 
 

random sleep schedule...

 

so i am again awake at 3:30 am.  it just happens like that sometimes. i've worked night shift for decades at this point. before i worked full time overnight i worked part of the week overnight and part of the week like 6p-2am as a vet tech in the Emergency. 

i was always a night owl who hated waking up for school. worse was they had me in church class every day before high school.  the class was from 6:30am -7:15 i think. every day....

it is funny that Christians bitch about kids getting indoctrinated...i was constantly at one church event or another.  that is indoctrination. 

took years to deconstruct as they call it from my high demand religion.  i don't think you ever totally deconstruct.  i left pretty early compared to many and i still had a lot to deconstruct.  i always think of those who stayed in longer, went over and over to temple stuff. served missions.  had kids, indoctrinated their kids. you get so deep in it just takes so much more courage to walk away. the path out has got to be so much more stressful. maybe some of it is not as bad because people kept going but were deconstructing as they went. 

many say they are nuanced.  which i guess is a way of saying they still attend church but are more liberal on the social issues.  to me it's one and the same.  difficult to call yourself liberal on social issues while supporting a church that is so not liberal on social issues. a church with misogyny and racism and polygamy weeded into it's history and doctrine. 

raising kids in there and risking them getting indoctrinated only makes you stay longer and longer and longer. you can't see them get married, you can't see your grandkids get married.  have to stay for this and that. it's a trap.  most religions are. most never leave the religion they are raised in.  people often do not move from area they were raise.  they stay in jobs they hate, relationships that are terrible.  comfort. change is scary. 

it was one of the many things that made me realize it couldn't be the true church.  a true, one and only true, church would have wider appeal.  what sort of god/system is so exclusive that we are all sent here to fail.  that is a god of vengeance and hatred and spite.  which i guess it seems more and more is the god that the evangelicals worship. 

these are fall from matanuska.  always a favorite spot. 

there has been snow to shovel this week.  today there was snow and a driveway obstruction as the road crew came through and they left a huge berm in my driveway.  they are usually really good at not blocking your driveway but not today. so digging out was needed. those are heavy chunks of snow. a little tweak in the back as i was doing this.  so a slow moving day really. i did get the dogs out finally. 

we just hit the dog park. yesterday we did a nice loop at North Bivouac.  the Monday walk seems to be fizzling out early.  better than the covid years so some things are a bit more normal. it may never really recover.  people found other things to do on Mondays. 

my days off have come and gone too quickly. just today and then i head back on thursday again.  

watched a netflix the other day about a 16 year old that sailed solo around the world.  pretty impressive and she had some huge storms/waves to contend with.  her boat capsized once and then righted itself after a bit. pretty amazing what people are capable of.  

huge earthquake in the Turkey/Syria region.  the death toll will just keep rising as many are trapped/dead under the rubble of the many buildings that collapsed.  

years of corrupt governments, slack codes/regulations made for weak structures. it was a 7.8, with aftershocks as big as 7.1.  the aftershocks are the worst and i'm sure they are getting so many.  each time more can collapse. they are rescuing some. they call out akbar allah.  which i think is like god is great with each rescue. 

the agnostic/atheist in me always finds this part of these tragedies kind of silly.  a loving God it seems would have prevented so much loss from a quake, not saved a few lives and taken thousands. it is always odd to me how god gets credit for these rare rescues but never blamed for the thousands lost. 

i think more and more i believe less and less.  it seems more ridiculous and manipulative, this god stuff. there is more proof of a lack of a god than proof of any god that is involved. unless this god just creates then runs off to create another planet. leaving us to fend for ourselves. 

are these the things that keep me up at night.  no, not really. it's just the weird sleep schedule catches up with me some weeks and i don't really flip back. i try to sleep between like 1 am and 9-10 am. if i haven't fallen asleep by 2 am i start to think if i should take something to help me drift off. 

watched/listened to a bit of the state of the union address. it was actually pretty entertaining. Biden, at one point, played the gop members. got them to support not trashing the medicare/medicaid/social security. it was so funny to watch him destroy them.  they were heckling him.  the lunatics in that party.  they still have one guy who completely made up his whole life story. he's still there.  there are also several who requested pardons because of their involvement in the insurrection...they are still there and hold positions of power 

it's crazy.  we have more and more crazy conspiracy crack addicts in positions of power. i have no idea what is coming for our nation.  we will have to have some sort of major encounter/event before we get righted again.  for now the gop focus on one crazy thing after another and cause chaos and confusion. their followers are so limited in where they will trust information that they are easily taken down a path of total bull and swear by it.  will die swearing by it. 

some pics of Tusker sneaking in.  love the reds in these.

fall turns to winter

these are from last May. you can see that Sunny is now in the family. 

he snuggled with me on the couch for a bit tonight.  he really is a great little snuggler.  he loves to be brushed.  so we do a lot of that. 

one of them chewed through the seat belt cord. they are staying in the back seat for now anyway.  will ponder options.  would like to not have the risk of them just hopping out the back if i get rear ended.  it's all a bit of a trial and error i guess. they are jumping in the side door more easily now.  

this guy went flying past us on the trail this spring day.  beautiful.  

there are a few drop offs on this trail.  i am more anxious about things that could possibly harm the dogs. seems worse the older i get and the more experiences i have on these trails. you remember where you have seen bears or moose or just felt uneasy on the trail.

there have been times when i have scary dreams where i wake up trying to save a dog.  years of dog ownership i guess. years of experiences rumbling around in my head as i sleep. 

it's funny as well, when you are falling asleep some times you jump because you get this feeling you are falling.  i think most people get that.  i have an added twist and my arm twitches, using the chuck it to toss a tennis ball for the dogs. 

signs of life begin to emerge.  things change so quickly around here.  now we have snow all the time but the light changes.  the amount of it. i do love the drama of this place. 

never was a fan of heat.  that was just how i always was.  even here. i sleep with a fan on all year. i like to be bundled up warm but with fresh cool air blowing on me. 

the yard this summer will take ages to thaw no doubt. i will probably only have to mow in July and August. it will be a good 6+ weeks of mud. it always goes faster than you guess it will. the long days of sunlight melt the snow. 

the Blossom quilt below. it rotates with the Tusker quilt now. 

i can feel the tiredness coming over me.  no big plans for tomorrow besides walking the dogs.  may do the octopus lecture. the class schedule at REI is still empty so not sure when or if they will restart having events there again.  

my back is feeling better so the rest probably helped.  will need to tackle the rest of that berm tomorrow. being single means nobody else is going to volunteer to do the work. i should focus again on finding someone to retile the upstairs bathroom and then i can order doors after that gets done. that is the plan. 

tonight i started to stitch together some of the masks i'd collected from the pandemic.  don't need them and it seems like a therapeutic thing to do.  will make them into a little patchwork quilt for the cats i think.  not sure. don't need them. 

so another new project to add to the mix. 

well, i shall attempt sleep again here in a few minutes.

i have benadryl on board, which i rarely take. i think that is why it works when i do use it. i've heard it's a bad drug to take on any sort of regular basis. 

well, have a good day.  if the apocalypse happens before i wake, see you on the other side. like most people out there, according to most religions....we will see you in hell. the satanists, by the way are getting more work.  they are opening religious schools and suing the states that have outlawed abortions i think. the evangelicals want to ban all sorts of books and curriculum as they fear their kids will be indoctrinated.  in the end,with all the control they want over their kids, they will just end up with rebellious atheists no doubt. 

thankful for A. the big quake not happening here.  many positive thoughts headed towards those poor people and animals trapped under those buildings.  what a slow, horrible death. one photo of a man holding the hand of his dead child.  won't leave.  it's all just so awful. B. being healthy enough to be independent despite some set backs from time to time. C. the peace of snowfalling