ski for women 2019

 plenty of snow coming down this week it looks like.  hopefully, it keeps coming and we don't get a warm up.  my friends always participate. i have in the past but mostly i end up just heading down and taking photo's.  they do the "party wave" and this year they were unicorns.

 i got there in time to watch folks coming back from the short race...with some of the costumes i have seen over the years, short is best.  no idea how people ski in some of those costumes.  this years costumes seemed pretty reasonable for skiing in i must say.

 always love the kids of course.  below were members of the other group of unicorns.

 always some very inventive costumes...which is fun to check out.

 another strange week for me.  i have had gastritis in the past...not sure if that was all this has been, a flare up of the gastritis or if it was some sort of a bug in addition.  stomach cramps...belching, farting and fevers.  Friday as i prepped for work i really just felt like the stomach cramps would just be relieved with a bit of happy farting...one does not call out sick to work because they have to fart...so in i went.  soon i began to feel a fever and i really started to feel worse.  my temp was nearly 101F. i mentioned it to the charge and they got me out of there. was concerned i would be spending some time over the sink or sitting on the throne...

 got an on call the next night.  symptoms have continued but lessened and no further fevers.  so mostly i think it's the gastritis flare up.  so watch diet, avoid meds that have aspirin and ibuprofen and take some sort of antacid....

 one group came as fur rondy pins, which i thought was quite clever.  easy too, which makes it even better.

 more fur rondy pins

 otherwise i have been getting out walking except for the day i ended up going home sick.  all those stomach cramps and feeling oddly tired are now more understandable.  annoying since I'm still coughing from my last sickness episode.

 had a text exchange about abortion(thankful to my brother as it was a calm and interesting exchange) ....a topic that tends to be seen by many as black and white instead of the truth of it being incredibly grey...so many variables.  do get tired of rolling my eyes at many on the right insisting that those who are for not taking way the women's right to choose this want to kill  babies or don't care or celebrate abortions....none of this is true.  i suspect the vast majority of women who do have abortions have emotional angst about it.

 i felt that if i had gotten pregnant i would have just kept the baby....but then what if i had been violently raped...i may feel differently carrying that emotion around for 9 months.  there are just situations that are so difficult, far too complicated to make this a black and white issue. painful choices.

 my preference would be to limit the number of abortions. not by banning them or going through legal means to do so but by making health care more available to all, by making birth control options reasonably priced and available.  education, as education can be great at limiting abortions.

 pregnancy is a high risk time for females...there is a high murder rate of pregnant females.  a high rate of violence against women by males...funny that so many laws regarding abortion and related issues are written and passed by mostly male dominated elected officials. 

 liked these NASA costumes.

 late term abortions...distasteful, but really not something people take lightly.  i don't know all there is but in my limited searches and reading it seems that generally they are done due to fetal disability or disease that will cause a brief and possibly painful life, the other fetus is in danger or the mother is in danger.  the stats i saw said these were less than 1% of all abortions. what i read sounded more like euthanasia by injection.  these would be the most upsetting abortions so a much better issue for the right to push repeatedly, like they are happening at far greater rates than is true.

 the interesting thing for me, since i really like medical ethics, was that many of those late term cases seemed related to fertility treatments....interesting because it does open more questions and concerns.  firstly, many people want to have their own genetic offspring.  they are willing to spend large amounts of money to get this.  many, who spend large amounts of money to get pregnant may want some assurance that the offspring will be healthy, even a particular sex. 

 if you simply prevent all abortions, while not taking steps to prepare to care for the increase in parentless children, we will be overrun by kids that will need care, more so than we already are.  I'm not sure what those stats are. I'd guess though that poor people do not really have that many options to expensive fertility treatments and those who have those means would probably  have the means to find safe illegal abortions.  that is the downside to a capitalist based health care system.  the haves get treatment while the have nots get sicker and/or die.

 it is a point of frustration that the side that wants less abortions gives only one option to get to that goal of theirs, legally stop abortions. they seem hesitant or unwilling in many cases to take any other steps to decrease the numbers of abortions or look at the fact that some of those things actually help...not only decrease the abortions overall but to care for the high number of kids our nation has to care for. 

 the ski for women benefits women in abuse situations...so it does seem like a good topic i think.

 winning an argument or debate doesn't mean someone is actually right.  i always find that interesting.  people do want to win, to be right...in debate teams at schools one must be prepared to argue both sides of an argument.  people are often able to argue best but still not necessarily be right.  people can bully, twist facts, focus only on certain points...so they can win the fight but be totally wrong.

 this is a decision best left to patients with their doctors on a case by case basis over having men in suits decide it all. just so many painful stories out there....on all sides.

 these kids are pretty adorable out there in costumes on ski's. see, love just watching how clever folks are.

 kids do bring you hope for the future...

 we all want the most kids possible to have a great start towards that path to adulthood.  our nation is falling further and further behind in so many area's related to children and these issues.

 here comes my crew of unicorn friends.

 as i work in ICU/PICU and have for years i guess i have seen many who have passed away. they say the eyes are the way to the soul and i believe it.  i have taken care of patients where you can seem to note the eyes have that light or they don't...the light of life...the soul, the spirit.   i have seen that light gone and then note it has returned later.

 I'm not sure when that light enters the body on the other end of life, at birth, before birth, at conception?  i do believe the soul can move fluidly in and out of our bodies. 

 that doesn't mean our bodies are not a thing to be grateful for and to cherish. I'm just not one who believes our bodies are a one time deal necessarily.  souls have a purpose in coming to earth and so therefore a body will be provided. it may be delayed, the experiences altered but still, i guess i just don't believe that if a baby is aborted, that this is it for them and their earth experience. 

 i also tend to lean towards believing that souls may return to earth experiences in different bodies and different experiences...as i find it strange that one could learn all they could in one lifetime.

 things of the spiritual sense are far, far more complicated than we are capable to understand in our human enclosures. i have a difficult time understanding the complexities of space let alone the entire system of the post life experience.  humans seem to have a need to have it laid out for them.  we want clarity, we want answers. we also want to believe we are right.

 the more i know the less i know.  the more i am willing to accept that all things are more complicated than we can comprehend. i think religions serve a purpose of trying to simplify the messages but we must remember that religions are run by man...and i mean quite literally, actual males seem to dominate most religions. i think Smith got one major thing right...they all have truth but none of them have all the truth.  i still don't think any of them do.  humans want to be right though so everyone gets behind their religion and wars are started to prove who is right.  of course, they all believe that they are the ones who are right about their views of life after human bodies.

 always thought it odd that i was somehow dropped into the right religion, the right everything really. seems too on the nose. 

 there were many things that seemed really odd to me growing up. 

 cute friends having fun out there!!

 abortion is a never ending and controversial subject. 

 i do see the right falls back on this or guns rights when they need to rally the base against the evil left. i am part of the evil left i guess.

 the right owns the supreme court now so perhaps they will, years from now, see the result of stopping Roe Vs Wade...it could be pretty ugly out there. 

 the wealthy will take advantage of the constantly improving fertility treatments to get genetic children...genetically planned children.  more babies will be born to people who don't want them and will make for terrible parents or abandon them all together.

 I'd love to see our nation taking care of all the children in our charges already that are not being taken care of. I'd love to see our nation showing respect and kindness to all children of this earth...making policies that use the act of separating children from their parents to act as a deterrent to others seeking help from our nation, is in no way benefiting any of us in this nation. 

 once we have joined in making health care for all, joined in making sure the kids we raise here get a good education to prepare them to take over this great nation, joined in making birth control available and affordable to all, joined in supporting any and all parents who are willing and capable of taking in children even if you do not agree with their gender orientation. so many things to protect and care for the kids we already have. ways to protect the women who are put at risk of increased abuse and/or death when they are pregnancy. joined in curtailing those who are participating in the drug crisis, medical treatment programs perhaps.....decreasing our dependence on drugs will decrease the sales of drugs across the border. 

 post party wave chit chatting.

 another Monday walk tomorrow then hopefully i will get some rest and be read for the next three nights of work. 

 the whole gang lines up for a group shot

 always love all the ski's laid about post race. 

 we are going to have to find some common ground between all and none.

 and then we are going to have to just accept it and move on.

 cute unicorns on ski poles...

thankful for: A.  rational conversations  B.  silly fun times with friends  C.  snow

ski for women, Anchorage 2017

 i went down to cheer on my friends and be photographer of event...just for fun.  love seeing some cool chicks dressed up and on ski's.  always cool.

 the ski for women benefits women who are abused and need help.  when i arrived i got a front row parking place and left the pups to wait it out.  i just got there in time for the parade of costumes and the fun ski race.

 the fog came and went, but when i got there i saw this awesome snowdog.  it was pretty bright.  had to snap a few shots of it as i walked over to where the costumed skiers line up for the parade.

 it was perfect timing really...

 the folks started parading right past me.  this group won the award for best group costume.  recycling.

 missing this year it seemed was a large group that usually seem like overachievers and they usually win.  they have had some amazing costumes in the past.  not sure where they were this year or perhaps one of their main costume designers moved south and they are winging it on their own.  maybe they were out there just in more toned down costumes.

 this little recycler looked pretty adorable.

 there were a few costumes that celebrated the United States or were small protest remnants.

 the protests will continue.  the iitoo(idiot in the oval office) is still there.  all hopes continue for a big change.  he probably should be kinder to the press.  eventually they will no doubt break a story that will impact his ability to stay there.  i hope they dig in their heels and find the truth.  no doubt related to money, oil and gas and Russia. all the pieces are there...just discovery and reveal.  he continues to bask everyone but Russia.

 liked the snails.

 after this photo op i took pups around to Jodphur trailhead for a walk on the dunes.

 nice centipede?

 it turned out to be mildly stressful at times.  the puppies do not seem to comprehend that it's not a good idea to wrestle at the edge of a cliff.  several tense moments as i moved them along the way.

 later i decided to try another trail on the other side of the motor bike area.  this really led nowhere except...

 to a moose.  the pups went up and around a corner and quickly headed back with a moose in tow.  that moose spun around on them and put them on the other side so the moose was between the pups and i.

 Tusker was the first to make a run around the moose towards me.  that moose up and kicked right back at my boy.  the moose may have made contact but if it did it just grazed Tusker.  he was fine...thankfully, those moose are killers when pissed off.

 then we had a stale mate...Ivy was up a hill and behind the moose.  there was a cliff behind her as well so that wasn't an option.  she ran back and forth looking for an opening.  it took some time before the moose moved slightly forward and Ivy Rose zipped  past her.

 look at this adorable mom and toddler...!!

 my heart went pitter patter but you are really powerless.  hopefully, the pups have learned a lesson about moose.  not that they did anything to piss off this moose.  it really was just a matter of bad luck.  we came around a corner and there was the moose.  too close.

 the cow and the moon...cute.

 these women had signs of peace, respect....more mini protest costumes but done fun and non-threatening....though i'm sure there are some that would be quite offended.

 these gals were skiing with one pole and one fishing pole

 lots of emoji's or as they called themselves emoji-skis...maybe this is that group but they went chill this year?  not sure.

 here are my friends.  flowered up in honor of Verna Pratt. the Alaskan wildflower expert who recently passed away.

 Sandra got interviewed on tv for the evening news spot...good job!

 thought they did fabulous

 more pussy hats...posted a bunch of these pictures on facebook. one person was liking them all until they saw this one....then i think they must have stopped looking at the pictures.  i took pictures of everyone really...if this offends you then you are way too sensitive.

 a lone pirate...looks warm.  that is the thing too. you want the costume to be warm . it was below 20F out there.

 more kids dressed as stars.  cute

 a different group of emoji's i think.

 these guys won for kid costume i think.

 up on ski's young...training the next generation of skiers.

 another group of women's supporters.  these guys were pantsuit nation...also wearing their pussy hats from the womens march.

  a few young pantsuit warriors were in force

 hope they were layered up under their suits.

 and they are off to show off their costumes in the parade

 gnomes...but one hat was down

 rancher and a little chick

 loved these where's waldo costumes

 starting to line up for the start...

 i crossed over and took a few more pics of my friends as they got ready to roll. i think it's just a 2 K.

 this gal in the front skipped poles altogether and was going to juggle while she skied.  impressive.

 she was just warming up here.

 fog came in for hte start.

 everyone lined up and ready to go

 Tweeto...from that Alaska reality show about a family who owns a remote plane service in Kotzebue i think.  she got to wave the flag and start everyone moving

 and they are off

 you can see her successfully juggling as she goes.

 my friends in the distance on their way

 always a good time for a good cause.

 and a giant snowman too

 gotta love those disco pants.

 art shot attempt

 clearing up from previous race it looks like.  other folks costume up too...mostly they want to do longer ski's.  these were a crew of moms with babies in tow.  those are strollers on ski's that you drag behind you as you ski.

thankful for:  A.  that no puppies were harmed today  B.  that we can still have fun  C.  that my brother and his partner tied the knot...Congrats!!