puppies are like kids some times...

 they can make you nuts right before they go to sleep.  they just get so riled up before dropping off. then they are sleeping and look like the little angels that you know they are.  i think Pogi feels the same about them.  the cats seem to know when the pups drift off and then they come out and check them out from a safe distance.

 haven't gotten to a point where the cats aren't the subject of a hot pursuit.  poor cats.  i have the upstairs blocked off so the cats can have safe zone. i am in a puppy haze or puppy fog.  raising two pups is not easy task.  i know it will be worth it eventually, but there are a few minutes in each day where i question my judgement.

 it would appear Blossom does too. haha.

 we hit portage area yesterday.  short road trip.  i have good moments and then every so often...the leashes get wrapped around me, or Blossom decides to head for the smelliest puddle she can find and the pups try to follow her or suddenly a pup will leap up on a table or grab shoes or socks or...who knows.  i'm sure Cesar Milan has moments of irritation...he just edits them out.

 i think overall we are doing okay though.  thankfully dogs generally forgive your little moments.

 i shifted the crate i had upstairs downstairs.  i had figured i'd really push the sleeping in separate crate thing once they hit 12 weeks.  many pups don't leave their moms until about now anyway.  they are getting bigger so it seemed like a good idea.  all the dogs are downstairs sleeping at this time.

 fun play time in the yard today.  did some stuff around the house.  did a walk in the bog.  i may have tired Tusker out too much for puppy class.  i took him today.  Ivy is peeing frequent small amounts so i fear her UTI may have returned.  no way i was going to subject her to an hour class with that bladder issue.  that wouldn't be fair.  they want me to bring the dominant puppy though, pretty sure that would be Ivy.  although she is less the dominant pup when she is on her own.

 love the determination in little Tusker to get this watering jug onto the chair.

 today in the bog i had gotten the pups off leash in the big field.   a family happened by with 2 dogs..it's the same family i took pictures of the little toddler walking the pups several weeks back.  he was so thrilled and then had a total meltdown when we had to leave.  today Ivy was making her usual leap at their dog, the older dog gave her a good scare in the form of a snap at her.  the dog didn't bite, just a warning. they apologized, but i said, no, that is exactly what she needed.  she needs to understand that other dogs don't appreciate her behaviour. she was so funny though as after that happened she ran right to me for protection.

 a few minutes before that a few kids who had been playing a ways off saw the puppies and made a run towards us.  this caused the pups to make a run for them.  the pups jumped on the little kid, kid got freaked out. i got the pups off and calmed the kid. it is strange to see kids without a parent around these days.  eventually once i had the situation already under control a father came over.  i actually got the feeling he wanted to be annoyed with me, but i suspect he was supposed to be watching these kids who had wandered quite a ways from the house unnoticed.  they were still in pj's and slippers.

 so i guess the class went fine.  bummed that the owner wasn't teaching. she really was great with Blossoms classes all those years ago. our teacher is sort of a drone.  tusker perked up for play time, but it was way short.  also when we were doing loose leash practice she was just have us walk in individual circles. you really need to get dogs moving forward not spinning in circles in place.  that was annoying and useless.  turning circles with a dog in heel is actually a skill best kept for a much later class.  trying to get a puppy to spin in a tight circle is pointless.

 did take the tunnel through to Whittier.

 it's so funny...and the reason i love winter.  summer guilt.

 today was sunny and warm, in the 70's.  in the summer a nice day like this you feel obligated to have some major adventure. i mean every day you must peak or ride 50 miles or paddle...when you just chill at home you have this guilt of wasting a day and not taking advantage of the good weather.  in the winter you have no guilt if you cabin up one day, get some stuff done.

 little earthquake as i relaxed a few minutes at home last night. guess it was centered in Talkeetna area, somewhere in the 4 range. it felt pretty short at my place but it was a pretty good shake, the cats noticed it as did i.  not sure if the dogs picked up on it.

 there was also a little forest fire in the campbell airstrip area i think.  i thought i smelled smoke as i headed home last night. sounds like there may have been some issues with keeping drones down so they could fight the fire. people need to be reasonable.

 there is cool waterfall that i was trying to hike to. it's supposedly a short hike. these trails up top are still covered with snow though. we did hike out to Byron Glacier.

 i used my little camera for those pictures though. i had forgotten to put the memory card back in my big camera. for these i had stopped at the little general store in Whittier and bought a new memory card there.  so really not a worthwhile trek into Whittier, but oh well.  it's all part of the day, right?

 got my steps in today easily, but i kept thinking i'd get in an additional walk.  stopped by the pet store and bought indoor puppy play area for the days i work.  hopefully, this will help me get a bit more sleep between shifts.  at some point the pups will be more trustworthy on their own.

 was happy that Tusker wasn't deemed as the most rough puppy in the play area.  we shall see how it goes with Ivy next week.

 bought some new toys as well.  was looking for more interactive toys. they do like this one i have where they roll it around and treats fall out.

 Whittier in the distance.

 i try to find safe places to reward pups with some off leash time, but they do not have a good recall, especially Ivy. i thought i had a good spot picked out at Byron Glacier, but then Ivy headed up the snow...and you can go pretty far. that doesn't mean the snow is all that stable.  so once i got her back..leash baby!!

 i remember this with Blossom as well. it's easy to forget that you have actually started to teach them the words to respond to...you start to panic and then you just are not calm at all.  use your words...remember them..they will help.

 some lupine showing up already.

 also 3 new wood bison calves.

 they were pretty close to the fence, a ways from me... a car pulled up and kids jumped out and started to run towards the bison and the fence.  i could hear the mom yelling, dont get too close, but that kid didn't listen.  the bison made a pretty serious run towards him. there is the fence, but still, it's a large animal coming at you. i'm sure parents forget the words in their panic as well.

 they have temporarily moved the black bears to a different place.  Blossom can now see them from the car and she started to bark.  this freaked out little Tusker, that is how i got those selfies. Tusker joined me in the front seat.

 pups seem to have settled nicely into their own crates. i think Ivy was excited by the new crate downstairs and she loaded in quickly.

 bison nursery.  so cute.

 will hit the sack soon.  i'm sure the pups are cutting down on my snacking in the wee hours.  don't want to wake them.

 didn't see the brown bears for any easy shots.  since i stop through fairly regular, i only take a run through and take pictures of the animals that make themselves available for pictures.

 the buses will start to roll out soon..tourists.  a nice May like this is nice as the locals kind of get a chance to enjoy the summer without the masses.

 i came around to this side of the bison area.  i was again near the fence but the bison were further off. the babies started bouncing towards my direction so i figured i'd take some steps backwards so i didn't stress the mama bison and get charged.  i stepped right into one of the old bison footprints in the mud out side their enclosure.  they do move them around from time to time.  (obviously, not when people are there).  i know i was going down.  i managed to at least have a semi controlled fall to the ground where i ended up splayed on my back.

 after i got up and dusted myself and my ego off a guy in another car near by drove past but stopped to tell me that mine had been the most graceful fall he had ever witnessed.  i guess those forced ballet courses must have paid off.

 i really wanted to take gymnastics but my mother insisted i must take ballet.  i was not ballerina material however.  as it turns out...i really wasn't gymnast material either.

 cute baby wood bison.

 the terns are starting to arrive.  these smallish birds come with a lot of attitude.  screaming at all the other birds.  i mean they did fly all the way from Antarctica so i guess that affords them some attitude.

 as i ate my cold cereal yesterday morning on the deck, eating and referee'ing pups in  a wrestling match....i watched a bald eagle flying past with a seagull in hot and angry pursuit.  i'm sure that baldie could easily just eat that flying annoyance, but he doesn't.

 other duck type bird pairs...sorry i'm not a very good birder.

 this guy is pretty though.  off to bed, while i can get some sleep.

thankful for: A.  beautiful sunny summer days.  B.  friends who listen to me drone on about puppies in my puppy filled life  C.  sleep...long uninterrupted sleep.

terns are back, greens are returning

 it all changes so fast up here.  the terns were back at Potters Marsh.  of course, the return of all the birds like terns, swans and cranes is just fun for me.  a photo op.  apparently some of these returning migratory birds will fly all the way to Alaska just to be shot for dinner.  seems wrong after flying so far and working so hard.  not enough meat on these terns to merit killing them i'd guess.

 a few from the bog.  many walks in the bog these past weeks/months.  it's an easy stroll for Rio and for me too i guess.  always great between shifts.  we do a loop there or sometimes do partial loop and head out to the streets and return home a different way.

 not many moose sighted in there this year.  the family of  bears that were causing trouble with the trash in government hill have all been caught up and released together in an undisclosed location.  hopefully they find a new life out there in the wilderness without trash.  4 cubs...that should keep that mama bear pretty busy trying to keep them fed without the easy trashcan feeds.

 election day tomorrow.  Mayor.  can't wait for our current Mayors run to be over.  how much more damage can he do?  one of the ones running for Mayor has been pretty clear that she plans to represent only the conservative, right wing element of the city.  pretty clear which box i will be checking in this election.

 got my veins injected in my left leg today.  gotta wear my favorite hose again for a bit.  hopefully, this will make an improvement.  will wait to do the other leg until i feel like this was really a good thing. will wait until colder weather as well.  wearing the hose on warmer days not my choice.  it was super fast though.  in and out in under a half hour.

 walked Rovers Run with LS today.  she's always good for a last minute walk.  Rio joined us....she is slow as molasses and took another fall after attempting to do the dog spin and sniff with a dog we met on the trail...these meet and greets are quickly becoming hazardous for Rio.  one of these times i fear she will fall down and not be able to get back up.

 Blossom snuck off and wouldn't come when i called her.  i feared she was head to head with some bear but found her munching on something.  some idiots occasionally have been putting poison out to kill dogs in the area...or there are many rumors of such out there.  she has shown no signs of symptoms of any sort of toxin thankfully.  it was under some ice that was melting. most likely it was some old rotted salmon.  lovely.  she spend the rest of the walk on the leash.  this time of year she ends up on the leash quite a bit.  so it's not really a punishment for her.  it's just how it is this time of year.  bears, birthing moose.  better safe on most trails

 spent some time at University Lake as well.  was loving seeing all the baby needles and pine cones on the larch trees.  guess i've never noticed it this time of year.

 super cool though.  look at those needles coming up.  Larch are a rare "evergreen" that the needles turn yellow/orange in the fall and fall off.  didn't get a good photo but the tiny red in there are actually little pine cones.  so adorable!!

 after our walk yesterday it was just so beautiful out that we headed out for a drive along turnigan.  always a great sunday treat.

 the hooligan are running so i stopped many times to watch the beluga whales chasing the hooligan with the incoming tide.  can be hard to get photo's of them.  they are small and just a flash of a plume and white/grey ( the young ones are more grey)

 still some nice views.  always cool watching the crazy tide changes too.

 the bald eagles were out there in the mud.  probably picking up hooligan before the tide came in to swamp them.  saw several of them out there.

 there were humans as well chasing the hooligan.  not a fish i would want to eat...sardine like.  oily.  icky.  but to many they are quite nummy!!

 these are just outside Girdwood. stopped and watched the beluga's.  they are out there...you just can't see them in the pictures really.

 sorry, i'm just not quick enough.

 instead i enjoyed the mud and views around me while i watched the whales in front of me.

 my car is in the distance...along with other cars.  lots of folks doing what i was doing.

 great weather up here this spring.  we are all enjoying the pre-tourist season.  the tourists are on the way though, but for right now. it's mostly locals.  my niece called today.  she'll be up in a few weeks.  if it stays like this she will totally be in luck.

 a royal baby was born in  England.  it is a strange thing, the whole royalty thing but cool as well, not sure why that is.  was laughing today thinking that in the US our latest "royalty" seems to be the kardashians..which is pretty sad.  i think many see the Kennedy's as a bit of the American Royalty. so many deaths in that family though.  not much to follow of that family anymore...so it's on to the Kardashians.  haha!!i'd rather follow the English royalty given those options.

 i think the trees got greener from the time i drove out past Girdwood and when i returned to Anchorage. it really does happen that fast around here though.  it's like all the trees and plants talk and within a week our world is green.  does seem a bit early this year as does everything else.  i've done a lot of raking and yard stuff over the past few days (not that you can really tell)  today i hosed off the deck and the chairs are out.

 hundreds of women and girls are being released from being held captives by boka horan.  i'm sure i spelled that wrong but we'll just call them crazy idiots...it doesn't matter which of the terrorist groups they belong to, they are all just crazy idiots.  i'd say most of these poor women and girls will have much to recover from as i'm sure the treatment they had under these crazy idiots was horrific.

 there seems to be some talk of attempting fracking on the north slope or somewhere up there, considering how many earthquakes are happening in Oklahoma and now Texas perhaps someone should do a bit more research on this before just adding more fracking area's to their list.  aren't we earthquake prone enough in Alaska?

 three nights work down again.  will start up again on Thursday.  this week i worked ER the first night, Peds the last night and the middle night....well i started in CVIU  but was shifted within a few minutes over to ICU to take IMCU patients.  the big switcher happened.  they have a few new house supervisors, this could mean some mistakes for a bit while they figure out who the people are.  who knows where i'll end up when.  usually not much turnover in those positions but there actually have been some changes in the past few years.

 May day came...i got a small bouquet of plastic flowers delivered from the neighbor kids. so sweet.  the vase was made of paper that had colored flowers. will have to send them a little thank you.  perhaps bake something nummy.  or buy it.  haha.

 today an annoying sales dude came to the door.  why did i answer the door.  i am usually sneaking up to look out my peep hole...taking advantage of the dogs barking to decide if i'm going to bother answering it.

 creepy sales people always make me nervous.  they come to your door and then freak you out. .  he as trying to "sell" a security system set up.   he kept asking about neighbors, trying to drop names of neighbors to convince me that if joan and bob are in then i should be.  then he was saying all the things that could happen in a house...scare tactics.  he would not leave and you are left wondering if he will return in the wee hours to give you a reason to want to have  a security system.

 i finally almost yelled at him and closed the door on him.  pushy never works for me.

 as i was walking into work the other evening there were the cutest baby squirrels in the parking lot.  i was super close to them.  they were just looking at me and twitching their tails...then they ducked into a hold in the wall.  baby season is upon us.

 some patients never grow up.  found myself with one of those patients.  very sweet and childlike despite his many years here on earth.  i turned on the music he liked, country after he was telling me that his stomach was upset after a show had been on about the killings at the aurora colorado theater several years back. it really scared him.  i turned him to face the mountain view in his room and the music and finally he was able to put the scary tv show behind him. i got him a list from peds of movies.  hopefully, someone followed up on that.  we need to remember that some of our adult patients are still kids at heart and treat them as such.

 just past Girdwood...always love the views there.

 looks great in color or black and white

 bright green baby leaves. so beautiful.

 stopped at a little roadside waterfall.

 again, i was digging the greens.

 and back to Potters for some tern action.  off in the distance there was a bald eagle getting chased by several gulls...a common sight really.  those eagles are not welcome in the nesting area's.

 this is Issac and his super nice person.  i always forget his name. i've walked with him.  he's recovered from Cancer from what he has told me.  i think a few months back he said something like, i guess i'm not going to die yet afterall.  he's super sweet and that little dog is the light of his life.  Issac sure gets him out there on the trails. he's out there every day.  he said i could take their picture.  :-)

 caught one of the beluga's...that is it though.

 and back to terns...

 they hover ever so briefly in the air, that is my chance to attempt a shot.

 pretty amazing little birds.  always fun to see their return

 not much WARIS news.  a video was posted on the dispatch news.  the words with the video pretty much said, this video was posted on you tube and then the funding happened.  that is a pretty gross understatement of all that went into the funding being returned. i wrote to the makers of that video to let them know of the situation.  also spoke to sealife center director and many other calls and letters/emails and such.  fish and game also wrote out many letters...at least the new director.  a bit annoying to say the least.  in the end, it's funded for the moment.  there will need to be many more phone calls and emails in the future no doubt.

thankful for:  A...green!!  welcome back green!!  B. migrating birds C.  beluga sightings!!