anchorage ski for women....

just a few shots from my meanderings in the woods today and several pictures from earlier today playing with friends at the ski for women.

here is the post group shot. everyone had a great day out there! the ski for women raises money to help women in abuse situations. hopefully, it was a great day for that. they raised over $50,000 last year...hopefully they get at least that.

the group waits for the last of us to make it up the hill and get in the stadium.

there are many ski racks outside the chalet. i just thought it looked cool.

these are backwards of course, but below is a pair who were dressed up as a hippo. they were in this huge refrigerator box and it was great fun watching them try and ski together with this big box on them. the hills were a bit treacherous. they almost lost it on this one and ended up nearly sideways...see above. they were in grand spirits and i was impressed at their skill on ski's.

below is ellen. i just put the camera above my head to get the line up behind us....we are at the start of the ski. we weren't timed and i'm not one to rush hills. it was 5k so just over 2.5 miles. it was rolling hills the entire time, nothing too steep though so pleasant enough.

sandra is one happy potato head. our friend joy had to sit it out. she took a picture in her costume on her couch. she was really bummed. she is the one who torked her back the other day. she's off for a few. the picture was really quite sad and funny though.

here we all are getting set up for the ski in the main stadium. they had real ski races earlier for people who wanted to do more timed events. people do wear costumes in those sometimes as well, but mostly the costume and pageantry comes later on the untimed event. with some of these costumes i have no idea how these people ski'd at all. they are way better skiers than i.

i brought my mr potatohead puppy along for the fun ride.

manuela worked the night before but made it on time for the festivities.

the group checks out others outfits and waits for the parade and contest. below is a group picture. thanks lena!

okay...so this is a double. ever the airhead. they do deserve another look...though if i'd thought a bit more i would have at least put another look in here and not the same dang picture. still have no idea how to delete a picture once it's loaded in. hmm..

mosquito's and monarch butterflies...the insect world

everyone gets ready in the kincaid chalet. arika above and melissa spud it up for the camera.

of course, i thought it was funny that there was a no dogs sign and i was dressed as a dog. the kids at the event seemed to really like my puppy potatohead.

had a nice relaxing morning planned until sandra called and told me i had to get my bib for the ski for women fun ski by 10 am and it was already 9 am. eek!! the race was on. i quickly fed the dogs, let them out, stuffed the peanut butter and got my stuff together. i made it though in truth the bib lady said it was silly to do it that way and the rule would change next year. you could have gotten them for a bit. so i was unshowered and unfed. the walk i'd planned to take the dogs on before i left didn't get done. poor pooches. i hate being in a rush. once there of course, not much for me to do but wait.

everyone arrived and we tossed on our potato head outfits. i must thank great harvest and other volunteers as there was tasty bread and fruit that i got to munch on for free while i waited. anyway...on with the ski's and off to the main start area of kincaid park for the costume parade and contest. there were many fun and inventive costumes out there. i had fun checking out everyone in thier digs. the monarch butterflies won the contest....they were pretty impressive. guess they spent a month making these outfits. said it was okay skiing in them except when the wind blew.

the day was in the 20's and those potato head costumes actually got pretty hot after going up a few hills. manuela and i lagged behind and the others waited before the finish in the stadium so we could all go in together.

i was happy to get in the shower when i got home, but the pups were anxiously waiting for me to come take them for a walk . we did finally get out at about 3. i decided to head to n. bivouac again. we didn't stay out as long. there were more mushing races going on, we saw them from the road, but they were done by the time i got out there. it snowed all night and continues to snow again tonight. i had every intention of getting to the gym to do my laps, but by the time i got home with the girls and got them fed again...it was getting late. the gym closes early on sundays. i think i got plenty of exercise today though. i went outside and shoveled both decks and the driveway. that should be sufficient for the day.

the musical snowballs of blossom....

just a smathering of pictures from todays walk in the woods. just discovering that pictures from the rebel take a long time to load and ones from the little powershot load in seconds. good to know.

above blossom takes a break to try to de-snowball. generally unsuccessful. at this point she doesn't appear to have eyes.

blind shot of blind dog. she's such a cutie!!

luke or emma...not sure. they don't look as covered with snow as blossom was at the end of her walk. blossom is snowball less in the above picture as we started the walk.

jill attempts to load up her doodle. they wanted to play with blossom and rio though.

i found a great place that was closer yet protected to watch the teams. this was the last team of the day though and the snow machine follow up came right after.

blossom is one happy dog!

out on the big ponds and the sky began to clear up.

blossom rolls around attempting to off load some snow clumps.....only to add to her issue. she's smart, but...

turned out to be a lovely sunset. i love tree's backlit by sunlight. thought this was pretty. below is another sunset picture. the clouds got all pinky later.

below is a close up of blossom

she should be tired, eh...that's probably 10 extra pounds of water at least.

dog teams rush past. they move very fast. above is closer in, below you may have to look for the team of dogs and the musher.

a bald eagle was flying around with a bunch or other birds. often other birds like crows will taunt the eagles.

blossom near the end of the hike today, covered in snowballs.

got called in that night i was on call. my friend/co-workers back got tweaked. rest should hopefully fix that. i made an appointment to get my hip checked at employee health as it's been doing the spasm thing still at work, though not for as long since i got the dansko's. of course, i scheduled it during the monday walk so now i'll have to call monday and re-schedule. what a brain i have some days. i had just settled in bed when they called,but i wasn't having much luck sleeping cause my brain was so sure i was going to get called in.

i did manage to get up and take the pups to the dog park friday. so a semi- productive day after working 6 hours that night. got the bills paid and some grocery shopping in. dog food and cat litter took up like $50 bucks. pets are pricey. well worth it, but man....

work last night back in the adult world, it was a slow moving night. i had two pretty easy patients, except the one is a patient of the doc i "fired". he "fired" me too so it was mutual. he's the lovely jerk who accused me of falsifying my records and accused me of not telling him about his patient and what was wrong in the 2 phone calls i made. anyway. i was annoyed that i was given this patient as they didn't change the assignment because they said he was really easy and i wouldn't have to call said doctor...well, the patient has major panic/anxiety disorder and i spent a great deal of time in there trying to keep him from totally coming unglued. called a different doc to get a xanax order. the guy is super sweet. both my patients were totally nice so that helped. always little frustrations. hopefully, that doesn't happen again.

it snowed a bit last night so i was excited to get the dogs out there for some snow time. i didn't get out there til 2pm so most of the fresh snow was tramped down so i just walked. the parking lots were packed in all the trailheads up campbell airstrip road. ran into my friend jill and her dogs in the parking lot. they were just finishing thier ski as i was just starting. it was still snowing as i started, but i was out there 3 hours and it had cleared into an amazingly beautiful afternoon. i took a side trail that takes you back to where some mushing trails are. you have to cross over them twice. i knew there were races at tozier track so i was hoping to see some teams pass by. i had the dogs so i stayed back quite a bit. did get there in time to see 8-10 teams cruise by. they are so silent out there and it's just cool to watch those dogs run. each team had 10-12 dogs. that trail is off of the big loop. i cut across the center where the ponds are and then back through the middle. very pretty. we were out there for 3 hours and probably got in at least 5 miles walking. the dogs are beat.

the snow stuck to blossom and by the tank trail she was covered with snowballs. many of them almost 2 inches in diameter. you could hear them all clunking together as she walked/ran. it was quite funny. i had rio the blind dog and blossom the snow blind dog. her face gets so covered she can't see. i thought i took a cute video of her rolling around in the snow, but now i'm thinking i may have accidently deleted it. dang. wish these dang pictures would start loading. i gotta get to bed soon so that i can wake early, walk dogs, get to kincaid and do that ski for women

pictures are loaded and i am tired from my walking and then swimming. i did 25 laps (well i hit wall 50 times). it was good as i alternated 2 kickboard laps with 4 freestyle. only did a few backstroke so i think it was a good swim day. the jacuzzi felt awesome after this day. i'm tryin to hydrate and now i'm off to bed. still need to figure out how to display my potato head toys while i ski...hmmm....

"bottle shock"...

was crazy about all the frost build up on the trail the other day. with blue skies overhead i started taking crazy blind shots pointing up towards the sky to see if i could show off the frost a bit better with the blue background. i had fun anyway, even if the pictures are, well who knows. i guess it's in the opinion of the beholder.

i think i need a fancy lens to really get the frost to come out. i'll keep working on it. one day....

looks like this military helicopter has ski's on it. it flew past a few times as i was out there walking yesterday. i also spied an eagle, but didn't get a camera on it fast enough. i always enjoy a good eagle sighting though. they aren't nearly as common in anchorage as they were in ketchikan when i lived there, or in dutch harbor where i visited.

you can see the helicopter headed away. i love the bumps in this part of the trail. almost to the point of obsession.

i've heard most photographers shy away from taking pictures with the sun head on...i guess i'm just a rebel rebel user. :-)

always dig a reflection shot and so this was taken in a small creek headed off down the tank trail towards base. below is the bridge you take over a creek to get to the road on base.
we turned around at this point and took other trails around to lengthen our walk.

rio was a trooper yesterday and i think i probably have overworked her (and myself) this week. i attempted some blind pictures of rio, but sometimes it just doesn't work. i love digital for the delete button.

yet again i have added a picture that loaded sideways and i am powerless to correct it. do forgive. this is blossom headed down the tank trail. this is how they marked the border of the military base. i've never gotten a permit, but i think they are pretty tolerant of walkers. before they built this "fence" it was said they were going to build a more restrictive fence. the local folk, myself included, were very unhappy with this as we had always had access and the moose of the community have also been able to wander freely and a big 6 foot fence would have hindered them as well.

above is just looking back up powerline pass trail and below is me attempting to highlight the frost with computer contrast. oh well.

was called by work for an on call. i could get called in at anytime, but i happily took the on call as i was working up to a bad headache and nauseated. besides, it's always hard to say no...but especially tough when you are on the verge of vomiting. so dinner of sprite and saltines and now i've kept down some honeycrisp apple and cheddar cheese. this is always one of my favorite snacks. honeycrisp apples are only available for a short period it seems...much like the macintosh apples i believe from seinfeld. yes...i find an episode of seinfeld in my day to day existence. does that make me wrong? of course, i do not own one seinfeld dvd or law and order for that matter, which is odd as they are some of my favorite tv shows. they are always on as re-runs though so not much need i guess yet. apparently, i'm not the only fan.

just finished watching my netflix movie. it turns out i really loved it! it was called, "bottle shock" and tells of the 1976 blind wine tasting in france where the napa valley wines win out over the french wines. it, of course, was a huge shock to the french wine folks. napa has been putting out great wines since. i was welling up at the end of the movie, which was totally unexpected. great story, great movie. i'd definitely watch it again.

otherwise a bummer day for the dogs. lucky for me they just enjoy chilling with me and don't take it too personally on the rare day that i forgo an actual walk with them. it's a pretty rare day that they miss a walk. blossom did get some yard time with me and her chuck it. she loves that tennis ball.

yesterday we had that long and rambling walk up in n. bivouac. we went all over the place out there for several hours. it was a pretty day out. overnight it totally chilled out and was neg 1 as i drove home from work this morning.

my hip started spasming soon after i got to work. not as bad as it had previously, i suspect my skate skiing irritated it a bit. it got sore through. i do think the shoes are still helping a bit. and i also think i should actually have it checked out, in case it isn't just aging. work went well overall though. that diabetes is a horrible disease. my one patient got it when he was very young and has all the complications that come with it. i felt bad for him. what a terrible disease. it's one of the reasons i walk and walk and walk. i hope through walking i can hold off the possibility of adult onset and stay healthy as long as possible. there is lots of adult onset in my mothers family. the whole losing parts of your body bit by bit from dry gangrene is so distasteful. my heart just ached for the guy. he was really nice and seemed to have a good attitude. i was busy all night with drips and really just alot of personal care and attention. i felt badly as this one travel nurse i was with...man i don't think i've ever seen a nurse get to a computer that fast. i doubt his patients got anything more than the basics. funny how his patients became difficult towards the morning, causing him grief. i think when your patients feel they are taken care of they feel safe, and when they feel safe, they rest better and their anxiety doesn't get the best of them. i mean, in truth, some people are just difficult, but it's amazing how a little time and attention can make a night go better for everyone.

it's after midnight and my phone could ring anytime. i should try and get some sleep before it does.

skate ski success....

me in my skate ski's...below rio on the rovers run-moose meadow trail today.

black bear trail cuts across to hillside and south bivouac trail systems. you can go for miles in anchorage...it's one of the things i love about this town. miles and miles of trails out there.

sandra and gail come off the trail to the parking lot of n. bivouac. sandra is on regular cross country ski's.

sharon and her malamute, cooper. i guess they just started mushing class. sounds like a blast. maybe i can go out and watch her one of these days. i bet cooper will do great at that one!

the ski's above are my skate ski's. i bought these a few years back and took a lesson. since then everytime i've attempted to skate ski i've been a dismal failure. i've heard that kids pick up skate skiing quite readily and have a more difficult time with regular cross country skiing. adults on the other time pick up the regular cross country skiing readily and have more difficulty with skate skiing. i may have to obtain video of both to help you see the difference. the boots on the skate ski are sturdier, but can still lift off the ski. the ski is shorter and the poles longer. i guess it could be seen as kinda ice skating on ski's. where as the regular cross country ski's you use the groomed groves in the trail, the skate ski's use the open groomed area. i attempted to take a picture of me skate skiing, but that wasn't my best shot....or my best end. :-)

anyway...despite past frustrations with skate skiing i decided to try it again. the snow seemed optimal for a beginer like myself . it was soft, thus allowing you to dig in on the diaganol. i took blossom along with her chuck it which served as a distraction for me. i tend to overthink my skate skiing so playing with blossom i think helped me to just relax and ski. it's very tiring and my hip is a bit sore tonight, but it's a great work out and i actually had a fun time out there. i didn't feel like a total fool on the ski's. i still need to bend my knee's better, but overall some dude on the trail said i was doing pretty good for a novice.

before i went skate skiing i took blossom and rio on the same trail system for a walk on rover's run. (campbell airstrip trailhead) . i had awoken sore from my laps the past two nights...i did 50 laps last night at the club. well...50 laps in my counting is 25 laps i guess. i count coming and going and officially you are just supposed to count down and back as one lap. from what a few other swimmers said last night 30 laps is a mile. i'll have to check on that one. i still alternate with the kickboard, but i'm doing less of the back stroke and more of the regular front stroke. was debating going again today, but felt like i'd worked my body enough for one day. probably should have just gone.

baked some chocolate chip cookies. i like the dough. while they baked i watched some "bones" and part of a show on tech stuff. when i popped in they were talking about the unmaned drones flying missions in iraq and afghanistan. it's the first time in warfare where the "pilots" of these missions are flying from the safety of a building 7000 miles from the actual war. i guess these "pilots" are flying from arizona or something and they are now training "pilots" who have never flown actual planes for these missions. it would be strange to blow up the enemy and then go home to dinner with your family that night. to never actually be in danger. they were talking about the new virtual war that only our side is fighting at present in these regions.

guess one the captains from deadliest catch had a stroke. he was docked in st paul at the time. he apparently has been flown to anchorage since then. could be in my hospital, but i'm off so i don't pay much mind. the report online said he'd had surgery. that generally means a bleed which needs to be evacuated. st paul is a long ways out there. i've been out there. it's located some 300+ miles off the western coast of alaska. it's a long flight and weather is obviously an issue out there at any time. not a good place to have a medical issue. i'm not saying anything negative about thier medicine out there, just that it's very remote. many of those places just have a clinic, no blood supply, sometimes no doctor. if they are lucky they have a nurse practitioner. more often it's a health aide. it's a 3-4 hour flight to a hospital at least and that is just if you can fly a plane at all. st paul is a larger town than thier neighbors on st george. i think st george has around 100 people and st paul may be closer to 1000? can't recall.

monday walk was fun as usual. really just sharon, chris and i doing the walk. sandra opted to do her own ski thing..regular cross country...and gail ended up getting there late and meeting up with sandra. sharon keeps a good pace so i didn't take much for photo's. we need some fresh snow too. not much to take pictures of this week. here's hoping. we all joined up at kaladi brothers for hot cocoa afterwards. well all except gail as her duke needed to be worn out more. blossom actually brought me the toy several times last night so i know she wasn't totally wiped out. tonight...she's wiped. no toys required.

laps, ginger midgits and proposals from facebook....

tossed in a few pictures from yesterday as i had several. below you can see the tracks and the people on the trail by it. well dogs anyway. the two above were across from potters marsh.

woke late...read the paper...took dogs to dog park with intention to leave rio home and take a longer walk after, but i got the chills. sometimes that happens when there is alot of moisture in the air. i just can't warm up when i come inside so i curled up under the electric blanket with a book for a bit and took a nap. when i woke, i was trying to decide if it was too late to take blossom out. my friend sandra called to see if i wanted to catch a movie so decision made.

before we met though i had time to hit the pool, which was the other option i was debating in my little brain. so i got almost 50 laps in...well really i guess that is 25 if you count down and back as one lap. i count each time i hit the wall. i alternate with the kick board. 4 laps kick board, 4 laps swim. i used to do every other lap front stroke, back stroke. now i do 3 front and 1 back and towards the end of the swim i just did front stroke. don't remember swimming being at all difficult when i was a kid. you just jumped in and swam. i've never really done the lap thing though. anyway, it felt good. my hip likes it and i think my back likes it too. swimming is just good exercise. have to return the suits i bought the other day. hopefully, the one i can exchange and it will work. can't stand swimsuit shopping. bra shopping is becoming a bother too. my boobs are totally different sizes which has gotten more pronounced. hmmm....very annoying.

i did get a marriage proposal already this year. omg! it all started a week or so ago. i got a strange friend request on facebook. the guy only had one mutual friend of mine and it's not someone i know real well. with his request came a note telling me how much he liked me and wanted to date me and all that. i wrote the mutual friend to try and ascertain who this person was who was showing interest and if i'd met him somehow as i was clueless. i didn't hear back from her and yesterday i got yet another note from this mystery person. this time he was telling me he loved me and wanted to marry me. it was a bit too bizarre for me, being the paranoid and non-trusting person that i am. well i hit ignore on the friendship and clicked the button to alert facebook of a possible spammer. when i checked facebook this morning the mutual friend had finally written back. this guy is apparently a brother of a friend of hers. he has downs syndrome. he must cruise peoples lists of friends....anyway...i told her that since she hadn't written me i'd alerted facebook. i feel bad, but perhaps someone should be monitering his internet access a bit closer. sandra said at least i can say i've had one marriage proposal already this year. i'm sure i'll sleep better tonight.

i met her to watch "sherlock holmes". turned out to be a fun movie with robert downey who is always adorable. i think i'll have to watch it again to get all the lines though. suspect i missed many a little line in there. sandra was busting out laughing everytime they said "ginger midgit". i loved the "meat or potatos" line.

i'm off to bed....