monday walk in black and white...

 thought it would be fun to just take black and white today.  thought a few turned out nice.  karen snapped this one of blossom and i.  was going to say me and blossom, but my mothers voice made me change it up.  of course growing up it was always marie and i.  she was the neighbor kinda next door.   our backyards were next door.  the house was actually around the block.  we met before kindergarten started and i think we argued over whether we'd be in the same class.  i believe we were.  hard to recall as we spent so much time together over those next many years.  jr high saw us kinda doing our own things.  we'd talk from time to time, but i think we really didn't reconnect until the 10 year reunion.  that is the only one i've attended.

 it felt so much warmer today than yesterday.  when i left my house it was just 2 below zero F.  so a very comfortable walk.  we did some loops and turns to make it fun.  still probably went 4 miles.

 the dogs have a great time chasing each other around.  just 3 dogs today.  manny, kenai and blossom.  she took very good care of her beloved tennis ball, which was white, and we never lost it...until we got to the parking lot and i totally forgot about it.  another donation to another happy dog.

 baking cookies right now.  that does help with the possible decaying corpse under the house.  well, i don't believe there is a human corpse under there...god i hope not!  that scent i smelled last week that i called out the gas company for is still lingering.  seems to be more over the back left part of the house.  it occurred to me the other day that perhaps a cat or squirrel had gotten under the house and died.
the smell does remind me of the smell at the old house before we figured out it was our missing cat, smokey. not something you forget as a kid.  do remember another corpse as a kid.  it's a vague memory.  now i wonder if it was real at all.  i have a memory of a body being dropped within a block of the house and riding my bike around the chalked outline...memory or real?  seems like a real memory to me.  there was also a stabbing that occurred in our back yard.  well i think the stabbing happened at the bank a few doors down, but the guy that was stabbed ran through our yard cause i remember seeing all the drops of blood.  i actually grew up in a pretty nice part of the los angeles area, south pasadena.
exciting things happen in every neighborhood though.  well, super exciting when you are a kid anyway.  burt reynolds filmed down the street from us for a few days.  i had to go to church so i missed meeting him.

 a few cracks spotted out there on the lake area, but we didn't hear it crack so seemed pretty dang solid.  they all have cracks in em.

 always fun to watch the dogs run about

 had a fun little photo op with kenai.  great face!! thought they came out pretty nicely.

 tiffany, her cousin, jessica, lena, karen and i enjoyed a day out in the park.  speedy joined us at the coffee house.  i had started baking the cookies the other day, but i was out of ingredients and too chilled to want to go back out in the subzero temps for brown sugar.  went shopping tonight after meeting friends for dinner.

 gail, sharon, sandra, lena and i all met for dinner at sorrento's.  we got some solid laugh time in.  i really hadn't eaten much today so i pigged out on my chicken parmigiano.  okay, no idea how to spell that right now and way too lazy to look it up.

 blossom was less cooperative with her photo ops.  she had a good day out there though and is totally happy.  i was debating taking a run out to eklutna today and even loaded the dogs up to do just that until i realized that by the time i got there it would be getting dark and picture taking would be less than optimal.

 perhaps i can make a run for it at some point tomorrow.  it was starting to snow tonight so i'll just wake up and see how the world looks in the new day.

 cleaning, doing laundry and dishes...the rest of the day was so exciting, right?

 thought this was cute of tiffany.  below is manny.  hard to catch him stopped for pictures as well.

 these two had a great time running around.  lots of dog wrestling.  blossom was happy to pretty much stay out of this and chase her ball and let the boys romp how boys like to romp.

 i came pretty close to nailing lena on the head with the tennis ball. i think it passed within an inch or two from her head once.  if you don't throw it fast the spit coated ball freezes into the chuck it, sometimes it starts to freeze and so when you throw it, it doesn't sail the way or direction you had hoped.  it's a dangerous game.  we should probably all be wearing helmets.

 todays walking buddies.  jessica, lena, tiff and karen.  a fine group of walkers indeed!!

watched, "the lives of others" last night.  forgot to mail it today i just realized.  it had the actress i liked in the german movie, "mostly martha"...which was so much better than the american attempt.  anyway...it was set in the time when i believe the soviets occupied parts of germany after the war?  the history is a bit confusing for me i will admit.  anyway....this writer and his girlfriend, an actress are being watched. mostly because the actress had been force to be with a certain official due to threats by him. when she decides to not comply with his demands he puts the couple under surveillance in hopes of digging up some dirt and causing them trouble.  sadly for him, the official who is in charge of the surveillance becomes enamored of the pair and doctors his reports to protect them.  it's an interesting story, with some twists and unexpected outcomes.
on that note...i shall retire to my bed.  fresh sheets, cookies in my belly....sweet dreams!!

windy...brrr...

 took blossom to the beach today.  rio stayed home.  just too chilly out there for her.  it was below zero, but out at kincaid there was a wind for sure and that meant wind chill.  you can see blossom getting a bit blown away from the breeze.  wind and skin do not do too well.  it also sucks the life out of batteries.  my phone was totally dead after i'd been out there walking and chilling on the beach.  my camera was close to dead.  had pondered heading out to eklutna to take some pictures, but with all the dead batteries i opted to come home and reheat.  for sure had first stages of frost bit starting on my fingers.  finally took a soak in a nice hot bath.

 it was pretty out and though i couldn't bear the cold too long i still think i got a few nice photo's for the day.

 blossom was happy except that with the wind blowing it often changed the course of the tennis ball and eventually it got lost so  not as much tennis ball chasing as she would like.

 low tide while i was out there.  just seemed like miles of ice.

 liked that this ice had a moat around it.

 this is blossom waiting on the hill.  it was a bit slick especially in some parts.  i mostly slid down on my arse on the way in.  getting up wasn't so easy.  well, it was easy for blossom.

 my heat seems to be hit or miss tonight.  not sure what is up.  was it just that i was so cold that i kept messing with the thermostat and made it reset way too many times.  thought i was going to have to call out heater dude.  the house temperature this evening dropped down to 55 degrees....still over 50 degrees warmer than outside, but i'd hate for the pipes to freeze.  have a trickle going but the heat seems to have sorted itself out and i've left it alone.

 sleeping lady

 i called klebs who wanted  $230 just to come out plus over $200/hr on top of that.  the service dude wasn't very nice sounding so i called moore.  the guy was very nice and helpful and the service costs were lower than klebs.  i believe those are the only two companies that actually have parts for my heater.  his advice was to call tomorrow morning and save the money.  after that, the heater kicked in so i suppose i may just call and have it get it's annual check.  supposed to do that in the fall, but never got around to it.  my heater always seems to go a bit nuts every year about this time when the temps drop down.

 hot tea, honey crisp apples and cheese...a lovely snack.

 this tree above is always my favorite tree on this trail down to the beach.  i'm sure i have many photo's of it.  it's just got the coolest trunk.

 since the beach was so chilly we walked the coastal trail a bit. not too many folks out, but it is always amazing that up here on these chilly days i am not alone on the trails.   the anchorage folk seem to all be a bit nuts just like i am.

 got on a facetime call with my brother jeff and his family.  we all got to chatting.  facetime is fun!!  by the time i got off i'd missed my window of opportunity for the pool so instead i put a fire in the fireplace, soaked in the tub and freaked myself out about the heat.

 i always like this star effect on the sun. i  suppose i should get a filter or some gizmo or setting to make it look more like a sun, but it looks kinda cool like this.

 pomegranate green tea.  a lovely blend.  a little caffiene.

 social day tomorrow.  not thinking it will be much warmer than today.  seems like this winter is a winter of extremes.  either we are bitter cold or too warm.

 nothing ruins snack time more than the big old mastiff farting right next to you...thank you rio catalina!!

 couldn't decide if i liked the black and white version of this picture of the colour one above.  you decide!!  i'm just such a fan of black and white.

 got wrapped in a heated blanket and turned on the tv while it was so cold here.  sex and the city the second movie was on...started to watch as i'd never seen it.  i only lasted like 5 minutes.  it was so stupid!!  tried to bake cookies but i need to go grocery shopping and when i found a recipe i had all the ingredients too i discovered my brown sugar was all crappy and unusable.  oh well.  should have gone shopping today like i'd planned on.  i was just so cold!!  when you get that cold you just want to get home and reheat.  the thing is, i never feel that cold outside, seems like 20-30 min after i get into the car or home the chills begin to kick in.

 i'll probably just pop a movie in soon and hope the night passes with the heat working.  it's always warmer upstairs and i do have that lovely electric blanket to heat me up.

 sleeping lady in the distance.

 more scenes from the trail.

 and a few last shots of the tree trunk that i love so much.

so happy i didn't need to pee on that cold beach.  the wind chill would have frozen my tutkus for sure...not sure how one spells that.  is it even a real word?  wish me luck with the heat tonight. i 'll sleep soundly no matter what i guess.

blue skies mean sub zero temperatures!!

 pretty though. worked 3 nights plus a half shift.  haven't done much overtime of late due to the leg situation. did have my appointment.  the insufficiency is worse so will be best to get this procedure done.  they will submit stuff to insurance for approval.  fingers crosssed and then we can schedule this and hopefully put it behind me.  above is from a trek in the bog.  went there at least once this week.  hit the dog park once, and the trails in north bivouac a few times.

 beautiful skies above.  this is out my bedroom window.  below is out the windows in the long hallway connecting buildings at providence.  looks like a nice place to enjoy lunch if you worked in the offices there.

 bog shot.  someone had brushed the snow away and the ice looked like a mosaic.  i thought it was kinda cool.  the person that is trying to handle the schedule for peds brought it to me as i missed the chance to fill it in.  the boss had already filled it in with the changes she made with me doing my weekends in the picu...i just kept saying it doesn't matter...it really doesn't at this point.
it's been busy all week there in the picu and i heard my name a lot.  i know i'm an asset there but sadly that isn't always recognized by those who don't actually work with me.  probably all they know of me is that i speak my mind openly and that is often not appreciated by those in the offices. did get to hear this week how many others in the hospital are aware of me and have heard really lovely things about me.  

 a wise friend once told me while we were out hiking that if most people like you and only 1 or 2 people don't, you probably don't have a personality issue.  now if nearly everyone can't stand you and only 1 or 2 people like you...well you may want to try and figure out what is wrong with you that is driving people away. at the time there was this travel nurse in ketchikan that just hated me.  we'd work in that tiny unit for 12 hours with very few words.  she drove me to tears one night as she was so mean  spirited to me and when her vent was alarming i knew what was wrong, but in her mind i was an idiot so i just kept my mouth shut.  she called the respiratory therapist in from home, rather than ask my opinion.  she broke the vent. a battle occurred...the poor respiratory therapist didn't know what he was walking into.  i'm pretty tough so it's pretty rare that i have ever been caught crying in public, other than at funerals maybe or at some movies.

 i believe in general people see me as a pretty strong person.  years ago i was bit by a dog at work ( i worked for vets back then)  pain and shock of it just led to me crying.  it's what you do.  i remember this co-worker looked at me totally shocked and said, "you cry?".  like i wasn't capable of shedding a tear.  i really don't think i'm cold or anything.  though another time i guess there was quite the buzz on day shift as i'd been seen giving a family member a hug at work.  it isn't that i am against hugging or never do it.  i just am not one of those huggy people that hugs everyone every time i see them.
yes, i do hug at times and i have been known to cry at times as well.  i am human, i have feelings and they can be hurt.  usually that is when i can get the most angry, when i feel attacked or when my feelings have been hurt.

 the light in the bog was lovely as always, walking is my best release.  i've had and helped with some sick kiddo's this week, but also worked with some nice folks and nice families.  great to hear families say to you how happy they are that you are back to care for their child.  they feel safe with me as their nurse.  i always like to feel safe around people so i totally want to make sure the people i work with feel safe as well.

 work party tonight.  many people i don't know at those things.  day people.  i chilled with the people i like...i guess the ones i feel the most safe with.  strange that the people in management never even acknowledged i was there...guess they stayed away from our group entirely.  one friend said perhaps i served as some sort of management repellant. i really have nothing to say at this point.  

 it was 15 below zero when i drove home this morning and i don't think it improved much.  it was a chilly walk.  when i got home i needed to reheat so i crawled under the electric blanket and promptly fell asleep again.  so...no swim, but i did make it to the party.  they have new travel nurses there at work, someone mentioned about me walking every day.  she looked aghast and said, "outside?".  yes...i walk outside.  newb!

 will have to try and find some fun photo ops tomorrow.  perhaps the beach...it's been a few weeks...then a drive.

 nat geo is planning on doing a reality show with "old believers" up here i guess.  guess they are kinda like our alaskan amish type.  russian heritage.  lots down in homer area, the valley.  could be interesting.

 some dogs have been getting shot in haines...an archer who apparently doesn't like dogs.  i feel  sad for the dogs and their owners, but i also have always been annoyed by people who just open their dogs and let their dogs run loose in the neighborhood.  they have to take some of the blame in my opinion.

 these little toys have been very busy in the peds unit of late.  i added the monkey one night.  they quietly change positions each shift.  it's been crazy busy at times and yet this little amusement keeps us all giggling.  one of the many ways we all cope i guess.  these are a few of my favorite.  funny to discover that other people have been photographing their exploits.

 talked to my brother today about the book idea.  i sent him what i've started to work on.   made it easier for us to discuss my idea for this project.  i'm hoping that he'll help get me working more regular on this.  i think it's a good idea and i'd like to find a way to get it done.  it's not easy though so i will just keep plugging along.  it will be a lot of work getting the various bits put back into some order and tying it all together.  hopefully, we can both brainstorm on that over the next months/years.  i said i'd be totally cool with co-authoring it as well with him.

 these are out on the loops in north bivouac trails today.  should have booted poor rio up. but she did fine.  such a good pup!!  blossom got her tennis ball time in so she was happy.

 see...happy dog!  was reading how dogs evolved due to their relationships with humans into carnivores that could digest wheat, rice, barley, corn...their wolf buddies can't do this apparently.  researches believe it was due to the dogs being around humans and human diets that they adapted to this.   humans evolved and adapted to grains as they settled and farmed or gathered more grains,  rather than just wandered and hunted.my dogs are happily adapted to eat nearly anything...even soap and suet...rio must be super evolved!!

 enjoyed the various lichens on the tree's.  the red is one type of lichen and the green stuff is another type.

 wandered over to stumphenge and then around.

 clearly i didn't miss much not reading the paper this morning.  i dropped off quickly.

 of course all of our hearts got a jolt of energy as a new patients elevated heart rate and then sudden blood pressure drop got us running.  all is well.  i always laugh when people talk about how stressful their jobs are, years ago one patient came if a few times for chest pain, his job as a hotel clerk caused him too much stress...really.  people don't die if they don't get a room quickly.  everyone has different abilities to handle stress..it's just so funny to me.  my job we got hearts stopping, blood pressures dropping, brain matter slipping out of skulls...it just keeps stuff in perspective i think.

 life is here on second and gone another.  best to get out and enjoy the icicles!

 i'd say smell the roses but this time of year they are hard to find!!

 more bark art

 trees are just cool.

 blossom in the sunshine.

 almost time for me to crash for the night.  loved blossoms beard after our walk in the cold today.  she is so adorable!!

 the sun is out later and later and up earlier and earlier..gotta love it!

 a few snaps from the party.  i didn't take many. i'm more of a nature and animal photographer. i never want to be annoying to people at a party by snapping away, animals and trees never care.these guys look happy to have their photo's taken....it was an 80's theme.  i didn't really dress 80's.  kim, carrie and amy .

 just joined the dance floor for a few minutes.  teds aren't fun to dance in...hot, hot, hot!

 lucy was passed around and admired by all!! roni takes a turn here!

 just a few last black and whites from today.

it's getting late so off to bed i go.