around Round Island...

 views from the tent of course.  pretty sweet.

 my wrist is still a wee bit sore after my corgi injury.  pups pulled leashes from me to greet corgi's.  leash pulled my fit bit which must have burst some sort of vessel, causing a small hematoma.  bruise and small area that is still swollen.  probably partly from working and having my arms down swinging for hours.

all three nights this week were in adult ICU.  i actually had one patient 3 nights in a row...that never happens. i've gotten used to that not happening and actually am cool with it overall. it is nice on occasion to be reminded of that feeling of returning to patients and families and seeing that sense of confidence in you that they and/or their loved ones will get good care.  when people trust you...

 in my line of work...trust can mean putting your life in my hands. that is a pretty high honor when patients give you that trust and relax. the fear of being hospitalized is lifted just a bit for the next 12 hours.

 turned on tv and a news station was on...that newer one AON or OAN..can't remember.  i've seen it as a pretty conservative station.  i mean i've seen the commercials are even slanted towards the religious right.  at first i observed as i was doing my tasks in the room and thought perhaps i'd given it a bad rap.  it seemed to just be reporting various news events with little real slant one way or the other.  and then...

 one of their reporters came on.  white guy.  he started talking.  it was so odd.  it was like he was trying to make the religious right feel vindicated...like there is no possible way you are racist.  the left is the problem...Obama is the divider.  it was like he was justifying all these bad thoughts and behaviors.  so odd.  it was odder because my patient was black.  when you are watching something like this with someone who is directly impacted by the message it does make more of an impression on you...on how really racist it is at its core.  how odd it all looks coming through the eyes of the person beside me.

 the message was hurtful and hateful especially since it was clear that this message was an attempt to justify a negative and cruel stance. you could hear his message, could hear him nullifying the truth of it all.  gently convincing his viewers that they were not the problem, they were not racist for hating Obama that he was the cause of all this hate in our nation. all the hate that rained down on him was his fault, the liberals fault.  the liberals had created this narrative.

 try listening to the message through someone else view.  it can be eye opening.  i looked at her and rolled my eyes,  we had a silent, knowing exchange, then I changed the channel.  it's always easier to blame the other side i guess than to look into your soul and see the truth of a situation.

 there was a shooting at a ball field this week.  apparently, the democrats in DC play the republicans. the republicans were practicing.  some guy asked which team it was and then started shooting.  a brave security detail for the house majority leader Scalise were both shot but they probably saved many lives that day.  Scalise and a few aids were also shot.  Scalise sounds like he is the worse off.  a few GOP were quick to again blame liberals and democrats for their negative rhetoric.  the shooter was killed and it was found that his social media pages were rampant with hostile and negative posts. the man had a hatred for iitoo.  the guy is dead so we may never understand all his crazy rational.  

 those on the GOP side seem to start a cry about the negative tone of the liberals.  my first thought was of a brother or two who have been pretty rabid on the conservative side. there are those on both sides who clearly spend too many hours on social media posting more and more negative things. to pretend that this is only happening on the left is pretty silly.  also i think of what would be happening in our nation if HRC had won.  i highly doubt the conservatives, especially the most rabid,  would have been sitting quietly back.  our nation is in a scary divided place.  people scream but refuse to listen.  everyone is sure they are right.  they are sure that the other side is totally wrong.  the truth is somewhere in the middle no doubt.  if our nation doesn't learn to compromise it will all spiral out of control.  it doesn't help that we have a spinner in chief. a stable leader goes a long way.  we do not have that at this time.

 bird feathers....a sign the fox are getting their meals.

 you can see the ranger in the above and below shots.  that is a lookout...great place for sunset watching as well.  the trail moves on from their over to a bird viewing spot overlooking the spine.

 the trail goes up from this point as well.  below is the inside of the cook tent.

 the fresh water.  i had filled a few water bottles so i didn't have to pump...was prepared to get my water from this small fresh water creek.  not there long enough.  i filled the jug they had with the water i wouldn't need before i left.

 trails heading to the spine overlook

 this is the cut off trail to the flat rock overlook.

 lone walrus down there.

 things do seem to be spiraling in DC. have been for awhile.  my one brother reminded me it took nearly 2 years during watergate to get to the bottom of it all.  this administration is doing everything it can to try and prevent the truth from coming out.  what the truth is...we will have to wait.  clearly he is nervous.  i suspect it has a great deal more to do with his financial ties to Rus than any collusion with Rus to sway election...but perhaps i'm just hoping we don't have that many people in those positions who would be willing to stoop to this.  clearly, he has a history of shady dealings and working with some shady folks.  people get addicted to being super wealthy and i suspect will do much to keep up that position and status.

 as in much corruption on our earth...money, guns and oil all seem to be involved...and drugs.  though i suspect that isn't the case here...the drugs... for sure the rest of the stuff.   i also suspect iitoo has a deep hatred for Obama and it seems most of his decisions are based on that hatred and/or jealousy. i think when you base your decisions on hatred/greed and jealously you are probably dooming yourself.

 pretty flowers. should be many more this weekend. head to Kennicott tomorrow.  still have to pack.  doing some laundry now.  gotta get stuff ready for pups to be home with my sitter.  thanks Claire!! just a long weekend so hopefully all goes well for everyone.

 they are for sure in a teenager dog rebellion.  silly pups.  plan to put packs on them and walk them loaded up for a bit. give them an extra task.  reading up in my Cesar Milan puppy book.  keep on keeping on.  have to up the challenge for them to keep them on task.  they just have a tough time focusing on me when they see a bird or a corgi or a squirrel.  brats.  they are good over all. today we hit the dog park.  burn the energy. lots of swimming. there was another labradoodle there today that we ended up chilling with.  DJ.  the owners said she was a rescue, they decided the name DJ really stood for "don't jump" haha.  theirs had grown out of that stage. she is 3.  she and Ivy looked pretty similar to each other.  it was cute.

 my friend got a new chocolate lab puppy...so cute. so plan for now is to get together next Wednesday. should be fun.  we got our bark box today...thinking i should get her a starter box for her little pup.

 these are from that lookout point that a few shots ago you saw the ranger at....now i am at it.  so above and below are shots in each direction. the island looks super green now.  amazing how fast that happened.  fun to see it in a totally different way.

 this is my chicken move up the cliff trail.  i am sitting down and looking out to the point below where i had just been taking in the views in both directions.

 the cliff cam gear.

 back at the start of the cliff trail...nearly straight up..it is scary!! that is quite steep. felt better later when i watched from my tent platform as Ryan made his way up.  he was bent over kind of crawling up on feet and hands.  they do this trail all the time though...to do their counts.

 they must be pretty fit by the end of summer. haha.

 the cormorants tend to their nests.

 this was my first fox sightings. i didn't really get a good shot off. what a big fluffy tail though.

 no walk yesterday, slept.  the day before we walked the bog on leash.  the last escape of the pups to chase a bird was successful for them.  i think i out smarted them a bit because as they ran towards the bird i took off running in the opposite direction.  this caused me to soon have a pair of concerned pups running towards me.  trial and error, right.

 we are hitting our longest days.  so beautiful out.

 want to pay some bills, pack and finish the laundry. hoping to get on the road fairly early. that could be tough with the pups. i suspect they will not be happy that i am leaving them again so soon.  they will have me the rest of the summer though.

 the bears seem to be making their presence known. a group of teenagers out hiking had an encounter with a mama and cubs-grizz.  they said no life threatening injuries but a possible injured bear out there.  rumors i hear were that it was probably not a bad injury.  lots of encounters though.  summers are high risk and i suspect our bear numbers in town like our moose numbers are falsely elevated.  no hunting in town so as the moose numbers here increase so do the bear numbers.  always sad to hear of loss of life but it is a reminder too that we do not have a bear or moose shortage in AK.  another bear was killed as a person let their dog out of their house to pee not knowing there was a bear out there.  the bear was then shot to protect the dog.

 settling in for the night.  read and then stopped and looked out at view.

 it was a pretty sweet view. so the rest are sunset shots from night one.

 the only disappointment of this trip was how short it was.  the weather was so awesome i wanted to stay all my days.  didn't really want to risk staying weeks though.

 check out that sun!! sweet!

 was totally annoyed at a co-worker during report. some people have these expectations of others that they do not in any way expect of themselves. they can be demanding and demeaning to you as you give them report.  talking down to you and acting like you are some slacker and they are far superior..only when you return that night they, in turn, do not follow any of the same expectations that they demand of you.  you are forced to clean up after them.  meds are late. this person only had one patient all day and yet things didn't get done.  she then refused to sign off on this narcotic thing.  i'm all, "what are you accusing me of?".  the milligrams totally added up time wise but one number i'd put in didn't square up in her mind. she had clearly spent some time going over the numbers and obviously no narcotic was missing but still she wouldn't co-sign.  most people actually blow this off but she had been so insistent about it, but then of course left without doing it herself when it was her turn.  so annoying.

 oddly, she is otherwise a nice person . some folks are just so different in a work situation. i actually have a tough time rectifying that.  if you are a slacker at work i will have a tough time forgetting that and just eating out or whatever.  i have to respect you at work and outside of work. vented to a co-worker and then got on with my night.  he verified that this is not something that only happens with me when it comes to this co-worker.

 i am also not skilled at all in hiding my feelings. if i'm pissed at you...it will be evident.  in those situations rather than starting some big drama i just go quiet.  minimum conversation is better than a bit blow out.  gotta look at the big picture.

 nature is the best place to refill after a stressful week.  dogs are also a great way to put the stress of work behind.

 great views all around this day.

 better get a few things done before i crash.  never enough sleep between shifts.

thankful for: A.  co-workers that are cool and kind.  B.  sweet happy pups that are so so happy to see me when i return home  C.  the coming adventure tomorrow. :-)  better get ready.