Round Island and Kennicott

 day turned sunny in Anchorage eventually.  spent the better part of the day outside.  yard work in the morning.  part of yard work is picking up dog poop and then mowing..of course, letting the pups play in the hose is also part of yard work.  haha.  above are some cormorants.  love that the iridescence of their feathers shows up so clearly.

 sounds like it's been windy on the island so probably some egg loss with that.  birds off nests which could be enough to kill the occupants of the eggs if the ravens and fox don't get them.

 was meeting a friends new puppy, Ginger, so wanted to wear the pups out a little first. so we again hit the dog park.  my friend texted right after that walk so we headed over to meet her and the wee one.  her baby is a bit of a tank.  so cute.  the pups all got along great Ivy only jumped on my friend once and didn't jump on anyone but me at the dog park today.  they are sleeping as I write. happy worn out dogs.

 i returned home to more yard work.  got nice how could i not be outside.  besides...i had broke down and taken one of my last remaining narcotic pills from my knee surgery a few years back.  it is the only thing that makes my back pain free.

 these are heading over to the bird overlook.

 gull...lots of those.  they have fancier names but i am not a birder.  i only know general bird names.

 the trail up

 the bear that killed that teenager over the weekend has been killed.  i guess there were quite a few black bears roaming around on those trails by Bird Ridge.  fish and game actually killed a total of 4 bears. always sad, but the reality is we do not have a shortage of bears, the meat will no doubt be harvested and given to shelters. there were many comments, of course, (so many trolls on line that apparently know everything and are right about everything) anger over the loss of bear life.  why kill all 4 bears.  hard to tell on that terrain if one bear is the actual bear that was the one that attacked.  that bear was shot in the face but had run away.  can't always see those details and the terrain there is steep and brush covered.

 maybe it took a few bears before they got to the actual bear that had taken the life.  or perhaps, they thought they should go ahead and thin the bear numbers in the area after the attack and since the trails were clear of humans. yes, bears were here before us....but the reality is too many bears and too many humans in one place leads to too many negative encounters.  best to avoid more bear deaths over the summer. if you don't you will get vigilante bear killers out there and often people who decide to take care of issues do so poorly.  i will defer to fish and game.  again, remember there is no shortage of bears black or brown in the state of AK.

 another fox sighting on the island.

 not sure why this guy was panting...it was hot out there.  it was hot in Kennicott.  I'm not complaining or anything but i admit i do not tolerate heat well.  amazing how you adapt after living here and heat is relative.  it was probably in the 60's both days.  for some reason 60 up here feels extreme.  my fingers were sausages after my Kennicott hike.  this of course, left me freaking out that perhaps i have a valve issue or cardiomyopathy.  amazing how one can come to all sorts of conclusions when one works in medicine.  i always go to the worst scenario.  of course, it could be that i was eating the food at the lodge and maybe they just put in more salt than i am used to consuming.  food was good but not really stuff i take the time to cook up for myself.

 much talk of this poor guy Otto Warmbier.  not sure exactly why he chose to go to N.K in the first place.  would not be on my list of places i want to vacation.  it's a risk.  people do tend to forget that they are not really protected as US citizens in other nations nor do they have the same rights.  he got caught attempting to steal a poster and sentenced to 15 years hard labor.  iitoo and the guys family were quick to blame Obama, of course.  so old the Blame Obama game.  the only reason he was returned now was because he was in a coma and NK didn't want him to die there no doubt.

 iitoo had 5 months and he didn't get a release.  there is only so much our nation can do for people who chose to go to NK.  we will see how quickly iitoo gets the other 3 out.  i would be happy if he was able to rescue them though.  none of this is as easy as he likes to pretend it is.  he lies and his followers believe him.  didn't he say he'd finish off the terrorists I in like 30 days..they are still there, doing what they do. the family does not wish to have their son examined further to determine how he came to be in a coma.  obviously, NK was less than forthcoming in the facts.  nations that so easily kill off their own citizens are probably best to be avoided.

 the screw your health care bill is supposed to be available for viewing for a few hours tomorrow.  from all guesses it will make the bill that got through the congress look kind.  typical GOP help the wealthy and screw the needy mentality.  Ossoff lost, it was close but still the Dems need to figure out how to win. damage is being done to our Democracy.  i know many think that is over stating the truth, but we have a man in the oval office who is corrupt, selfish and hell bent on making as much personal profit for himself and others like him as he can.  the checks and balances that people kept telling me would keep iitoo in check and balance...seem to be failing.

 the GOP seems to remain in lock step with whatever craziness comes out.   at least with HRC we would have had checks and balances in place.  now we have a rogue administration it seems.

 yawn...

 the investigations continue.  thankfully, he has disrespected and ridiculed everyone who is in charge of the investigations which seems like a silly thing to do.  they are no doubt hell bent to prove him incompetent and corrupt.  he can only hide for so long.  still hoping the final check and balances will hold when it comes to the courts and the media.  they had prevented any camera's or microphones in the press briefings for 8 days before finally allowing them in again.  this is not normal. none of it is normal.  any attempt to normalize this is just an alteration of the facts.  if HRC or Obama had done any of this their wrath would be falling down.

 it took years though for all the truth to be unraveled in the watergate stuff and presumably this may be much deeper and possibly involves another nation, a nation that is not known for it's fabulous relationship with our nation.

 RUs did more cyber warfare during the 2016 election that we, the people, previously knew.  several news agencies reporting.  over 20 and less than 40 states had cyber intruders. attempts were made to alter or delete voter data.  during election day there were some places that had resorted to paper due to glitches...was Rus involved in these glitches? were they more successful in their impact than we knew previously.  this would have slowed down getting voters checked in.  it may have impeded some from voting.  there is even some evidence that these glitches happened more in more Dem leaning areas in some states.

 current iitoo still doesn't even want to acknowledge that Rus was involved. pretty fishy since every other government agency seems to acknowledge this as fact.  it would probably help if our Potus was desirous to get the answers to this...why isn't he?  hmm.

 love when their back flippers are all fanned out.

 everyone in DC seems to be getting personal lawyers.   many are losing their jobs in government but lawyers will have a boon because of this POTUS.  haha.

 a Denali climber survived after 15 hours wedged into a crevasse.  i think they said his body temperature was like 79 when they pulled him out.  he had reached the summit and fell on the way back down.  he is from Slovakia. should be all better for the most part and heading home.

 was reading this novel, but it's been annoying. some books about medical stuff turn out to be just to filled with crap that i can't finish them.  this is one of those.  i get the idea of it.  a nurse, who is black, ends up with a patient/family who are skin heads.  they request she not have anything to do with the babies care.  then an emergency arises and she doesn't render aid initially because she's been told to not touch the baby.  within days it seems her license is revoked and she is in prison.  no nurse i know would watch a baby die no matter how heinous the parents are.  it just doesn't happen.  anyway....just too many things that were clearly not back checked by the author.  i will move on to another novel i believe.

 still waiting for the base for my little library. he is supposed to be working on it now though so hopefully soon.  excited to get it painted and out there.  may have to have a little library opening party.  not sure how one does that but a welcome for the neighbors.

 then they can ask questions as well i think. may just chill out there on the new bench with some treats and beverages i guess.  good to meet more neighbors anyway i guess.

 cute guy at first beach.  sat with him for a bit.

 guess there are several out on first beach right now.  the camera hasn't switched over from main beach.  looked to be several walrus last i looked at the end of the island.

 cormorant in flight

 puffin in flight.

 little butterfly.

 i think a big butterfly hit my windshield...that or a small bird on that drive. it was a lot of blood for a regular insect.

 gotta get that windshield fixed.  it's so banged up. waiting for it to just fall apart one day.  also need to get on the kitchen remodel stuff.  crap is falling apart.  time to just gut and redo.

 the rest are from the Kennicott trek.

 liked this of the ash hearts on the glacier.  seemed a good spot for the pups

 tried to load this next to another picture i took several years before. above is the Worthington Glacier as i saw it Monday.  it seemed like it had receded a great deal. 5 pics below is how the glacier looked back in 2003. it really has receded a lot!! crazy.

 the main mine building from the top.

 me attempting a selfie with the ash hearts .

 beautiful scenery along the trail

 below is 2003 shot of the glacier.

 the USS Fitzgerald is a destroyer that ended up in a bad crash with a container ship from Japan.  how this happened is still unknown. 7 men did die. they were found dead in areas that had taken on water.  very sad.  no idea how this accident could have happened.  these ships generally know where every other ship is around them.

 a couple paddled from Homer to Seward and there the met friends who joined them.  they all then mountain biked and pack rafted back to Homer.  love how many adventurous folks there are up here.  it's great to be surrounded by these souls.  people who embrace life and who live without much fear.  it's pretty amazing.

 as if my windshield wasn't damaged enough a huge rock made this big ding in the windshield.  i was sure the entire glass would collapse.  it survived though.

 thought this pic below turned out pretty nice.  the building on the left is the old hospital i guess. in the tour the guy said all the buildings were red except 3.  the hospital, the single women's bunk house and the owners house or managers. whoever was in charge.

 embarrassing moment on the trail.  ran into some woman from another country.  she didn't want to hike alone so i said I'd join her...i had to make a pit stop.  when i returned she was gone.  now i wonder...did she see me have to leave the outhouse with my pants down to locate some leaves as there was no toilet paper in there and i hadn't noticed.  how embarrassing is that?  we have all had embarrassing bathroom moments.  especially those of us in AK who hike and adventure.

 can't recall the details of a story our guide told us.  she and her now husband bonded over the entire trip they took...if you can survive kayaking from Washington State to Skagway together you can survive anything I'd guess.  we were all laughing though.  on a trip like that you get to know each other intimately.  I'm not sure i impressed this international visitor though.  apparently, i was more scary than a possible bear encounter.  walk fast and make a lot of noise i guess

 thought this was funny at Worthington Glacier...check out all these matching RV rentals.  well i better go look at more pictures from the trip.  below is on the side of the road headed towards Valdez. back to work tomorrow.

grateful for:  A.  old friends that no matter how much time passes remain the same  B.  independence  C.  pain free moments.