each day an adventure in alaska: and so it goes on....

not much hope of change coming as far as guns. there is some rumbles at times that the gun folks may be willing to offer up some vague restrictions...but as soon as a real discussion gets started you see the doors on that slam shut immediately.

i torture myself at times...and others apparently. clearly i start many discussions that are heated and then call people names like stupid and idiot. i do comment on occasion on others pages, i really don't put that much that is really heavy politically on my own facebook page though. i figure if you post crap you open yourself up for comments...and not always ones you want to hear. so yes, i will from time to time engage when someone posts a meme that is offensive and ridiculous or racist. memes are annoying to me. easy to toss them out but then not so easy for people to defend. in my mind anytime you post stuff like that you really need to ask yourself who you are doing the work for. who created the thing, why was it created, who benefits? basically, avoid posting any memes. avoid doing the work of trolls and bots. i post my blog but that requires you to click and leave facebook to read it. read at your own risk i guess. it's never my intention to offend though.

so i had this idea...and i posted it. in truth i do like to see where the other side is. people who post too much political crap get unfollowed. there is enough negative in the world. we all tend to surround ourselves with people who are like minded. i just get curious when big events happen...has it had any impact on their views? has it made them realize something they didn't realize before? are we any closer in views than we were last time a bunch of people were killed by a gun crazed lunatic. in short, no....

took some fun selfies with the dogs the other day at the dog park. Tuskers head really looks gigantic. sometimes you are just made aware that your canine is much larger than you really imagine them to be.

it could be that i have a tiny head.

anyway, here is what i posted, if you haven't trolled past it yet...
proposal- we remove all semi automatic guns from the public for 10 years, we store them safely for you. in ten years we evaluate the situation. if there are less mass shootings, we destroy the semi-automatics, enact permanent laws and compensate owners. if there is no decrease in mass shootings in those 10 years, we give you back your weapons. if you are caught holding back weapons you will lose all your guns and your right to own them for 10 years, you will be given 6 months jail time for each assault rifle you held back. you can buy a bow and arrow and learn to hunt. if you sell an assault rifle that is used in a crime you will get a 5 year prison sentence and lose your right to own guns ever again. that seems a rational proposal. guns are everywhere because gun owners have not taken responsibility for the guns they have purchased and now those guns have ended up in the hands of criminals. we do not have a large import of illegal guns in our nation...illegal guns were once legal. personal responsibility is making sure any gun you purchased will not one day end up in the hands of criminals or those with homicidal or suicidal intentions or in the hands of kids who we have dying from accidental shootings with too much regularity. the experiment of responsible ownership has already shown some major signs of failing. perhaps not in a case by case basis, but in the big picture...yes. rational discussion welcome. irrational rants or name calling will be deleted. there is not defense for the loss of these lives..it's time to stop, it's beyond time to stop.

as you can imagine there were many comments. nothing was settled. it does seem there is a lot of fear out there, which i already knew. fear that we are on the verge of a fascist regime take over...i pointed out that even if we do have a take over, it generally happens through legal channels and nobody is coming for your guns until after the take over of military has been complete. i still think only then will they come for your guns...by then it's too late, they will have the military on their side and your guns will be removed...maybe from your cold dead hands. i do appreciate the sentiment that there are many who are so willing to die for their guns and for our nations security...

they might have thought of that before electing this iitoo and his parade of clowns running our government who are so closely aligned with Put and RUs. talk about putting us at risk for a fascist takeover... i'm more carpe diem than molon labe, which apparently means "come and get it". this is what gun folks like to say i guess. so i am learning something.

seems to me as well that in protecting their right as responsible gun owners they have also unwittingly protected the rights of all gun owners, even the irresponsible ones. no idea how to set this right or how we will get control of an out of control situation. aside from a few minor blow ups the conversation didn't get too nasty. i think i was hit a few times. i do not know all there is to know...i am no expert in gunnery. gun folks love to try and confuse the issues by getting very specific about the guns to throw you off. i was told as i said that i often engage in these discussions and then just end up calling people stupid. so there is that. i'm an ass clearly. i get it.

yesterdays walk was out in North Biv. i took a side trail that led to another side trail and i must have crossed over a trail that i was familiar with....ended up on these back bike trails totally turned around. i had a few hours, my phone died from the cold but i figured if i just circled to the left i'd eventually make a big circle. i made it back to the original point of confusion. the pups were happy since they got a great run in. lots of bikers out as it was pretty out so i figured if it got late i'd start asking for directions.

have enjoyed watching Olympics. always a fun event in my mind.

anyway, 17 dead, no sign of any changes happening. i will give it up to the students of this particular school, they are speaking out, protests, sit ins. there may be hope if they can get active. the best way to keep our democracy intact is through voting and involvement. if we do not vote and stay involved then we risk a take over...we risk being run by incompetents who have ties with foreign governments and no doubt owe money to foreign governments and could easily be blackmailed...oh wait...!!

yes, we seem to already be there.

so not much new in the gun rights arguments...they tend to return to the same ones...opiods kill people so do cars...are we getting rid of those? guns don't kill people...a meme that has become a rallying cry of the right. nuclear weapons don't kill people either i guess....so why do they seem to want to bomb no ko to prevent them from having this weapon....did have one person in a discussion take it to this level...he felt if all nations had nuclear weapons we would all be safe.

occurs to me that gun ownership has maybe become an addiction. said this to a friend and she found a little article on a medical page. it's not a drug obviously, but they did say it was more in line with sex addiction or gambling addiction. no withdrawal symptoms but a panic does seem to set in at the idea that one of their guns may be lost to government control. i think rationalization and denial are probable the most prominent symptoms.

Ivy sitting on her brother in the car...and below at Bass Pro. took the pups in for a training walk individually. still a long ways to go, especially with Tusker. he's easily distracted. Ivy was perfect..if only i could repeat that outside...too many distractions for both of them outside.

making the bed always cracks me up. Tusker wasn't going to move.

long shadows still. enjoyed sunset down at the "beach" recently.

today's walk was 2 humans, 4 dogs. mine weren't worn out yet, i settled in to watch the olympics tonight and a battle broke out.

there is a guy at the dog park i see sometimes. he seems to enjoy his open carry rights and does so at the dog park. all that really makes me believe is that he must live a life filled with fear. that he believes he is not safe ever, anywhere.

it's actually sad in a way. these folks who feel so unsafe in their lives that only having a small arsenal of weapons will even begin to make them feel safe.

i walk in bear country for a good chunk of the year and i haven't carried a weapon out there. half the time even if you had one you wouldn't get it out in time. overall, you can't plan for everything. good to prepare to some degree but to live waiting for the worst to happen seems sad.

carpe diem...seize the day. live your life for today. don't live in a panic. guns may take me out one day, but i can't spend each day worried about it all. i do worry about the direction of our nation. i vote i try to have conversations, i try to learn and stay informed, but in truth most of us just go through life and are pawns to those in power. i've just been lucky to be a pawn in a nation that has a lot more freedoms than others. when you look even in the worst places you can still seem regular people surviving, living their ordinary lives despite the mayhem around them. trying to just stay under the radar

massive amounts of weaponry, wars...tools of mankind. we do have to protect against power hungry dictator types but overall, war is hell and should be avoided. look what a mess Syria is. it's been pulverized by war.

here i am enjoying the day....carpe diem!

sacked out the last two afternoons with a deep sleeping nap. felt great. love those heated throws.

sledding hill at sunset

finished up my last night of work in the ER. i floated around all night helping out. place can get crazy.

AR-15's being given away at raffles for kids baseball teams...seems a great plan...those who run these raffles did say the winners do have to pass the background check. some given away this weekend after the week we had...as is usual, more guns get sold with each of these shootings. paranoid folks who fear they will lose their guns want to stockpile.

meanwhile our iitoo was off playing golf while victims of this last shooting were buried. that is life in the USA now.

so i've caused enough trouble this week i suppose. i shall be quiet now.

as they say, "well behaved women...."

didn't watch sunset tonight. we got the best part of day. fog cleared for our walk and then seemed to return as we chilled at Kaladi's.

holiday so the place was packed. not much into celebrating this President. what a mess it all is right now.

the rest are hoar frost shots. these are from a creek actually. loved the long feathers. i think we got a dusting of snow the next day so all the pretty frost got covered over. happy we got to see it first.

love winter.

no bugs, no bears...perfect temps in the 20's i think today and yesterday. i think there are supposed to be good aurora forecasts but it's cloudy out.