too tired to post last night

 slept a solid 10 hours plus was apparently restless for another 2 hours....according to my fit bit anyway.  generally don't wear mine to bed. officially crashed last night though

 kept myself busy the rest of the day.  as you can see the bear is back out again.  has been breaking off branches and then heading back  into the den.  making it more cozy?  munching on buds? not sure.

 i haven't gotten many photo's just these here  the bear has gone back in pretty quickly. the long lens folks say it's a male bear, but in a few of my photo's I'm pretty sure i see a bum eye, which would be the same female bear probably. 

 the bear paparazzi is back.  did her baby that survived the fall, make it through the rest of the year?  does she have new cubs or is it just her?  not sure yet...as i said some long lens photographers claim it's a male and not her. 

 after stopping by the bear tree den i  walked the dogs on a big, long, beautiful loop out at Campbell Airstrip.  we went up the airstrip, then grabbed onto the homestead trail, side trails back to the Rovers Run and on back to car. 

 followed that up with some play time/walking at Woronzof. the sun was out, it was a spring feeling day and the tide was out.

 the pups and i got very muddy and had a great time.  them, jumping up and down off of various ice bergs.

 this is obviously right after we arrived.  they were coated in mud by the time we left...so was i

 worked the last three nights and then i had a dental cleaning at 1 so i only slept a few hours before waking to start the day.  over 20,000 steps though for me.  Ivy did not bring me a tennis ball last night.  that dog is not easy to wear out.

 they were raring to go again this morning though. 

 once i finally got out of bed, i made them some placards and headed down to the March For Life rally..it was pretty much over by the time we arrived.  the dogs were excited by all the people, their placards kept falling off and i was stumbling through the soft snow..so a bit of a protester fail on my part.  we stood around in the back ground for a bit, figured it was good for the pups to be there...all the other dogs that were brought seemed very well behaved.  so still work to do in crowds...which i already knew.  you do have to give it a shot at times though.

 looks like there were great turn outs across the nation and several internationally as well. 

 many mean comments directed towards these young kids.  I'm proud of them all for making their voices heard, making noise.  it does work.  each person can make a difference and for all those screaming they should be in school learning...life is a great teacher.  they are learning all sorts of things about how our government works ( or in this case doesn't work or has been altered by special interest groups) they are also learning the value of public speaking, and how to organize.  i think they are learning a ton so I'm thinking that argument is one for fools.

 we need meaningful and effective controls and limits on our nations guns.  so far no matter how many have died in these shootings, absolutely nothing changes except more guns get sold.  the NRA is orgasmic about that...

 work, always crazy.  2 nights in the ER and the third back in the ICU.  some dog park time, my second ER night i did get to leave early, which was great.  that meant i got the dogs out for a longer walk..which they no doubt appreciated.

 debating a run down to Homer.  supposed to snow.  of course, sometimes when they say it's gonna snow, it's not much at all.  probably just go for it if i can find a room at the hotel i usually stay at by Bishops Beach.

 holds the first night.  at midnight it seemed there were still quite a few ER patients in the area we tend to put the holds so i gave up my holds and then after that cleared up, started all over again.  always crazy with the holds.

 had one patient that was causing me to roll my eyes uncontrollably.  some people you meet you have to wonder how they survive in the world on their own.  i tried very hard to keep from rolling my eyes but at times it was out of my control.  thankfully, i don't think she saw my eye rolling...it was spontaneous, really.

 interesting conversation with a co-worker about religions and molestations...i pointed out that probably for generations the Catholics were having issues with their priests and molestations...but it was directed at girls for the most part....so not much really came of it.  when it was young boys who were found to be the victims of molestation, all hell broke loose..that is what it is. that is why the MeToo movement is important.  it's time for society to learn that it's not okay to look the other way or blame the victims just because the victim is female.

 got documents to the loan place...so we shall see.  once i feel like that is headed the right way, i can go full steam on the remodel.  just have to go for it.

 as you can see it was a beautiful day yesterday.  today is as well.  I'm home now though.

 went to the rally for a bit then headed to check the bear, it was out so i took a few more photo's then the dogs and i did gasline-powerline-tank.  always fun.

 playing with icebergs in and out of the water. 

 worked ER again the second night.  not as much eye rolling.  kept pretty steady though.  they let me leave early, which was sweet! love that extra hour or two of sleep. 

 ICU was hopping as well.  i sent one patient out, got report on another but then a patient turned up that needed extra cares so the patient i got report on was stuck in the ER while i took over someones patient so they could take over someones patient and take the balloon pump.  i have bowed out of the slow continuous dialysis...they never gave me the patients to keep up to date on the skill no matter how much they kept saying they would.

 commuting was tough this week from the valley.  an overpass was knocked out after it was hit by a semi that was apparently unaware how tall his truck was or how low the overpass was.  a little reminder that there are few ways in/out of the valley.  the overpass is not safe so nobody can drive under it...meaning ever car now has to take side roads to come/go from Anchorage to the Valley...it was a mess as you can imagine.  some took 5 hours to get home.

 we really do not have tons of roads connecting places so when one goes out it's pretty disastrous.

 liked this of Ivy balancing on this small round ice berg.

 that is downtown Anchorage as seen from Woronzof.

 a friend sent me flowers, very sweet, thanks Tanya. 

 the Iditarod is done for the time. i will post more pictures at some point.  never did finish posting dog photo's last year i guess though.  always behind on the photos in the blog...life is constantly changing up here and i take a lot of photo's being out and about as much as i am.  hopefully, we do some long walks this summer with these pups.  wear them out.

 the joke is usually on me though. the more i walk them, the longer we go, the more fit they become and the more they demand

 more climbing on ice bergs.  all that jumping up and down does wear them out...it's all only temporary though.  young dogs...enjoy this energy while i have it. one day you wake up and they are old dogs...it happens faster than you could ever know.

 the melt is happening.  you can see it all over.  soon it will be spring, i know it's officially spring, but here it's break up, then spring.

 we have a lot more light. the sunset now isn't until after 8 pm.  may take off soon and see if i can find a good spot to watch it from. 

 may crash early again tonight.  i am tired.  hope i didn't catch a bug from the older lady with the flu who opted to cough all over everything and every one.  thanks!

 these are from today's bear viewing. no great shots of the bear yet....i think i can see the bum eye in the shot below.  a photographer yesterday was insisting it's a different bear, a male...he did sort of look askew when i mentioned the females bum eye...bet he sees that on his computer when he looks at his photo's.

 she is a good sized bear.  she looks just as chill with her fan base at the base of her tree as usual

 the revolving door in this administration keeps booting people out.  of late Tillerson and McMaster.  not sure at all how conservatives feel about the constant change at the white house.  seems the fox group tears up who ever leaves and blames them over giving any blame to the commandant in chief. 

 this iitoo gets all sorts of passes for bad behavior from the right.

 so we shall see what tomorrow brings. should plan tonight for a road trip so I'm not totally trying to do it all in the morning.

 it's tough to wake up for the summer...as this bear well knows.

 eventually she will seek out buds from trees further out. then, eventually, she will leave the tree for the season again.

 always fun to watch the seasons change.  never too excited to share the trails with the bears, but that is what it is.

 may just chill at home and watch a movie tonight...pay bills before i crash too.  it was pay day.

 it was a fun Iditarod year.  as soon as those dogs are done running spring is coming at us fast.  it becomes time to get out and explore again.

 the bear up there enjoying the sunshine...as we all are.

 one paw holding on before she drops into her den again for some solid bud eating time.  worry her other cub didn't make it.  wonder if she started all over with new cubs this year?  maybe the other cub is just still sleepy in the tree.

thankful for: A.  sunshine B. those who brave the onslaught of negativity to fight for a cause  C.  changing seasons