another beautiful day...

 loved this one of Tusker above.  such a handsome pup.

 yesterday i got a wee bit older.  Birthdays are land mines, like holidays.  you feel emotional when you don't need to..when the truth is it's really just another day.  i just did a loop in Kincaid.  not only was it my Birthday it was Memorial Day.  seems even odder to celebrate a Birthday on a day that is meant to also remember our fallen.  in the end, probably best to just hand it over to those who have lost their lives in service to our nation.  men, women and animals. 

 my friends daughter, MO came by to paint a flower mural on the back fence.  will need another painting session or two to finish it up no doubt, but i like to art things up, make them unique...I've done quite a bit of deck and fence painting....also started on the shed as well. 

 today i took the dogs to South fork trail in Eagle River.  we took a bit of Blossom as well.  she always enjoyed that trail.  the anti-cairners will be pissed and may even ruthlessly knock over my little memorial.  i guess that is what they do...although, i do laugh as one who hates the cairns that others make for unknown reasons admitted she also makes cairns at times...but those are to mark her trail...so clearly that is valuable.  always amazing to me.

 i have gotten some pots filled with flowers.  that is big up here and the garden person i had out last year was all, just plant pots, don't bother with trying to work on all these flower beds.  I've taken that advice to heart.  this is much easier.  we have short summers, I'd rather be out on the trails.  this time of year, May has become a time i really power out the yard stuff, the outdoor projects, then the rest of the summer i can play outside and do light maintenance until the fall comes and it all starts over again. 

 it was really beautiful out there.  we only went to just past the bridge, so that works out to about 5 miles.  doing much more than that, i do like to have someone with me i guess.  talking helps the miles pass more quickly. easier to focus on your aches when you are alone.

 the pups had a great time.  not much for crowds now that the holiday weekend is done.

 the artist!

 Ivy is still a fan of the new chair.  I'm really quite surprised that Tusker has not discovered the chair yet.  he's out on the deck right now.  i just checked on him as he was barking a wee bit. 

 I've done a bit more of the stencils but haven't gotten immersed into the shed painting or the railing for up front. still want to put at least a coat of stain on the wood that i can get to on the front of the house, that will just be plain stain though. that wood is looking rough and my neighbor replaced all hers.  i thanked her and joked that now mine looks like crap...haha. 

 had to put my artist in a cage of sorts, protect her from curious puppies.  i need to go pick up that temporary fencing stuff.  I'll feel better if it's up.  hopefully, the pups will not try to break through it. i suspect the fence guy will come while I'm in Homer kayaking.  hopefully all goes well, no escaped pups. 

 such a difference in color in the walks.  in the city we are all green, as you go up in the mountains though, there are still snow patches and the plants are just starting to bud up.

 this is a "fiddlehead".  it's what ferns do as they are growing.  i guess these fiddleheads are tasty if you fry them in butter.  i have never tried it...i think i always imagine loads of little bugs residing in there.  not a fan of eating bugs.  I'd do it in a pinch but i avoid it on a day to day basis.

 need to clean and pack and prep for the kayak trek...done so many I'm generally pretty quick but that first summer trip always takes some extra time.

 stopped by Lowe's. my deck table had flipped during a wind storm.  the glass had shattered like car glass does.  it was a mess. i had put the glassless table out front but nobody snagged it despite the free sign.  so i opted to repurpose it.  found some remnant bits of pressed board, got it cut to size and then found stick on linoleum.  it didn't really work out perfectly but it should work for a garden table.  I've decided after the fence is in I'll try to put pavers down in the space next to the shed...i can put the table there and use it for garden stuff, or art stuff i guess if i want to do that outside.

 i also finally put a hook on the shed door and hammered in some loose nails in the shed and fence.  so handy!

 there was a bit of a breeze so doing the stencils was not as easy as it should be.

 really this is all being done to avoid planning the big project inside..tomorrow i really need to start getting down to that. 

 people evolve, but not all of them.  some never seem to.  I'm always amazed at how some folks just never really change from who they were and what they believed.

 a moose crosses the trail ahead of me.  good timing.

 the rest are from today's walk.

 a certain actress, last name Bar, made a racist comment on her twitter feed...really what is it about twitter.  can people not control themselves in 140 characters or less.  she couldn't and now the repercussions are falling like rain. 

 i was never a fan.  i think I've seen a handful of the old shows, never saw the new ones.  her voice was always annoying to me.  then her little National Anthem stunt where she grabbed her crotch.  just gross.  when did this woman become popular with radical conservative types? baffling.  but then i have never understood the appeal of the current iitoo.  he's always been boorish. i really just don't get it.  they are angry at guys kneeling quietly during anthem but they look away at what she did during her National Anthem moment.

 so a lot of folks lose their jobs today because she can't control herself in 140 characters.

 feel a bit badly for them, but then again, it's not like this is new behavior.  it's not like she changed.  it's her. 

 racism is alive in our nation.  people are more emboldened to be arseholes because our current iitoo is an arse to folks.  he is racist.  they hate the whole political correct thing until it is about racism.  racism does hurt us all.  financially as well.  we'd be better off if we lifted up rather than tear down. we'd be better off if we dropped the stereotyping and spoke to the people themselves. we are all a lot more alike than we are different really.

 my Mom had some tendencies towards racism.  we all do really.  you hope each generation we improve, but in our nation we simply fought about it and then stuffed it under the rug like it never happened. the feelings didn't go away they just got wadded up, eventually, those feelings have begun to explode, all it took was someone to give them a place to explore in peace....

 of course, this is how things do go, which is why so many of us keep trying to sound the alarm.  after reading books about the Holocaust and about the killings in Rwanda.  the thing that struck me is that we are surrounding by people who would love to do terrible things but fear of getting in trouble prevents it.  all they need is for someone in power to give them the okay to be terrible people.  it's set up so well for that.  play the victim, blame the others, destroy the others.

 history does repeat itself.  the scenario is different, the faces are different but the hate, the fear, the deaths are not really so different.

 I'm sure my Mom believed her feelings towards others was not like the generation before her and that may have been true.  we all need to improve on how we treat those we share our nation with, our world.  stereotypes are there and they can be tough to battle back on.  facts help though. 

 wish people would speak to each other before just calling the police.  the police are trained to respond to Emergencies.  perhaps we need to have another non 9-1-1 line for minor disputes/concerns.  leave the police to handle the bigger emergencies..you know stuff that isn't 2 black guys sitting in a coffee house or 3 black people leaving a house with luggage (they had rented the house and were waiting for their ride back to the airport), or a woman who'd been studying hard that was napping in a public place.

 we need to treat immigrants and refugees well.  most or many of them have suffered great tragedies in their lives.  many are actually highly educated.  have met many tech, who was a trained nurse or even Dr in their former nation.  i recall when i was doing my testing to pass my boards seeing several fellow test takers looking stressed studying with a translation book right by their study books.  their family depended on them passing this test and supporting them. 

 the misnomer is that only the worst cross over our borders.  more often than not that just isn't the case.  in many ways those who are the worst off have no means to even attempt to escape. 

 the photos do not capture the beauty of the sky out there today.

 the dogs are looking beat. 

 i am looking forward to a good rest.

 not sure what the weather is doing tomorrow but i could use a rain day which will force me inside to do packing/cleaning and prepping for remodel later. 

 there were these few flowers already out. 

 soon flowers will be popping up everywhere.

 omg, apparently, iitoo is trying to save face and get the NKor meeting to happen.  when i heard that i laughed to myself thinking he's going to come back and tweet, "nobody knew how complicated things were in NK" then of course, he'll say only he can fix it.  really he just wants to build the first Trump tower NK complete with a gold club.  that is his real plan...a tower in every non-shithole nation.

 there are these steps and then the trail starts to get more muddy. 

 will have to make the trek back further later this summer when there is green on the trees. 

 so a relaxing weekend was had by all. some friends were having a bbq so i got an invite and they had prezzies and a cake for me. thanks!

 singleton life can come with a bit of a lowering of expectations surrounding holidays.  i do tend to find it's best to just treat those days like the Monday, Tuesday or Whatever day that they are.

 in general i think it's good to try to limit your expectations in life...then you will just be pleasantly surprised when things go great. a movie i saw years ago, "leaving Normal"  these women end up on a road trip to AK.  one is talking to someone she met up here and he asks "why does your friend hate it here" and she says, "i guess it wasn't what she expected", then he asks "why do you love it?" she just says, "i don't know, maybe because i didn't expect anything".  it's this reminder to try and keep expectations at a minimal...i find they tend to lead to disappointment if you keep them too high.

 i do expect the pups to be adorable and they are!

thankful for: A. the gift of another year lived.  B.  the sacrifices made by countrymen and women who did not get to have that next Birthday.  C.  hope

keeping busy...

 stopped by the store and found these stencils. figured they would look cool on the fence posts.  won't do all, I'll leave a gap, but i think it looks pretty cool. 

 the red nose day happened. i was working but i did have a red nose...the day is meant to help with children in poverty.  attempted shots of the pups with the red noses...they were not into helping prevent childhood poverty apparently. 

 worked kicked my butt this week, physically and emotionally really.  it's like that some times. i was in the ICU all week.  it's good though, some days you just feel like you really help make a difference...most days actually.  it's all the little things you do that aren't just part of the job...it's the extra stuff. it's the anticipation of needs.

 did miss the walk one day, i was beat.  doing better overall, minimal coughing but i still get a pretty achy chest.  at least I'm not on ibuprofen around the clock, just as needed. i suspect working means less sleep, more stress on my chest so more pain.  had my massage last week.  it was funny because as soon as i stood up after the massage i immediately started to cough up a ton of crap.  the massage has been like chest physical therapy.  it opened me up.  so just over 3 weeks and i am on the mend for sure.

 we walked Powerline today.  I'd gotten to bed fairly early last night.  beat really. i try to wake up by noon after my run and get back on a more human schedule. 

 the one day i had zero desire to move so we did a little photo op with the pups...this is bed hair..why can't i get dates. haha!

 hit the dog park a few times,  went yesterday.  debated other walks but i just found myself driving there. it's easy, the dogs love it.  ran into the usual dog park friends.  the danes.  have met many nice people through walking.  the one guy i met back in 2002 probably...there are quite a few like that. i run into them on the trails. 

 there were several malamutes on the trail today.  they can be a bit alpha seeming.  some dogs just make me more protective i guess.  all was fine.  just fear Ivy will get too in the face of the wrong dog.  she can make me crazy but she is hilarious.  a total love sponge.  she just works her way into your heart.  they are both great pups.  I'm pretty attached to the dogs in my life. they are my family really. they are the steady characters in my life story.  there when i wake up and there when i fall to sleep. they adore me.  I'm not sure I've been adored by any humans, other than my Mom...so it's good to have dogs who adore me. 

 they follow me from room to room, we take care of each other. 

 family selfie

 got a walk in with LS before my work stretch started.  everyone seems to say we've had a lousy spring, but it's been decent i think...those 6 years in Ketchikan give you perspective on what raining a lot really means.  they average like 12 feet of rain per year. 

 flash flood happening in Maryland on Sunday.  major flooding, scary flooding.  it just happened a few years ago.  weather patterns have changed.  Global warming, climate change...it's real and even the oil companies know it.  they are trying to milk all they can out of the oil industry while they can.  for decades they have spent money to muddy the waters, to cause confusion, to create the narrative that this is all just a liberal conspiracy. it's not.  it's happening. nearly every other nation on the planet gets it.  over 90% of the scientists get it. 

 the current iitoo and his ilk are big on muddying the waters.  on creating confusion.  they shred the media, they shred those investigating their Rus connections, they shred the FBI, the DOJ and the CIA and anyone else who dares say anything they do not like.  the end goal is to make the people have no faith in these organizations.  sadly, a large percentage of Americans have fallen down the rabbit hole, have drank the kool aid. they are believing the right's confusion campaign.  the evangelicals are in so deep, i have no idea how they will ever believe a truth again no matter how clearly it is presented to them.  they are lost...what will they do if/when the truth turns out to not be what they have been made to believe it is. 

 started to work on Skelly's party summer look...a favorite for sure.  I've wanted to stain the front deck too though.  so today i emptied the deck, Skelly chilled on the back deck and then when it looked like it might rain, i brought him inside. I'll set up the scene tomorrow once the deck has dried.

 it is funny with our extended daylight hours.  you lose track of time.   i felt bad as i texted my sister and then realized how late it was.  oops! it's easy to do.  i was chatting with a friend as i stained the deck when this woman walked up to me.  she wanted to "borrow" my phone.  figured if i handed that to her I'd never see it again.  here is the progress of the front deck staining.

 I've also been staining the shed.  i just keep adding on more projects...

 stopped by Pier One and the papasan chair i ordered was in.  it's for outdoors.  i set it up and lay in it for a bit.  Ivy quickly discovered the comfort of the chair...every time i popped outside there she was.  she approves clearly

 giving me and Tusker love.  she's a sweetie! 

 here is a powerline pass shot.  not much green up there yet at all.

 the pups had a great time playing in the leftover snow.

 we just went past the bridge a bit then headed back. above Ivy had settled in the front seat, which Tusker has believed since he was a pup was his seat.  so he just sat down on top of her.  she looks a bit miserable....we drove a bit like this but eventually Ivy Rose gave up her now less than comfy position

 Skelly chilling on the back deck enjoying the sunshine.

 was thinking about the  #MeToo movement.  it really has little impact on the things that still happen to women, it's more about giving women strength to speak up about stuff that has already happened to them.  you do hope that eventually, if enough women that have been fondled, molested, raped....speak up, that there will  be less to speak up about.  but to be sure.. #MeToo doesn't stop what happens to so many woman and boys.

 the deck all stained.  hoping it doesn't rain tonight.  so far we are good and it's been 3 hours.  we just got a few sprinkles early on tonight.

 so fence, back and front deck and the shed is started....still gotta plan that kitchen.  hoping for Tuesday to work on that.  need to go buy a fridge and dishwasher as mine are both ancient.

 these are from the other day on Turnigan Arm.  those are mostly all bald eagles...there are a few sea gulls in there. this is just a section...there are easily over 25 birds in each section i shot. 

 you look below and you can see they are all over the place and this was just one big group of them...there was another big group of them.  I'd guess there were around 75 at least in each group of them.

 then a swan at Potters

 have been busy with house stuff the last two  days. when i feel ambitious about doing house stuff i try to go with it. 

 I'll be headed out to Homer next weekend.  hopefully, my chest pain has diminished more by then.  i still need to rent my kayak and get my pet sitter set up for the days I'll be gone.  need to check on the next days i need her too.

 some kind of sand piper/plover i think. really small.

 this is from today at Powerline.  my dogs stop when i say, "hold up", then they sit or sphinx on command and "stay" until released as people pass.  people are generally pretty impressed by this.this woman is looking back surprised that they are still staying. if there is a loose dog or dog on leash i will bring the pups closer to me and have them sit and stay.  if the dog looks questionable or the owner looks anxious i will then just hold their collars as we pass or the other dog passes.

 there is a flag at the top of flattop.  i heard someone fell yesterday or the day before. it was on facebook...haven't read it elsewhere yet.

 dogs enjoying some time in the snow.

 plenty of water for them out there.

 moose poop smile...wonder who did that?  OK, it was me.  I'm not sure if anyone else does this.  of course, I'm sure there are some environmentalists that are way more extreme than i am who would find this offensive that i moved the moose poop.  i polluted their pristine wilderness by not leaving it in the pile as the moose left it.

 we are always failing in this world.  you try to do the right thing but the list of what you should be doing to make the world better or be a decent person seems to get longer.  we are met with failure at every turn. it can be stressful.

 still quite a  bit of snow on the creek. 

 put a few things out front with the free sign. get rid of a few things always feels good.  i got the use out of them i wanted.  i know i can sell crap but it can be a hassle and then you have to deal with people. 

 Ivy takes a dip in a little pond

 it was the only oasis out there today.  you can see growth happening and the mosses coming in.

 like the moss color behind Tusker. 

 spring is always fun though. i actually mowed my front yard.  first time this year!  mower started right up!

 Ivy is queen of the valley

 a big section of trail still under snow.

 a paw print full of dirty water.

 the dogs yet again in stay positions.  on many of these trails this is repeated over and over again.

 there goes a hiker. and on that i shall head to bed.  bills paid, deck stained, shed door stained, a few stencils painted, lawn mowed...dogs fed...it's all in a day. good night.

thankful for: A.  these good puppies who share my life with me.  B.  beautiful Alaskan days where i get lots of stuff done  C.  my new chair to curl up and read in....while still throwing tennis balls...of course.  D.  those who serve, who risk their lives, who lose their lives so we can have our way of life protected.