sun did finally show..

 it has been a bit blustery off and on all week.  we just hit the dog park again today.  always an easy one, the dogs love it.  these are from the fall again.  still trying to catch up on the old before the summer brings on new photo ops.  all pretty brown out there right now though i do see green coming out.

 these are at the dunes.  pups love these fun dunes, though i always think it is not a place i would want to be in the event of a big quake.  liquefaction and we would surely be sucked in to the dunes and suffocate to death.  not a great plan.  you can't live your life waiting for the big quake to happen. you just live your life....what happens happens.

 had my three nights.  actually was lucky i showed up Tuesday night.  part of me was thinking i was still on the w-th-fr run and some voice in my head told me i should look at my calendar and double check.  sure enough I'm back to my runs.

 so i worked tues/wednesday in the ER.  not bad nights at all.  my second night i ended up going home at 5 am and the third night i got an on call.  the calm before the summer gets busy at work.  they are attempting to start mandatory overtime too so  if that happens and the union can't stop it, i may be getting worked a bit more.  nobody is happy about it. the contract negotiations are happening.

 don't think it's going well.  oddly, the hospital is perpetually trying to get Magnet status, which means you need to have happy staff...so far they have not gotten this. wonder why? 

 never got called in.  watched a few old flicks i hadn't watched in awhile.  light stuff.  i was sleepy though so i think i did drop off at some point...i usually stay up til closer to 4 am, but i never made it that far. i can be a very sound sleeper so my fear is i won't hear the phone.  the fear is not unfounded.  i really am a deep sleeper.

 we have gotten walks in.  pups are always happy to get out and chase their tennis ball.

 various dog parks in the area were visited.  the mountains still are a mess of old slushy snow, mud and spring is avalanche season.  some snow machiner's have gotten caught this week.  one died the other day.  best to just keep to the basics. 

 the pups were thrilled today though as i got the hose out.  they love their hose!  i cleared the deck, moved a wood stack i had on the deck to a location in the yard and then hosed off the deck.  started some prep for painting.  figure I'll finish the last of the fence and do the deck rails first.  the rails are in a bit of rough shape.  should probably be replaced but i think the paint will give me some more time. 

 called for fence estimate but no return call yet.  will make more calls and see when we can get that done.

 several appointments scheduled out.  do need to get the tires changed over.  i hear the road in Denali is open to mile 30 so i may try for a little trek north before i change over. always a fun spring trek, i think i skipped it last year though.

 have some good netflix movies that just arrived so i will have to check those out.  i am also scheduled for hair and a massage next week.  that is the equivalent of a spa week for me. 

 had a nibble on the pool table again.  haven't heard anything after that though. 

 little battles on facebook.  i really just avoid interacting with the perpetually brainwashed.

 so many have been convinced that they were unable to practice their religion freely under Obama.  what changed?  what couldn't you do?  no prayer in public schools.  so what!  you do not need to kneel to pray. you can pray anytime. i do.  i don't need my prayers to be publicized.  God doesn't need that either.  10 commandments not plastered around public buildings in stone...so what? we have churches and we have government.  the fore fathers tried to keep them separate for a reason.  that doesn't mean there wasn't some mixing.  yes, many of the forefathers were Christian. 

 you can't just protect Christianity.  freedom of religion is for all. it's also freedom from religion for those who are not religious. 

 so funny how much hate and nastiness is spewed from these so called evangelical Christians.  one called Obama a waste of space, she hates him and so she didn't read about what he did...so she hates him, but in truth she doesn't even know why she hates him except that she was told to hate him by fox news. she hates a lot of things.  i called her on it.  hate is weakness.  when you allow yourself to get to a point of that deep of hatred you give yourself over to being manipulated. 

 we have seen that happen repeatedly in history.  it's what happened in Nazi Germany.  they believed the propaganda and by the time they realized what was really happening it was too late. she likes this POTus because he says "god bless America".  really...guess what obama said that too.  they all do...it is certainly no reason to vote for someone. 

 when called on her hate filled reply she simply goes to well, what i said was just generalized opinions...this after one of her friends stated that she has special needs kids and uses the healthcare that was hated.  there was a litany of things she hates.

 she also said "most men are horrible to women" so in her mind the crap iitoo pulls is no biggie.  another of her friends said since he hasn't done these things while president it's okay.  so many excuses.  i don't happen to believe that most men are horrible to women. i believe that the bulk of men are decent.  there are some bad ones out there and our current potus is one of them.  yes, clinton was no prince either.

 saying obama was a waste of space seems a bit much.  certainly you can at least credit him with being good to his wife and kids.  certainly you can at least appreciate that he did not react and respond with hate towards those who said the most vile things about him.  being the first black potus was not ever going to be an easy gig.  like the jackie robinson story.  he had to put up with a lot of racism, threats to himself and his family.  i personally believe he did so with a great deal of restraint.  our current potus has zero restraint.  he's been the most rude to the potus he followed.  he seems hell bent on destroying anything that obama touched...because the truth is that is what his base wants.  they want to pretend that a black man never was allowed to ascend to that level in our government.

 these are at Potters last fall. 

 in the end...she muted her response by saying that we are all sinners.  yes, i guess in your mind we are all born sinners.  people supposedly get baptized but when you grow up you do not just say, oh well I'm a sinner to excuse bad behavior.  you are responsible.  Jesus did not die on a cross so that people could just do whatever they wanted.  i do hope people respect his death more than that. 

 i just have never bought into this born again christian act where you can do what you want if you accept Christ in your life...that somehow his dying absolves you of any responsibility.  i suspect these folks will be mightily surprised one day in heaven. if you ask them would Hitler be forgiven.  the answer is well yes, if he accepted Christ in his heart before he passed....then they always add, but he wouldn't.  always making sure they put that out there.  then you ask if a woman who has been gang raped and then kills herself will not be saved because she committed suicide...well they are sure she would accept Christ into her life at that last nanosecond of life.  it's ludicrous. 

 of course, i am the bad one for pointing out that her hate filled rhetoric was probably not in keeping with her supposed religious piousness. i did not say it in a hateful way, though with these folks anything you say will be interpreted as such....they are so used to hearing lies and believing them i guess.

 i did not like Bush's agenda overall but i could see that there are always some things that get done right in any administration.  whether i agree with the presidents of the past or not, in general i have never felt that any of them do not have basic respect for our constitution and our rule of law, until now.  even when presidents of the past have had illicit affairs, they were consensual.  it's distasteful but really it's a matter between them and their families.  that doesn't mean that they are incapable of doing their jobs or that they do not respect the office in general. 

 happy to hear Rosenstien state that basically the DOJ is not going to cave into pressures by the GOP.  there are a few GOP house members who may have a great deal to answer to when all is said and done.  they have not acted at all in the interest of our nation.  they have not behaved in accordance with leaders who have taken an oath to serve and protect our constitution.  they are not putting nation before party. 

 this whole porn star mess...there are pay outs and that is why it matters.  sounds like there are probably more pay outs.  when did they happen?  how? who knew? what is the purpose of the timing so close to the election.  more lies....the problem with lies is it gets more and more impossible to keep them all straight.  his newest lawyer, Giuliani went off the rails the other day.  all sorts of acrobatics to try and minimize that. more lies added to the previous lies in order to try and explain away the last lies.  lies, lies, lies. 

 love to watch take off's and landings.

 silly local news...Russell Crowe had a post divorce memorabilia auction.  for some reason John Oliver opted to purchase several items and then gift them to the Anchorage Blockbuster Video store.  he did this whole bit about how few Blockbusters are left out there and that those remaining are mostly in Alaska i guess.  the memorabilia arrived at the local blockbuster.  out on display...the most famed item is the leather jock strap thing from "Cinderella Man". 

 the electric went out in a few rooms this week. i tried flipping the switches on the electric panel.  i am not the one who had listed what switches went to what, this happened before i arrived to this place.  as i had to head to work, i turned off the switches to the rooms that seemed to be off.

 when i arrived in the morning one of the rooms lights went on...so clearly that one is not labeled right.  so i went and flipped all the switches off/on and went to check the upstairs rooms.  they turned on. whew!! i was fearing a  major electric bill.

 lots of swans at potters this day. 

 they are coming back.  i did drive over to potters today but the wind was going pretty hard so i returned home. 

 after a bit the wind had died down and the blue skies were out...that was when i headed outside. 

 pups do seem a bit sleepy tonight after their walk, wrestling in the yard and then their hose time.  Tusker knew exactly what that was as i carried it back to the yard from the garage. 

 last of potters..

 was headed to Seward for the day. 

 these swans were closer to Girdwood. 

 deep fall color in the grasses

 swans are so beautiful. i was surprised to discover the natives kill them as well.  them and sandhill cranes.  it's all meat to them.  i suppose.  still seemed like they were somehow protected from that due to their coolness and beauty.

 erupting volcano in Hawaii.  coming with some decent sized quakes as well.

 the M/V Taku was sailed across the Pacific to India where it will be torn up for scrap metal.  rode it in Southeast AK when i lived there. it was in service for nearly 1/2 century...

 started coughing today.  not sure if it's all the dust with the melt down and the wind.  back to the inhalers for a bit i guess.

 i should crash i guess.  still sleepy.  don't think i sleep as peacefully when I'm on call.  i really was surprised i didn't get called in....again.  next week is nurses week.  really we recognize each other as in general we get really no recognition otherwise.  this ain't Hollywood, we don't get awards for best enema or most rapid iv placement.  we don't get dressed in fancy clothes and don make up and fancy jewels...we put on our scrubs and head to work just like we always do. 

thankful for:  A.  not being sucked into the crazy evangelical christian world...thank you mom and dad.  B.  blue skies  C.  clean deck...all prepped