another mushroom walk but these are flowers from July..

 these pretty red ones are in a ditch as i headed down from Glen Alps one day.  they looked pretty so i stopped.

 these are from a slow drive back from Hatchers one day.  this is a bridge.  knik i think

 looking pretty so i stopped. 

 still moving things around in the house.  best to not go too nuts since I'll  be having a pet sitter. I'll have to text her and confirm that this is still all set up.  always scared about that. 

 the window is gone from the back yard.  i was getting a lot of messages once i made it free. i may just do that with the old fridge just to get rid of it as well. people do like free stuff.

 want to do some calculations for tile and maybe just get that on order here soon. called to check on the cabinets. they are on a barge somewhere.  hopefully, they arrive safely and won't fall off. 

 this old bridge is now just for walking.  lots of graffiti. 

 did some wandering in N Bivuoac today looking for mushrooms.  found loads of them.  always fun. not sure why i get so obsessed with them every year...they are super cool though.  there was a group collecting mushrooms and a family collecting berries.

 nice to see folks out on the trails and great to live in a place where people can collect so much to eat in the environment.

 met some friends at the bear tooth for a charity dog short film festival.  must say i was not that impressed with their selection...there are so many cool dog clips out there.  a few were good and left you wishing those were longer.  would rather see a few longer ones than several short, so so ones, but it went to charity and there were dogs on the screen so I'm not really disappointed. 

the rest of these are from a hike with friends a ways out powerline pass.  haven't done as many of the really big hikes this year.  still getting out there and enjoying what i can.  the pups are just happy to be out there.  they are getting easier and easier to work with.  that first year or so with two was quite a whirlwind.  nice to see them settling in and always great to feel like all the hard work of training is going to pay off. 

 these dogs really do steal your heart. I've gotten pretty attached to all the dogs that have shared my life.  i know many who feel the same way.  they are family, they are the constants in my life.  they don't judge me, they don't think the stuff i say is stupid, they don't believe my views are idiotic.  they just adore me.  they adore me more when i throw their tennis balls for them. they also don't care if i have a little fat on my body or that i don't dress fashionably. 

 i know my life would have been much less happy without the dogs I've had over the years. 

 must say a word about the Catholic priests.  first off, one brother suggested if they were allowed to marry and have sex with wives they would be less prone to pedophilia.  i must say i disagree.  they do have outlets. if they can sneak around and molest small children they could also sneak around and have sex with women. they can also masturbate to satisfy their sexual appetites.  the internet has all sorts of options.   having a wife and those relations is in no way a deterrent to pedophilia.  if some one has tendencies towards this getting married will not prevent or change those tendencies.

 there are plenty of pedophiles out there who are married, same with rapists.  the word is this is less about sex itself and more about power. 

 the next rationale to that would be that if a man were married and his wife was not satisfying his sexual needs then he may resort to going after children?  it's just not how it goes. 

 i suspect many who have felt these tendencies in themselves may have opted to join the priesthood.  firstly as some way to stay in on the good side with God by giving over their lives to the church.  they may have also just hoped it would be a place that would keep them safe from their urges.  sadly, the Catholic system has not done a great job preventing these acts, dealing with them openly when they happened, or training/punishing those who gave in to their urges. like all else, there are people who are married, not married, gay, straight, all different colors and socioeconomic statuses, who will give in to such urges. no specific group is completely immune to having perverts among them. 

 so often those who oppose gays do so as they believe, quite falsely, that there is an abundance of sexual deviants compared to other segments of the population. there are plenty of sexual deviants hiding in all sorts of places.  the catholics just got caught. 

 as for parenting.  gays and straights and all sorts of other combinations can and do raise kids.  it takes commitment and love from what I've seen.  i have worked in peds....all families are not cookie cutters and often families are created.  my dogs and my network of friends are my family in Alaska.  i am grateful to all of the friends who have become family.  it's a support, one many just do not feel they get from their blood relatives.  many kids were raised with parents who had drug and alcohol addictions. 

 our nation has a crap load of kids who could use loving homes and be given a chance.  not every heterosexual couple has opted to go that route.  that is fine, but perhaps we need to expand our idea of what family is in order to get all these kids into stable homes where they can have a better chance of reaching their potential.

 our nation is so stubborn right now. so many who put ideals over reality.  it just seems to me that if we can help each other along our nation will all rise up together.  the basics should be met for all children in our nation for the good of our nation.  health care, housing, food, education, clean water, clean air.  we have money...we just need to prioritize for citizens over corporations.

 we should be encouraging and rewarding loving families who adopt and take in the kids who are getting left behind.

 love these little purple flowers below.  so pretty.

 McCain passed away today.  yesterday they said they were stopping treatment for his cancer and today he passed on.  we didn't always agree politically, but i always respected him.  liked that he spoke out often, that he wasn't afraid to be the squeaky wheel. 

 i read a lot in my teens and twenties about the Vietnam War and the POW's.  i read about McCain and how difficult it was for all of them over there.  he was told he'd be allowed to leave, but he knew it was for propaganda and he said no.  this caused even more beatings. 

 i feel badly that his last years were marred by this iitoo and the disrespect,  he and his most loyal followers, blasted McCain with.  funny that the iitoo tweets a little blip in which he used the word respect even though he never said a good word about him.  a man who can say McCain wasn't a hero because he got caught.  what an arse...

 i guess he is not invited to this funeral, like the Barbara Bush funeral.  not that he would attend anyway.  it is clear he lacks empathy and sympathy for anyone but himself.

 sad that he passes with this potus in place, seeing this mans lack of knowledge and interest in defending the constitution. he really is a low. 

 little flowers all over on the trail, now replaced with tiny mushrooms.

 always fun seeing all that nature has to share with us.  we are really blessed to live with such amazing diversity. 

 it's proof each day of Gods love for our planet. 

 i had better crash. tired today.  not sure why. slept good.  still catching up i suppose.

 enjoying a rare ray of sunshine...

 and then it really started to rain.  haha.

 pups on a rock.

 pretty cute and super sweet.  do miss my girl Blossom.  sometimes you just have that perfect dog for you in life.  these guys are pretty close to perfect too.  i think it was the combo of Rio and Blossom too.  Blossom just missed her girl Rio.  seeing a short video of a woman who adopted an older dog....always makes me sad to think that i missed the aging years with Blossom...but it was her time.  maybe she just didn't want to get old. 

 these two have filled that hole she left and they have gone above and beyond in their duty to give me peace and happiness.  so happy i got the two of them.  they really are super sweet together. so cute to watch them taking turns with the tennis ball.  cracks me up. 

 some lichens

 more flowers...the flower part of the year is winding down.  you just try to catch different things in different places each year.  it's all pretty fabulous though.  happy to have health to enjoy it all still.

 better go crash.  lots to do tomorrow...and i have a time crunch so i will actually have to do it all. 

thankful for:  A.  opportunities B.  friends C.  dogs

biggest mushroom ever....

 well, maybe not ever...but it is impressively large.  i saw it from a ways back.  i saved it from canine destruction...never easy!

 it is that lovely time of year, rain and mushrooms.  can't get any better than that, right? walked with a few friends before heading back to work for a stretch of three.

 the mushrooms are from today's walk with the pups to University Lake and then out onto the trails behind it and around APU.  still a lot i must explore.  with the potential for cool mushrooms it's easy to get me out there for hours.  the dogs were thrilled.  as long as I'm out taking pictures I'm also throwing their tennis ball. 

 first a swim in the lake.

 another fairly large mushroom, this one a bolete.

 work was steady, busy. all three nights in the ICU and all with the same 2 patients.  so strange. kept them taken care of and i think i kept my co-worker entertained.

 as summer winds down you think of all the things you haven't done, all the hikes you didn't get to. still it always seems like i get out enough to keep myself happy. the darkness and winter coming means i can relax, not feel so obligated to try and use up every second of light outside doing things.  you can begin to cabin up guilt free.

 of course, my cabin up time will be used redoing this kitchen.  have spent time each day moving things from the kitchen to the garage.  tossing a lot of old stuff that i never used or just in time got expired.  start new.  my baking will no doubt be better if i start with fresh ingredients.  I've let the kitchen go as things have broken down so cooking has gotten less and less fun.  hopeful i can have a renewed interest in baking once i have a new set up.  purging always feels great.  it's just so amazing how much crap we all accumulate.

 you need to completely move out of each room from time to time in your house. force yourself to repaint or do floors or something, just to do a good clear out.

 i changed the window frame to free and i have a bite.  they were hoping to pick up Monday but I'll be heading to Denali on Monday so i wrote that they can pick up that morning before work if they want. i also have lowered the sale price for the fridge...

 realizing this morning that despite me tearing up the house, i have a dog sitter coming so i really need to make the place look somewhat livable.  ack! so now i need to clean.  i think I'm also going to be the driver/car for this trek north. so i should clean a layer of dirt out of the car as well.

 after this trip i will need to flip around, run home get dogs and then head north again as I've rented the Byers Cabin....fall colors/mushrooms...oh my!

 every time i flip over to Faux news it's like entering a different dimension...that crazy lady "judge" was on Hannity today i guess.  she starts with speaking of the conspiracy with the Dems, the "deep state" and i can't remember.  such victims they want to make themselves to be.  like it's possible that there is all of this conspiracy with zero evidence...any idea how many people would have to come totally on board for this.  as we can see, that just isn't how reality works...look at what is going on for the iitoo and friends.

 Cohen seems willing to cooperate after he plead out.  he also implicated iitoo as a co-conspirator in all this.  then Manafort was found guilty on 8 counts.  all but one juror believed that he was guilty on all counts so that one juror saved him...one of the jurors was on faux news claiming to be a big trump fan but still believing the law was not on Manaforts side. I'm guessing pardons coming.  i guess the iitoo has been told to await the end of Mueller's case before doing these pardons...doubtful he will though.  he doesn't seem too keen on listening to others. i suspect Manafort is counting on it though. 

 there are more cases being prepared in state cases.  the iitoo can only pardon federal cases though.  saw the idiot Sheriff o'piehole interviewed, kept saying he was innocent without realizing that by accepting a pardon you are admitting guilt. just another fine human.

 this week brought more news as well. Pecker, of National Enquirer fame was just granted immunity...not sure what all he will be bringing to the "witch hunt".  apparently, the Enquirer had a safe full of "catch and kill" stories like the one of the woman who had an affair with the iitoo while his wife was pregnant...he's a class act.

 they would buy stories from people in order to then collect money from someone like the iitoo to then never publish the story.  it wasn't just the iitoo, if the vault as it were got opened there would be some bomb shells for many of the rich and famous no doubt.  apparently too many knew of the safe so either this stuff has been destroyed or moved.  time will tell.

 i have to wonder if once the crap is totally hitting the fan people who have signed NDA's with this jerk will rise up, ignore their NDA's and spill it all. 

 i often hear from trump apologists that all his terrible behavior happened before he became potus...like somehow you can be a totally morally bankrupt person and then become some sort of reformed person after you get elected. 

 so many who hate bill and hill just don't seem to get that he is as corrupt as they were made to believe the clintons were, maybe worse, but some how he gets a total pass and they remain vilified.  it's also odd that they still keep harping on the same conspiracy theories about the clintons from now ages ago....Mueller is taking too long to wrap up his investigation but you can investigate the clintons until time ends apparently.  it also seems to be ignored that as far as i can tell there have been no indictments in the clinton camp.  they have not had anyone flip or lie or go to jail or....

 it belies common sense.  if you investigate for decades and find nothing...either there is not much there, or those doing the investigation are the most inept investigators every or the parties you are investigating are brilliant beyond anything we have ever seen.  i really can't see that being true. 

 our system needs some major revision and I'm hopefully that when this is all laid out we will make some laws that protect.  that is ironic as well because so many on the right scream that they want less federal control over their lives, less laws at the federal level but the total lack of respect for the norms and also for the laws will lead us down a path of more federal laws and control.

 it all often just feels like a last ditch effort to prevent the changes that inevitably happen in the world.  it's called progress.  either you adjust to life or you fight it.  i find adapting better.  change is really hard for some though.  add in God/Religion and it gets even tougher.  it's always complicated melding this modern world into the rules laid out in the scripture. culture/society have altered.  science has put a wrench into things.  what we can do, what should we do? there are often no easy answers and so it's easy to see how different people view things wildly different.

 i try to keep it simple...i guess my feeling is that was the message of Jesus when he came to earth.  forget all the detailed rules that have built up.  be kind to each other, love one another, don't judge. i would add live and let live.  I'm still pretty sure Jesus was pretty progressive.  he made friends with Mary instead of judging her.

 i tend to believe that we were instructed not to judge because our human selves just aren't advanced enough to be able to see the big picture.  the greater purpose.  i feel we all had lessons we needed to learn while here and so our lives reflect those lessons.  you can't judge others because you can't  know their lessons.  now as a society we do have the obligation to serve the masses.  so we do make laws that help keep us all in check.  our nation has gone a bit over board with the incarcerations.  making prisons privatized in my mind means there is a profit to be made for keeping more and more folks locked up.  i just don't get that this is a good thing. 

 now there is talk of privatizing wars...seems like that would make it profitable to continue to fight each other. 

 saw that McCain has opted to stop treatment.  haven't agreed with him politically often, but i have the deepest respect for him.  i have read much about his time in Vietnam and life as a POW.  i find it shameful the treatment of him by this iitoo and that more of his fellow senators have not stood up to trump on his behalf.  just seems sad to have him pass on with the nation being in this state.  all he fought for, all the times he was tortured and he leaves with this guy in the job.  a guy who had zero respect for him and his service.  a guy who avoided service himself over and over with lies. 

 another interesting story going coming out this week is that the accountant for the trump business has also been given immunity.  he along with trumps sons took over the company stuff while trump is potus.  no idea what will come out from that...but clearly, following the money is not going to go very well for trump and sons. 

 the iitoo was saying in an interview with his favorite faux news that if he got impeached "the market would crash...everybody would be poor".  he seems to believe that he and only he can raise up the US.  that without him the entire place would crumble.  we survived before he came into office and we will no doubt survive after he leaves...hopefully sooner than later.

 catholic services won't allow gays to adopt...of course, for years the catholics have moved abusive priests around rather than get them put in prison for abuses.  they protected them...so it seems a bit of an odd decision at this moment.  good parents come in all sizes, shapes, orientations, ages, economic statuses, religions...bad parents do to.  we have too many kids who need homes to judge parenting skills solely on sexual orientation.  they have just taken away opportunities for kids who have few opportunities to begin with.

 still many kids who have yet to be brought together with their parents.  stories are too common of parents who were tricked into signing papers that ended with them being sent back to unsure futures in their home nations without their kids.  heartless. 

 yesterday as i was driving down my street home, i saw the neighborhood watch guy on the street.  he started waving and then walking towards my place.  after working 12 hours i really just wanted to sleep, but how can i turn away Ramsey.  haha.  we chatted a bit before i headed in.  the day turned nice and so i woke early and walked the dogs in the bog. 

 since the sun was finally out i knew i had to take that opportunity to paint the area where the window once was.  not a perfect match on the color but it will do until the next time i do a full house paint job.

 these are at Grizzly Lake Campground.  sunset.

 this was my little cabin...my view was lovely of the lake.

 got the lawn mowed today as well. like to keep it short so i can locate the dog poops...won't be too many more mows left.  need to look into tree removal as one tree looks to be endangering my shed. 

 i hear the big Hawaiian hurricane has been downsized.  lots of rain expected though. one friend is supposed to head there on holiday..we shall see.

 a mother orca carried her dead calf for 17 days and 1000 miles.  seems odd, but it is not really.  animals mourn loss.  it's been seen over and over.  we often don't give animals enough credit for having emotions that run deep.  there are many stories such as this and also stories of empathy among animals...often even in animals who would normally be foes or who would normally be prey. 

 trying to catch up on some newspaper reading...local and not so local.  i always seem to power read as it gets closer to recycle day. 

 guess Sessions actually talked back at the iitoo.  such a strange relationship there.  the iitoo seems to have no idea that Sessions and McGhan, white house lawyer, do not actually work for him, that they aren't fixers  for him. that they have a duty and loyalty to a greater cause than him. 

 i was pretty tired from driving and i kept returning to bed, but then I'd just have to see what the sky was doing and back out I'd go.  what a great little spot. 

 one of these days i should stay a day or two and try to get the pups out on one of those paddle boats...not sure if they would capsize me though.

 nice to see the emptying cabinets.  hopefully i can start to attempt to remove a few cabinets and then attempt to put them up in the garage for storage out there. we are all capable of more than we know, right?

 when you live alone you learn you can do stuff.  others figure it out, why can't i? sometimes things are just physically a bit tougher.  i learn a bit each time i attempt stuff though. it's easy to get overwhelmed i think. 

 i think the pups are pretty tuckered out...or as i say, Tuskered out. hehe.  will maybe hit the trails at N.Biv tomorrow and hunt more mushrooms...or S.Biv.  what are the bears up to out there.  at least it's a weekend so maybe it will be more busy? 

 have always liked these little paddle boats.

 nice of the campground to  have some little boats for folks to try out.  would need to take a dry bag for the camera in case the dogs do swamp me if i go again.

 well, i guess i should get ready to crash.  place is still a mess.  hopefully tomorrow i get some major cleaning done....and a little packing.  will get to test out my group tent with friends the night before we head into Kantishna.  should be fun.  hoping so much for fall colors, animal sightings and some cool mushrooms. 

 this place just never seems to disappoint. it was a great choice moving north.  sights like these keep your soul filled.  God loved this earth, our job is to do what we can to protect it. 

grateful for:  A. mushrooms!!  they just make me happy. :-) B.  getting stuff done, i can be lazy sometimes but on the days I'm not it does feel pretty good.  C.   a good week.  may the truth be brought to light.