Monday, October 29, 2018

the snow has finally arrived in Anchorage!!

 not sure at all if it will stick around.  odds are it will. it was snowing when i woke up yesterday and then it snowed all day today pretty much.  of course, waking up yesterday is sort of stretching it.  i was pretty wiped out.  poor sleep between shifts.  work, dogs, kitchen remodel and emotional baggage stuff will throw you off your sleep. i got through my shifts though.
 the first is a selfie by SH i believe...queen of the selfies!! this was our Monday walk crew today.  everyone had a great walk, 6 pups included!!  above is from yesterday afternoon, below is this afternoon.  wanted to show the painted flowers with the snow!!  so pretty!!
 the effect is perfect and just what i had hoped for!
 makes you happy just looking outside.
 above is a cell phone from KR...i have my pictures to look through still.  I'm still on limitations photo shoot wise. 
 i had a bag of tiny skellies so i stuffed them in the snow on the front deck to take this sunset shot....not sure if you noticed but there is no car blocking the view...there is supposed to be a car there.  the garage is packed with kitchen remodel gear so that is not it...
 today MT was gracious and assisted me in transporting a second load to the city dump...including the old range, which i could not even give away.  after that i was right by the Honda shop so i decided to pop in and see if i could arrange a time to have the key/ignition thing looked at and repaired.  it seems to get worse each day and i feared i would not be able to get the car started and be left out in the cold...it's not a cheap fix it appears...as i left with plans to return early November....i found that the car would not start for me.  so there it sits, awaiting repair.  you do start to be concerned about the car when the repair costs start to seem the same as what a car payment would be...hmm....gotta finish the remodel first though and see where i am.
 thankfully, i had dropped the dogs off at home prior to making the dump run...thanks to my Monday walk crew for assisting with getting the stove loaded...it came out of the truck much easier.
 below is an old Halloween Party i attended...i was much thinner then.  i went as a murdered Sharon Tate...rather off color i realize.  Halloween allows for some irreverence i guess. 
 the rest are a mama moose and her young son near the airport. 
 my work week wasn't bad.  i started off in the ER the first night and stayed there until about 5 am when i followed a patient to ICU.  the next night i was in PCU....in the wee hours to try and keep awake i created a few sashes for myself and a tech, who is as flamboyant as they come....i love him!!  we model walked around the unit!! many laughs.  we got a few of the younger nurses to don the sashes and they attempted model walking as well, they are still a bit shy about making a fool of themselves.  it's a skill.  everyone should learn to make a fool of themselves. 
 it really does make for a better life.  stop being worried about how you will be seen or if you will be embarrassed.  be the fool and you will survive....laughter is a good thing and the best way to induce laughter is to let go of any and all inhibitions in life. i model walk all the time at work...
 my last night was in RCU...that place is always busy those first hours but then tends to slow down after a bit.
 i did awaken in time to meet my friend SJ who was in from Hawaii working his stretch at AK Regional so we met for burgers at Kriners. i actually got a grilled cheese as it just sounded good. on the way home i stopped with the dogs for a loop at Cheney Lake in the snow.  they were kind of ripped off yesterday i guess.

When is enough, enough?
When do we demand that those who live in hate
And kill in hate,
Are stopped,
When do we put limits,
On the means to take hate,
And turn it to death,
When do we censor those in power,
Who use the hate
And the fear
And the anger,
To encourage and allow,
That hate and fear and anger,
To be turned to violence,
When do we find a way to
Rise up,
Support,
And respect each other,
When do we rise up,
And say no more,
No more lives will be lost
To a hate that has been created
For the benefit of those in power.
We rise today,
We cast our vote.
 posted this poem i wrote...well i wrote it as i was posting it...I'm a fast poet.  just have been thinking about those lives lost on Saturday at the synagogue in  Pittsburgh.  one of them had been a survivor of the Holocaust.  yet another white male trump supporter and yet, it seems most of the right refuse to associate the hate filled rhetoric of the leadership and many other politicians on the right as having any thing to do with this or the unexploded bombs...even worse there is victim blaming that continues through it.  the iitoo states these poor folks would have survived if there had been armed guards at the synagogue...never mind that at least 3 officers who responded were shot as well.
 when our iitoo proudly exclaims to a crowd of screaming sheep that he is a Nationalist....what are we all to expect, flowers taken to synagogues?  blacks being hugged on the streets? of course not.  this rhetoric must be stopped.  looking the other way is no longer an option for those who continue to support this madness...it never was really, but lives are being lost and it is clear that those who set out to kill feel they have the full support of the POTUS...and they aren't wrong.  he will read the message he's given that sounds reasonable but within  hours he's either tweeting the irrational crap or screaming it out at one of those rallies he loves...the rallies that bring in the most cult like crowds.  those cult followers of this potus are to be feared as in many societies there are always those who are on the verge of violence towards their fellow citizens but are held back by the social norms of a community...all it takes is a rogue leader like the one we have now who will give them a pass. 
 we have a POTUS who has all but said he is a WHITE nationalist....it was there even if he didn't say it.  we all know what it means to say you are a nationalist.  yet, i have not heard any condemnation from those on the right about this.  now he plans to go visit Pittsburgh despite the Mayor and the Synagogue leaders asking him to put it off out of respect for those lost as funerals will be starting. he should also denounce loud and clear White Nationalists, who now feel empowered by this administration.  they have embraced this element and now they won't denounce them because they need their votes.  sickening. 
 there were also the unexploded bombs that were sent as an attempted assassination of 2 previous Presidents and other Democrats and CNN...of course, the POTUS couldn't even be bothered to give a call to the previous Presidents and i heard OAN broadcasters this week joking about how CNN always has to make themselves the story. that station makes a better show than fox at hiding their propaganda ways, but it comes through all the time.  depends on who's show is on.  fox doesn't even bother to try and hide their role as propagandist's.  they were immediately out saying these bombs were a hoax and that the left had sent them in order to win votes for themselves.  ridiculous.  the right is the side that has been caught the most this season trying to alter votes with natives being denied voter rights in N. Dakota and Georgia...well that is a total mess.  folks in Texas are seeing that their "straight ticket Democrat" votes turn a vote for Beto into one for Cruz...so the GOP seems to feel they can't lose without cheating and lying. 
 they are also lying about this so called group filled with terrorists heading towards our southern border.  they are trying to instill fear to get votes.  these folks are walking thousands of miles and are no where near the border and aren't really expected to be until well after the election and yet he is sending actual military down there to protect us from a non-threatening situation in order to create this scene.
 in other news a plan with 189 on board has crashed out of Indonesia with all those lives lost. 
 my brother and i spoke and calmed the waters after the play disturbance.  the play has ended it's run i believe.  so many folks went.  many friends also enjoyed the music of Portugal, the man, who played here this weekend. so a fun week by many
 i get having faith in God or Gods as you wish.  i totally get that.  i have a harder time with faith in an institution.  institutions are run by man...mostly men anyway.  they can not be trusted and so i feel most of them must be watched.  if they are a religious institution that doesn't mean they get a pass...in many cases it actually means they must be watched closer. 
 when i look back i don't recall anyone in my family ever questioning what happens to the money they pay in tithing.  it was something i guess we just totally left to the church to decide.  it is funny that those same folks get totally angry about where their tax dollars are going...but the money they give to the church, they don't seem to follow that at all.  i never could muster a faith in an institution i guess, which was one of the many reasons i left. 
 love when the moose kneel down to eat...so cute.  loved this little guy.
 on the house progress, the electric got mostly prepped which is great.  now there are more wires but they have a future purpose.  he also put up some of the dry wall again.  much was removed to deal with the electric.  i still have a bit of sub floor to remove, i think he must have cleaned that up a bit as well.  he may teach me a bit about mudding the dry wall so i can do some of that.  especially the stuff that will be covered with cabinets i suspect...it would be a good place for me to mud the dry wall. 
 was thrilled to get rid of the range today.  i had moved it to the front deck and someone had come and looked at it the other day while i was sleeping....but opted to not take it.  so i opted to take it to the dump.  the thing is pretty old. it came out of the truck much easier than it went in. 
 one morning between shifts Dan was working downstairs, but when i woke up i was in a haze and i was baffled as to what the noise was that was waking me up.  it sounded like it was right under me but Dan would have no reason to be working in that area...what was it?  it turned out to be truly right under me.  Ivy Rose had gotten under my bed and was chasing the cat around. 
 little buddy decided to lay down for a bit.
 so adorable!
 with this snow you can see lots of leftover geese deciding today is the day to book.  I'm sure the swans will also make a swift exit as the temperatures drop up here.  they had some extra feeding time, which I'm sure they enjoyed. i have enjoyed seeing swans out at the dog park.  i may have to avoid it for a bit...i usually do as the lakes freeze and again as they thaw.  don't want puppies to accidentally go through the lake.
 a couple has donated a cabin to the ski association. it is their second cabin. I've stayed at the cabin that was donated to them several years back in Hope.  this cabin is at Nancy Lake.  that is fun and will be great for the ski association. 
 they have retired and are moving south, they were also very involved in the cross country ski community up here. 
 after all the crap they have said about hrc emails...it seems that the iitoo speaks regularly on his unsecured iphone.  china and rus have happily been listening in.  idiot!!
 enjoying a snack of fall cadbury eggs, chips and grape hard soda.  nummy!!
 last night as i lounged in bed i watched a few episodes of series i hadn't seen before on Netflix.  Sisters.  a fertility Dr admits as he is slowly dying that he used his own sperm in hundreds of cases of infertility.  now his only recognized daughter has to grapple with the mess he has stirred up by making this pronouncement. 
 getting up is a bit tougher for the moose than getting down.
 always enjoy watching these big beasts of Anchorage.  i would miss them if i moved back to Southeast AK
 not much talk of Khashoggi this week with the next weeks drama's unfolding.  drama is constant in this administration.  they use drama to hide the read damage they are doing...fleecing of our nations protections and monies. 
 moose with the airport in the back ground.  they don't seem to disturbed by all the plane noise.
 a fed ex jet cruises by on their way to take off.
 jet, what jet?
 less snow fell on this side of town, but these are from last week. 
 those mountains in the back ground are totally covered now. 
 steam rises as the moose breathes. 
 sweet little family. 
 lots of folks heading in for snow tire change over today i think.  i never changed out of my blizzacks.  did do some sliding around the dump area.  it was slick walking out there.  will be time to get out my ice bug grippers soon.
 winter is here....
 and that is a wrap of today's ramblings.  hoping good and right will prevail...dark days ahead i fear though.  look out for each other.
thankful for: A.  calm waters with those i care for B.  friends who are always willing to help out C.  progress in the kitchen...my temporary kitchen is feeling chillier suddenly.