little of this, little of that...

 some leftovers from summer. 

 today was yet another oddly warm day for this time of year.  I'm sure the snow will be showing up and it will be sort of odd when it happens at this point. you almost get lulled into thinking winter is just skipping this year. 

 am ready for the ice and the snow though, if it shows up.

 these are on the Denali Highway. the ones after these are in Homer and/or on the way down to Homer.

 stayed up late last night and got the Christmas cards ordered and the calendars ordered. i really should go look at them and hope that i didn't make any big goofs. 

 got another section of the sub floor off....it's tedious work and i can only manage a small section at a time.  my back is not a fan. 

 i believe there is value in doing the things i can do, learning a bit here and there and taking part in this remodel process.  i think it will have more meaning in the end if i do rather than just throw money at the project.  it will save money as well.  I'd rather spend my money on having someone do the more skilled aspects of all of this.

 had a lovely Monday walk, always a treat each week.  we followed that with coffee and snacks at Kaladi's.

 after that SH and i went Moose spotting over by the airport.  we didn't see any big males but we did have a nice moose and male calf to watch close to the road. after i cruised through Kincaid but saw no other moose...

 have vegged out a bit this evening.  watching TV.  secret likes are Long Island Medium.  i hope one day she runs into me and tells me tales from beyond.  would love to know that Blossom was okay and wasn't too distressed passing without me there.  i still have waves of guilt and anxiety knowing i wasn't there for my most sweetest girl in her final moments.  it's always been a planned thing with pets and hers was the only pet who passed without me, without that plan. 

 i would also love to hear from my Mom again.  we used to speak on the phone almost every day.  it's a voice i miss in my life, though i suspect this current political climate would have been pretty stressful on her and on our relationship....from what i can see with the rest of the family, i am for the most part the odd one out. 

 there are a few others who have more middle/liberal views though so i am not alone. for those who are on the other side...for some it is a river to wide and an ocean too deep.  i fear there will never be any sort of middle ground. 

 i do fear for our nation.  i really just get depressed seeing all the hatred and anger and blame. i just see no possible way for the two sides to ever come together again...i fear for a civil war and bloodshed...all because two voices can't speak at once and compromise seems impossible.

 the other show i like to watch on occasion is i think called long lost family?  not sure really. anyway.  it's about people who have either been adopted or gave a child up for adoption and finding them and bringing them together again.  would seem odd, meeting people who are strangers but who are blood. 

 i often wondered, since i felt like the odd one out in my family, if i was actually adopted...if i had some older cousin or more distant relative who had a baby and my family just took me in...what is one more.  i highly doubt that but there are those days when you feel so disconnected it seems more plausible.  would there be some people somewhere who would get me? 

 some of us just go through life feeling a bit like misfits though i think. never really feeling like they belong.  i will say coming to Alaska was like landing on the island of misfit toys.  somehow i was surrounded by a lot of independent and quirky souls and i finally fit in. 

 a king fisher sitting on the post.

 fireweed reaching the tips

 i think this is in Nikiski at the little beach there? on the way down to Homer. i opted to stop and have some beach time as it seemed it would be too dark when i got to Homer

 we did get down on the beach in Homer before settling in our hotel for the night.

 i did put a third stencil on the main living side. i set the stars up on the kitchen side, but they won't work. I'll just add another stencil in the middle there as well.  may want to see where the attached island lands though.

 no idea how this election will go or what hell will happen on the other side.  none of this is good for our nation though.  so many lies, so little trust in our government at this time.  feel like a band of thieves have completely taken over and are stealing everything in sight before they get caught.  the Clintons had a grab day with items from the White House i heard, Nixon was a bit of a crook, but there is nothing to compare to the level of corruption in this current administration. 

 it's a culmination of all bad that has been building up in our government.  now the iitoo is saying he's going to get out of a deal with Rus regarding nuclear weaponry and seems to want to create another cold war with build up of nuclear weapons on both sides. 

 it is embarrassing to be American these days.  this idiot has made a laughing stock of us all and it will be years before we can repair all the crap he's pulled these past few years if it's ever repaired at all. maga...my ass.  he's killing us.  for him it's always been make trump first. 

 they won't be convinced that there is anything amiss until the actual shit hits the fan.  we are a big and strong nation, we can bounce through a lot but eventually even the mighty fall....and when we fall, he will be taking all the money and running. 

 he could give a crap about the workers of America.  he doesn't have an empathetic bone in him..but perhaps the GOP in general has lost their empathy.  i can't believe the excuses i hear.  i can't believe how they are attempting to demonize a man who was literally cut to pieces as he lived.  they have sunk lower than i could have ever imagined.  they seem to be believing things that are so beyond rational and so beyond any actual facts...but they believe. 

 it disgusts me how so many call themselves Christians and then want to turn away from the teachings of Christ, somehow believing this man over the message that was brought to us by the man they claim to follow...so many of the most radicals, follow trump more than Jesus though.

 it's amazing the side of them i see, but that most of the more mainstream Christians don't see....why would they.  one day they will though, but it will be too late.  the radicals will have already taken over and created a mess like the one in the middle east.  holy wars...Christians against Christians just as they have Muslims against Muslims.

 i recall my family repeatedly saying that the mainstream Muslims should have controlled their more radical counterparts, that they didn't and this is why we are here...but here we are, in the exact same place.  the mainstream Christians do not even see that their greatest enemy, is not the liberals or the media or the immigrants...their biggest enemy is the radical element of Christianity. 

 sadly, my mom would have been devouring Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and friends and spewing the same hate...she already was showing the signs...signs of watching too much fox news.  i see what it does to people. I've never seen anything like it...how that station has a hold over people.  i watch it in the rooms of my patients.  i see the anger and the hate.  i threaten to turn it off, i do turn it off when i can and put on music.  who can relax, who can heal with that much hatred being rammed down them constantly.  so many unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, so many lies and twisted truths. 

 a reporter gets chopped in to pieces while he is still alive, should send off alarm bells to us all...but not on fox. 

 these are in Homer....i still have a lot of photo's from August to share. 

 i have a few more months to add to my shutterfly. i try to put my pictures all over out of fear they will suddenly all disappear from my computer.

 the new Iphones come out on Friday so i may be able to swing a deal on the last model.  my battery is toast.  may stop by and change that out. the guy at the at&t store is not a fan of icloud. I'm not sure i am either.  not really sure how to use really.  they are stored there but I'm not sure how to use those in other places.

 thankfully, most of the photo's have been rolled over onto my computer, shutterfly or google.  everything i put in the blog rolls into google. another place i haven't really explored...may need to when this computer does die. i did put the back up...thanks Jeff and wills again.  they sent it to me for xmas. 

 i need a computer genius to help me sort out this stuff.  I'm not one at all.

 this was the only sea star i saw on this trip.  not many stars this summer at all. 

 it is nice to have accomplished  a few things so far this stretch off.  not sure how long the weather will hold.  need to chop up the old cabinets still out front.  easier now than after it snows. 

 i am a master procrastinator so i like getting some stuff done. 

 dinner and a play to look forward to tomorrow night.  no clue what i will wear...clothing is not something i have much off except for being a nurse and hiking.  don't even own much make up...don't really bother.

 it used to be i wouldn't leave the house without futzing, now i just don't really care.  i guess it just felt like i was putting on this fake face in hopes that someone would notice me.  at this point, i feel like this is me...this is who i am.  take it or leave it.  it was always just too stressful trying to be what others wanted me to be or expected me to be. 

 bald eagle flying past...

 the pups chased more than their fair share of eagles on this week

 i guess i should crash for the night.  it's almost midnight. 

thankful for:  A.  things turning out the way they should even if they aren't what you expected B. moose spotting, always fun  C. those moments when i feel like i do belong, when i'm with friends and those family members that do seem to get me or see me for who i am and still accept me