each day an adventure in alaska: strange relationships....

so these are from today's Monday walk. we got blue skies today. yesterday was dreary. i woke fairly early, it was soup out there so i went back to sleep.....that lasted until after 1:30. was it the weather, was it the darkness, was it not having a kitchen...?

i am in a relationship with my handyman....gotcha!! no I'm not but it does have some of the same elements....but not in any romantic way...just in the i really want to get my kitchen done way.

i find myself oddly comforted that he has left tools behind at my place. i am excited when i hear he is coming over to work on the kitchen. i feel my heart beat faster when his truck pulls up to work and the dogs are excited too, they feel it as well i think. i worry when i hear of accidents on the highway...i want to protect him. i want to bubble wrap him so that he travels safely to and from the Kenai.

i have been burned by other handymen, who have not been dedicated to my project. who have taken my money and never returned. i find myself still having some hope that they will return and complete the projects they promised but never did.

so this is relationships in your 50's some times...my needs are few. haha....i have not heard from my handy man since last weeks cabinet push...usually just when i start to panic that he too will never return to hang the rest of my cabinets i generally get a text with his plan and all is well.

i also find that i am careful to not be pushy or seem upset in the least at the time it is taking. i fear scaring him away or being too needy.

i have gotten some painting done which makes me smile when i look at what is in the kitchen and the color...i gotta say, it is looking pretty dreamy.

i watch cooking shows on TV and dream of one day cooking again and not just snacking but cooking and eating real meals. i dream of baking...it is that time of year, cool temperatures, holidays. a girl really likes her winter baking. i had no idea how much a kitchen does to your psyche.

snacking is becoming less and less satisfying.

more from Powerline Pass....

i did get the new phone yesterday. the girl was super helpful at the store...i guess they have actually been robbed at gunpoint a few times...the phones are expensive. it was a smooth transition to the new phone...painful because it is expensive. it's also painful that we have become so dependent on these gadgets.

it was not that many years ago that we lived without these gadgets, not many before that when we survived without the internet...life is strange.

i got every bit of use out of that phone though. in the store i kept flipping back and forth from airplane mode to save the battery to get us through the transition. i couldn't get it to charge over like 16 percent that last 24 hours. they bought it back for $60...my sad little phone is gone.

the rest of these are actually up Arctic Valley. always beautiful in the fall.

chatted with a few siblings today. had to see how the weekend went. sounds like everyone had a good time.

not enough snow up there yet for skiing, but on the day i was out there hiking they were working on the equipment and prepping for winter skiing.

the dogs just like to run.

by the time i left AT&T it was for sure dark so i just took the dogs to the dog park. we skirted around the lake and did some back trails. a bit darker but it had warmed a bit and the lake freeze looked a bit sketchy. best to just avoid it. the bogs were nicely frozen today though so I'm sure just the top layer of the lake was frozen. you can get some fun new ice formations with that.

at one point when we hit the bike trail yesterday the dogs both booked into the woods. they returned pretty quickly and soon i discovered what they had booked to check out...a mama moose and her calf. thankfully, she did not come tearing out of the dark woods and take me down. we skirted past her. those lit up bikes are hanging just off the bike trail near the little free library.

finding myself worried about my friends in fish and game. we have an idiot GOP nut job who will soon be our Governor...thank you for electing him fellow citizens...not!! he is saying he wants all at will government workers to quit. the last GOP governor got the walrus islands defunded...what damage will this guy do to the walrus and to our environment as a whole. they are all about making money now...incapable of caring about the future. greed is ugly.

too late tonight but perhaps i will send off a few texts...what is safe? i recall when i first organized WARIS there was concern over there about interacting with me. I'd never really got the politics of all of that...still don't but i do understand more...which sucks that they can't just do their jobs but are so impacted by the changes in state/national government. folks do not go into these jobs to battle politics.

got the sweetest card from the family of a patient...they also sent a donation to WARIS. we had just been chatting while i cared for their family member. it's pretty rare to get these really. i don't believe that is because my work isn't appreciated just so few actually take the time to write notes. i think mostly people just want to move past their time being ill or dealing with sick families. probably doesn't help them remember their care when they are getting bills either .

"you were, by far, the most caring and knowledgeable nurse we encountered on this awful journey. you made it a tiny bit more bearable for us and we wanted you to know how much we appreciated you" that is snippet from it. so sweet...for sure i will save this note though.

I'm happy we walked the way we did today. i was concerned the ice would be too thin but it was fine and it was beautiful out there as usual.

we had a nice crew out there today. a few newb's who i think enjoyed themselves. a new pup too. she looked to have fun. no children knocked down so that is always good as well.

love the patchwork of colors.

the late night comedians were all over the crap the iitoo said this week. one friend commented that they don't even have to write anything, the iitoo says such incredibly stupid stuff that all you have to do is play him. OMG he is a fool. it looks worse and worse with each passing week. he is incapable of intelligent conversation.

he visited Paradise this weekend. this should have been the easiest of optics. a win, but in the interview he called it Pleasure twice before having to be corrected by the outgoing and incoming Governor i believe it was. how aren't his supporters just filled with embarrassment.....i mean enough already. the emperor has no clothes and somebody really should insist he put some on!!

they really just should keep him hidden in his castle and speak for him at all times. he is incapable of speaking intelligently and incapable of not spinning tales and absolute lies when he does speak.

the Finns are totally making fun of him because he claimed he spoken to the leader of Finland and that the leader had told him that they all rake and that prevents forest fires or some crap. i can't recall all the tale that the iitoo spewed out. the Finns aren't buying it and i appreciate that. they have been taking photo's of them out raking, vacuuming and/or using their roomba's on the forest floor. the trend is RAGA-rake America Great again. i had pondered getting out a rake myself and snapping a selfie raking the ice...because Finland and California have such similar weather patterns. he is just a fool and i just wish those who elected him could at least admit that the man is a fool instead of so many defending him and making up these crazy lies to justify his tomfoolery...which i have no idea what that means or where it came from, but it is what we are dealing with.

someone left this painted rock out there. i have run across a few of these now.

and this day i enjoyed a nice halo around the sun.

always enjoy the sun dogs

Tusker enjoys the views....which were spectacular.

a group of Cordova area fishermen were charged and given fines and probation after it was found they had harassed and killed 15 Stellar Sea lions. what is wrong with these people. the boat captain got fined $20,000, 3 months house arrest and 5 years probation. he must also do 400 hours community service and publish an apology in a magazine...it's never enough. personally, revoking their fishing license and their vessel.