another Skelly transformation...

 the mini skelly's are getting into it pretty bad...could get crazy out there on the front deck long before St Pats actually arrives.

 always funny to have Skelly in the house but it's easier in the cold months to just bring them all inside and go from there

 back to the Monday walk today.  wet snow...felt like spring snow.  should make a snowman or two before the weather changes.  of course, it may have changed already...that is how it works up here.  woke up to a 4.4 aftershock.  i woke, realized it was a quake, then rolled over and fell back to sleep. must have caught me in a good rem.  guess others felt it pretty good.

 the rest of these are from August last summer. Homer/Seward i believe.

 love to watch the dogs play around in the water.

 i finished the first 3 of my pack of nights so I'm on my two off.  last week i was ER, ER, ICU.  start back tomorrow again for three again.  nothing too crazy really to report.  Valentines was just that, another day here.

 this afternoon i went and did a bit of summer clothing shopping.  cruise coming up.  figure i better have something to wear.  not a bad idea to get a few skorts for general summer wear up here anyway.  dress up, as it were.  it gets too easy to just dress for hiking all the time. 

 spent my last stretch off hiking and reading. got sucked into another book.  seems like i get a few here and there that really take me in.  love when you totally escape into a book.  the last one was called "educated" and apparently I'm the last person to read it. 

 it's a memoir by a woman who grew up in Idaho in a family that was a bit nuts really.  the Dad seems like he must have had some paranoid schizo elements to his personality....combine that with religion and guns...those things often do seem to pair up...which quite frankly seems bizarre to me. the family was Mormon, which added to the interest for me. 

 they must have been less than fully active though i suspect.  the dad was one of those dooms day sorts.  stockpiled crap.  also he was paranoid of all things government.  he was also paranoid of medicine, so no matter what near death experience occurred in this family, they were left on their own to survive...the mother did herbs and stuff so that was the only medicine they got. 

 the odd part for me, that i guess is possibly a clue was that the church folk don't play much of a role.  i mean when you have folks that are injured in your family, you will have loads of church folks coming around.  just seems like they must have either lied outright to the members  of their congregation or fudged the reality of their life a lot.  I'd think the bishop would have been trying to intervene in this crazy family.  she never mentioned it.  i mean there was always those off beat members and it made fast and testimony meetings interesting at times.  anyone could get up and say their peace.  we had a few growing up who were interesting.

 the dad tried to bless her with consecrated oil...so it makes me believe he probably was more normal at some point.  shizo signs often show up in the 20's.  who knows, the oil may have just been from a bottle of regular oil.  people go off the rails and can alter whatever religion they were raised to believe in for their purposes.  they "home schooled" but at that time it was even less monitored I'm sure.  clearly the kids learned to read as they read the scriptures and speeches from prominent Mormons...although the names mentioned were the leaders from the past...maybe less of the more modern. 

 the writer and at least one brother were able to fudge their way into BYU.  she must have been quite the odd ball roommate.  they didn't bother to wash their hands after they used the bathroom...their father would say something about not getting pee on your hands so no need to wash.  she had a brother who seemed to have followed a bit in his fathers footsteps.  he seemed to have a violent streak.  seems he was abusive and cruel to girlfriends, later his wife and the siblings younger than himself.

 though they were raised with some semblance of Mormon doctrine i think her parents fudged that part as well as the father, especially, seemed to look down on others as not holy enough, as whores. 

 it is interesting to read her accounts of this bizarre life she grew up in.  no idea that it was odd really at all.  as a kid, what you know is what you know. 

 the end was just sort of disappointing...i guess it's no doubt still going on for her.  she's mostly just disconnected from the bulk of her family members.  she's been cast out as of the devil.  easier to demonize those that leave than to ponder the possibility that perhaps you have got a few things wrong. 

 i believe it's human nature though.  stick to what you know, even if what you know feels totally nuts. it's amazing what people will tolerate.  fear...it really does prevent folks from stretching beyond their comfort zones.  living a life where you apparently believe that everything you have been taught or told or believed is absolutely the truth and there is no possibility that you are wrong. 

 that just can't be...no body is that lucky to just be born into the perfect world, where your truth is the absolute truth. no need to look around, cause you already have it.  just seems odd and unfathomable. 

 the world is upside down though. try to figure it out and you will spiral

 our iitoo stands in the rose garden announcing he is declaring a national emergency where one doesn't exist...then he admits in the same rambling talk that there is no emergency, he just wants to get his wall built quickly.  admits it's really just about the 2020 election.  he wants to get re-elected and to do that he must declare an emergency to build the wall.  there is no emergency...there never was...just like the emperor has no clothes...the border has no emergency. 

 forget education, forget healthcare, forget the constant mass shootings, forget the actual emergencies, the fires, the floods, the storms, the quakes...a wall needs to be built.  those folks must really hate Mexicans.  they can't admit that to themselves...but that is what it is.  terrorists...more likely to come from the northern border or just fly in.  being fearful and paranoid makes people weak and vulnerable...it makes them super easy to manipulate.  it's amazing to watch how easy they are to manipulate.  the crap they are willing to believe.  the facts they are willing to look away from. 

 we have a nut job running our state government now...so it's just gotten nuts.  crazy potus, crazy governor. 

 the sane people are slowly leaving the important positions, they can't take the madness any longer...how long will it take for our nation to be completely bankrupted.  it's always fragile, this peaceful life we have been blessed with all these years.  we had a good run i guess.  we aren't special, we aren't blessed by God, we've just been lucky...and i fear our luck has run out. 

 sadly, there is a percentage of people who will keep smiling, thinking we are doing great, smiling until one day, they awaken to realize it was all a ploy.  that they were sucked in, that they were tricked...that their fear led them down a path of disaster. what do they care really...?  i mean it's those of us who are screaming foul now that will get our heads chopped off, not those who blindly follow. 

 national debt up to 22 trillion...I'm scared to do my taxes...I'm hearing everyone is owing more than they have ever owed...at least regular middle class folk.  the wealthy are doing just fine.  the plan is the middle class pays for everything while the wealthy pay for nothing...trickle down...haha! except it's only trickling down to those related to them.  death tax repeal. 

 our state budget plan is to cut ferries, grammar school education, homeless, the university program by like 50%. everyone loses except oil, gas and mining...they don't even try to pretend who they work for anymore.  blatantly take care of those who paid to put them in place.

 these idiots get voted in, they pull crap that is detrimental to those who elect them and those that elect them cheer.  perfect.

 fireweed hitting it's peak.

 eagle nest in the harbor in Homer

 i guess there was a baby in there, but it wasn't visible when i was there.

 stopped at a beach as i headed back home to let the dogs run

 it's a good spot to play. 

 and a beautiful day of course.

 Ivy in charge. 

 it's always tough for me to leave the dogs behind when i go on trips.  it pains me for weeks before i leave.  once the plane takes off, it's all out of my control and i tend to let it go.  hopefully, they will be fine while I'm away. 

 have someone slated to do morning and evening feeds and another friend will try to pick them up as often as possible for long walks.  it's never the same as having me there all the time though so i feel bad. 

 i know it's good for me to get away even from the dogs from time to time. 

 love all the fireweed.

 this is out in Seward i believe.  i need to plan a few treks out of Anchorage before the winter ends.

 magpie

 swans on a lake out in Seward

 grey babies.

 so beautiful.

 guess i should head to bed soon.  it has been a fairly productive day though.  clothes shopping not my favorite but it will be nice to have some options.

 still working on date for the lecture.  hoping we can find a day in late April. 

 then find a speaker....

thankful for A.  big fluffy snow flakes...so beautiful and peaceful falling to earth  B. that they don't stay in office forever...it does feel like it though C.  good books that make you escape life for a bit.