early morning....back to night shift hours

 will add some more from the trip.  still looking at what is on the big camera.  so these are dolphin/iphone

 our favorite wait staff on board.  she was from China so the kids got to practice a bit of their Mandarin, which totally made her week i could tell.  they were hesitant at first, but they both have been in a Chinese immersion program at school.

 worked ICU all three nights. they are having a lot of staff leave in the next month or so.  a few going to CRNA programs, but those staff also have wives/siblings working in unit and they are all leaving.  so i may be there a lot in the near future. got my RQI and annual evaluation done though.  always continued education to get done as well. 

 they are trialing having actual staff person there to give real breaks.  in  nursing it's been considered a break if you have time to eat at the desk with minimal interruptions.  you don't get paid for this time by the way.  so mostly it's never been a real break.  even when you do leave the floor for a break, you have your phone and the staff around you just basically listen for alarms on your patients because usually they are busy with their own patients.  the 1:1 patients nurses are the only ones who get an actual break where the charge really sits with their patient while they leave for  lunch. that doesn't always happen either if the charge is busy.

 love the dolphin/sea lion photos because we all have a look of peace, joy and utter happiness on our faces.  probably nice to not have a camera and leave that to them.  they did a great job getting the right pictures...so in the end worth the extra money paid.  they would otherwise have way too many people with cameras out there trying to get pictures and it would mess up the flow of their getting tourists in/out of there in a timely fashion...it also means that when you are out there you are totally focused on enjoying your time with the animals, which is great.

 Barr released his brief interpretation of the Mueller report.  just release the report....even trying to lawyer up his response and protect those in the White House, he was unable to say anything more than, no proof of direct collusion between the iitoo folks and Rus. he wasn't able to say the iitoo was exonerated on the obstruction charges, though most of his fans have conveniently brushed that aside and he just is doing his lying spin by saying he's totally exonerated on both.

 there does seem to be proof that Rus did their best to interfere with the election and so far nothing has been done really to put a stop to this or to denounce it. 

 the actual report needs to be released, Mueller and Barr need to testify under oath as to the findings in a public forum.  this is not so easily resolved or brushed aside really. despite there not being proof of actual collusion with his campaign, they made some big mistakes.  most of them were seemingly foolish errors, but why did Rus work so hard to get this iitoo in position...were they just fans of his reality show?  i doubt it. they had an agenda. 

 there are still several investigations that Mueller shifted onto other districts as they were not under the umbrella of what he was directed to look for.  the iitoo is in now way in the clear.  funny that so many of his supporters are of the mind that the left should not just move on since they feel this totally clears the iitoo.  i have to laugh as none of them have moved on from any of the Clinton stuff, they still believe every conspiracy theory the right created, no amount of proof or lack of indictments/arrests will convince them otherwise.  after over 20 years and millions spent they still want to open cases and make further pointless attempts to Lock Her UP.

 funny too how so many are acting like Mueller and Rosenstein are heroes now after months of name calling and theories that they were acting on behalf of the deep state, which anyone who doesn't fall in line for the iitoo is accused of being a part of.

 there are still many questions left unanswered.  it's good that no direct evidence was found of collusion...but it ain't over yet, nor should it be. he is corrupt and nobody has ever surrounded themselves with more corrupt staff.  they are a disgrace.

 a meteor blew up over the Bering Sea apparently in December.  super powerful explosion but it wasn't really noticed...the power of 10 atomic bombs.  what was i doing that day?  no idea. we did have a little aftershock the other day. 4.0, or near there.  i was giving report at work...just a little shimmy.  did feel some "quakes" while i was on the ship.  it would lurch this way or that and my brain would briefly go to earthquake...the result of so many aftershocks since the 7.1 in November.  overall the aftershocks have settled a bit i think.  this was the largest in like a month i think.  i do see cracks in some of my dry wall so i don't think my place got out completely unscathed. 

 lots of cockatiels available in Anchorage right now.  a guy who owned over 300 of them passed away suddenly, leaving animal control with a lot of birds to find homes for...if you want a bird now is the time to get one.

 we got a few rides with the dolphins that day.  the dolphin swam under us and we caught their flippers for one ride the other we waited on a boogie board and the dolphin pushed on our foot for a ride.  so fun. 

 while we were on board a shooting took place in New Zealand.  50 were killed.  their government has begun the process of outlawing assault rifles...love that they are ready and willing to take action..sad that our nation protects guns over lives...when all those kids were killed at Sandy Hook Grammar School and nothing changed...i gave up.  too many gun nuts have grown heartless in their desire to have no rules on gun ownership.  it's disgusting, embarrassing and foolish really. so lives get lost over and over and over.  proud of New Zealand for saying no and acting on behalf of the safety of their citizens. 

 very much feels like break up here. temperatures in the balmy 40's. the trails are slushy.  no signs of bears yet, drove by the tree yesterday.  they are coming soon though.

 hit the dog park a few times.  yesterday was more clean up...trash day today.  the start of back yard clean up. i try to keep on top of it, but you miss a lot and then i was out of town so it was poop pick up day yesterday. also collected more tennis balls from the yard.  want to go next door and see what i can find back there in their yard. no doubt there is like a dozen back there.

 it is the 30 year anniversary of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.  much has been forgotten.  Oil companies are enjoying full protections from the current government.  11 million gallons of fuel released from that spill. today, our government, both local and federal, are trying to rush to open ANWR and push for gas and oil development.  they are pushing to remove regulations that help to prevent another disaster.  greed wins again, disaster forgotten.

 none of us are always right, but none of us are always wrong either.  many refuse to admit the possibility that they could be wrong on anything. 

 my last night there we met up with my brother and his wife at a place by this armadillo.  the armadillo place turns out to be closed on Mondays so we met at a Texan BBQ joint owned by the same.  had to take a few photo's with this giant armadillo though.

 out of Norway a different cruise ship found itself in rough seas with an engine issue.  several passengers were lifted one by one off the ship via helicopter.  i think i would prefer to take my chances at sea over being lifted into the air dangling on a wire in windy conditions.  in the end, it sounds like they were able to get the engine issue repaired and were at least slowly making their way.  our cruise went much smoother.  we did have some rolling but i always find that helps me sleep once i get settled into my bunk.

 sadly, the caribou have gone extinct in the lower 48. the animals of this planet are suffering and dying off. most seem to just look the other way.  the animals go first, the humans will follow.  hard for most to really comprehend our planet beyond their lives or their kids lives...what happens to it a few hundred years from now is of little concern. 

 here we have arrived in port in Roatan, Honduras.  they are building it up. for this day though it is still pretty much the way it is.  not as developed as other locations we stopped at. 

 the iitoo went after McCain again in one of his rallies.  those folks love to hate...it's pretty sad and pretty disgusting really.  the man is dead...you'd think they could let it go, but they won't.  personally, i think he looks pretty pathetic trashing a dead man.  unfair fight at this point.  nothing says bully more than trashing dead people. 

 in our second stop we were at these ruins out of Costa Maya.  Dzibanche and Kohunlich. my niece selected these as they are still less popular and so you are still allowed to climb them.  she figured this would be more fun for us and the kids...i agree. 

 not easy climbing down especially. my thighs were burning and my knee is now sore...though that took a day or so to kick in....i still suspect it's related.

 we had a beautiful day for our adventure.  great to be on beaches two of our three days on land, but it was also great to do a full land excursion. 

 the steps on these are pretty steep. great views all around once up top. the guide was saying that many or most of the "hills" in the area no doubt hold other ruins beneath them.  these were uncovered.  locals knew where sites were and then archaeologists dug them up. the Mayans would build over the originals every 50 years or so.

 total joy....

 me with the sea lion.  pretty fun.

grateful for: A.  being home with the pups  B. getting stuff done on the to do list C.  break up