catching up on the zzz's

 the furs are pretty accommodating to my needs.  of course, Tusker likes to spread out and he is pretty long i find.  sometimes i wake up because i have been moved into a tiny area of the bed...or i have become trapped between dogs.

 Miss Breezy Chatterbug seems to find a comfy spot between us all.

 finished 3 nights of work.  CICU, ICU and then back to CICU.  CICU is never one of my favorites...the co-workers are nice enough, just all those post cath patients.  i think it's leftover PTSD from so many situations from the past.  reminders this week that my paranoia is not really merited.  cath lab groin sites of yesterday have been improved greatly so much better outcomes, much less time required to hold added pressure at the sites.  just seems i used to always get the sites that bled. 

 recall speaking to nurses who told me that when they were first starting these heart attacks would just be waiting to die.  we had little we could do other than supportive cares.  now with the steady improvements in cath lab procedures people get a cath, stents and are out the door and back to life so quickly.  the only downside i think to these improvements if that many do not really realize the seriousness of what just happened to them so they make no real life changes. 

 there have been some dramatic changes in medicine in our days.  folks are living that would have died or been severely disabled in years past.  strokes have seen dramatic changes as well.  sepsis too....but still working ICU i am around death and dying.  medicine still has limits...people do die.  we do not live forever.  not sure how this earth would cope though if we all did live forever. the old circle of life gets us all eventually.

 sunsets are happening later and later.  caught a glimpse of this one the other day from my patients room  so i took a quick snap and moved on. 

 have just hit the dog park this week through work.  still seem to be doing dog park and Campbell Airstrip.  do need to branch out a bit more i guess. this time of year trails can be sketch and as far as photography...well, not always lots to take photo's of...but I'm sure i could find stuff.

 i think I've had some added laziness post kitchen remodel.  perhaps i just have enjoyed a break from doing for a bit.  these are the last of October 2018.  tend to use these down times to catch up on photo's from months where i got behind.

 this place just changes so quickly and so dramatically.  every week you could return to the same trails and see new stuff.  these edge times, before the snow really hits and break up...are a bit brown. still i see some signs of life.  old bulbs planted are starting to sprout under it all.  soon this place will burst forth with new life.  buds on trees, baby animals.  the cycle of life continues over and over with each season. Alaska is just always a buzz with change and drama. 

 i would be fine never leaving again really.  not much draw to leaving for me at this point.  I'm a soul lost to the beauty of this place.  not sure I'm really capable of returning to the world of the lower 48 at this point even if i wanted  to.  i am awkward down south.  i do feel it when i return there for a visit.  my hermit days have impacted me.  I'm most comfortable when i am here, walking with my dogs i guess or friends. 

 i know all the should do's of life, but i don't often push myself to do the should do's. 

 yesterday was beautiful.  i just hit the dog park after some sleep. then i chilled in my papason in the yard and read.  finished the book while throwing the tennis ball back and forth...it's not possible to just read if i am in the yard...the dogs insist on the tennis ball being in motion.  Huey, Blossom they were the same.  i used to take walks down to the beach in Ketchikan with Huey, the plan was to sit on the beach and read...but as soon as i attempted to read there were sticks being dropped at my feet.  you get used to it i guess.  so i finished the book and took it out to the little free library out front for the next person to read. 

 the books do seem to come and go out there.  happy i put that out there.  i slip other books in there.  books that collect in the house.  some books you enjoyed so much it's hard to get rid of them, but the reality is i won't read them again, so many other good books to explore.  so best to let them go and let others reap the reward of their contents.

 we all have too much stuff anyway.  every book i share is one less that is collecting dust in the house.

 was looking up places in Alaska yet to explore.  haven't been on the bigger trips for a few years it seems...time to make that list and start planning to check off a few.  my brother sent a link to Brooks in Katmai.  haven't checked that one off the list and have always wanted to check out the valley of 10,000 smokes.  may have to put that on the list for next year. 

 some the parks look great but are super remote...would want to find a way to see them with a guide perhaps.  not sure I'm adventurous enough to be dropped on the north slope. we were also looking at mosquito swarm photo/videos the other day.  saw a pretty major one of those myself out of Nome once.  looked like a dust storm ahead but as i got closer i realized it was millions of mosquito's.

 Adak is another one that is still on the list to do. 

 i do have a pet sitter lined up for a paddle in a few weeks so my adventure days are not over. 

 lots of road trips, some repeated over and over but you always find something new and different.  that is just how this place is.  a never ending cycle of surprise and awe. 

 have wanted to drive this road in the Yukon Territory. haven't been over towards Kluane in a bit and haven't taken the drive down to Haines. 

 St George in the news.  someone is speaking of starting a reindeer plant.  we went to the Pribilofs years ago.  we walked across the island and ran into the reindeer herd.  the herd was put out there as a food source for the few humans that live there.  less than 100 folks.  it is remote.  beautiful but very remote. not sure how feasible a reindeer plant would be in that remote a location...how cost effective is it to transport the meat.  they don't have a deep water port, just a more shallow small boat harbor. 

 swans out in the fall. the birds are returning up here.  this morning i lay in bed listening to shorebirds in Baxter Bog by my house.  have also spotted lots of Canadian Geese these past weeks.  swans returning, have heard of sandhill cranes also making their entrance. 

 all just signs of the changes that will soon be upon us. 

 to impeach or not to impeach...that seems to be the question.  further hearings a must. the public is not sold on impeachment and for sure the right in DC aren't.  Nixon was popular before the hearings, he was re-elected despite ongoing investigations.  this iitoo is not popular...except with his base, who mostly seem happy with what he's done but less thrilled with who he is at times. they choose to look away from all his many flaws, racism, constant lies, history of groping and fraud.  funny to me how easy it is for them to look away from this when not that long ago they were completely flipped out over a guy having sex in the oval office...so flipped they spent millions to impeach him  it didn't remove him from office. I'm not sure it even really damaged the history of his Presidency.  i think mostly history shows it as a blemish of partisan politics.

 that they hated the guy so much and his policy that the only way they could find to attempt to destroy him was to nail him for oral sex.  it really seems pathetic i guess.  ego and Presidency go hand in hand.  no doubt many before him have used their power to get sexual favors...it's not right and it is time to call it out.  his biggest screw up was the whole "i did not have sexual relations with that woman" speech...one which he still seems to be unable to just admit, yes i did and it wasn't appropriate. what makes it pathetic today is how clear it is that they could really care less about his sex life or his lack of morals...it was all just a smear campaign, a way to get their way.  this is more and more obvious each day that they blindly support this womanizing, lying twit. the veil is completely lifted really.  the complete farce that is the GOP and has been for years.  all those years spent pretending to be the party of morals and ethics.  they are no better than anyone else, yet still many buy into the bull. 

 it's all about money, power and getting your way. 

 we, the people, no longer matter really.  we are just a source of revenue. 

 keep us fighting each other and they can all just keep collecting our tax dollars.  everything old is new again.  the right has welcomed the racists in and the racist agenda...just enough to keep the nation boiling.  can they balance it to prevent it from boiling over...clearly not or we would not be having the increase of hate crimes and shootings.  once you let the racism and hatred out of the bag it's hard to pack it in without bloodshed.  they are straddling that line of hate in an attempt to grab power.  they need the racists to win elections, they also seem to now need the Russians. 

 lay with the devil though...can't be good outcome down the road for anyone.  hard to see beyond today for many though.  for them the good outweighs the bad and in truth the bad of it doesn't impact their lives directly so it's easy to look away i suspect.  pretend that the negative elements aren't really that big of a deal. 

 not sure the GOP can control the hate they are releasing out there though.  militia's at the border recently, shootings and increased hate crimes.  i do hope the decent folks rise up and say no more to those with a racist agenda working to divide our nation.  i still believe there are more good people than bad.  the bad folks get more media attention.  sadly, there is always a good percentage of any population that aren't good or bad really but just aren't involved, they ignore the signs and hope for the best.  sometimes silence is dangerous.  silence eventually loudly states acceptance.  when you do not speak out you send the message that you support it all.  the good and the bad. 

 the best thing would be for him to be beat at the polls.  not sure he would accept that though.  even in the last election he was repeatedly pushing the narrative that if he lost it would be due to voter fraud.  he even claimed voter fraud despite winning.  he was and remains upset that he didn't win every state, every electoral vote, that he lost the popular vote.  he is weak and he is fragile, his ego may not be able to accept a loss.  then where will we be.  we have had stable transfer of power for generations...will this guy be the one who ceases to accept this? 

 impeachment is dead on the Senate floor at this point...that doesn't mean that they shouldn't follow through on the investigation path left by the Mueller report. there are still many investigations out there.  still many unanswered questions about emoluments and fraud.  they are working too hard to hide stuff.  sex in the oval office got investigated ad nauseum but a POTUS using his office to gain favors from foreign adversaries is no big deal.  it just doesn't make sense. the iitoo continues to add new obstruction to any and all investigations into him. taxes, witnesses blocked.  if he is innocent on all then release and prove it. 

 but we all know he isn't.  many don't want the truth to come out because i suspect they prefer to believe a different truth since that truth means they are getting the agenda they have been hoping for.  this iitoo has lived on the bitter edge of legal for decades.  he's been one lucky guy i guess...proof that money can hide you from responsibility.

 Kim and Put had a meeting together.  what was discussed.  state secrets that the iitoo gave to put in that 2 hour meeting?  he is a fool, easy to play on his ego to get information no doubt.  Put is loving his new power over the US. 

 even this iitoo own appointee's have stated that immigrants are not a crisis, but we are in danger of another attack on our elections by Put.  we are at risk of a building relationship between Rus and China. 

 watched a few minutes of a program last night.  the host was speaking with leaders of a few of these mega churches.  these were in Texas.  Dallas area.  so much money in these churches these days.  the church tax exempt status is being misused.  it was doubtful this was the intention of these laws. non-profit groups are required to keep an accounting of where the money goes...of what percentage actually goes towards their stated goals.

 churches are not.  I'm pretty sure that most of their congregants have no clue about the details of all the money they donate either.  they leave that up to their pastors.  they trust them with all of that cash.  i highly doubt it was the intent of Jesus for pastors to be living so well off the backs of their congregants.  one smaller pastor took a twist on that "what would Jesus do?" thing and says it should be "what did Jesus do?". 

 many of these churches are more political than religion, more show than church. 

 false Gods.  seems a thing that was warned about repeatedly in the scriptures. 

 money and power can turn many into lost souls.  easy to lose sight of the basic messages as the coffers fill Sunday after Sunday.  stages and cameras have turned many of these churches into nothing more than entertainment used to gain profits and control the masses...turn the tide of politics over delivering a message of Love. 

 looks cloudy out there.  may try for a few more hours sleep before i really start the day.  wouldn't mind a few days of rain over the next three nights i work.  i head back tomorrow. i like rain, especially this time of year.

 i did pull out the hose the other day in between shifts..the pups love that.  they go nuts flying all over, chasing the water.  cracks me up

 pretty sunset last fall.  these are down by Oceanview Bluff park. 

 pups on the tracks. 

 enough rambling for the morning. 

grateful for: A improvements in medicine.  B.  resolving headache  C. the adventures that still remain