February pics....

 stayed home ill another day.  just the coughing and being tired at this point.  will have to brave it tonight though i think.  unless i start to feel really crappy. you can only take so many days off really before you just have to put on the big girl pants and go for it.  my cough tends to make others more uncomfortable at this point than myself...coughing spasms sound pretty bad at times.  Robitussin and cough drops will have to be enough at some point.  above is Portage Lake in the brief period it was sort of frozen.

 i did not venture on to the ice there this year at all.  it never seemed thick enough to me to be safe...and i believe my assessment was accurate.  a few did venture out there, but a few also went through.  i can tell by posts in the hiking page on fb that many do not necessarily use common sense before venturing off anywhere in AK.  this is a different sort of place though and it doesn't take much to get yourself into trouble quickly. 

 some get pretty snarky on these pages as well.  not much is safe from nasty folks anymore in our world.  people seem to sit in wait on their computers, jumping on any comment they can find that they can turn nasty.  we are losing our ability to interact rationally with one another.  perhaps we never really had that ability and we simply only ever dealt with people who were mostly similar. 

 perhaps the internet and social media force us to deal with people who see the world differently and we are all failing to adapt to this.

 we are tribal at base.  even the cavemen probably thought their way of building a fire was far superior to the method used in a different group of cavemen. feeling superior seems to be a key element to ego/self.  feeling one has the correct way of thinking, the right church, the more superior race, sex, culture....

 these are cool old cars at the Fur Rondy this year. I'd never gone and doubt I'll go there but every few years but it is still cool to check out old cars.  i like that some keep a few around and fix them up so that they still run.  we have come a long ways in a short time.  not sure that is always a good thing for us or the earth but humans are pretty amazing in what they can come up with.

 we tend to be able to take issues head on and find a work around.  sadly, at this point in our nations history, many are putting up roadblocks to progress.  oil/coal should be moving into our past and we should be encouraging those around us to use their talents and ingenuity to develop new methods of powering us forward.  we can do it, we can do anything, we just need to be willing to move on from oil and coal.  there are corporations who want us to remain in the past even as they work towards this change in the back ground...because they even know that oil, gas and coal will become obsolete at some point.  I'm sure they just want to make the most of the oil and gas and coal that they are already harvesting from the earth. they have known for years.  it's been a very successful campaign though.  many out there refuse to believe the basics of the science that we are doing damage to our earth. 

 when you know better, you do better.  i have faith in my fellow man...we can do better because we are extremely adaptable and can use the tools of intellect to come up with better methods.  there are many with high intellect out there...we simply have to afford the masses the chance to be educated and you just never know what can and will be done. 

 i always think of kids dying of preventable diseases or starving and wonder which of those kids would have cured this or that or invented this or just been a gifted artist...what have we lost.  which would have just been creative and kind enough to raise the next generation of creative and kind people...if only we hadn't looked the other way while their lives were just snuffed out. if only we hadn't opted to destroy our education system, if only we hadn't done what we could to make the world better instead of hoping the past could save us.

 these big old gas eater cars were pretty well made and cool looking.  our nation is floundering, allowing other societies to become the more powerful nations.  we have already ceded our power to others.  this administration is just putting the final death blow on us. 

 so many still just refuse to even open their eyes to what is going on.  allowing others to dictate what they think and believe to be true.  the Mueller report does one major thing in my mind...it proves who was really the "fake news" and it wasn't who many have been told are "fake". they were correct.  their reporting overall has proven to be right on.  Mueller just couldn't dot the i's or cross the t's to do the final death blow....too many lied, refused to answer or used methods to communicate that could be quickly quashed. 

 they are on a campaign to "move on" and say it's over and that the Mueller report proves them clear...though if you actually read it, it does not. 

 don't they even wonder why this administration is busting it's butt to put everything to rest, to hide everything.  he calls himself the most everything, including the most transparent...yet he refuses to allow anyone to see his grades, his taxes, his business dealings, the report. he refuses to allow anyone to testify publicly...why is this?  if the Mueller report clears them all of wrong doing why wouldn't they want it out there for all to see.  if it exonerates them why hide it.  if he is so proud of his financial successes and how he's skipped paying taxes then why not display all for us to see. 

 i am grateful to the media who keep digging in and finding truth where they can...i realize there is a large segment of the population who will continue to refuse to even read or believe what the media turns up but at least they are still seeking truth.  it's there for those who bother to look.  he is a business failure.  he has been taking others money and losing it at a grand level for decades.  he has been committing acts of fraud for decades...he has been lying about every aspect of his existence for decades. 

 i keep waiting for a few in the GOP to finally be brave enough to fess up to the truth.  they know it...it's whispered in the halls on Capitol Hill all the time, but none are brave enough to stand up...will they ever be?  what is it that has them snared in this deceit?  money, power, greed? or is it more nefarious? 

 truth does tend to come out eventually...but as history shows even the most blatant of truths will not always turn those who choose to believe otherwise.  there are still many out there who refuse to believe that 6 million were killed in WWII.  still many who refuse to believe that we landed on the moon.  conspiracy theories are not new and people buying into them is not new either. 

 there will always be those who prefer a world of their making and who prefer hearing what they want to hear over listening to the facts..or seeking them out.  they prefer to believe what they are told than read for themselves, uncover for themselves.  is it laziness or just a need to believe in a world that is comfortable, that makes them forever right. 

 what happens when people do figure out they may have been wrong?  if they ever do?

 these are a few from the sprint races during the Fur Rondy. 

 woke up early today so i figured I'd write and head back to bed for a bit. have been waking up with headaches anyway. 

 reports of a porcupine taking up residence in the bog by my place.  have heard some dog/s were already quilled...that would be mine. best to avoid that scenario if i can.

 we had some wind the other day, it did manage to get the newspaper off the roof and i think the plastic bag out of a tree across the street...that bag has been caught in that tree since i moved in here or close to that anyway.

 will the Dems be brave enough to pull the trigger on impeachment?  not sure.  i get the impression the GOP and administration are daring them to do it...the big concern seems to be what the politics will be for the parties.  i think it hurt the GOP going after Clinton.  i think that is because in the end it was clear they were going after him for whatever they could go after him for...it was purely politics...they went after him every way they could and all they could actually prove was that he had sex in the oval office and lied about it...i think the bulk of society saw it for what it was...truly a witch hunt. 

 it is funny to watch folks like Graham and McConnell talk about that impeachment with self righteous indignation.  how it was all about the rule of law and our Democracy when actually it was about winning at any cost...now those same act like this is all a nothing burger...when in truth this has a hell of a lot more grit to it.  this campaign used a foreign entity to improve their chances at the ballot box.  they may not have been proven to have a conspiracy level crime but it's clear they were ready and willing to work with anyone to improve their chances...to benefit themselves financially. 

 it's clear Rus did all it could to interfere and the right still hesitates to prevent this from occurring again....they have really done nothing to prevent interference again.  they discount all about the Mueller report...even this aspect...because the current administration feels if they admit Rus helped them then they admit that they did not get their office cleanly. 

 they are using stall tactics at this point.  Barr was voted in contempt, while the iitoo invokes executive privilege in an attempt to keep the truth from congress.  they are allowed to see the redacted version but they are not allowed.  this iitoo trusts Put over his own national defense intel.  no curiosity about this however. 

 watched some of Comey's town hall between naps last night. i do trust Comey...he pissed off both sides but i believe that he is overall trustworthy. i  suspect his sense of duty and of right actually bit him in the arse.  my guess is that he over thinks some things.  he does have a lot of experience.  he agrees with the over 900 former prosecutors have signed on to a letter stating that this potus would be indicted if not for him being a sitting potus.

 the case for obstruction is pretty clear really. was just reading the start of that section the other day. 

 if you trip a cop as he is chasing down a bank robber you can be held and charged with obstruction...even if that cop eventually captures the felon.

 of course, one has to wonder why he has continued to fight so hard against the information getting out there.

 cracks me up that those on the right keep whining that this has gone on for a whole 2 years, like it's forever....with some even stating he should be given an added two years to his presidency to make up for it...haha.  these are the same folks who are still screaming for new investigations into bill and hillary and Obama.  as if years and years of failed investigations are valid but 2 years of fairly successful investigation are invalid.  crimes have been proven to have been committed in these past two years...where are they from the previous 20...

 the GOP looked at Obama every way they could, trying to find the oral sex moment in his tenure, but they were unable to. 

 another school shooting in Colorado this week.  the right refuses to do a thing about all these mass shootings.  so entrenched in their right to bear arms that they seem totally willing to look the other way as child after child is killed off in school...yet they sunk their teeth into a sex scandal and spent millions to impeach a potus for said sex scandal.  I'm not saying Clinton wasn't a horn dog who used his position for personal gratification but how is this so different from a potus who uses his position for financial gain?

 i suspect the bulk of the public will see the difference in impeaching a guy for a sex scandal that he lied about over impeaching a guy who obstructed an investigation into Rus interference into our election, who obstructed us from seeing if he had any financial ties to Rus that would explain his obstruction.

 part of me knows he will get away with all of it....they all will.  the Presidency will ultimately be his get out of jail free card..one can hope that his kids will have to do some time if they have been involved...justice needs to be served....

 the GOP paid for Nixon. i suspect the bulk of society was not happy that he just got a pardon....but at least a few of his henchmen did do some time for their involvement.  that seems like child's play compared to what it appears has happened with this administration. 

 so far anyone who tries to stand up is immediately accused of having joined the "deep state". 

 the cranes are back, the geese are back and now i see the terns are back.  those terns travel nearly 25,000 miles every year....crazy. 

 the crap going on in DC may come to a head in the supreme court...it will be the time to test those who were awarded the position they held from this administration, will they be like Barr and prove they work for this potus or will they hold themselves to the constitution in making their judgments? 

 the FBI has again proven that these conspiracy theories are crap...no evidence of illegal "spying" on the trump campaign...of course, again, those on the right will continue to believe conspiracy theories over facts...it all seems pointless and hopeless

 a falcated duck has been a surprise visitor to Potters Marsh i guess this week.  usually only seen in Asia i guess.  birders are going a bit bonkers over it. they have occasionally been spotted in the Pribilofs or way out on the Aleutian chain but never this far inland.

 ice crystals on the creek/river out of portage below. 

 the photo's can't show how beautiful it was that day.  no way to really get down close enough for decent photos

 love how many forms ice and water can take out there in the winter. 

 frost is amazing.

 guessing that ice in the lake is nearly gone at this point.  i really thought it would last longer. 

 guess i shall head back to bed soon.  try for another few hours.  I'll need as much sleep as i can get if i want to try and make it through a night shift tonight.

 the ice was sublime the day i was out there at Portage.  glass....

 enjoy your day, where ever it takes you. 

thankful for A. nature and all it's beauty  B.  cough medicine and sleep  C.  snuggle time with the pups...they are so sweet.