more sea stars...

 i gotta get back down there...or go somewhere else on my next stretch off.  hard to waste the day light.  sometimes you do though.  last night i got sucked in to bit of binge watching.  British Baking Show...then i started to make cookies after 11pm.  i used the new mixer...thanks J &W's.  works great. so today a healthy diet of cookie dough. 

 rain the past few days off and on.  yesterday i was headed out to Hatchers Pass....very ambitions plans, but it was raining pretty hard coming into Eagle River so i balked at the idea of driving out to walk in the rain...especially since it was clearing quickly in Anchorage.  so just did a local walk.

 today a walk with my cousins once removed and their families.  fun to get to know them as adults.  i hadn't seen the younger one  since we were kids.  great folks...looks like they had a fun trek north.  overall i think they had decent weather...well rain today, but saw a lot of stuff on the AK check list. 

 always more to see and do here...perhaps they will return again one of these days to add to their adventures.

 these are almost all Homer.  a few that my cousin snapped in the rain today at the bridge.  we did Powerline.  always an easy walk on a rainy day.

 sounds like it will clear up over the next few days and be a beautiful solstice weekend....I'll head back to work again on Thursday. 

 not much accomplished this stretch off.  that is the life i live.  i do enough to get by though.  it's a lazy life, but it's a fairly happy one too.  no drama, no trauma.

 the iitoo had another rally today.  same old stuff.  funny, the same faces in the crowds...they seem to fly some of those folks around the country to attend or these folks have nothing better to do than to follow him around like teenage band fans. it's odd. literally, you can recognize faces...the one black dude for sure.  he must pay that guy to turn up. 

 you would think they would be tired of screaming, "lock her up" especially since she is not even running against him, but there they are, still singing it...it is like going to an old favorite band and singing the hits over and over.  for the bands though, most of the time those old bands don't even have the same band members any more.

 his own polling showed him doing poorly...so early, but i would think that in this world where people move on to the next thing rapidly, his little act would be wearing out. 

 he should have just created a religion.  tax exempt, he could have his followers still fawning over him...he could even have all the women he wanted...that is what most of those cult leaders do anyway. what will he do when and if the actual polls do not put him on top at the end of this election?

 will he convince his cult followers that the election was rigged and that he should still be king..i mean potus?  will he cause them to riot?  many of his rally goers are so amp'd up that i do not see them accepting the results if he doesn't win. i don't see him accepting them really. 

 i have thought at times that he may just take off to Rus with all the money he can to live out his life in luxury over there.

 i had to put the dogs back in the car when this guy started zipping around.  they were going nuts barking and chasing it...as was his own dog. we just sat in the car and they kept barking. they were happy and i was cracking up.

 i do not recall this boat having this painting on it previously. it's cool looking though. now the lupine are out like crazy no doubt. 

 the fish run has been good down on the Kenai. i think they keep increasing the limits. 

 I'm due for a Kenai run.

 we are being moved closer to a war with Iran by this motley crew.  seems a bit too similar to Vietnam...created for political purpose...in the meantime many will die.  easy to send troops over when you don't really have any personal connection to those dying. the Iran deal was a start, working and something to build on.  now we are in a worse place than before.  NK is also a mess of this administrations making. 

 and yet, there he is, still having rallies like it's 2016.  what will he do to stroke his ego if he does win a second term.  can't run again so he can't ask for money for his next election.  how will he milk his followers then? it's all nothing more than a way to make money for him. fools give their money to these crazy evangelists and to this crazy iitoo.  a fool and their money are soon parted. 

 his staff work around him. do what they can behind his back. he reads nothing, has little interest in anything.  he gets the credit for what is getting done even though he's not even aware of what is happening.  they protect him from things that will upset him or that he may screw up.  his own people have no faith in his ability to lead. it's become this big game to let him play this part and yet try not to let him actually do things.  he tweets away...

 the smoke screen has allowed them to pack the courts will their judges and to slash regulation and prevent any protections for the environment.  they are doing all they can to demolish any attempts to delay climate issues. liberal plot.  it's so absurd but it's working.  40% of the population has bought into the fake news/conspiracy theories...with that even if they read something sensible, they won't believe it.

 the ousted president of Egypt died in court during his trial. he had just spoken and then just dropped dead.  bizarre....of course, my first thought was, why can't that happen here.  terrible i know.  but natural causes...it would be fine.  we are well overdue for a death in office.  during the 2016 election, i was hoping both candidates would choose sensible vp's and then would just die in office  of natural causes, we do not want to go to a war over this guys death.  seemed the easiest fix to the problem...but that would leave P now.  he's crazy too. 

 the dogs love running around the beaches up here.  they are so easy to please....most dogs are though.  they have a good and happy life. 

 they were good today.  a little jumping by Ivy....it has slowed a lot though. 

 no stars seen on Bishops Beach...only at the end of the spit

 always love the designs in the sand as the tide goes out.

 the story of the murder at Thunderbird Falls is really just stranger and stranger.  apparently a guy on line was offering these teens "millions of dollars" to rape and murder someone in AK...of course, he wanted a video. what fools think this will actually bring them cash.  this poor girl was murdered  for some fools jollies.  it's horrible. the guy who offered up the money for the murder lives in Indiana. 

 the Indiana guy is only 21, there are also texts between him and one of the teens involved in the killing where he was requesting she sexually assault kids and film that for him. he'd asked old high school classmates with kids to send him pictures of their kids diaper changing?  they didn't report him.  how did the teens up here end up meeting this guy.  all on line i guess.  it's just crazy/bizarre. 

 more sea stars.  gotta love them. i did see some of them out on the boat as the waves would come and go from rocks, exposing the stars.

 stars clinging to the posts for the boat dock

 life can adapt to a great deal, thankfully. humans have been the toughest foe for nature though. 

 we can do a lot of good but we also do a lot of harm.  not sure how folks convince themselves that millions of humans can't possibly have an impact on this earth. 

 have always loved the intertidal zone.  we spent hours there as kids. 

 we wandered the rocks, peering into the pools for hours

 it's still brings me the same peace and joy. 

 took many Marine Biology and Oceanography courses in college.  that was when college was more affordable.  i am highly educated, but poorly degree'd. 

 just was so much that interested me. 

 these stars just seem to position themselves like characters. 

 many were moving around on the beach, complete with marks in the sand from their fairly slow travels.

 others burrow in to wait out the tide.

 Ivy and Tusker pretty much ignored all the stars.  they are tennis ball lovers only.

 even after over 4 miles of walking and tennis ball chasing today, soon after i sat down on the couch at home there was a tennis ball placed beside me and eyes boring into me.

 she will not be ignored.  Tusker is more willing to let the tennis ball tossing end for the evening.

 this guy wrapped around a rock

 these last few are from today.  so fun to see these guys and their families.   thanks BT for the pictures. we'd gotten together another time and forgot to take pics. 

 i have great memories of the times we were at their place over the years or when they visited down here.  there were a few trips to Laguna.  often we headed to Utah with someone leaving for a mission or going to BYU.  we'd crash at their place.  they were always so fun and nice. 

 hopefully, we will be in a bit more contact now that we saw each other and caught up a bit.  happy they had fun up here.  safe travels home all. 

grateful A.  to live in a cool place where i get to see folks that i might not normally see.  :-)  B. rain or shine, the trails are always beautiful.  C.  well behaved dogs, even if they are a wee bit crazy.