"Do Something"....

 this became the chant in Dayton Ohio when the GOP Governor attempted to speak. the GOP has boxed themselves in on these shootings.  they can't betray their gun rights extremists, they can't betray the NRA...which spent some 30 million to help Trump get elected.  they can't treat mental illness because they do not believe any one is entitled to health care.  they can't seem to shake their white supremacist wing, which is growing and taking over, so they can't call out racism or they will start to lose a percentage of their voting base.

 these shooters are white males, angry white males.  being pissed off is not a mental health disease.  I've been in medicine a long time, pissed off isn't listed. these are nothing more than suicide bombers using automatic weapons really.the guy in El Paso surrendered though, which is less of the normal.  is he hoping for a pardon from the racist in chief?  they are actually calling this domestic terrorism and saying they will try for death penalty.  maybe he can die a martyr to the cause.

 pictures all from Sitka. 

 we've had three mass shootings in the past week.  i do not expect anything really to change.  the iitoo read from a script today but I've no doubt he'll return to his usual racism laced rants in the next days to weeks.  he can't help himself when he's not reading, hell half the time he can't help himself even when he is reading. he has removed protections that Obama put in to limit gun sales to mentally ill. so they have boxed themselves in on the mental illness excuse in that way as well. Moscow Mitch has refused to even let discussions happen or votes happen if it has anything to do with guns.  they won't even say the word after these shootings.  the gun is their golden cow.  they idolize the holy gun. 

 nothing will change until the GOP figures out they are no longer in control of their party.  they are owned by the radicals, they are immersed in this web of conspiracy theories.  facts, science, logic are fading quickly.  it's sad and scary really.

 the Dems are too weak to push through on impeachment.  oral sex is a high crime and misdemeanor but all the crap this guy is pulling isn't apparently.  read the damn report people!!  most don't bother or refuse to read it.  either they don't care or they prefer to be spoon fed a synopsis by people with an agenda.  seems to me the radical Muslims used this technique in creating their suicide bombers.  they don't actually read what their holy books say, they simply listen to clerics, who spoon feed them bull and they are willing to take their word for it.

 but alas, I'm the one who is irrational, radical, foolish, stupid.  you name it.  I'm sure I've been called it...snowflake, libtard. we all think exactly the same according to the right wing media.  we all want to take away every gun from every citizen and we all want to have completely open/porous borders.  we all also want to kill every fetus.  i am a horrible, terrible person. you should be terrified of me.  you should attack me.  ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to action. 

 not sure why only our nation has such an over abundance of angry white guys...mental illness does not only exist here,  violent computer games do not only exist here.  completely lax gun laws do so it isn't really that surprising that our angry guys kill and theirs don't as often..i mean sure you occasionally have some some angry dude in some other nation take out people with a machete or something.  it does happen

 the guns that are mostly used here are much more effective.  in Dayton the guy didn't have the usual 30 rounds, he had 100...legal i guess.  the police were in the area and they got to him in under a minute, i think under 30 seconds even...but still they were no match for the damage of a high powered gun rapidly firing.  in those 30 seconds the guy killed 9 and i think over 20 more were injured. what if the guy had 10 minutes? 

 not sure how people can continue to defend these weapons, but they do.  maybe it will be someone they care about getting mowed down one of these days, perhaps then they will think twice, or someone they care about doing the shooting.  years ago i watched a movie where they had it from the parents of the shooters perspective.  how they had lost their child too but with the addition of dealing with the fact that their kid was responsible for so much pain. 

 a few folks that survived the recent Gilroy shooting had also been survivors of the Las Vegas shooting.  this is starting to happen...people being in the wrong place again and again...this is the new normal and for the GOP, this new normal is mostly acceptable.  it's preferred to lose life after life than to risk losing ground on the gun rights issues. 

 my niece sent me a quote from a British journalist, "in retrospect, Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate. once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over". it's become just an acceptable part of life now...thoughts and prayers...moving on. 

 the walls of the hot springs have some cool graffiti art.  liked this one.  looks like they add on with return trips.

 i know these aren't walrus but my car has walrus stickers on it and yesterday i was driving through town when i caught a glimpse of someone waving to me from the car beside be.  when i looked over the person in the passenger seat was wearing a walrus onezie.  an adult walrus onezie. it cracked me up.  how often do you see that?  haha!!

 we were a bit slug obsessed when we were in Sitka.  we had these guys in Ketchikan when i lived there. i liked the spotted ones.

 slugs are gastropods, which includes slugs and snails.  some slugs do secretly have shells though, they may reside inside their bodies or be too small to see.

 slugs have 4 tentacles...I'm reading an article on slug facts by Rosemary Mosco, cool name, on mental floss so you can go read it if you want.

 two are for seeing and smelling and do their own thing independent of the other.  the other two are touch and taste.  pretty high tech.  explains why they retract those when you get near...like poking them in their eyes. slugs have thousands of teeth and breath though a pneumostome...kind of like a blow hole i guess. they mate dangling and upside down.  slugs are boys and girls at the same time and have penises that are super sized.

 not sure if these slugs are the same as the banana slugs that are the mascot of of the San Jose university, but those can get over 9 inches i guess.  the slugs I've seen are usually 6-7 inches at max...though they can stretch and contract so maybe they are longer.

 banana slugs can live 1-7 years!!  who knew.  that is crazy.  reading we have banana slugs, meadow slugs and taildroppers. now I'm looking at slugs. 

 this is me taking a selfie with a slug.  when i showed S this shot she just had to get a selfie with a slug.  due to her young age i suspect her slug selfie was much better.  haha. 

 today i made a run up Powerline Pass.  then headed up to the level area before you head up to Hidden lakes. it felt warm out.  there was a moose just up from the bridge. a large male, nice rack.  didn't see him again, he slipped into the woods.

 the dogs are nicely tired out . they are hitting their more mellow age it seems.  doesn't take as long to wear them out.  Ivy even settles. 

 yesterday we just went to Point Woronzof as the tide was going out and it seemed easy.  they still got to play a lot and i got my steps in easily.

 worked Peds the last night.  the middle night I'd been put on call.  ended up called in just after midnight. the ER was packed and had lots of ICU holds so i just came in and started taking over the ICU patients.  got a few transferred up.  that morning before i left the guys i was working with in the acute area were giving me high fives and standing ovations....

 the slug i took the selfie with. 

 making its way up the rock.

 this guy was climbing off of a mushroom. 

 of course, the way nursing is, one minute you are up the next you are down.  you are pretty much always afraid you will do something that will end your career, kill someone or do harm.  all are possible.  so not a stressful job at all...haha.

 an iv infiltrated within an hour of us placing  it, noted during shift change and that nurse was not high fiving me.  he was kind of judgmental actually.  hopefully all is okay and that the fluid is absorbed.  not a great way to end the week though.

 loved the light coming through the mist on the trail.  so pretty. then the church bells pealed...wish I'd had a recording of that.

 bought a little book there about the totems at this park.  i thought this was a whale but it's a shark.  it was out of Klawock, by Ketchikan. this one is a remake of the original...the original traveled a bit for exhibition. 

 steps that also double as trail markers.

 our trump governor is saying he will not change his mind on his plan to cut $444 million from the budget and give a $3000 pfd check to all this year. the house passed a bill that would reverse 80% of his gutting and maxing the pfd to $1600. the bill moves to the senate next and then back to him to veto i guess.

 the church that had the bells I'm thinking.  there was another church in town too, but this is the old Russian Orthodox church.

 under Russia it was called New Archangel.  the community is on Baranof Island and Chichagof Island...there is a bridge that connects them. in 2010 the population was 8,881....we shall soon get new stats for all....

 the name comes from a Tlingit Native name of Sheet'ka', which means loosely, people on the outside of Baranof Island?  i guess. the Tlingit people settled there over 10,000 years ago

 the Russians had a bit of a battle with the Tlingit people.  at first the Tlingit killed off many Russians and took others hostage. eventually they had to give up and the Russians made Sitka the capital of Russian America.

 when Russia sold Alaska to the US the transfer ceremony was in Sitka.  Russia was in a financial mess after the Crimean  War was lost to Britain.  rather than cede the area to Britain they opted to sell it to the US. the sale happened in 1867 at a price of $7.2 million...2 cents/acre at the rate of the day.  the US kept Sitka the capital for a few years.  but in 1906 the capital moved to Juneau. for years many have argued to have it moved to Anchorage. 

 after WWII Japan invested in Sitka, the pulp mill.  Ketchikan has a pulp mill when i arrived in '95.  Sitka's pulp mill closed in '93, Ketchikans pulp mill closed  after i arrived.

 more scenes from the trip.  even in the rain it is beautiful there. i think LM and S had some sunshine their first evening there. 

 view from the hot springs

 we found some tide pools at the low tide we had to work with. 

 no steps today...but so many that day.  the last mile of today's walk is uphill though. love that area up there. 

 i still have a few pictures to look at from my trip to Sitka.  last night i crashed pretty early, i suspect I'll head that way soon tonight too

 fireweed has been thriving all over...seen in Juneau as we headed out

 me enjoying the hot springs.

 loved the steps for photo ops though.

 more of the fireweed. it's topped off here. the lichen were dry up on top today.

 everything is green in southeast though.  so beautiful

 my friend takes a snot of the totem.  we took the walk through on our way back from dinner.

thankful for:  A.  that the good outweighs the bad in the world, even though some days it doesn't feel like it.  B.  another day without getting shot at in my life...it's just a matter of time for all of us. C. moose sightings and wildflowers