should be sleeping

 and i was  but i woke up around 4 am with one of those lovely tension headaches.  seems more under control now so i came in here to make reservations for next week.  Fairbanks with a friend i worked with at the Emergency Animal Hospital in L.A.  back in the 80's.  this is her 4th trip up i think. always fun....so we will drive up to Fairbanks and then come down via the Richardson Hwy and then the Denali Highway and back.  always fun.

 most of these are from Seward but above and the lower two are ones that LM took on our Valdez trek.  the dark area you see above is all salmon...packed!!

 the below shot was actually first.  Ivy figured out a very comfortable spot...of course, King Tusk noticed this and soon took over in the exact same position. silly boy

 we had a bit of a wind storm last night. no idea how high the winds were but there were some good gusts.  i suspect that with 4 less trees in the back yard the leftover trees took more wind...one tree did not like it and snapped.  i was upstairs and heard a crash.  when i got out there the top of the tree had snapped and fallen onto the fences...mostly my neighbors fence so we will have to see how bad that damage is tomorrow.  one fence plank is out on the fence bordering the two yards. 

 wasn't safe to explore it further last night so today I'll have to get out on a ladder and see if i can get a better look. doubt i can shift the big thing on my own.  hopefully  i can at least get the plank back up so we don't have dogs going between yards...although they would all probably love it.

 was in cleaning mode last night....had to make the anti-guest room back into a guest room...so that was successful.  still want to do a bit more cleaning up around the place.  always a good idea anyway.

 quite a few jellies out on the beach the day we were there. 

 worked 3 nights I'll head back again for 3 more Tuesday.  then my friend arrives on Friday.  we now have reservations in Fairbanks at Pikes for 2 nights.  will have to decide if we want to do 2 nights at Macleren, if we can get a room there...I'll have to call later.

 this week i worked ER, Peds and then ICU. so a nice mixture. haven't been to peds for a bit.  always nice folks working up there.  feel a bit rusty...kids always make me more nervous...being nervous is how i think we should always feel really.  if you are too confident in a nursing position you probably shouldn't be there...

 nursing should always be just a bit terrifying i think.  you have lives in your hands. i always just say a little prayer as i head in to work that i "do no harm".  i am always wanting patience as well because one really can be stretched as far as patience goes in this job.

 can only recall feeling a bit impatient a few times this week.  not the patients fault really...waking up with tubes all over has got to be pretty scary and then to find yourself restrained....

 when i made the switch from animals to humans i feared that it would be too disgusting for me.  the first time i had to clean up someones shit...it occurred to me that it would always be harder to be the one who was so incapacitated that you had to allow someone to clean you up over being the one cleaning you up.  there have been a few exceptions over the years..

 i think there are a few folks out there, who are so lazy, that they really do prefer to lay there and let someone else clean them. 

 we have finally gotten a bit of rain these past two days. of course, the aurora forecast is always the best when i am either at work or it is cloudy...those were both the cases one Saturday night.  just popped out a bit ago and didn't see anything. 

 anytime i wake up in the middle of the night here i pop outside, you never know really when those lights will be dancing out there.

 looks fairly flat for our trip north but sometimes you can get a good show even on a day that doesn't look that great.  so dark up there.

 opted to check out Pikes...haven't stayed there but i guess it's dog friendly as well.  looks a bit older than the La Quinta i usually stay at but i figured my friend may enjoy the history part of it. 

 we will explore Fairbanks the next day, hopefully even hit Chena hot Springs. 

 I'll check the hours.  will want to walk dogs,  look for cranes at Creamers, hit a museum, down town...

 we had smoke earlier this week.  the sunrise as i came home the first night was pretty.  my cell phone pictures did not do it justice.  below was fairly early but the smoke made the sun look pretty on the return trip from Seward.

 these were at Moose Pass.

 on the road.  so pretty. 

 there is a little fly in here, bratty bugs.  the other day there was a wasp that snuck into the house while i was tossing the tennis ball for the pups.

 took me some time to chase that thing down.  i was successful.  can't stand those things. they have been bad this year.  ate with a friend yesterday at the Bear Tooth, a wasp found its way into there as well.

 the smoke has made for some interesting photos this summer but i would have preferred there be no fires and no smoke.  it's been a hot and smokey summer.  feeling ready for the change in seasons.

 it for sure feels like this week we have made that switch.  the temperatures have cooled and feel more normal.  it was blustery last night for sure.  the colors are coming in for the fall. 

 hopefully,  we hit some nice colors on our drive north.

 these are Potters at sunset on that day i drove to Seward.

 took a few pics with the big camera when we hiked Portage Pass the day i fell.  feel like i haven't done many of the usual bigger hikes this summer...too hot and smokey really.

 the dogs kindly waited for me at the top before jumping in the water...what fun is water without a tennis ball i guess.

 the views are really awesome up there.

 the dogs cool off...it did look refreshing.

 another shooting, another day.  it's beyond ridiculous...still the same gun rights people defend their weapons before they even shed a tear for those lost and injured.  at some point society will hopefully become outraged enough to take action...if it's like most things people who break the rules will end up causing the rules to tighten for all. 

 you can't control every person but at some point you can't just keep doing nothing and expect different results.  Texas has made their gun laws even more lax...yet they are still being terrorized by the same bad guys with a gun...they always like to argue that more good guys with guns will prevent these bad guys with guns...the proof is there that this is not really the case in most instances.

 a cute sea otter pup has been rescued from Homer and flown in a little plane to Seward SeaLife Center.  those little things are so adorable

 a new record pumpkin at the state fair this past week....2,051 pounds....now that is a large pumpkin!!  it only took 89 days to grow that huge. there was a really cute photo of a baby sitting on top of the pumpkin...i think it was the growers grand baby. 

 Portage Lake/Glacier.

 big storm off the eastern coast in the lower 48.  haven't looked at news yet today. those hurricanes look awful.  of course, i think we get much larger ones up here but it's so remote it impacts few people...generally out in the Aleutians.  wondering if our wind last night was secondary to a big storm that looked to be over the Aleutians yesterday. 

 more laundry to do today.  more cleaning.  back to work tomorrow...such an exciting life i live.

 it's labor day weekend.  that will just mean more crowds at the trails.  not sure where we will walk today.  should do a real hike. 

 the pups enjoy a swim in fairly cold water.  they never seem to mind the cold.  it was a hot day though so that had to help..

 the views were spectacular!!  i finally made the trek down the other side to the lake.  the biting flies were in full force. not a trek I'd do on my own, too brushy.  so happy my friend was able to join me.

 the sun will soon be rising, I'll be able to better assess the damage out back.

 it's always something...so it's good to have down time in life to recovery from the stress of day to day.

 Alaska gives you plenty of opportunity to enjoy and relax.

thankful for: A.  the general health that allows me to enjoy the beauty of this place  B.  sweet dogs to enjoy this place with C.  a planned visit with a friend along with some adventures