more pumpkin bread is baked!!

 the house smells nummy! will be able to take some to work this week.  have done a few walks out at the dog park.

 every time the swans are close to shore there i only have my cell phone.  oh well, they are still quite pretty to watch.

 the beavers have done a good job with this tree.  pretty shocked it's still standing. 

 fun to observe their handiwork.  it's quite impressive

 watching a bit of the most recent season of British Baking show so it inspired me to bake.  figure i should try to bake on Sunday nights...take something to the Monday walk crew.  I'm excited to try out a few cool and fun recipes.  now that i have a pretty kitchen it's time to do some pretty bakes!!

 mine will not resemble the bulk of the things seen on the show though. my palate is just not that sophisticated.

 the dogs have gotten fairly close to the swans a few times...they are really only interested in the tennis ball.  they will chase squirrels and much smaller birds...does this demonstrate their increased maturity and intellect...?

 Ivy is there because she is dropping the tennis ball at my feet. 

 seemed a fairly busy work week. my first night i worked ER.  at one point I'd had a few discharges so i picked up a few new patients...they looked pretty uncomplicated...with humans uncomplicated can become much more complicated.  people can be overly dramatic at times...so something relatively simple can turn into a saga.  made for some good laughs as i chased wheelchairs around hunting for my patients.

 i then just gave breaks and ended up going home a bit early, which is always nice.

 my next two nights were in ICU.  both nights i was busy the first part of the shift, transferred a patient out and then got 6 am admits to make my morning a bit crazy. 

 life can change in the blink of an eye...be grateful for the health that you have.  it is fleeting. 

 we are there at peoples darkest moments some days.

 walks and happy dogs do help bring you back to a happy place.  it can be easy to get your emotions pulled into the lives of others. 

 so i did accomplish a few of my goals for this one day off.  it could have been easy to just sleep all day

 dogs are excellent motivators

 that is a better view of just how tenuous the situation is for this poor tree.

 the rest of these are from Sitka.  these darkening days do make it good for looking back at pictures from the summer.  even the summers i don't think I've done hardly anything it usually turns out that i have had some super fun experiences.  that is the fun of looking back and making the calendar...a rush of happy memories of places, people, hikes and scenes.

 it's good to get off the beaten path in Alaska and explore.  I'm not always the best at doing the longer hikes like i used to. pay for it more these days.  I'm still a pretty good hiker/walker though.

 i live in one of the beautiful places...i just don't feel the need to leave here very often. the longer you are away from the lower 48 the easier it becomes to stay away.

 I've known many who left only to return again or wish they could.  it's a place that people seem to either love and never want to leave...or hate and can't wait to leave.

 i once told a newer co-worker that i thought she was going to be a good fit for Alaska...i told her she was "independent and quirky".  she was initially a bit offended by the word quirky. i tried to explain to her that i meant nothing negative about her being quirky.  several months later she mentioned the conversation we had and that she now got what i was saying...she's still there.  you can often tell pretty quickly who is Alaska material.

 we get along because we have that thread that connects us all. 

 some of our other connections can be a bit frayed.  so we are connected to those around u. 

 above we were smashing muscles and feeding the critters in the tiny tide pools.  I've done this since i was a kid in Laguna beach. i think you'd probably be fined for doing it down there now.  just too many people.  too many humans and these simple things become too much for the environment to handle.  i get that.  my friends had never seen the action that happens in a tide pool though . we were given a good show  i think there was even a tiny eel living in the one pool.  tough to get a shot.  my friend dropped her cell phone in there...i don't think it was ever right after that.

 i have always been fascinated by the tide pools.  i took several marine biology courses in college.  there was a great professor that i am still in touch with.  learned a lot from him.  met a lot of fun people as well.

 these are fairly large anemones.

 fireweed was about done

 what to do next year...i still haven't been out to Brooks and the valley of 10,000 smokes.  so that would be fun to get out to.

 rain on the rocks

 the usual seaweed.

 my calendars are already here.  i discovered that i forgot to add the background color to a few of the pages. it's not terrible, but i was bummed. at least i have photo's in each spot. 

 those came super fast though.  probably just early so not too many orders in there yet. 

 driving back from the little beach we had been at.  my friends wanted to explore a skate park..her nephew is into skateboarding so he is always wanting to check out the skate board parks all over...so they were taking some pictures for him.  my other friend and i wandered around this harbor.  there were several harbors around this small town.

 not surprising.  cool name for a boat!

 i tend to try and find boats with the name of the place i am visiting. 

 plenty of them in this harbor

 met with a few friends for a meal this evening.  always fun...so often in life people you have known for years it doesn't matter how long or short the time between visits, you just pick up where you left off.

 raining right now. looking like rain for the next several days.  i head back to work tonight again.  just the one night off.  i wanted Halloween off.  like to hand out the candies, plus don't really like leaving the dogs home alone to face the children and the noises. 

 i have full sized candy bars from costco.  not sure if i word has spread that this tends to be the case at my place.  i do love to see the kids faces light up as they see the full sized bar heading for their bags. 

 mini candy bars came in a few years after i had started trick or treating.  i don't recall our folks going out with us. i was the youngest so maybe it was just our end that went out by ourselves.  at some point there started to be stories of people putting glass and razor blades in candy..was that what it was?  i know some hospitals at the time started to offer to xray kids candy to make sure there wasn't any metal in there.  that was all pretty brief.  eventually my Mom would just give us some candy cash...i think she was starting to get worried that it just wasn't as safe to trick or treat....

 eventually, places and churches started having "trick or trunk" sort of events to be safer.  it was still more fun to cruise around on our own going door to door.  happy my childhood was still free and fairly safe.  we just had a lot of autonomy.  i better run get those loaves out of the tins.  good night.  isn't this little dog cute...this boat was really sweet.  we were admiring it and this little dog popped up to check us out.

thankful for A.  each day that i remain pretty healthy  B.  friends, old and new C.  all the help from my co-workers on busy nights!! even when i do silly things like put a hole in my blood bag when I'm spiking it...what a mess!!!! 

days are getting shorter for sure...

 between dark nights, cold days and the British Baking show...i am feeling a desire to get the big mixer out and do some baking!!

 these first ones are just from local trails and of me attempting to relax inside.  the dogs, especially Ivy Rose are not good at me relaxing

 still some things to find out there in the woods.  that is always the amazing thing about nature. you can journey the same trails over and over but the scenery is always evolving. why do people not feel the need to protect all this that has been created is lost on me.  they may claim to love the earth and appreciate the beauty, but they vote for people who seem intent on destroying it for personal gain.  greed and power.  nothing really changes in the world.

 there will always be those who rise to positions of power for only the greed and power they see.  there are also many who rise in the rants because of a true sense of purpose. both exist and it is up to us to ascertain which is which and do our best to reward those with true purpose and remove those who have corrupt intent. 

 there are many in the GOP who are still hanging on to the pipe dream that some how they can bring positive from negative.  you can not reign in one who is corrupt, greedy and selfish.  they foolishly believed they could control this fool who is clearly beholden to Put.  they have proven they cannot but instead of standing up to him they cower and try to prove their loyalty to him through silly bits on fox news or by breaking security and entering the proceedings of this impeachment investigation.  they broke protocols and security by bringing their phones in.  fools. 

 they are screaming that the process is unfair since that is what trump screams.  the process is the process.  the investigation works more like a grand jury, getting the bits and pieces.  the Senate is where the trial should occur.  will it though.  will it actually be anything but a false court...or will Moscow Mitch finally be done with him by then and actually hold court. 

 none of them seem to be denying what high crimes and misdemeanors he has done...things far worse than having sex in the oval office and lying about it.  even far worse than the watergate break ins. still they all keep defending him. 

 his lawyers in NY are trying to prevent his financial records from coming to light...it's a huge deal to him that these do not come to light.  instead of asking why he is fighting this so hard, they all defend him even though they would never accept this in anyone of the other party. they like to pretend the liberals are hysterical...deranged.  I've been called deranged by family...which is why it was time to just walk away.  i am not supporting a criminal.  i am not supporting illegal activity.  therefore, i am not deranged. I'm supporting a process that it appears more and more each day to prove that this corrupt man who rose to power because of pure hatred, mostly created by a propaganda machine, is as corrupt as all predicted him to be. 

 we weren't all going after him because we hated losing.  we were outraged because he has a history of corruption.  he can no longer have a non-profit in NY because of how the funds were misused in his "non-profit".  he settled out of court on a case of fraud involving a University that screwed over the students.  he's been served many times over for screwing over small business owners and contractors.  people who did work for him and he never paid.  he has a long history of questionable business ties.  he has a history of bankruptcy. so many that he could no longer get loans at US banks...where was he getting his money.

 now in court today, his lawyers were once again trying to argue that as potus he can't be even investigated for any crime.  the judge brought up that line where trump said he could shoot someone in the middle of ny and not lose a vote...the judge asked if trump shot someone in a crowded street, did his lawyers believe he could not even be investigated for that murder...they said yes, he couldn't be investigated until after his reign of potus was over....and his followers are fine with this. 

 mostly i think they choose to ignore it all.  happy with some of the results they are seeing.  anyone who supports him at some point, at some level holds some responsibility.  as long as he has his base, those fools in the GOP will continue to play the fools in public out of fear of losing their positions in power.

 every thing he does, he does for Putin.  this whole Turkey/Syria/Russia debacle. it doesn't benefit the US.  the mess in Ukraine....benefits him and Putin.  these Ambassadors are doing a great job of telling the truth...well not his hand picked one.  that guy appears to probably be caught lying. 

 his personal lawyer was running a shadow foreign policy with two guys who have connections to Russian mob characters...i mean you really can't make this crap up.  i mean any of us can be found to have one connection to someone who turns out to have questionable motives, but there are so many in this cast of corruption.  it's crazy.  they were so brazen they weren't even doing much to hide their intent.  it clearly goes directly to the potus.  i mean who else would be directing guiliani. 

 the two guys picked up who were working with guiliani are tied to a Ukrainian oligarch who is tied to a Russian Mob guy.  these russian mob/oligarch types keep showing up in close proximity to trump and friends. at some point you can not pretend to be a fool...it's just too obvious.

 my cute pair at home.  they have been very active.  i need to hunt for tennis balls tomorrow and rake up some leaves. it's back to work as well. 

 slime mold below...such a bright yellow

 a few reds remain.  i debated a run down to Seward this afternoon but I'm pretty sure it's raining. the sun sets fairly early now as well so if i do head to Seward I'll have to go a bit earlier, spend the night perhaps.

 Ivy has been taking to sitting/laying down on me...is it the new configuration of the furniture?

 after daily walks they are still waiting for action.

 the rest are the last of the Harriman trip back in May.

 our last night of camping.

 i got a call from the urologist while i was out walking.  my kidneys/ureter/bladder are all fine.  i do have a good sized fibroid, which we suspected.  so the results will go to the gynecologist...so he can have a peek at them. so far not causing me too much trouble at the moment, but i would not miss that organ much.

 today a few of us did Rovers Run. 

 this month villagers from the small village of Newtok started to make the move to a new location.  they have been losing land to the sea and it has become more risky to live where they were due to global warming. new homes have been built and they are loading up.

 so it's phase one at this point.  not all the 370 residents will move at once.  the first section is built.

 for people so concerned about hillary's emails they sure don't give a crap about what trump is doing or what these gop fools did today by taking their personal phones in to that meeting. they aren't concerned with crap trumps kids have done.  for people who claim to be so concerned about the folks at Benghazi they are sitting back while trump speaks horribly of all ambassadors.  while they put their lives at risk by putting them in the middle of these schemes.

 today the iitoo was tweeting that Republicans that were "never trumpers" are "human scum".  he's been ranting since Taylor testified.  his brief that was released was damming.  trump is losing his shit.  the walls are closing in...on all of them.  don't try to pretend that pence wasn't aware of much of this crap going on. 

 i was strolling away from camp.  it was our last night out there.  it really is a nice camping spot.

 we had previously camped closer to the glacier but a lake above had burst and taken out the camping area...luckily not while anyone was camping there.  but it must have been quite the wave that came off of that one. 

 stuff happens in the middle of nowhere but thankfully, generally nobody is there to experience it all.

 our last campfire of the trip.  always a favorite

 it was a fun trip. 

 not sure how many more we will do.  hard to get everyone together.

 B takes a fall...S was a bit late with the hand to prevent it.  haha.

 more from the plane crash out in Dutch.  the propeller blades entered the cabin when the crash happened and that killed one and injured 10. it's a notoriously dangerous landing spot.  I've taken off from there but haven't landed as we brought the ferry in.

 it's a fairly short runway.  surrounded by mountains and sea.  weather is often a factor.  there was bad turbulence on this day.  flights had been cancelled in previous days due to weather.  this day they attempted a landing, then circled and attempted again. 

 we had a pretty lovely sunset that night. 

 pink skies

 my friends take a selfie.

 sunset over a glacier

 the next morning we packed up camp.  i think everyone else took little last kayak treks. i just enjoyed peaceful camp time then we waited for the boat to arrive. it rained for us the next day.  i think i got my tent put down in between rain bursts.

 all in all a wonderful trek.

 the trees were covered in moss.

 always so pretty in these rain forests.  off to bed with me

thankful for: a.  fresh clean water to drink b.  heat and electricity.  c. always enough food to eat.