time to kill

 gonna meet a friend for a late walk so i had some time to kill. time i could spend cleaning or paying bills or replacing the battery in the smoke detector that is annoyingly chirping away at me.

 instead i will blog and eat chips...a few from Mondays walk.  we did the most of the big loop. temps cold again.  no frost on me because i have no scarf and/or face mask. plus my hair was mostly tied back.

 4 happy dogs.  mine are up for another walk.  we have tossed the tennis ball and yesterday after a nap they were also crazy to play again.

 yes, i have created super exercised healthy dogs that have high expectations for daily exercise. a co-worker was complaining to me last week about how his dog was chewing up stuff. i asked how often he walks his dog...he just answered that the dog has a big yard.  for dogs that is not enough. not sure he will start walking his dog much more though.

 the rest are from Turnigan arm. different days.  the later ones are some from the walk out on Portage lake the other day

 eagles.  still cruising around all winter.  the train below.

 find these GOP lawyers defense interesting.  lacking greatly in any defense but interesting.  can't submit the book because it's not really vetted or something like that...fine don't submit the book Bolton is writing just get him to testify. 

 they really don't want anyone to testify.  they can dance around it all they want but the citizens are more on the side of more testimony and why not? they bitched the house didn't have more witnesses and yet they refuse to call any.  they bitched that the house did things first in closed sessions and yet, that is exactly what they say they will do if Bolton testifies.

 they rant that there were no first hand testimonies, well get Bolton. they have all the power, they can call anyone they want.  they do not need the Dems to support calling any witness they want....be it Biden or Hunter or Elmer Fudd. Gosh...what are they afraid of?

 every bit of truth that seems to be turned up doesn't really look good for trump. now Kelly came out stating he'd believe anything Bolton says over Trump. why hasn't Bolton just done an interview and say the basics? does he want to be subject of a subpoena?  does he want to see the Trump administration defy that subpoena.  how pissed is he?  or is he still more loyal than we know.

 i just want people put under oath to speak the truth...let the chips fall where they may.  we want the truth. we demand the truth. sadly, most Americans will not bother to demand the truth.  they don't really care.  they want their agenda to go through and are willing to look away at most behavior...pussy grabber and all. that weekend they made a choice.  to stand by this detestable person no matter what in order to get their way.  they believe that strongly that their way is the only right way...so strongly that they are willing accept anything from this fool. no way Trump could not lie under oath, they will never put him in that position.  they know it's true.

 he belittles members of the military and yet they rant that he is a great supporter of the military.  he lied and said there were no injuries after Iran bombed our base in Iraq...and when the truth comes out that there were several head injuries, concussions and continued headaches.  he bashes those as of no consequence.  he, who used his money to get out of service. 

 speaking of the service.  Kobe Bryant, a basketball player, died in a helicopter crash the other day.  a total of 9 died in the crash.  i think it leaked out that he was on board so it was all over social media about his death. 

 as is the usual thing now...once posts start flying about someone well known dying, others start to post these articles and memes about how our military and police die and their photo's do not go viral like someone like Kobe.  it becomes this test of patriotism it seems.  we are more patriotic because we are outraged that some well known person death has gone viral and all these police and military have died and not gone viral. i do get annoyed about it all.

 first off, it could well be that his family and friends are not exactly thrilled they learned about his death on social media. the others were respected enough to await the coroners ID to be informed. secondly, now his family gets to have a very public remembrance that he did some things in his life that were less than honorable.  is this really the time and also....the guy is dead, it's not like he asked for himself to go viral.

 there are many people in our world who die quietly.  that doesn't make them less.  it doesn't mean we do not appreciate and mourn their loss..even if we do not post every obituary.  just like Kobe, there are many police and service members who maybe have a bit of an unknown history.  i have no idea if i started to post every police and service persons death whether i am now highlighting someone who perhaps caused great pain to those around them despite them doing an honorable job at work. spouse abuse, alcoholics, drug addicts...probably best to let their family and loved ones post the sentiments and then if you wish to pass those along, fine.

 it's not a competition though. 

 also there are many who do honorable work despite being not so honorable humans at times. none of us are perfect.  going viral on social media is no indicator of who is more decent, who is a better person.

 also find it funny to hear a guy call me out like I'm putting Kobe on a pedestal ( i didn't, never even posted about his death on my social media) while he no doubt loves the current iitoo. trump has an incredibly checkered past.  so many NDA's and pay outs...

 the truth is.  people who are well known will always get lots of media attention when they die, especially tragically. that is just how it is.  i don't think it's right or wrong. i also believe that the one has absolutely nothing to do with the other.  it may be annoying to some but i also think this little battle like so many other silly battles are politically pushed and driven to create divides. the i am more patriotic because I'm outraged Kobe has gone viral in his death, while police and service men and women die a relatively anonymous death.

 if trump's plane crashed and everyone died, the media coverage would focus first on his death. the pilot, the secret service...who died along with him would be an also on board, noted much later after the fact.  it doesn't mean their lives mean less, it's just a well known person will be the one that brings attention to the thing. 

 there was just a large quake today in Jamaica.  if it turns out that a movie star or whatever was injured or died that will be the big headline. life isn't fair as they say.  move on.

 it has warmed up to  nearly10 degrees out there. should make the walk more comfortable.  haven't seen this friend for a bit so should be fun to catch up.

 a few sunsets from the other day

 always pretty with the ice out there.

 today marks an anniversary of the shuttle craft blowing up on take off.  yesterday marked 75 years since Russian troops liberated those remaining at the Aushchwitz/Birkenau camps.  would i be chastised if i posted remembrance of these people and not service men and police deaths? people get way too offended too easily these days. i just think the outrage is out of balance. Mother Theresa died the same time as Princess Diana and of course, the media hype was all about Princess Diana.  i really doubt Mother Theresa would have cared.  she never did what she did for the attention of others.  it's just how it works. 

 anyway, to listen to the trump defense may make you think Hunter and VP Biden were on trial or even Rudy. 

 their concern about corruption would have more meaning if they concerned themselves with corruptions in other nations with corruption...but they don't seem to concern themselves at all with it. 

 why are stars seemingly mourned more than regular folks.  they are in our lives more quite simply.  we watch them on sporting events (i don't usually but others do). we listen to their music, we watch their movies. many follow their lives on social media. it's not that they are greater than the rest of us no namers but they are recognized.  we have a false sense of actually knowing them because we know them and their lives more intimately than we really should. that is the nature of the beast, more so with social media.

 i think people just blow the reaction to these lost lives out of proportion. people react because it's like, a bit like losing a loved one or an acquaintance. we can feel some of those same feelings after a stranger passes if we read an article or see a news report, or if they did in a more tragic way or if their loss feels more painful than usual. a young girl hit by a truck, getting trapped under that truck and being dragged down a hill to her death.  i have no idea who she is but that death always sticks with me.

 tragedy gets to us all.  it's just brought closer to home when it's someone we feel we know. i see death all the time and some are just harder to bear than others.

 in general our society is not great at death.  we try to ignore it. we try to pretend it never happens...but we do get reminders from time to time that bring it home to us. Kobe was only 41 i think, his daughter 13....i think that just makes people think of themselves and how we are all just here and that anytime we could be gone.

 almost time to walk.  i have killed some time rambling.

 these are the steam coming off the water the morning we drove to Portage. it really looks cool.  hard to do it justice

 of course, there are loads of ice bergs out there right now.  winter.

 an eagle on a tree by Girdwood.  seen as i gassed up the car.  not sure what is outside but the dogs are all up in arms. 

 the dogs lost the toy pretty much as soon as we hit the lake.  in this you can actually see a bit how the two trails diverged. 

 at first we worked our way out the one that would be a more direct route to the glacier. but it died off and led to post holing.

 we turned back and headed across the lake on the more packed trail. not sure why that route was more popular and got packed quicker. i was hoping our delay post snowfall would have created a good path.

 we will try again another year.  it's always beautiful out there.

 so here we are heading out across the lake.

 views spectacular either way

 the dogs really had a great time playing in the snow.  they were wiped out!!

 there was some ice falls on the other side of the lake so we got fairly close to these...the trail died off here as well and another side trail headed back towards the turn to the glacier

 as you can see ahead quite a few folks are out on the lake...most of those you see have snow shoes or skies.

 on the trail...

 tusker all bootied up.  i best get out on the trail myself. enjoy your day.

thankful for: a. each day b. the beauty of each season c. the dogs i share my life with.  so adorable