I ran out of deodorant for a week....

 so either my body odor isn't too offensive or people are really nice.  you will be happy to know i went shopping and i again have deodorant...why risk it i guess. 

 the bed seems fairly crowded some days. i find a way to sleep anyway.  snuggly time with the furs is welcome.

 walk with one of the first people i met when i moved up to Anchorage.  :-)  a favorite for sure. i am really blessed to have met and made friends with so many really amazing folks. i am for sure a better person for each person in my life.  you learn something from each life that touches yours.

 being a nurse you work long hours together in some pretty wild and interesting situations...makes it easy to really get to know a variety of people that you would probably never really cross in a normal life. working nights i think is also conducive to deeper conversations or totally lighthearted, bizarre and yes, disgusting conversations.  it for sure ain't the usual water cooler conversations!!

 politics and party won over common sense and country this week. the senate opted out of listening to any further witnesses or requesting any further documents...since one article is about how trump obstructed the investigation that seems pretty nuts.  many GOP senators even said that the evidence was there but that they were going to vote against removal anyway...let the voters decide, don't take the rights away from the voters...a load of crap..you know what.  the voters elected you to be a check and balance on the powers.  we elected you to do your oversight duties. 

 since they have opted to not do their oversight duties and instead give over their power to the executive branch, they have not only not done their jobs they have made our jobs more difficult since they can't be bothered to push for this administration to release documents that would be helpful in all of us making that decision.  it would also be helpful to hear from pertinent witnesses.  the GOP did their best to muddy the waters with all their conspiracy theories. 

 the freaky thing is that one of the lawyers on trumps team was quite possibly an eye witness to these events...that seems a gross abuse of his powers and i would hope that someone has filed with his bar association.  if Bolton is to be believed...which well, who wouldn't believe anyone over trump.  he's a habitual liar. 

 through all of the GOP ramblings i just kept thinking of the irony and aggravation that these same fools went after Clinton every way they could and put this nation through the semen on the blue dress thing...that is not illegal but they took it and ran.  Clinton should have been less law abiding like his GOP attackers and just not testified.  he would not have lied under oath so stupidly.  they didn't call more witnesses because nobody in America wanted to hear day in and day out about Clintons sex life. 

 is it impeachable when an entire political party is caught lying about giving their commander in chief a blow job on the senate floor? 

 the smoke screen succeeded.  if the continued and unchanged comments from the cult trump followers and to be believed.  they just keep saying the same silly things over and over, chasing the same debunked conspiracy theories over and over. using the same whataboutisms over and over ...they never actually defend this fool, who can.  instead they just turn and attack everyone and anyone who dares say anything negative about their new God.

 these are back out on Portage lake.

 i wrote a comment on a post about Lamar Alexander(R) who said, "i don't think it's the kind of inappropriate action that the framers would expect the senate to substitute its judgment for the people in picking a president".  my comment, "the voters did speak, they chose representatives to root out the corruption and find the truth. U failed to do your job. Hopefully we vote in others who won't be so weak and will instead seek out corruption and actually do what they can to end it".  it got 353 likes and there are 105 replies and counting. most of the cult defenders just post ridiculous and unrelated crap or just argue or scream praises for their leader. don't worry i didn't try to argue with all those fools who went after me.  it can be quite entertaining to write a post and then just watch things light up.

 it's pretty scary how many senators and high level GOP members names are being dropped by both Parnas and Boltons book leaks.  Graham, Nunes, Pence, Barr!! i do wonder what Bolton will do.  as predicted...it happens every single time...anyone who speaks out against the supreme leader Trump gets trashed by both trump and his surrogates...they get called never trumpers or deep state...the witness who did testify in the Senate are all either career government workers with a lot of knowledge or folks who were serving in the trump administration.  like McCain, you speak evil of the devil they will douse you with their wrath. 

 i made another comment of a friends page, "because we all lose in this.  having corruption get a pass at the highest level is not a victory for any of us.  they don't deny what he did.  they just don't want to hear how wrong it was, how deep the corruption is, how many and who knew.  they don't want to explore it because winning the battle is more important to them in this moment than winning the war.  covering up the truth makes them look better today.  they obstructed our rights, as citizens, to hear all the information". this was in response to a meme. 

 the meme is pretty true to life though.  GOP: the Potus didn't do it  GOP: even if he did do it, the evidence is all heresay. GOP: even if there are actual witnesses we don't want to hear from them. GOP: even if we heard from them, it doesn't meet the standards of impeachment GOP: even if it does meet that standard, we still have all the votes we need to block it GOP: we find the potus innocent by reason that we don't care if he's guilty.  that is really the state we are in.

 this stretch i worked PICU, Peds and then PCU.  the middle night started out a bit odd.  i was sent to ICU, took report but as i was finishing report i was sent to PCU, when i got there, they looked at me oddly as they were fully staffed.  so i ended up in the supervisors area until they made adjustments...then sending me to Peds so a peds nurse could go to NICU.  that isn't exhausting at all. i actually ended up getting the best end of that deal for sure. i called my friend in the ICU in the wee hours to gloat a bit. 

 hit the dog park yesterday and N. Bivouac today. 

 my neighbor came over this evening as her washer broke and totally flooded her entire downstairs area.  she though insurance as going to just cover the flooring replacement costs...she just found out her cabinets were also damaged enough that her insurance will cover that...so she stopped by to look at my remodeled kitchen since she liked it.  she asked questions and took pictures.

 house cleaning, laundry, dishes...kept myself occupied for much of the evening.  even made  a run to Target.  i had gotten a gift card so i had fun shopping. 

 it is a joke that Murkowski or any GOP member is "offended" by anything anyone says...have they listened to their elected potus or read his tweets...or perhaps they forget given him a pass on the whole pussy grabber tape situation. 

 i have sent off a few emails to her this week. 

 the white house continues on it's obstruction ways...now it's going after Boltons book...i suspect he knows a hell of a lot more about what is classified than anyone on trumps administration....but they are going to do every thing they can figure out to obstruct and prevent any of this truth from getting out...they will ultimately fail.  how much damage will our great nation have to recover from later as this shit show continues completely unchecked.

 super bowl...i was one of just a few across the nation that couldn't be bothered i guess.  i did watch a  bit of the dog bowl.  who doesn't like watching those puppies!!

 Pompeo went after an NPR reporter and then doubled down.  he's a piece of work.

 the GOP were concerned they may miss the Super Bowl over this impeachment.  trump wanted it done in time for him to gloat at his state of the union.  i am not sure that would be very beneficial for any of the GOP to have him go off on one of his off the rails ramblings about how great he is and how terrible the Dems are. 

 at this time it's looking like the vote won't happen until Wednesday.  there will be comments by members of the Senate i think for the next few days. 

 Dershowitz had a bizarre defense this week.  the next day he had been replaced on the panel of trump lawyers...i never heard any explanation for that.  he'd claimed that basically anything the potus does is fine as long as he believes it's in the public interest. of course, he believes he is king so he things everything that is great for him must be great for all.  Dershowitz tried to blame the media..oh that fake news!! i heard him give that little rant.  it seemed so bizarre and like utter bull.  he tried to back step it and the guy who wrote what ever paper Dershowitz was siting very quickly got out there to say that that is not at all what his paper stated. him getting elected is in the public interest so he can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants to make that happen.  it's crazy shit!

 trumps fence is already falling down.  not even a strong wind dropped the thing.  so much wasted tax dollars.  there was also a huge and deep tunnel discovered...how many more of those exist or will exist...or how long until drones become sophisticated enough to drop illegal products or humans over the border walls they build.  there is also a need during flood seasons to have those walls porous.  flash floods are more powerful than walls in many cases.

 the witness thing...if i left my friends house but sat in my car across the street texting and saw a mutual friend enter the same friends house...then later hear that this friend was murdered that night...I'm guessing that even if there was DNA and some video evidence most people would want to hear from the person who was in the car across the street.  more evidence is generally welcome as it corroborates the facts already on record. so these arguments that the house was supposed to do all this are nuts.  you do not turn away evidence and witnesses in a hearing if it is directly related and more closely clarifies the facts...unless you have something to hide.

 you can see some smoke coming out of Mt Redoubt below.  it's an active volcano as you can see. the closest one to Anchorage.

 as suspected China leadership has grossly under reported the impact of the corona virus that is now ready to travel near and far.  we have had a pretty bad flu season here as well.  influenza B mostly. a plane landed here from Wuhan. we are a stopping point for many Asian flights.  it was a chartered flight and the passengers, from what i heard from my sources, were US government folks and their families. they were isolated before they left and had their temps and symptoms checked every hour in flight.  they stopped here and were checked and then flew on to CA to a military base, Ontario area, for further checks and more isolation prior to being released into the general public. 

 with all the air travel on this globe, it will be tough to contain anything any more....add to that the fact that people will lie when it's in their best interest often.  they want to get on that plane and get home...they will cover symptoms and load up. 

 sunset on the drive back from Portage, big camera

 more of the smoking Redoubt

 these last few are from my trip to Mexico with my niece and her kids.  we had a fun time.  hopefully, we can hang a bit in Boston this fall.  it was great this day to get off the ship and walk around in nature. 

 the ruins are pretty cool.  reminds us of how generations have come before us and hopefully generations will come after us.  time passes, history is forgotten.  civilizations disappear.

 power is not forever.

 most of us are just pawns...living our day to day lives and hoping the crazy crap just doesn't land near us.

 it is funny what you get used to. the heat out walking was fairly stifling.  i felt totally out of shape and i walk further and faster every day up here.  i don't do those stairs but still.  it was surprising how much more difficult these little walks were down there in the heat.

 the kids had a great time.  my niece wisely selected ruins that still allow climbing....for sure made it more fun.  i get why many sites have  stopped this practice and I'm sure one day these sites will as well. these aren't the more popular ones....we enjoyed them. 

 the big trees and diverse plants was fun for me....just such a change from up here.

 seen against the ruins. 

 these were under the thatched roofs to protect them. 

 Claire makes the climb up the steep and tall stairs.

 i eventually made it up there as well.  my knees were less than happy I'd say...the thighs groaned a bit once we were back on the ship. 

 off to bed. 

grateful for: A.  family, especially those to accept me for who i am.  B. nice neighbors C.  a text and an invite. :-)