i'm in the fog...

 at least my sinuses are.  i have managed dog walks every day.  tired and lazy much of my days off though.  such a bother. the first day i was walking but i felt like my brain was napping the whole time. not sure if it will get worse or go away.  usually anything i get turns into bronchitis. we shall see. today we walked down to the beach.

 there was a bit of a wind so we didn't stay long.  the dogs had fun since we saw hardly a soul out there so they could run to their hearts content.

 squirrel chasing!!  no moose spotted while we were in Kincaid. 

 i drove past Lake Hood to check out the planes then drove to the back of main airstrip for more moose spotting.  i did spot a few moose by the road.  by the airstrip i didn't see any moose but there were a few short eared owls hunting near the airstrip.

 didn't get any pictures of them really but it was fun watching them hunt out there.  it is a place to watch for owls.  maybe they will hang out for a bit. 

 on the road there was a guy who's car had gone into the snow.  he couldn't get out.  i decided i should add some coins to my good karma bank so i stopped to try and help.  my car was only moving towards getting stuck as well so i failed to get him out.  i did leave him my little tow line. i'll have to replace that.  he did volunteer to return it but i just told him to use it the next time he saw someone ditched.  pass it along.

 have had hopes of hitting the pool but those have been dashed as soon as i snuggle in the covers to get warm post walk.

 i have immersed myself in the Wings series.  an old series.  i only discovered it when i lived in South Dakota.  the re-runs came on as i was getting ready for work so i'd watch those as i got ready. fun to watch it in order finally.

 feel like i haven't accomplished much else.  i did write to the REI store about scheduling our lecture.  i'll have to select some dates and see who that works for and if we can get that slot...also find a speaker.

 need to draw a mock up of the next sticker art and see if my ex-ranger from out there will be willing to do more art for us. 

 the bed gets kind of crowded, but it is great for the reheating process after a walk outside.

 i have managed to get the house stuff done, bills, dishes and laundry...so i'm not a total lazy person.

 got into a bit of a internet discussion. the one chick started to get a bit roughed up but i told her to simmer down and in the end we had a pleasant conversation i think.  it was in an article about the Quest, which Sass just won.  but a team had come in without the musher who had fallen asleep and fallen off the sled.  this happens on occasion.

 i just mentioned that i felt that like driving a car if they are getting too drowsy they should be pulling their dog team over and taking a nap.  they should not be asleep on the runners.  the health of their dog team depends on them.  i felt they should be punished for being spotted asleep out there.  it would be difficult to monitor i do realize.

 this girl has done some mushing i guess.  her name did sound familiar as it's an unusual name i think.  i don't know.  in the end she did give me the impression that this happens fairly regularly, which i had figured.  she mentioned that getting in the sled bag and sleeping would be wrong...i can't imagine anyone does that...but the fact that she mentioned it makes me wonder if they do?

 my argument is that the mushing world should discourage sleeping on the runners/dozing off as it were because it looks bad.  Peta and others do not like dog mushing.  all they need is more videos of mushers asleep on the runners, it looks bad.  these races are already losing the battle.  sponsors are exiting these races. they need to at least give the appearance of doing everything they can for the dogs.

 i argued that the musher should be awake to watch for signs of illness or injury.  a small illness/injury could be made worse or deadly because a musher is sleeping and the dog is forced to keep running.  they are on a team.  those dogs are born to run. it's a selling point but it can also be deadly.  wolves and other wild animals do not run just to run.  sled dogs do.  most wild animals will tend to avoid that sort of activity unless it's required because all the energy they expend they must find food to refuel.

 i have labradoodles, before that i had labs.  they are tennis ball obsessed.  i can't say that they would not jump off a cliff going after a tennis ball. the musher i was in the discussion with was saying the dogs would not go through the ice in a river.  i was saying if a team was running loose it was feasible that they could fall into a hole in the ice on  the river, get tangled in a mass of rope and more injuries happen.  she didn't think they would do that. hell humans on snowmachines go in to those rivers and are killed it seems every year.  sometimes you can't see the hole in the ice...or an ice bridge collapses.

 the bottom line is the human is ultimately responsible for the team and if those animals are injured while they are sleeping or after they fall off the sled...that is not good for mushing.  every death of a dog makes me cringe....and i love watching the teams.  i just know it's a sport that is always under the eye of others.

 the rest of these are in Valdez. 

 she also said they cut the risk of aspiration pneumonia by resting after they feed. i have no idea how long they rest but dog gastric emptying can be anywhere from 4-10 hours. i've had dogs puke up hours after they've eaten and been surprised how little digested it was.  aside from accidents or trauma in the races it seems like aspiration pneumonia's and gastric ulcers are commonly the culprits of dog deaths in these long races.

 sent my brother a little text with a picture of the meme that is on his page.  we aren't friends but i do swing by their pages from time to time.  i'm not blocked and in general now when i pop by i only see things they've tagged their kids in...so family photo's.  rarely other stuff pops up, not sure how that all works.  but this time a pretty offensive meme popped up. a friend of his had tagged him with it.  he wrote me that he'd never seen it ( he had clicked like on it) but said he would delete it.  (he hasn't)

 just makes me wonder just how far off the rails you have to be to not see how offensive certain things are.  this is social media.  it's one thing to send memes in messages or texts to individuals but to leave things that are offensive on your public page.  then i have to wonder, don't you have friends or other family who will let you know, even if you don't know, that things are offensive.  just very disappointing how far the hate flies out there. 

 the pups discovered the salmon running up this little creek.  it was super funny watching the pups flip out as the fish swam wildly around them.

 we were up creek a bit later and there were way more fish and the dogs really flipped out up there.  hilarious.

 he's watching fish below. 

 tag teaming the fish. 

 anyway....the meme was offensive, crude. i guess it's clear that Romney is now on the enemy list in the family.  they probably voted for him before.  can't speak ill of the Fuhrer. he is their king now.  he can do no wrong.  anything he says or does cannot be used against him.

 he is free to use his power to go after his enemies, real or imagined.  he is free to use his power to fire those who followed subpoena's and testify.  he fired Vindman...and his brother for no reason.  the excuses fly all around.  the crazy judge on fox was screaming that Romney was stupid and the right have been calling for him to be kicked out of the party. 

 i'm not sure they have so many voters on their side that they can afford to keep alienating voters.  i can't believe the military is too pleased with him. he's talked crap about the leadership in the military. lied about the injuries in the Iran attack in Iraq, belittled the injuries of the over 100 at this time...claiming those were just mild headaches, no big deal.  he pardoned the seal that the military determined behaved immorally. 

 as long as he is talking shit about liberals and hitting the conservative talking points he can do anything.  as i said months ago, there are similarities in my mind between the radicalizing of these evangelicals and the radicalization of Islam.  at first they all clump together with a specific goal. eventually the mainstream are not seen as radical enough and are ditched and trashed and in Islam killed.  the same will happen with the Christians.  the evangelicals are more radical.  the others lump themselves with them because on the surface they believe they all have the same goals.  i already heard evangelicals post Romney saying Mormons aren't Christians...the old is new again. 

 that is something the Mormons have been trying to correct for years. i've watched them become more and more mainstream...which is odd to me since Joseph Smith had gotten inspired that none of the churches had the truth.  he then created a church that was very different in doctrine than the mainstream churches.  the differences seem less and less though.  are they the first the evangelicals will peel off? Did Romney standing up and speaking truth impact the views of his chosen church?

 the primaries are happening.  i think the one guy running against trump even got like 10% of the vote..not sure he's even on the ballot.  i suspect many who will ultimately vote trump won't bother with the GOP primaries.

 Sanders, Buttegeg and Kloboshar.  i'm sure i spelled those wrong. were 1,2, 3.  i suspect Sanders and Warren would be a tough sell for some moderate republicans who don't like trump.  would butteigeg lose votes because he's gay...if they can't stand a black guy in office i suspect a gay guy would be a tough sell too.  i like him.  he does lack experience but so did Obama and Trump. the difference being Obama surrounded himself with good people and actually listened to them.  trump has done neither of those things since he's a total narcissist who believes he knows more about everything than everyone. haha....sadly, he says just that about everything.  even more sad, his loyal sheep believe him.

 i like Kloboshar as well. she and Buttegeg are both fairly moderate which i like.  seem reasonable, intelligent...it would be so nice to have intelligence in the high office again.

 Binden hasn't done well in the first few primaries.  we shall see.  it will be more lock her up the entire election process as Guiliani and trumps personal lawyer Barr will make sure of that. plus he seems to have this attitude that he can duke it out.  not that trump will even participate in any debates, but i could see it turning into a fist fight with those two old men.  that ain't good for anyone.

 salmon piled up on each other heading upstream.

 whoever ends up on the Dem ticket had better pick a good running mate...no Sarah Palins please.  i suspect McCain regretted that selection to his dying day. 

 the seagulls fly around eating the dead salmon, plucking the eyes out of the barely alive ones. they love the eyeballs.  pretty brutal life cycle.

 sometimes the seagulls just enjoy the tides.

 this day they were riding the creek down, then lifting off and flying back to the top to ride back down again.  pretty funny to watch.

 all the dark areas are salmon.

 there are also a few bald eagles who feast on occasion and seals and sea lions as well. 

 those salmon are the feast for many.  they suffer in those final days of life.  wonder what they did in a previous life to deserve such a fate...were they all politicians? fated to run upstream forever more to make up for the corrupt and greedy behavior in life. 

 of course, 6 years in the senate and you are taken care of for life i think.  some days i think...i could do that.  those yo yo's are no better than me. 

 funky looking sea gull.

 not sure of my specific sea gull names. well, i guess i shall finish paying bills and head to bed.  the sinuses drain whenever i move...so fun.  spell check seems to have disappeared.  so sorry....

thankful for: A. fresh ice water.  my favorite drink  B. silly tv shows that entertain me C. cute puppies that warm me up, make me laugh and keep me company.