two nights of moose visits...

 i never bore of these amazing animals.  the last two evenings this moose has opted to have a meal at my little tree out front. the critters and I all took the opportunity to enjoy the view.  during a time of pandemic lock down it is nice when the Alaskan wildlife comes to you. 

 this time of year the moose are more prevalent in town as they are waiting out winter, a bit weaker and ready for easy meals.  many opt to have their babies in town and moose birthing is not that long off. above is from yesterdays outing to the beach at Kincaid. yesterday was a good day.  enjoyed the walk out there. had the entire beach to myself.  as i left some folks were coming down to beach.  one turned out to be a co-worker, who left the state and has returned. 

 had some ashes from my past pups with me, i tend to just leave some in my day pack just in case i find a nice spot to leave some behind.  they have all hiked miles with me so seems fitting to leave some ashes behind on walks from time to time.  also seems fitting to have these pups along on the walks anyway.  3 large dogs ashes last quite a while when you just carry old medicine vials of ashes with you i have discovered.  still seems better for me to take them along and distribute slowly than do a big dump of ashes.  hard to tell i guess but this is a large ice berg on the beach.

 things seem to be moving along nicely with the two cats. the animals all are laying nearer to each other during sleep times and this incident was captured one morning...a quick bath from Miss Breezy Chatterbug.  it didn't last long before she got annoyed.  he didn't do anything to earn her annoyance that i could see.  just like a girl...i know.  all females are known to lash out from time to time.  we are testy little beings some days

 i have work on Thursday again.  trying to enjoy the time off. i can get more anxious knowing my work stretch is coming.

 today on my outdoor trek time i found the anxiety building.  i think some of it may be some gastritis.  i had that with my gall bladder issues and from time to time i still get mild heartburn.  i opted to just bag on my planned outing and try again later.  i did manage a walk later with the dogs.  so the rest of the day went much better. overall, i feel like i have done better this week than the previous week as far as anxiety with all the covid crap.

 Covi Kitty watches the moose from upstairs.

 as i drove home the first time there was a strange obstacle on my street.  turns out some drunk lady had lay herself down right in the middle of the street and passed out.  the car ahead of me stopped and yelled out managing to social distance and wake her up.  she staggered on down the street.  i waited in the car until she was a good distance away.

 chatted with some friends earlier and while driving.  always good to catch up with friends.  amazing as well how despite months/years passing between conversations it can feel like no time has passed. feeling better about family . have to remind myself that they just have a different view of family and that i can't expect from others more than they are willing or able to give. there are always things in life you can't change. you can beat your head against a wall trying to change them or you can vent your frustration and move on.

 i had originally planned to hit Point Woronzof for the low tide today but i think my friend and i were sharing our anxieties over this covid stuff and the trail there was slushy/icy so i changed my mind.  stopped for bread on the way home and by the time i was heading up to another trailhead my anxiety was building.

 thankfully, i have very tolerant dogs.  they can do fine with a change of plans. 

 so not really sure what happened today since i had been feeling calmer.  i'm sure it will wax and wane for all of us during this time. our usual coping mechanisms can be cut off from us at times.

 i do see kids outside doing kid things....makes me think that perhaps these kids may be given some of the independence that hasn't been given to kids the past few decades.  the kids seemed to be adapting and figuring out ways to entertain themselves.  seems the past few decades kids lives were all planned and plotted out which has always seemed a bit unhealthy.

 i got the dog crate cleared out so the space is again open.

 the other day i went out to my car and discovered i'd forgotten to lock the door..the first thing i looked for was my little bottle of sanitizer.  that just shows what strange times these are.

 i know i'm not the only one with anxiety through this.  i try to just be honest and write about what i am feeling in the blog because i know that others are having those same feelings.  it's always worse i think when you start to make yourself believe it's just you.

 selfie with a moose.  it really didn't seem concerned with me at all.

 we are quickly moving towards break up.  the beach still has quite a lot of ice on it.  walking can start to get a bit more difficult as the snow and ice break up.  it will get muddy.  with the wind we had over the past few days there was ice, but really not too bad heading down to the beach.  i wore my cleats-icebugs yesterday but those boots are worn out.  i have trashed them with years of walking with them.  i ended up with a bit of a blister on my heel. 

 still managing to get my miles in...over 10,000 steps most days.

 the dogs remain very good motivators.  it would have been easy to just bail on todays walk but once i made the second try all went fine.  the new kitten is a good motivator as well.  wearing out the dogs makes for less cat chasing.  also it gives the two cats the time and space to work out their relationship. 

 so far Covi Cat seems to be a very good fit.

 he is a big of a pig.  he is gonna be a big cat.  he has loads of personality.

 just paid bills after eating a tums and pepcid and my gut feels better.

 as i had predicted by Monday our death toll nation wide was over 10,000.  it continues to climb, scary.  our state only had 6 last i checked.  i try not to allow myself to spend too much time obsessing about it, watching news and all that.  i have been comforted by the fact that our state doesn't have huge leaps in numbers each day. in other states the positive tests would double each day...ours tends to be consistent.  is that because we aren't testing many?  not sure but i suspect if our numbers were going up exponentially we would have increased hospital patients as well and i don't think that number is huge.

 one positive cropped up in Bethel, which has always been a vat of bugs from what i have always known...so if they get it moving through there it could be trouble.  so far the villages have seemed to keep fairly clear of this.  that can change rapidly as they tend to live in smaller quarters with more people living in each house...with it being cold out it can  be tough to do distancing. our temps in Anchorage have been in the 20's-30's.  Fairbanks right now is below 10F and Barrow is sub zero so it's easy to forget that it is still winter in many areas of Alaska.

 Covi Kitty is very comfortable moving through the house as he pleases. 

 i bring Miss Breezy down on occasion in hopes she can gain more confidence along with the kitten.  she stayed here for a few minutes and played with Covi. 

 mostly she is an upstairs cat.  Covi follows me up and down.  when this is over and i have friends over i think he will be a cat who says hello instead of running and hiding.

 one hospital administrator back east was talking about masks...i can't remember the time frame but he was saying that before this they'd use 5000 masks in a certain time period but now that number is 90,000 in the same time frame.  which is astounding and one good reason for rapid testing.  we waste a lot of gear waiting far too long for test results.

 in order to get stuff back functioning i do think we need testing to be able to tell who has had it already and can thus get back to work. 

 i figure i have enough food to get me through this next week. so i will skip my weekly shopping except the bread.  it is easier to just take sandwiches to work.  i can eat them without touching them. 

 the rest of these are from August. our trek to Valdez.

 we had fun watching the salmon running.  loads of fish

 also loads of dead fish all over the place.  thankfully, my pups are more interested in the tennis ball than the dead fish.  so far they have stood on dead fish but not rolled on them

 i would love a trek down to the Kenai..not a good idea until we know which way this is going for our state.  still hopeful we can isolate our state and avoid the worst of this.  then we could actually maybe get some of our summer to enjoy in state

 fish on the move upstream.

 it's low tide in these.

 the gulls peck their eyes out...no doubt before they are even dead.  nasty little birds.  i figure you must have been one terrible person to return as a salmon.  what a brutal life cycle.  it doesn't end well. 

 fish all over this little stream

 look at the bloody eye socket....brutal i tell ya!!

 the test results for covid can come back as false negatives. i know in the places that are so busy they often don't even test and instead assume. i think NY had 1 death ever 2 minutes these last few days.  that is crazy.  how do you turn around rooms with those numbers and how are the staff coping with so much loss. patients are not allowed visitors so death has become a lonely and even more painful thing for families. funerals aren't happening.  in some areas i was reading only the funeral director and a priest are at the graveside, they take photos of the casket being lowered for family.  strange times.

 the GOP are hard at work despite the pandemic, on voter suppression.  they really are jerks in many cases.

 these are from the drive back to Anchorage.

 not bad scenery

 the Captain of the ship that was fired after it became public his search for help due to covid outbreak has tested positive. the guy who fired him has resigned after he was heard ranting about the captain and calling him names.  this administration is the worst thing to ever happen to our nation.  i really just hope the fools who support him start to wake up soon. 

 an old rusty chain but it made for a photo

 this is just by the side of the road but it was a chance to let the dogs out to play

 a short stop for another stretch at Worthington Glacier.

 i had napped earlier so now it's time to go to bed for real. time is strange these days.

thankful for: A. the entertainment of animals B. support of friends C. any good news on the pandemic