back from Homer....

 a few friends kindly stopped by to check on the cats...well Covi Cat anyway, i'm sure Miss Breezy never made an appearance so thanks to SH and LS.  also Happy B-Day to SH as well.

 i had a successful sea star hunt.  i had 4 great low tides to enjoy and i think i took advantage of each one with long walks and lots of fun photo's.

 the dogs are exhausted.  just took them out for one last bathroom break.  they just wanted to come back in. locking the cat in.  he's been out a lot this afternoon. lots of play time.  hopefully at some point i'll feel safe just leaving the dog door open through the night again.  i'm not there yet for sure.

 the drive to and from homer were clear, sunny. no crowds. 

 anxiety level was low.  still a bit anxious not coming home to the safe zone we all create in our homes.  so far our numbers are good here and i hope we can keep covid at bay here. tourism is looking to be low this summer with the large corporate tour companies/cruise companies opting out for the season. 

 i just love the stars. they just exude happiness.  i always want to comment for them...even though i doubt they are capable of much of an emotional response.  they always seem to make me smile. there were loads of them again this year at low tide. often they are bunched together or they have buried into the sand.

 this one above appears to be dancing and the one below appears to be saluting.

 as the water recedes they are often left kind of hanging on the pilings. you can hear the occasional plop into the water as one drops off, unable to hang on any longer

 i was on the early to bed/early to rise plan.  driving is tiring so that first night i went exploring during the low tide but didn't last too late.  i ordered food from Fat Olives and checked in to my room

 i got upgraded to the larger dog room, which i have never had before.  it's not bay side and it doesn't have upgraded outlets so that is the only down side.  it was great to have more space though i must admit. they are doing some upgrades so there was some noise, which i think being in room 12 put me a bit further away.

 we headed back down to bishops beach before crashing on night one but the dogs were all tuckered out.  they were done, i was done so we just crashed.

 some stars are missing limbs...i created a head for this guy

 the second day there was rain off and on. i got up early and pretty much missed the rain during that time.  the sea stars were again plentiful and the walk on the beach was great because there were a few humpbacks out there and some sea lions so it made it lots of fun.

 i napped a bit during the wettest parts, took a drive to hunt down some sandhill cranes, successfully, and then returned to the end of the spit for the next low tide.  the rain had again subsided and i got to enjoy a little rainbow action. 

 made a few treks down to bishops beach over my time there.  this morning i opted out of the sea stars and just hit Bishops.  seemed easier. we left early enough to hit Deep Creek on the way back....which put the dogs in snooze mode for the rest of the drive back to Anchorage.  on the way down we stopped at the beach in Ninilchik.

 this guy looks like he's running a marathon i think.

 this one below does have the look of being the new sheriff in town.  my friend mentioned that in the comments which is funny cause i'd had the same thought.

 early morning on the spit.

 here are some stars dropping off the pilings.

 ran into a friend i worked with up here who now lives down there.  tempted to join her and enjoy more beach life.  the dogs would be all for it.

 star on it's tippy toes ready to make a move

 folks in the US seem to have no clue that this whole covid thing is not oppression, it's inconvenience.  they are oppressed sitting at home on the internet...really?  it's nuts.  i am struck that there are a lot of weak individuals out there.  they have lost it after such a short time and of course, those same folks seem incapable of putting any blame or responsibility on the current fool in the oval office or iitoo(idiot in the oval office) as i say.  of course, he's not responsible for the virus itself. 

 he is responsible for the poor response, the slow response.  the lack of supplies and testing, the overall lack of any federal leadership on this. he's abandoned his role and now says he'll get rid of the task force and just open up the nation.  what the silly followers don't get is that if we'd had leadership and a cohesive federal response we'd be opening up like other nations anyway.  we are behind because of this administrations crap.  more lives and more jobs will be lost because of this fool.

 other economies did not totally collapse because of this...ours did because it was really only a good economy for the wealthy.  the other nations have better social safety nets for their citizens.  healthcare that isn't tied to working, which people lose in a pandemic.  not sure if any of his followers will wake up...so far they seem happy to play the blame everyone else game that they have all played for years.  screaming about the sanctity of life with abortion and benghazi only to now be all whatever when thousands of their fellow citizens die.

 sea star at sunrise...well, somewhat.  it's later than sunrise, but the sun is just peeking through the rain clouds so it looks like sunrise

 buddies.

 saw a few of these large brown stars.

 always love these old boats on the spit.

 above is Bishops Beach this morning.  nice low tide.

 i have tomorrow off and then i head back to work again.  i know the electives have started up.  we've had 16 cases test positive in Alaska in May so far.  since we've been doing more testing for these electives and admissions and the last three days have been low that is a comfort.  we had 9 on the first, the day before was zero. then only 1-3 cases/day since. with folks being out more and those added tests for electives we shall see. i'll feel better when the numbers stay low for a few weeks after opening back up. 

 other states never closed or are opening back up with fairly high daily numbers. my old state of South Dakota never shut down and now many of these mid well states are having issues with meat processing plants.  the only real order the iitoo put in place was insisting the meat plants stay open and basically given them carte blanche to do whatever as far as testing.  one place in Ohio or Iowa...they weren't reporting what if any test results..in the end the place has 58% positive tests for covid.  this is the major employer in a very small town. 

 i still suspect that one of his own cult like followers may be the one to take the iitoo out when they lose family members and finally wake up to the misinformation he and many right wing media have been pushing.

 another star on the move

 liked the tiny wave with this star.

 this one above is on Deep Creek beach today. the volcano prominent on the background.

 i'll try to catch up on some newspaper reading in my next post along with more sea star photo's. haven't looked at my big camera.

 that has more shots of sandhill cranes and pictures of whales, sea lions, snow geese and a cute crab at low tide.

 i got a little of everything out there.

 so i'd say a successful outing to Homer.  it will be nice to sleep in my bed tonight.

 always nice coming home...especially now with this silly kitten to entertain. Miss Breezy is moving more in the house so i hope that trend continues...and maybe she can lose a few pounds as well.

 this guy is missing two legs!

 rough week...

 selfie with sea stars and Ivy Rose. 

 dogs on slab of coal on the beach in Nikiski. there is a lot of coal found on the beaches down there. it is naturally occuring.  a few attempts have been made to mine the coal but still much is unknown about the coal that exists there. i shall turn in for the night. 

thankful for: A. safe and fun trip to Homer B. that the kitties were fine here C. low numbers of Covid virus here in Alaska.  may this continue