busy week i guess....

 i did head to Valdez. always a little strange of late leaving home but i know it's good for me to get out there and enjoy the beauty and get out of my head a bit. it's just so easy to get sucked into the internet drama.  kind of fun at times when i come up with a good line that really makes people nuts...i mean i was baited into arguments my whole life it seems so fun to toss some red meat out there and watch others go a bit nuts.  i mean it's getting tougher and tougher to sound like you have any intelligence and defend this fool and this administration. 

 the other day i just posted GDP after pro trump folks comments...the usual answer to anything they don't want to hear or accept as truth is fake news...which is really just code for i'm stupid at this point.  i know saying stupid is not politically correct but in many cases it's become totally correct.

 i mean they have to look the other way at him paying off a porn star, grabbing women comments caught on film, caging children, chumming with a molester, not releasing his taxes...why? sending unknown Fed troops to American communities and terrify/bully/harm protestors.  they have to look the other way as he says stupid things like maybe we can put disinfectant in iv's and this pandemic will magically go away after only a few deaths, or in the summer heat or that maybe he should delay the election. or that he is looking the other way as Putin pays bounties for our military lives in Afghanistan.  ignoring all he is doing to benefit putin......

 each day the Alaska covid numbers are released and every day these fools are there saying the same idiotic stuff. another death..oh did they say they died of covid or with covid...do you die of stupidity or with stupidity.  they try to find any loop hole they can in order to make the insanity they have accepted as truth feel more sane to them. 

 you really have to swallow a lot of crap to stick with this fool and this administration...sadly, many just choose to ignore all he says and all he tweets and only seek out the few things that are washed over for them to feel good, to feel that all is going great in America. it's not.  the gop in washington are looking the other way and using this tool as a distraction to get some of the stuff they have wanted for years...judges, tax breaks for the wealthy. i'm sure many of them hate him but they love the power they have and as long as they stroke his ego they can get some of their agenda through.

 so i ended up tent camping.  it's annoying really.  i mean a hotel in Valdez was like $300/night that allows dogs.  the campground has these little cabins which basically all sat empty as dogs aren't allowed in there.  in the end. the little tent was great and cheap...oh i gotta call them tomorrow. the dogs and i were cozy.  we stayed two nights.  i was pretty early to bed and early to rise really.  ran around all day the full day i had.

 i did stop at Worthington Glacier on the way over.  it was kind of creepy as i was the only one there...that never happens.  i should have been thrilled but it was just strange.

 we spent time in old town, hit the valdez lake/glacier a few times.

 Ivy took a chunk out of a pad out there...ice or rocks, i'm not sure, but the cold water helped numb it and stop the bleeding.  i have used the time of working to not walk them and let her foot heel a bit.

 it does look better.  we went to the dog park today.  i haven't seen any bleeding.  tried to keep them out of the water.

 we also hit the hatchery a few times.  fun to try and catch the sea lions feeding on all those fish.  hit it perfect one evening.  as i snapped photo's these tiny biting flies were going to town on my hands....still sore.

 felt like a quick trip.  happy i went. you always see pretty things no matter what the weather or circumstances are.  what to do the next stretch off?  Fairbanks for some mushroom hunting/hiking?  Homer again?  Seward?

 i could stay home but we shall see. we do have that sweet little tent and the dogs are great little campers.

 there were some really fun mushrooms on the little trails by the visitors center near Glenallen.  i'm a bit of a freak on this mushroom stuff i know. they are so fun though.

 the variety is astounding really.

 some huge calving on the glacier out there in Valdez.  there are signs all over suggesting people avoid going in there, but there were tours and others taking boats out.  i'm sure the old hike part of that tour is no longer in effect...they had a huge calving...dramatic changes over a one month period....not too stable. huge chunks of ice are not stable, even if they are not easy to flip over, they do have calvings of their own which can cause all kinds of issues. i had the pups so kayaking was not going to be an option.  this is the first summer since i came here i think that i haven't paddled. 

 a guy came and measured the bathroom counters and he took the sinks.  the kitchen counter folks used lasers, he was doing it old school.  no mask worn, which now makes you nervous. i mean it's tricky asking folks to wear masks in your home.  does it become political? will be view me as liberal or paranoid...?  i mostly stayed out in the yard with the dogs while he was there.  kept the door open for ventilation, cleaned all he could have touched when he left.

 i had cleaned out the counters and drawers...clearly i had not done that for some time. more stuff in the free pile out front. all that remains of the free pile are the old kitchen corner cabinets..no takers and it's been raining off and on.  i will probably have to just take a sledge hammer to those and make firewood out of them.  oh well. had a lot of bites on marketplace but nobody picked them up. 

 tonight i was taking the old liners out. i need to try and remove the paint and prep it all for staining to make it look new again...kind of.  then when i hear he is ready to put in the sink/counters i'll have to remove the guts...maybe keeping them outside so i can try to retrace and replace the guts with new stuff....not too confident in my plumbing skills but my handyman is stuck on the Kenai taking care of his parents.

 missing the Nexium as i had zero heartburn with it and now some heartburn has returned. not impressed with pepcid so far.  hmm. even tried a nexium hoping that perhaps i could take it once a week...it was a no go...the symptoms returned, though the heartburn was gone.  not worth it.  anyone want some nexium?  i have a bottle left.

 was talking to a co-worker the other night . we figure we may lose some weight through all this covid stuff. just harder to eat/drink at work.  just have to be more careful. i clean my area/computer several times through the night.  we are used to snacking and i like to drink my fill of water, even that is not easy to do. the mask is like welding your mouth shut.

 now we have added the face shield. so we need to wear the face shield anytime we are within 6 feet of any patient. false negatives, increased + cases in AK, which means increased potential for people being asymptomatic....in truth that includes our co-workers...so each other. tough to distance in medicine at times.

 many Doctors stand back and do most or all of their exam from the door way.  we don't really have that option.  honestly, my most high risk shift of late was being a sitter.  it was a confined job with one patient in a confined space.  14 days have passed but in my job i won't be able to avoid facing covid.

 i was getting report in the ICU and was asked if i take covid patients...the way she asked kind of through me off. i was like, well i'd rather not but we'd all rather not.  i have some chronic lung issues but i don't even take medications for it daily so honestly it is pretty mild by comparison to others who have real health issues. i have worked the covid cove as they call it.  i think the upstairs area is called covid row.  they have lower patient ratios because of all the donning and doffing of gear.  just takes extra time.  i haven't worked the covid cove since that one night.  it's being run by the PCU.  thankfully it appears most of our covid cases are not getting to the icu...they are though.

 i ended up sticking with my previous assignment.  so i worked ICU for two nights and then a night in CICU.  on calls are not going to happen for me i suspect. 

 the visor was a bother mostly because with the cleaning you end up with a shield that is difficult to see through.  it gets hot too with the mask and the face shield on....something i will no doubt appreciate come winter as the hospital will no doubt be freezing.  we've put holes in so many rooms to the outside to make those rooms negative pressure ready...big holes in walls to the outside will be super uncomfortable when our temperatures are down in the sub-zeroes. i think it will be good to have fresh air for the patients though with covid.

 the ice and reflections were very pretty i thought. 

 Covi Kitty got a visit from his part time owner which i'm sure they both enjoyed. he's met the neighbors.  she says he's friendly but won't get too close. 

 i stopped by this evening to see the progress on her kitchen remodel. her cabinets are up mostly. she also has a big post that they have up in the center of the room. they insist it's needed for the structure.  i do not recall any such post when i did the tear down. none that went under the gum/lam thing.  i spoke to my friends husband who had come over to do the demo with my friend and a few others, he said he didn't think i needed to worry.  my handyman had not felt it was an issue either when he was doing the work.  made me a wee bit nervous, but i feel better after talking to him. thanks!!

 it's so fun watching remodels.  hopefully, my bathrooms will look much nicer after i finish this project...next floors!!  probably a good winter project.

 other AK news..a man was killed by a bear in Hope this past week.  very sad.  he was working on the trails by his house, the dog came home but he did not.  he was found mauled to death.  always just sounds so awful...

 there was also a mid air crash that killed  6 i think.  not sure how that happened. 

 i have a root canal for tomorrow.  so exciting.  i think they are taking more risk than i am there with the covid stuff.  thinking maybe heading to Girdwood for some mushroom strolling and tennis ball throwing.

 not many wildflowers out there heading towards Valdez.  amazing how quickly things change up here.  several weeks ago there would have been wildflowers like crazy.

 now it's mushrooms though, which i love. 

 won't be many more lawn mowings left for this season.  it goes so fast.  it's already getting dark earlier.

 homestead trail out to the beach.

 we are back on a partial lock down here. big parties/events still happening in the Valley. fools..the thing is we have this huge state but most of it is rural so when people get covid they will be headed to Anchorage for care in many cases.

 i think for many they just don't get that their actions may have consequences. i get it, people think they are just gathering with their family so that seems like it should be fine.  a sunday dinner. many families are like mine was though. we had 7 kids but once they started getting married and having kids Sunday dinners became fairly large social gatherings.  people did their own thing all week and then gathered together.  i think most wear masks for the grocery store but if in all other aspects of life you don't distance or mask or do anything different....we just won't knock it out...but again we do have the political aspect in our nation.  so sadly, we will have to do this the hard way, ride it out, lose a lot more of our citizens...

 the new car camping tent.  a more reasonable size.  easier to put up but still plenty roomy inside.  perhaps Fairbanks next stretch...hmm.  it's another long drive but Denali could be a good stop as well.

 these huge mushrooms were out there at the visitor center.  these seem more common further north of here, but maybe they get collected...they may be edible.  i would not trust me though. 

 they just look cool on the tops. 

 we all look red in there. 

 the pups were plenty worn out each night.  not as many rabbits there this summer, whew!!

 will probably turn in early tonight.  i'm beat as usual. 

 i leave my pj's on the washer downstairs so i can just strip off when i get home and put the work clothes in the washer. 

 still a few flowers left out there.

 soon it will be the chase to see fall colors.  then the ice will return.

thankful for:  A. family, friends, coworkers and pets.  together we will get through this as best we can. B. little escapes out into the beauty of Alaska...we are lucky that even though our numbers are higher than i like, they are not out of control....please stay that way  C.  to have a job, a home, comfort, food....i have been very lucky so far in life and i'm very grateful. good night.