both knees are bad i guess....

 

she was examined by two board certified vet surgeons.  so that's nice.  eventually will probably bite the bullet since i want to be able to walk with the dogs with less restrictions. want her to  be able to go to the beach.  still not the right time yet since the election crap continues as does the covid crap. 

our nation is a total mess at this moment so spending a great deal of cash on a surgery for the dog seems a bit nuts.  love my dog but you do have to be rational. you do have to look at the bigger picture.  feel terrible but she does seem to be managing the walks with some stoicism. not sure Tusker would be so stoic. 

love when the moose kneel over to nibble. 

these are again from October. i woke too early today and need to walk the dogs, try to nap and then start a long run at work.  the covid numbers keep increasing. 

yesterday i think it said 129 hospitalized and 15 vents total in the state. 

still much better than other states.  the dakotas are taking a hit as they are very conservative and many just refuse to believe this is true.  these same folks no doubt believe the fools rhetoric that the election isn't clear in it's results yet.  

as they only get their information from sources that lie to them they do not know any different sadly.   i guess some of them deny having covid and get angry even as they are diagnosed with it and can't breathe. you can't rationalize with the irrational.  we shall see if that happens here.  i think there has been a little of that, but i haven't seen it myself yet. often the test results come after they leave our ER. 

i thought the neighbor had taken her dogs to her parents who live in another community, but i just saw her with the dogs.  i haven't really heard a peep from the dogs these last few days so the note someone left must have woke her up to the issue. i suspect she had just been spending longer and longer away and the dogs were just getting more and more anxious.  dogs really need their humans, they need attention and they need long walks...especially if they are active dogs. they are not like cats.  cats you can leave for hours.  

as i sat at the vets, you wait in the parking lot. i watched a pair of bald eagles chasing around some ravens.  they all looked to be having a good time.  who knows what was really going on.  fun to watch though. 

after that my heater got it's annual check. i think it wasn't firing off right so i guess he fixed that so it's kind of toasty up here. the heat rises for sure in this house, very uneven heating. 

i finally made it out to walk the dogs.  we just did the gasline/powerline/tank loop.  i was in the shade much of it so kind of missed the main sunset.  the dogs didn't care. 

they just want out.

i will work 3 on, one off and then 3 on...so it will take me through Thanksgiving.  very low expectation for holidays this year.  need to get on the text list so i can pick up a bit..got knee surgery to pay for.  one knee at a time. 

i feel like i have time since she is still able to walk sufficiently. 

was watching the Crown the other day. last night i watched a documentary, "Diana, in her own words".  kind of secret recordings she did to tell her side of the story.  

for sure some cross over with what they seem to be showing on the crown...though it's more fictional. 

it sounds like she had issues before she ever met the prince. she did ballet so i kind of suspect she had dabbled in bulimia before she admits to it. she claims it started soon after the engagement. 

her childhood was not all that happy it seems. 

tough to pity her really for me. i recall seeing her funeral in Ketchikan. i work nights so i think i was just up at the time. Mother Teresa had died about the same time and i thought it was sad that Diana was getting all this glory and Mother Teresa was pretty much forgotten...though in truth Mother Teresa probably wouldn't have wanted the glory. 

saw this car driving around Anchorage...thought it quite clever.

Diana was only in the limelight for 12-15 years.  yes, she was hounded by the press and i do think it became ridiculous.  she could have bowed out from it all before it really started. she was young and i think got swept up in it all.  i'm sure family and friends pushed it...i mean how often does anyone get the chance to marry a prince, one day to be king.  she figured out that he had a relationship with Camilla which never stopped, but i suspect as we all do, she convinced herself that this would go away. 

truth is they barely knew each other and they both jumped in despite all the warning signs. he was a jerk in many ways but he had a lot of pressure to marry as well.  he loved Camilla but she was married and even if she divorced he would have to give up the throne to marry her it seems.  his great uncle had. 

i doubt he was prepared to deal with her mood swings and depression and the bulimia.  they are all about appearances, admitting flaws and failures is just not done. 

ultimately she was given a platform and the funds to make an impact.  she was given a lot of glory for what she accomplished as a volunteer this way, but had she not chosen this life she never would have had any of it. mother teresa gave up her life and any hope of glory in the service of others.  

it sounds like many of those early years were lost in her depression and jealousy so really how many years did she actually dedicate in the service of others...not to slam her but where much is given, much is expected.  i feel for her but not as much as i did at the time. she was given a lot, she should have had some clue as to what she was jumping into. she got swept up in the glamour and pomp and circumstance. she used him as much as he used her. they were both immature and weak really.  allowing others to dictate the choices of their lives. 

in the end she looks to have gotten it more together but still for all her greatest mom of the year accolades, she was away a lot, she was absent.  involved more than other royals had been i think, but still...her rebirth took her away as much as her depression and jealousy had before. 

i have been starving all day. woke up too early.  been crashing early as well due to the winter and the darkness. it's already the 19th.  another month til solstice then we start to gain light.

i do love these days because it kind of forces a laziness that feels more guilt free. 

becoming more of a hermit.  

is it the time of year, the politics, the virus....a combination of all. 

cooked a turkey in the crock pot yesterday.  figure i'll eat turkey at work this week, turkey soup next week...that will be thanksgiving i guess. 

covid does lower your expectations of the holidays anyway.  

it's also lowered my expectations on the intellect of my fellow man.  i knew there were some clueless folks out there, but who knew so many were out there.  they have found their voices.  they are loud in their foolishness. they are confident in their collective stupidity.  

they are also found to be in places and positions of power.  it's really pretty scary how so many can be so fooled into believing such insanity.  shocking. 

this log seems to have shortened since i last saw it here.  i kept trying to get the pups to peek through the hole at the other end, but they never really caught on.  

i am moving slowly today....

i am wearing my new snow pants though. it's cold out and they are happy and fun.  anything that brightens up the world these days is a plus. 

the blue wood...covered now by snow.  we will head out walking after a bit of a lunch. 

can't walk this hungry.  

love the lines/veins in the leaves as they change colors

trying to remember where this bridge is...potters?

next stretch off will be get Christmas crap done. the Skellys are already dressed.  Christmas speeds by.  will do a pretty basic Christmas this year. not sure i'll even bother with a tree. 

do i really want to pull all the decorations out 

more blue wood.

sorry, i know i'm dull today. enjoy the photo's. figured i'd just drop one in before i head off to start the day/week. 

always enjoy my time off.  seems each time i return to work the covid numbers are up and there is no escape from it all. 

thankful for A.  a job, despite it being a big bother at this time B. sleep and laziness.  C.  a simple life, the life of royalty is not worth the loss of freedom and tranquility.