some times baffled, some times ugly, some times happy, some times silly...

 

we are all so many things.  

my 57th Birthday has passed by.  the actual day was pretty dull in some ways and insane in others. 

i worked the night before so my actual Birthday started at work.  i began in the ER as a sitter.  after that patient was moved i noticed that the acute area seemed to be filling with vented ICU patients so i headed over and started helping.  my hopes of going home early were quickly dashed as they kept having to intubate patients.  i helped get one intubated patient sorted out and ready to ship to ICU.  then as they were coding and intubating another patient i popped into another room to try and figure out what was going on with another intubated patient. 

not long after that i headed to ICU to take that patient and eventually another patient that was a trauma.  

took several of us to get the second patient stable. slamming blood products in...by morning things looked a bit better and i crashed.  

phone calls and facebook posts. 

between covid and the general aging process i will admit i have not been all that concerned with my general appearance.  Saturday i woke early as i was meeting friends in Homer for some fun. 

the car was picked up by this guy i met through the internet.  he seems pretty on top of things and honest so that is a relief.  he has taken the car to his shop and the Element is currently dismantled and in need of a few other things besides the engine so he seems willing/able to get her up and running in fine form again.  will cost a bit more but we all want a safe car to drive.  

then the 4-5 hour drive to Homer with stops.  rained most of the way.  arrived, checked into our room and unloaded car/walked dogs and headed to dinner with friends, new and old. i really wish i would have at least looked in the mirror and scrutinized myself.  

there were a few photos posted from the Birthday dinner that were so much less than flattering.  yes, i look like that...some times.  i'm no great beauty but i can pull off something better than those photos show.  thankfully, i am not a star so my unflattering photos will be quickly forgotten by basically everyone but me. a reminder to A. not take ourselves too seriously B. take a look in the mirror before meeting people in social situations and C. let go of the ugly moments.  

these photos are from a day trip to Seward mostly i think.  always behind. 

it was a fun evening...i mean, i wasn't aware of how terrible i looked until the photos posted on social media.  met new folks, folks i haven't seen for a bit and of course, the friends who are around more often. 

another walk after and up to the little room above the fishing charter store. the stairs were a bit steep and thin, but i just had the dogs do them as little as possible and let them just go up and down on their own rather than try to control it.  both dogs do seem beat, which is pretty usual post trek to beaches. today will be a bit of a chill day. 

although the rain is now turning to sunshine so we should get out somewhere. 

sunday was another super early day.  SH and i were headed off halibut fishing. we went with Central Charter. the boat was to leave at 6 am so i woke at 4:30 so i could walk the dogs and load them in the car while we fished. my friends daughter turns out works for the charter company and so i left my fob in the fillet shack and she kindly let the dogs out and checked on them while we were out. 

to say we were fishing would be a bit of a stretch.  this is where the baffling part comes in.  our charter captain for some reason decided to take the boat out of the bay and into the inlet....in doing this we spent most of our 1/2 of fishing on the move...this just took us to more rough seas.  so we dropped lines and were rolled and bobbing.  as she said we weren't in danger necessarily...however i suspect she hasn't been in enough dangerous situations to have a healthy respect for the sea she took us out into. 

seems that for a half day fishing you would take the clients to a location closer to town and have them fish for much longer.  tossing back smaller halibut in hopes of larger ones.  

since we were on the move so much we probably only spent 1/2 hour to 45 minutes with rods/reels in the water.  the smallish fish would be pulled up and kept because we were quickly running out of time to toss any back.  she would be all, "what do you think of this one" almost begging us to keep them so she could say we'd caught our limits and head back.  baffling.  

i was for sure having flashbacks of our nearly fateful trek in the Bering Sea....just seemed so strange to have taken us so far out and into rougher seas.  i commented to her that perhaps i should have taken xanax rather than dramamine or in addition to it.

luckily SH and i are singletons and i think our halibut catch will be sufficient. more would have been better but there are some filets in the freezer. i would not want to have her as my captain again.. not because she's a bad boat driver but more because she doesn't seem to know how to read her clients.  

when one goes fishing one wants to actual fish.  if it had been a beautiful, flat, calm day then cruising around aimlessly may have been more pleasant but riding rough seas and hardly fishing....a bit of a baffling day for sure. 

the dogs were fine and when we returned it was low tide so i headed to Bishops beach to walk them with another friend who had joined us for dinner the night before.  thankfully, nobody unfriended me or avoided me because of my ugly state the night before.  the good folks in your life accept you...no matter how terrible you look on any given day.  

we walked from where we were staying on the spit to where our other friends were staying for a campfire dog party that evening.   i think i crashed early.  slept hard...

we both apparently slept hard...as there was a 6.1  quake in Chikaloon that others woke to. thankfully, there was no tsunami warning.  i'm not sure either of us would have woken up even from that screaming alarm to get off the spit so it's a good thing the quake was inland rather than at sea.

pups exploring the rocks. 

never even looked for sea stars this trek.  we woke fairly early the next day and took the dogs for a last walk on the beach.  

we got the best part of the day because it rained and was windy on the way back. 

did a bit more rock painting on my Birthday and dropped a few rocks on the spit.  did some shopping in town and on the way home.

there was this antler shop that i drive by between Soldotna and Sterling so i finally stopped.  it was also a rock shop. the shop next store is a bit of a mixture of items.  old and new, art and antique.  turns out the shop owners are married, met later in life after both were widowed.  didn't meet her but met him.  i bought i book on rocks and he let me select a rock he had just tumbled and polished. 

a better photo of me...i am what i am.  

so another fun weekend.  nothing is perfect and i am far from perfect.  

preventing wrestling is my main goal at this point.  i keep Ivy from doing too much, medicate her when she does and try to prevent rough play with tusker and other dogs....as you can see some ivy fur in his mouth i wasn't all that successful on this particular day. it was short though since i did intervene. 

she was a bit sore by the evening at the campfire so i walked them back, medicated her and let her sleep. the soreness seems to be in the non-surgical...no surprise there.  she still has a bum knee on that side. 

it's a balance thing at this point.  try to keep her happy and as active as her knee will allow with rest between. 

overall, a nice Birthday.  some fun and thoughtful gifts and some laughs.  more of a gathering for sure than the covid Birthday last year.  

life does seem to be returning more to normal.  we shall hope it lasts and continues that way.  doubt covid will leave us completely...but life getting more normal is good for all of us. 

left some ashes behind, i still do that from time to time.  these in Seward. 

stopped at clam gulch on the way home but will try it another day. seemed crowed and the police were there so i drove on.  the book i bought gave me a few more ideas for places to stop and beach comb so next trip. fun to add something new each drive down.  so much to see and experience.  

it only cost us each about $14 to get our fish packed and fresh frozen for storage and consuming at a later date so that was great.  they met us at the dock to collect our fish and we picked up the next day.  

i really should get cracking on the to do list and the projects.....aack...the projects. they are supposed to come measure for floors tomorrow or the next day.  i'm not even sure.  need to do some major cleaning and organizing.  the crap builds up and then you just have to have a toss fest. 

i have an old desk and have had a cardboard table for the WARIS stuff.  i really need to get an adult desk and organize this so it's not so cluttered.  i also still have a tall book shelf, which is such an earthquake risk.  need to secure it better and/or figure out a better way to deal with the photos in the old albums. 

my current computer is old and i keep thinking it will give it up one day.  please don't!!

it is always amazing how quickly crap builds up.  you really just have to move out of each room every so often and start over.  

i guess i better get some food in me and get these dogs walked.  they didn't really eat their breakfast....just sleepy so i doubt we will do to much. 

it is looking pretty though....hate to waste any summer days.

always something to see in this beautiful world.  

take pictures of pretty things and maybe people will forgive me for not being one of the pretty things in the world.  :-)  haha. 

Covid Cat has his name cleared, i took care of that on my Birthday along with some errands....see, exciting.  

my friends spoiled me for my Birthday.  thanks all who joined, shared, gave me treats and gifts.  spoke to a few siblings on the phone so that was nice. 

the lone kayak on the beach.  

thankful for A.  a relatively healthy first 57 years B.  people in my life who accept me, flaws and all C. living in this beautiful place with so many opportunities and adventures