each day an adventure in alaska: 15 miles that will haunt me forevermore. lol

i am impossibly behind in the blog. just caught up loading photo's onto computer. this computer is old at this point. thinking it may be time to ponder a replacement. means backing up everything in here in hopes to save and move to a new computer. will need to get new printer and router at that time as well.

the 15 miles...well it was one of my more blonde moments. yes, i still have blonde moments despite turning more and more grey as the years go by.

i did make the run up to Denali from Talkeetna. like a good patron i only drove to mile 15 in Denali National park, only to return to Talkeetna and discover that the day i went the road had been opened to the public to mile 30! the colors in Denali were perfect fall peak colors. this fool missed out on that extra road and probably a million more amazing photos. i'm still kicking myself.

the weather and the colors got more and more beautiful the closer i got to Denali. not a lot of wildlife spotted...it was all, no doubt, in those extra 15 miles. there was even a guy at Savage that asked if the road was open. we both noted there was a lot of regular cars driving through. why that didn't prompt me to ask the question...we shall never know.

other than this gap it was a beautiful road trip. these road trips do wear me out more than they did 10 years ago. stuff you think will never bother you as you age...well surprise they do.

i debated returning to Denali the next day. debated requesting another night at the Meandering Moose, it was near empty so i'm sure that would have been fine. the idea of driving another 6-8 hours though....tough but heading home was the best option.

these are just some snaps of the pets. so cute. Sunny had his 2nd Birthday last week. we had a little celebration at home...the pets and I. the next day i drove the dogs out to Matanuska Glacier for a drive and romp at the glacier. they are totally stained grey, but they had a great time. the drive was beautiful. for sure off peak but still enough fall colors to make it worth the drive.

i took them for a dog wash the next day but there was no change in the color of their fur. we started to work on Sunny's groom the other day. still some touch up to do.

work was mostly ICU and PICU. mostly just normal. i'm just getting more and more over the whole bedside thing. still not clear how the exit plan will play out. have an appointment to talk to fidelity...perhaps that will give me some insight. i can just drop down to a lower level of part time. still get benefits with that but only work 2 nights/week. this sounds nice and could push me to add in a part time gig that is not at the bedside or in the hospital.

went with a friend last week to the vet while she had her 19 year old cat, Steamy, sent off to the Rainbow Bridge. rip Steamy. both of us were in tears. i was full support until i noticed a painted rock in the window. turns out it was the very rock i had painted nearly 2 years ago and brought to the vets after i lost Tusker. it had his name on the back. how that rock was still here after nearly 2 years??? the tech was astounded as well when i told her about the rock and showed her Tuskers name on the back. she said those rocks move all over the place, come and go from the hospital, that it was there that day when i came with SH with Steamy...shocking really. tear inducing for sure.

SH said it was a sign that Tusker was there to escort Steamy to the Rainbow Bridge. i set the rock by Steamy and he put his paw right over the rock. no dry eyes in that room! i painted a rock for SH and dropped it off the other day for her. i think it was greatly appreciated, especially as the rock in the room has become a part of that days story.

left thinking, perhaps i should get a job at the clinic there. a big change and going back to animals may be a good way to come full circle on my careers in life. we shall see. contract negotiations are starting i hear and the rumors are always off possible strikes. if this does happen, perhaps it would be a sign to just retire and find a different job altogether.

i do think the working folks of the US are about done watching these greedy corporations screw the workers while making themselves sickeningly wealthy. nobody needs as much money as these jerks think they need. the greed is disgusting and the workers are rising. sick of our tax dollars going to bail out these corporations who then just hand those bail outs to themselves.

the congress is supposed to be trying to keep the government open. of course, any government shutdown doesn't impact their paychecks nor will it impact the rights sham impeachment attempts of Biden. there was a deal in place, i thought that would prevent this battle until after the next election but the right went back on their word, surprise. so here we are.

it's always funny that the right at one level views Biden as feeble and incapable while on the other level view him as some mastermind. their conspiracy crack has never had any consistencies. the crazy they have to stoop to and the crazy they have to somehow commit to memory is beyond comprehension...yet they are incapable of seeing irony and reason.

the conspiracy crack addiction is real and it's taken so many in our society on some crazy ride.

feel like i'm constantly learning new things, views and ideas. that is how it should be. when you know better, you do better, right? there is still much i don't know so little ideas still seep through my old views from time to time.

one such thing that was recently brought to my attention is how people from Europe in the US are specifically known by which nations in Europe their families came from. this is not the case with African Americans...they are just known as African. the individual nations with their unique characteristics and culture are ignored.

the same is true with the Natives in the US. they are rarely known by any specific tribe or clan they are just known as Native Americans like they all are the same. i suspect i could push this to Asian Americans as well...being just Asian and not necessarily from a specific Asian nation.

of course, all of it is bizarre anyway. why aren't they and thus we all just Americans. in Europe are blacks described as African British or African Spanish? in Canada are you Asian Candadian?

many cultures do not have the blended society that we have but our society brought many in to do the work we didn't want to do as a society, then were upset when those we brought in stayed and thrived.

thought terminating cliche's. trying to put this to memory. it's so common in the life i lived as a child. we were ingrained with so many thought terminating cliche's. little things you have in your brain that will prevent any conversation from becoming to real or complicated or making you think about things that will make you uncomfortable. it's the perfect terminology for it.

i did finally recover from the cold bug. of course, this past week at work, it felt like people were sick all around me. fingers crossed. still a little coughing but that is normal. one person mentioned that they had this and finally got their tonsils out which fixed it. hadn't thought about my tonsils and their involvement in the chronic cough i get. who knows. not sure it's worth it to risk the tonsils though. not the best track record in older adults.

love this older photo of me. this is from my last trek to Round Island. it's my power pose. the boat captain had some underlying disdain for me as i run the WARIS non-profit and he doesn't like that visitor go to the island, despite him making money taking them there. anyway. he was going to drag me in that little boat across this expansive mud flat. i refused to be treated like an invalid and i walked it. i fell a lot and was coated with mud...but i made it and didn't need to be carried. it was a huge win for me and i do believe i won him over and gained some respect from him.

the rest of these are from this summer.

standing on the ice at Matanuska Glacier.

the tour was fun. i'd do it again for sure.

was more fun with these fun family members.

yesterday i hiked up Arctic Valley. the colors are post prime but still beautiful day and walk. the dogs were thrilled to be out there. Sunny happily chased down ground squirrels and Ivy chased her toy. at one point the toy fell into a ground squirrel hole. i always knew this would happen one day. Ivy got very determined and she dug and dug and dug. she did come up with the ball. we'd lost 2 other balls to the fast moving creek before that.

it won't be long before winter is here. it's almost October. time to make the calendar and Christmas cards. i always wonder if i'll have enough pictures to fill the calendar. it's nice to look back on the year and see that i did actually get out there more than i imagine i do. others see that i do a lot but for some reason i always feel like i don't do very much. probably because i can be so lazy between road trips and adeventures.

the dogs are very tolerant of the lazy days and very happy to enjoy the adventure times.

they do have a pretty good life.

love the constant drama of this place. the colors the light, the plants and animals...constantly changing. the mushrooms are becoming slime and the leaves are falling. there is snow on the mountain tops and there was even some frost in the ground yesterday.

my big toe nail is nearly off. i do recall back in June getting run over part way by a stretcher at work. hurt but nothing terrible. no limping after. i noticed in July the toenail looking bruised and that bruise just got worse. a week or so ago i noticed the nail was nearly off. i had visions of it getting ripped off and horrific pain associated with that. i've been putting non adherent tape on it since. does curtail the big hikes to a degree. not sure what happens next. after the toenail falls off. does another grow underneath. figure i'll just keep taping and hope a nail grows in without becoming some ingrown nail.

lots of the usual hikes and rambles. perhaps later today i will get the Skelly's ready for halloween and do some yard work. the leaves are falling and it's almost trash day. time to get some of them up.

time in general to prepare for winter.

the light is much shorter as we head towards winter solstice. these are the dark days. i enjoy slowing down, settling in earlier. baking, soups, fires in the fireplace.