got my Walrus on...

 we had our lecture and i think it all went quite well.  we were a bit disorganized in the speaker area but we all pulled it together and i think the chill lectures were appreciated overall. folks seemed comfortable asking questions.  hoping we planted a seed in a few to make the trek out there.  at least to remember we have the refuge and speak out for it from time to time.  JM actually took this shot of our cookie..thanks Speedy...and JM for the photo.  i have one that looks almost the same, but i was just too lazy to get it on the computer. 

 part of our goals is just to educate folks that this place exists and needs our attention. 

 late one night in the RCU my co-workers began expressing how much they hate all these non-profit groups that claim they "raise awareness".  they felt this was ridiculous.  so i chimed in....wanted to let them know that i run a small non-profit before they went off on non-profits.  this of course brought on several questions.  a discussion about Walrus and the Walrus Islands Sanctuary and what it was ensued.  after some time and an informative conversation i mentioned that it did appear that i had raised their awareness on the subject of walrus in Alaska and the Sanctuary.  we all got a good laugh. indeed i had.

 these are shots from the fall.  walked today, with LS out at Campbell Airstrip.  break up is not the greatest time for photography overall.  i know i could make some road trips.  i could test out some other trails. but in the end.  often i end up back to the ones i know won't cause me to post hole. 

 these are Lake Hood. Tusker has been a bed hog mood of late. that dog is long and he can really stretch out.  i wake up contorted in a corner.  we all tend to be fairly accommodating when we sleep. 

 yes, i have been reading more of the Mueller report.  many connections between Rus and folks in the iitoo's team. seems many attempts made to connect the iitoo and put.  they did get their 1:1 after he was elected in Helsinki obviously.  it is funny that he is so angry over all of this and seems to fear it all leads to him being an illegitimate POTUS...all the deceit around it is what makes him appear illegitimate though.  if they had been more transparent from the get go, folks wouldn't be doing all the digging.  when you act so so guilty...well, you dig your own hole.

 he's going ape at this time it seems.  more twitter madness than usual, if that is possible.  the Dems seem to be going the Nixon route.  attempt to get these folks before congress and let the public see the truth...especially since so many refuse to read what Mueller wrote.  the right seems to be counting on blind obedience to their messaging to keep his base on the path of the straight and narrow.  hold on to the iron rod....the more you read the more you see that all those things that the mainstream media was uncovering were more true than not and all the stuff the right media was hiding behind with one conspiracy theory after another were lies. 

 Mueller couldn't gather enough to seal the deal, but that in no way means that the iitoo and his crew were squeaky clean. 2 Corinthians 11:14  'and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light'.  i think of think of these passages as those raving lunatics who are the radical evangelicals spout their crap about the iitoo being sent by God.  the great deceiver....

 Revelation 19:20 'and the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped it's image'.  gotta love Revelations. 

 many followers of religious leaders do not feel the need to read the books fully that they claim to believe...they leave that to others.  that had proven to be foolish for many.  suspect that is the case with many of those who have radicalized in any religion. they allow others to do the interpretation for them.  easy to be led astray when you allow others to do your thinking for you. 

 Trump Tower Moscow was being worked on in the years before he won the primary and then for some time after this.  it seems to have been more nefarious than this though there is no direct links as i said.  in Nov 2015 an exchange between Sater and Cohen is a bit chilling..."Buddy our boy can become President of the USA and we can engineer it. i will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, i will manage this process...Micheal, Putin gets on stage with Donald for a ribbon cutting for Trump Moscow, and Donald owns the republican nomination.  And possibly beats Hillary and our boy is in...We will manage this process better than anyone. You and I will get Donald and Vladimir on stage together very shortly.  that  the game changer".

 this is not fake news, this is researched information with data to back it.  of course, many will refuse to buy in, preferring the right wing media version...spin that is.  they have been proven to be the spin masters through this report thus far. 

 more of Sater to Cohen during that exchange, "i think i can get Putin to say that at the Trump Moscow Press conference.  if he says it we own this election.  Americas most difficult adversary agreeing that Donald is a good guy to negotiate....We can own this election.  Micheal  my next steps are very sensitive with Putins very very close people, we can pull this off.  Michael lets go.  2 boys from Brooklyn getting a USA president elected.  this is good really good" Cohen denies that he was thinking of the politics of the deal, but no doubt Put and his crew were.  often it just appears that the Rus were totally hoodwinking the fools in the trump circles. 

 they reached out to Ivanka as well. the footnotes are interesting as well, you can't skip those when you read.  an email to Ivanka from a Russian who gave a false name from what i can tell. "if you ask anyone who nkows Russian to google my husband Dmitry Klokov, you'll see who he is close to and that he has done Putins political campaigns".  following all of these contacts did not bring Muellers team to direct evidence, but there sure is a hell of a lot of smoke.  Russia was really making a play for these folks and really don't see that any of them so far have put the brakes to it.  they for sure did not report it to anyone in the US. 

 it was over the moscow trump project that Cohen got caught lying..well i doubt it was only one lie, but he gave the impression the talks had stalled, but in the end they went on through at least June 2016. Mueller did not delve into finances as that was not on his list.  he did pass much along to others in other states. who did trump owe, what financial deals leave him vulnerable to being manipulated. 

 still cracks me up that those on the left freak out over sex in the oval office and even lost emails but could care less if our potus has financial ties to Russia, China, Saudi Arabia or others.  if he has business interests there or owes vast sums of money these things could be used to manipulate him or to use him to obtain things that are of their interest and his but not in the interest of our nation.  not sure why this is so difficult to grasp. that one does not want a potus with such ties...of course, they did care about potential ties with HRC and they wrapped themselves in conspiracy theories about this...but they seem to have let those fears disappear when it comes to the iitoo. 

 so it really comes down to hate and agenda.  nobody gave a crap that bill got his blow job, nobody cared about those emails. they just hated the Clintons and wanted their own agenda to be the one that succeeded. 

 these are at Conners Bog.

 as the project plans progressed plans were being made for a visit to Russia for trump and cohen.  sater was sending emails.  asking for copies of their passports, "please call me i have Evgeney (Dvoskin) on the other line.  he needs a copy of your and Donalds passports they need a scan of every page of the passports. invitations &Visas will be issued this week byVTB Bank to discuss financing for Trump Tower Moscow.  Politically neither Putins office nor  Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot issue invite, so they are inviting commercially/ business. VTB is Russia's 2 biggest bank and VTB Bank CEO Andrey Kostin, will be at all meetings with Putin so that it is a business meeting not political.  We will be invited to Russian consulate this week to recieve invite & have visa issued. "  Cohen did sent image of his passport and later acquired trumps passport.  there is confirmation of numbers and emails.  no confirmation that trumps passport was delivered as requested.  that seems a bit chilling to me as well.

 the meeting in Russia was looking to take place after the RNC convention.  things go busy and the meeting never took place.

 dogs were romping in the water out there that day. 

 love to watch them play in the water.  total joy. dogs are easy to keep happy really. was chatting with my brother today.  they just adopted a year old cocker spaniel.  they have had it for just under a week but say it seems like the dog has been there forever.  they are super happy already. 

 dogs are just great i think.  i am happy to share my life with them.

 I'm obviously a fan of walrus too. 

 last night i wore my walrus earrings, walrus necklace and walrus leggings.  2/3 of those were gifts.  once you start running a walrus advocacy group you start to collect walrus related gifts.  I'm cool with that.  being a crazy walrus lady is a bit more interesting that being a crazy cat lady I'd guess. 

 embrace the crazy. 

 this is Baxter Bog by my place.

 Papadopoulos, Lewandowski....the report goes through all their connections with Rus.  just seems like the big goal for Rus was to get Put and Trump together.  like i said, after he was elected that did happen. with nobody else in the room.  it should have never happened that way. it was foolish on the part of the GOP.  they have no control over the trump.  their little dictator wanna be is their responsibility though.  all of them.  they have allowed him to bring chaos and madness to the position.  they have allowed him to bring foolishness and idiocy to the position...all to get their agenda through.  be careful what you ask for...often when we get our way, it comes at a price.  i love that line in a country song, i think it's Garth Brooks.  "sometimes i thank God, for unanswered prayers"  "some of Gods greatest gifts, are unanswered prayers"

 beautiful pink clouds out there right now

 i head back to work again tomorrow.  the run begins.  the education is done for a bit though, bills paid. lecture over. 

 a kingfisher was spotted.

 they are cool looking birds. generally super fast though, so hard to get photos of for me anyway.

 not sure but this may now be University Lake...these are from October.

 considering how trump is involved in every aspect of his business it seems far fetched that he was in the dark about these rus contacts.  however, no direct links were found that i have noted so far. many refused to talk, forgot things conveniently, took the 5th...Mueller could only work with what they could obtain. not always easy on a multifaceted international investigation such as this i would think.  so many contacts with Rus.

 page 95, on to Carter Page....

 page had many rus contacts over the years so he was already on Rus radar.  so it sounds like when he joined the campaign, he was contacted by the rus.  no coordination noted in  any attempt to interfere in the election with him. 

 sounds like page had been used by Rus as a potential source.  Podobnyy and two other rus officers were charged with conspiracy to act as unregistered agents of a foreign government" stated he"let page on by feeding him empty promises" "his method of recruiting foreign sources was to promise them favors and then discard them once he obtained relevant information from them". so page seems more like a foolish patsy...trying to get some place but too foolish to be of use to anyone really. 

 sadly, this administration and before that the campaign never bothered to vet anyone appropriately.  they still just throw folks in positions with little thought to their ability to do the job or their past that may make them inappropriate for the job.  with page on the campaign, there was a renewed interest in him by rus.  of course, the goal again seemed to be to get trump with put.  page was invited to speak in rus, he tried to switch it up so that trump would go speak instead.  Lewandowski responded to page that if he spoke in rus it would be solo and not with the blessing of the campaign and that trump would not be speaking.

 U-lake i remember all these leaves piling up on the rock by the bridge.

 saw some beaver activity yesterday.  small beavers

 page attempted to get a job in the administration transition team... will give them credit for staying away from him after they screwed up hiring him to begin with.  they at least knew to distance from him, especially since he was already being looked at for previous dubious contacts. 

 page 103...well look at that Nixon's name appears in the report.  that does seem a bit ironic.  CNI, Washington based non-profit that grew out of a center founded by Nixon.  haha. Sessions honorary board member and of course, the CEO is a Russian.  emigrated to US in the 1970's.  so this is about the meeting at the mayflower.  Jared and Kislyak attended, as did sessions and trump as well. 

 the report does not find any clear meetings that occurred between sessions or trump or Jared at this event with Kislyak.

 the next section goes into the trump tower meeting. i will save that for another day.  this is pretty interesting stuff though.  far more interesting than a report on Clinton's sex life would be...seems pretty funny that a bunch of supposed moral religious right guys wrote a report on Clinton based on his sex life...pretty pathetic all around.  the GOP were determined to find some way to bring him down...all they could find in the end was sex and ego.  the fool should have just said, yes i had sex with that woman.  Hillary would have clobbered him but politically, he would have been free.  ego's get people though.  always amazing that these folks who live such public lives believe they can get away with crap...and no doubt they get away with more than they get caught for.

 i think further investigation following the Nixon impeachment path seems merited.  open testimony and more damming information that will no doubt continue to come forth will help turn those who have decency and common sense from their trump induced haze. 

 summer is ahead of me.  need to arrange a few pet sitters for at least one paddle, maybe two.  need the dates for the other one.  also possibly a trek to Sitka.  a long weekend. would be great to get down to Southeast AK again.  always love it down there and miss it. 

 i better go claim the bed before Tusker does.  Ivy is much more generous with bed sharing. that is Tusker though.  he always takes the most comfortable spots for himself.  takes the best toys...Ivy relents. 

thankful for:  A  silly TV shows to take your mind off things  B. melting snow  C.  farting..we'd sure be miserable without them.  haha.

snow and ice

 last pics from the Manitoba trip.

 small amount of snow last night, so just an inch or two over ice. today we just walked up and down the tank trail.

 just two of us today.

 been lazy this week.  so much to do, but i am totally in lazy mode.  hopefully, i get my crap together.

 i think it's post kitchen remodel..probably why i got sick as well. my body just opted out for a bit. 

 not much to take photo's of the past few walks.  we did get some miles in and the dogs always enjoy chasing the tennis ball no matter what the weather is like.  they are clearly not aware of whether a day is beautiful or cloudy...which i must say is good in a way...they are happy no matter what the day is like.

 watched this show on these identical triplets last night.  i do recall seeing some pictures of these guys in the 80's.  i think two of them just ran into each other and as they looked exactly the same they must have gotten to talking.  i think i missed the first part of the show which went over how they ended up getting back together.

 in the end it was pretty sad and weird.  apparently, the place that they were adopted from was working with some unscrupulous researchers.  they had been placed in a study by the adoption agency.  several sets of identical twins and this set of identical triplets were placed in different families to study how different parental styles impacted them.  the adoptive parents were told this group just wanted to follow up on the kids to see how being adopted impacted them...not telling them what they were really after.

 with the boys they made sure that they were each placed in a family that had already adopted a child so the researchers could have some idea of their parenting styles before putting these kids in there.  so they came to see all three boys without ever letting on that they had just seen their identical siblings and photo/video'd them as well. they showed another set of identical twins who had also been used in this way by this research team through this adoption agency...but there are several others who apparently still have no idea that they may have a twin out there.  the research data was placed in Yale University and have strict rules to not be opened until after 2066...the original researcher is dead.

 so a much more nefarious story than i had expected.  these babies were born in the 1960's...amazing what people are willing to do to other humans.  one of the triplets has committed suicide. 

 the shutdown is over.  it was not good for the economy...threats already being made by this administration to shut down again if they don't get their way.  it's all pretty ridiculous. they had 2 years to get done whatever they wanted.  thankfully, they are mostly incompetent and in chaos or they would have certainly done more damage to our nation.

 was reading that drones are being used to just pick up and drop drugs over whatever fences are out there.  doesn't seem like much of a stretch that soon they will have drone like contraptions that can just hoist humans over whatever wall they want built. there are areas where fencing does help, but by and large, fences/walls are not the end all answer to immigration issues.  currently more folks are trying to get caught so they can seek asylum.  drugs are a large issue, but those mostly are brought in at actual border crossings/ trucks, trains...and apparently via drones.  tunnels have been found.  for as much as some like to make claims about the wall in Israel, there is known to be an elaborate tunnel/black market system that has developed along there wall.  the bottom line is there are better ways...a less archaic system to protect the borders is needed, but shouting out build the wall is perfect for the average folk at a trump rally. 

 another iitoo buddy has been arrested.  he loves the spot light so seems to be enjoying the increased media attention.  he has a picture of Nixon tattooed on his body...which is strange enough.  his current charges are mostly for lying as well.  so many lies in this administration and those close to it. 

 the rest of these are from a day in August.  saw this huge cargo plane.  looked like a beluga whale.  after i watched planes i took the dogs to a dog park at this end of town, Conners Bog. 

 cruised Lake Hood as well.  always fun to just watch planes come and go.  we all seem to enjoy that,not sure why.  just a common fascination i guess.

 this administration opted to remove sanctions from the company of a Russian oligarch close to Manafort....there was an attempt to prevent these sanctions from being removed.  a few GOP members crossed but not enough to stop it.  now a few are already expressing regrets now that they are realizing how much this benefits this oligarch...of course, this information was out there.  they blame the dems for everything and believe nothing.  it's so bizarre.

 Venezuala is in a state of dysfunction with two men claiming to be the newly elected Presidents.  i really do not know much about this situation.  apparently, our administration is talking about sanctions against the one that Rus has sided with.  these sanctions would be on the oil...which of course, is no doubt the only reason anyone cares about what happens there at all. 

 of course, they have said they would do things and then not followed through.  Saudi has not been punished for their apparent role in the death of Kashoggi.  Rus has not been held to account for the poisoning of UK citizens.  so will this be all talk as well or will they actually act.  many only pay attention to what they threaten and don't bother looking to see if they follow through...they don't. 

 those meetings between the iitoo and Put are still a total unknown.  he even seized the notes from his interpreter and requested that they not discuss what was said even to his own staff.  that alone should make everyone sit up and take notice....what was said?  what was promised?  what does Put have on him at this point. 

 i am cooking in the kitchen.  all seems to be going smoothly. it has not improved my cooking skills..sadly, haha.  but it is fun to cook/eat in my new kitchen. 

 want to get some storage things for the garage so i can organize that and hopefully start parking in there soon...would be nice before i head out on the cruise.  that should be my goal i guess. have to hunt for my garage door opener i guess. pretty sure i know where it is.  probably needs new batteries. 

 still hunt for stuff in the kitchen.  not sure where the strainer is...hmm.  I've looked a few times.  tonight it took a few minutes to figure out where i put the dry onion soup so i could just make some dip for my chips.

 got my PFD filled out for the year.  the new Governor is talking about giving back the funds we didn't get the past few years when the last Governor put a cap on it and spent it for state needs. pissed off a lot of folks.  not sure how this will work out. 

 mostly i am not excited about this governor.  he is a mini trump or trump wanna be...he has the same views of destroy the established government with no real plan to improve or alter it...just about destruction.  i think we all would agree some improvements are always needed.  cut waste...blah, blah, but the current GOP plan is just to destroy what exists.  they do not seem to believe that the government needs to do anything by build walls and military. 

 our tax dollars do need to go to other things...like making sure our citizens are cared for, basic medical, good educations so we don't keep falling behind other nations in science, math, technology and even the arts and literature.  a society is much more than just a military and walls.  our nation is dependent on immigration to continue to infuse us with the best the world has to offer.  we need to be a place the best want to come to.

 many of our own citizens are not able to give back to society.  this means we do need to bring folks in from other places. we do not have enough MD's. we do not have enough caregivers for those with chronic disease. we have a bad drug problem in this nation.  those folks are mostly not able to function to improve society...you want to solve the border issue you need to spend the money to help clean up all the drug addiction in this nation.  the drugs will continue to come across the border along with the crime that is related to the drugs as long as there is a demand for the drugs. 

 people want simple answers to extremely complex issues.  that is just not how the world works.  complicated issues require answers that come at them from multiple vantage points.  this is difficult to scream out from a rally though.

 not sure what is going on with the walrus and Round Island.  need to try and get a hold of REI, they just opened the new store.  need to set up a date and look for a speaker for our annual event. i hope they still have a room available.  need to also try to get a hold of my contacts at Fish and Game just to see if there is anything new or changed.  hoping the current new director...which was the old director doesn't just put his foot down and end any hope of continued staff out on Round Island.  haven't heard anything yet.  not really sure what my next move should be.  write another article about Round Island and going there?  may be good.  just a you should go there article...see if i can get ADN to publish it.

 it was a pretty fall day out there at Lake Hood. 

 never know what you will see out there.  i haven't explored much of late.  south has had several rock slides post earthquake along the Seward Highway.  have no desire to walk along those trails of late...just seems too unstable to me right now.  will probably be even more unstable when the thaw happens in spring.

 the tides haven't worked out this week either but with the thaw we had last week, i wasn't too interested in the beach anyway. 

 love these views though.

 the floats are all put away for the season. 

 some just put their planes away until summer again.  i think winter flying can come with it's own risks.

 two schools in Eagle River will remain closed for the rest of the year due to earthquake damage.

 i have noticed a few small cracks in my dry wall but so far all looks pretty good. 

 strange AK news...another sea lion bit a fisherman out in Sand Point. the large mammal came out of the water and bit the guy on the thigh i guess...this is the third bite by a sea lion in  the past two years.

 a goshawk flew through a kids bedroom window in Valdez.  i guess it was after another smaller bird and didn't see the glass...it didn't survive the crash.

 as i was driving to the dog park the big cargo plane I'd seen was taking off

 so as i was at a red light i snapped a few shots of it

 just a cool looking plane

 the rest are at Conners Bog.

 sad case in a long term care facility in Phoenix.  a woman who was incapacitated delivered a baby...an LPN has been arrested for rape...or at least for abuse of a vulnerable adult and assault?  pretty disgusting.  nobody noticed she was pregnant as I'm sure they didn't even consider it a possibility.  that would be a tough call to make to the family.

 these are dogs playing in the water at the bog.  need to call tomorrow and see about getting a pool day.  they would love that.  would also be good to get them a good bath as well.

 lots of shaking and splashing...

 Ivy romps in the lake. i shall head off the computer.  a few errands to run tomorrow. 

thankful for: A.  no slippage on the ice.  B. mellow pups  C.  a Sunday Roast...it's been a long time and was much enjoyed!!