getting older...wiser or just forgetful

 sometimes it's wise to just forget.  lots of great stuff in this life to remember though . was chatting with a friend at work and mentioned the new walrus cam and WARIS.  he just laughed...my life seems so normal at times and then there are these strangely abnormal bits that come out.  walrus advocate, sasquatch tv debut, brushes with death.  it's all just odd and bizarre...but still all part of who i am in this world.

 these are still from HJ and DJ's trip north.  i'll need to make a disc and send it off to them.  some days i'm just in the mood to shoot in black and white.

 worked adult icu the first night and then the ER.  i was on the east side, which is my favorite most of the time...you feel less exhausted here than you would on Main.  it was so busy last night though that i think everyone clocked out no lunch and between midnight and 0730 i had already gotten in 3.8 miles on my phone step counter.  was well over 14000 steps by the end of today...

 took the dogs to University Lake.  Rio seemed pretty set on joining so that seemed like a nice relaxing place to head to.  i had high hopes but ended up taking a bit of a nap later.  got some of the usual house hold chores done too though.

 HJ at the pipe on turnigan.  fresh spring fed water from inside the mountain.  so delicious. i've taken to taking visitors here...it's a kick and besides i was able to get them to fill up several jugs that were in my car.  generally fill them up here and use them for camping and such in the summer.  great to have water in the car for the dogs too.

 moose spotting and DJ was very good to spot a moose on the top of this garage type building in Kincaid.

 here is a different, closer shot of the moose up there.  so their first moose was swimming and the second one was on a roof..haha.

 then we found  few more around Lake Hood and those roads.  a successful late night moose hunt.  today i cruised over to the back side of the big airport and spotted a few moose.  no fresh babies though...still hoping.

 i hadn't noticed this little library by the caribou "star"s home in down town..yes a caribou  lives down town.  it can be seen in it's enclosure and also gets put on harness from time to time and taken for walks downtown.  i really should make a walrus/WARIS little free library for my hood and keep stocking it with walrus books.  hmm?  just a thought.  will have to look into that and how one goes about getting and maintaining a little free library.

 a few from my jaunt up to Talkeetna.  of course the big mountain.

 reading news a guy crashed a car that had his family inside and then booked.  ran off. just sad that there are such idiots out there and that women stay with them.  the news said he was in custody now.  we really are surrounded by jerks...thankfully there are tons of super nice folks out there as well. some days you just have to try and convince yourself that the good outweighs the bad a bit harder than other days.

 had a sweet, forgetful old guy as a patient.  as does happen on occasion.  my marital status comes up.  why haven't i married, what is the flaw that has prevented me from marriage...it's there, we all know it...i must have a flaw!!  apparently everyone who does manage to wed is flawless and us singletons are screwed up humans and that is the reasoning behind us never marrying.  of course, i have met many a screwed up and crazy married person.  quite frankly, there is a pretty even number of nut jobs both married and single. i really don't believe one can judge others mental status by their marital status.

 but alas...there are still those who feel a female is a sad reflection of society if she remains unwed.  the truth for me really is that i never found someone that i wanted to marry.  it wasn't for lack of trying or dating.  i did plenty of those things.  in the end. i think it's best to stay single than to be in a miserable marriage.  i also think being single is not this tragedy that it's made out to be.  i think you just make the most of whatever life throws at you.  be happy, find your happy.

 this guy wanted to help me a bit i guess with my problem of still being single...he was trying to be encouraging.  at one point he said...well you could go to a church and meet someone. then he said this strange thing. "but if you did that you might end up with someone black or somoan".  was it the dementia?  takes away all political correctedness.  so random and odd of a comment.  i mean i guess to him it was better i stay single than be married to someone black or somoan?  now that would be a travesty.  smile and walk out of the room.  as a nurse you do that often.  you are paid to just be nice.  but you can still laugh about it later.

 we had a good laugh later that night about something totally different. had a pct sitter in with another patient.  she called me in to the room quite concerned. i had removed a persons urine bag and now they were up and had peed all over, the bed, the floor..but what she was worried about was this big glob of yellow thick stuff that she was sure came from the groin area....

 i had no idea what it was but figured it was out, if it repeats then let me know.  she went on break and came out from her break to tell me she'd figured it out. we'd given the patient yellow jello earlier. haha!!  never fear.  that jello will get you every time.  if it's not some sort of urethral drainage it's looking like bloody vomit.

 hard to capture the porpoise out there on the water but super fun to watch them playing in the waves and wake of the boat.

 a girl i used to work with is apparently up in Alaska and up on the big mountain for a climb.  wishing her and her group safe travels up Denali.

 just scenery from our day in Resurrection Bay on the water.  turned out to be quite lovely.

 always love this stand of trees stretched out.  makes for a lovely contrast to the scenery.

 brushed Blossom and trimmed her face...she looks so cute.  she doesn't like the whole grooming process but grooming is part of life.

 the rocks looked a bit like the backs of walrus

 murres in the water. loads of birds in this area.

 and of course, sea lions!!

 always a stop by to check on these guys in their haul out.  they are a noisy bunch.

 seemed like a pretty steep climb for a haul out to me but the sea lions are fairly agile i guess.they do seem way more graceful and agile than the walrus

 always pretty and relaxing to watch the waves crashing about on the rocks.

 been great to have the explore.org app on the phone and be able to peek in on the walrus and show them off at work.  now people will really see me as a crazy walrus person.

 the future of WARIS.  we stay as an advocate for the island. help prevent this from happening again. now that they will know we exist and that we are willing to fight for the place perhaps we can prevent it. want to build up friends of the islands and of walrus in general.  in the future the hope is that we can make money to more directly assist the island with projects and partial funding.

 the web cam is such a great way to show off the walrus to the world.  once you see them out there in the wild you can easily become hooked and fall in love with these lumbering giants.

 it's not that i don't adore sea lions or want to save whales or polar bears..it's just that there are folks who are already signed up to do that and the walrus...well they needed someone out there who speaks out for them.  WARIS is willing and wanting to be that voice.

 these guys are not as touchy feely as the walrus are.  of course there is a mix of males and females here and the big males are surrounded by their harems of females.

 pics from the explore.org cam this week.  someone captured this one with steam i guess from the walrus.  thought it was pretty cool.

 the light the other morning as the sun was rising was just stunning.

 so i got home and was able to scroll back and capture these. was hoping i could find this puffin that flew right at the camera but no luck.  my work stuff had slowed so i just put the walrus up at my work space and watched between cares and charting.

 look at that sunrise!!

 the beaches have been packed the last few days. it's so hilarious to watch them pack in together. climbing over each other.  it's nuts.  all the tusks poking each other, disgruntled and then just as quickly the scuffle is over and they all snuggle in.  forgiveness is for sure a walrus trait.  they move on, no grudges seem to be held..though they can look pretty annoyed at their walrus friends for a few minutes and some back and forth sparring looks pretty intense.

 there are a few moments where they all seem to be at peace and you can listen to the water lapping on the shore and the strange sounds and chimes of the walrus.

 a sea of pink

 the rangers posted a picture of the main beach and asked for people to look for the camera's...someone marked it. pretty impressive camera.

 explore.org posted this one..that poor walrus has got a ton of weight on it's neck.  it's not surprising that deaths occur when these big guys stampede.  they seem to stomp all over each other getting to their nap spots on the beach and it appears that they survive it.

 the rangers also posted this to show us the actual camera set up.

 a few more shots that others posted the one below by the rangers obviously as it shows the end of the dragons spine with the walrus on both sides.  this is from the top of the trail i was never able to get to...perhaps one day. the height would be a bit scary but the views...wow!!

 better get to bed...still pretty sleepy from my night shift in ER.

grateful for:  A. that Round Island sunset the other morning..it was absolutely stunning and the light on the walrus.  inspiring.  B.  walking.  i may not be as quick as i want to be and i'm out of shape for sure..but it's all going the right direction and it's great to be normalizing. C.  the animals of this earth...there is such amazing variety and wonder.