these pretzels are making me thirsty...

 yes, i watched a little Seinfeld earlier..for those of you who recognized that line from the show.  i have many lines memorized from that show and they tend to appear in my verbage on a regular basis still.  now i have added many Big Bang lines to my life.  is it sad or just what it is that much of my language comes from tv and movies?  this is me on the top of the hill coming back from walking Horseshoe Lake in Denali.  SH told me to go ahead so i took a few tourists shots up here and then figured i'd have one of them take a shot of me

 should have put some pictures from the web cam in here. the rangers made the trek out to the camera, which doesn't look too easy, and they cleaned the housing of the camera...very exciting as bug guana and coated the thing and had made several of the viewing angles impossible.

 the flower group took one last trek a short distance up Savage to look for more flowers on the way back to the headquarters area.  we'd enjoyed our time.

 here is a group shot...thankful i took my mini tripod out there.

 was on call the other night and was hoping to get called in but didn't.  worked last night. started in IMCU which i'd never actually worked in since that unit was the RCU.  it was an easy adjustment and i had my 3 patients all settled in when i got switched to ER.  it was a bit nuts when i arrived so i jumped in and helped out.  the computers were down for an hour and that place goes nuts off the grid...!!

 i got there at 2 am and don't think i ever stopped. below elegant paintbrush...see i didn't even have to look it up...!!  i did learn a little out there.  :-)

 setting up SH's tent was a group effort.  she had thrown T and i off by leaving it in a strange configuration before coming over to take her shower and sending us off with the car to the camp site.  we later laughed so hard...i was crying and SH had to use her inhaler.

 Blossom and i have done a few walks with Rio left at home.  she just gets weak still.  was good for Blossom to get out on a bit more of a real walk...me too.  Rio still won't accept the peanut butter filled bone unless i am leaving her home with Blossom.  she does need an extra meal in order to fatten her up and to split up her food more...3 meals/day instead of 2.  so i have found i can give her a meal of cottage cheese and beef or some other tasty food and quietly walk away.

 the other day we had to wait for a mama moose and her two sweet calves to move off of the trail.  no bear sightings.  today there was a cute husky looking dog who was out walking the tank trail on a cart. it was supporting his hind quarters. he was happy to be out. i think Blossom was a bit concerned about the dogs cart at first but she warmed right up...

 SH gets some love from Boddhi...and is still just a smidgee taller than M!!  it won't be long though.

 a few fb sorts have been posting religious stuff in response to the ruling on gay marriage.  rather than comment on these imho ridiculous posts i just keep hiding them from view..best to not get into it when people are so set on something.  my opinion is that God expects us to love and be kind and respectful and fair...there are people being beheaded and all sorts of awful things happening on this earth...pick a better cause that will bring happiness and hope to others rather than tear down people who are just trying to live as they are with those that they love.

 with infidelity and divorce rates being what they are i really can't say that the men and women of the earth have proven they are the only ones who own the rights to the institution.

 solstice sun...now the darkness will slowly return.

 i'm trying to make the most of the light and get out in the yard and not let this jump start i paid for go to waste...well i haven't actually paid for it yet.  guess i wait for a bill to arrive.  not sure.  still waiting to chat with my neighbor and see where we are on the whole roof thing.  i do have a large bug bite on the back of my neck from my efforts tonight though.  every bit i do out there will head me in the right direction.  hopefully i can try and hire someone to get me started each spring and perhaps work on a little project here and there.

 our home for the night at Riley.  after all these years, this was actually my first weekend staying in the park.  will have to do that again.

 there was an article in the Salt Lake News that i was reading.  the Mormon church was giving it's members permission to express support for gay marriage on social media without concern of the church coming down on them.  it was an odd and funny article...things just look stranger and stranger to me the longer i am away from that church.  i was reading through the many heated comments...no i didn't comment...man people on both sides get so rude and nasty.  they had even deleted many of the worst comments apparently.  wow.

 i do continue to comment on the explore.org site.  what WARIS and myself to be a presence.  on occasion i'll get asked about WARIS and this week was one of those occasions.  nice to be able to give our information.  i try not to be too annoying and pushy...it is another non-profits web page..but i figure if i just keep signing it with our name, eventually people will ask and then others will know and share the information.

 these are from the hike we took before heading back to Anchorage.

 was laughing with a patient...remembering some fights with siblings.  my brothers took to each other only a few times.  this patient and i were talking about how boys fight a bit differently than girls. of course, we were laughing that his brother in this situation was fighting like a girl.  i know i let my feministic values fail me..haha.  real boys when i was a kid used their fists.  girls tended to use nails and hair pulling and slapping and tools. the tool worked in this case i guess as the non tool using guy was in the ER.  of course, these siblings were no longer kids, but that is how it goes sometimes.

 with these hate shootings at a church another issue seems to be heating up....the confederate flag.  i'm not from the south so it just has never been something i paid any attention too. with these deaths there are many who are saying the flag represents racial hatred and shouldn't fly especially in public places.  some of the same posters on fb who have been publishing stuff about religion and the gay marriage issue have also been posting stuff about the confederate flag and it not being about race at all.  i sense that whatever meaning it had at one time has been overshadowed by the meaning that some have put upon it...

 guess, the bottom line is that a few religious folks from the south are having a bad week.  i can live with that.

 the sign up for the Iditarod 2016 has begun.  a few teams signed up despite losing their homes to the recent fires.  there seems to have been a great deal of support to help with rebuilding of the homes and dog lots.  blip in the paper on other Iditarod news.  Mackey lost 2 dogs last year..they still have not determined why those dogs passed away.  didn't hear of him signing up.  his health may not be good enough to run that race...you never know though, he may be back...they do call him the comeback kid.

 beaver dam above.

 more beaver dam activity.

 Izembek National Wildlife has been in the news of late.  attempts to put a road in to connect Cold Bay with King Cove.  i've been to this area once.  we did a ferry trip from Kodiak to Dutch Harbor.  there was a good commentary piece just saying what a silly and expensive idea this is.  i've always felt that living in rural Alaska is a risk...you accept that when you live in these places.  getting medical help or any help at all can and will be a delayed process.  if you are not willing to accept that fact then you may need to consider moving closer to a larger city in Alaska or in another state altogether.

 the writer was speaking to how unrealistic the expectations seem to be at what this one lane dirt road would be able to bring to the communities it will supposedly serve and also how much the fragile place will be decimated by this road.  he said already 4 wheelers go where they aren't supposed to go and mar the land...with a road it would just be greater access to destroy things.  in rough weather, winds blow, snow blows...driving on the maintained roads in the area is hazardous enough let alone some remote road.  trying to maintain the road would be costly.  they had a hovercraft which was apparently very effective in an emergency...considering the remoteness.  it would actually take much longer to attempt to drive the road they are speaking of.  hopeful this one doesn't happen. progress is not always very progressive.

 it was in the news as well recently as 9 fin whales were found washed up dead near there as were at least 25 walrus carcasses...they weren't sure if there was foul play involved in any of it and we may never hear more than what that article said.

 old relic on horseshoe lake.  i think this area was visited by early park visitors.  will have to return and watch the movie S was telling me about.  it was such a big deal to get up to the park that people stayed for quite long visits.  i imagine they also had social events in the evenings. just seems like that was pretty common back in the 20's and 30's.

 a forest ranger was attacked by a bear while out fighting one of our forest fires...guess he is recovering and doing fine.  you would think fighting a fire was dangerous enough without having to worry about a bear coming after you as well.

 video clip of our President speaking at one of the funerals of those poor folks shot in a church in the south by a crazy racist kid.  he broke out into the singing of Amazing Grace. it was actually quite touching i thought.  i'm sure there were those who were saying it was all fake or some stunt....i think the man is a good human though.  he has had to put up with a lot being President, but he seems to be weathering it and i think history will show the truth of his character.  i remember many mocked Jimmy Carter when he was in office and felt he was an idiot.  he has since gone on to do so much for others and i think some have had to reconsider all the negative and mean spirited things they had once said of him...politics makes people hate just to hate...if you aren't on their side you must be the enemy i guess.

 i'll stick to trying to save walruses and let others take on nations.  running a government doesn't appeal to me at all.

 we decided this was beaver training are above.  little trees and tiny dam starts.

 we were behind this truck for a bit...construction. thought it was a clever name for a company that sucks poop out of septics and such.  time for me to turn in....

grateful for: A.  patience when i don't think i have any more of it left.  B.  snuggle time with the cats.  pogi snuggles more but i love that Breezy is getting closer to it..  C.  cooler days. i know i'm supposed to revel in the 80 degree temps but i prefer it a bit cooler.