sympathy only goes so far...

 loved the color in these roadside wildflowers.

 this week at work was spent in pcu and then rcu.  one of my patients last night was puking like nobody's business.   my concern grew, was this pt obstructed, bleeding? Dr was called, labs, done, xrays done meds given...then sometime after 2 am i heard the sound of more vomit...when i went in the room the patient had just pulled the fingers out of the throat.  really?  self induced vomiting all night...just knock that shit off...will ya!

 the roofers are done.  i must have slept through some of the nail driving though one must wonder how...it was pretty loud when i woke at 1pm.  not my best day of sleep.  next day a friend convinced me to get up and go to the staff picnic...it didn't really start at 4. haha.  at least the dogs got to go and walk and i guess i got points for attending a function.

 of course, i'm not sure having your dog stick her nose in your bosses crotch is a good idea....so embarrassing.  i really need to invent and sell a training device that you would have your friends put around their waist which would give a tiny zap to dogs who shove their noses in your friends crotches....very unbecoming behaviour.  Blossom can't be perfect...we all have our flaws.  she is still pretty dang adorable.  must control dog around boss...note to self.

 the rest of these are from the Eagle River Nature Center.  always a lovely walk.

 today i drove out to Portage Valley and walked out to Byron Glacier.  trying to keep it interesting.  always pretty out there. that glacier has sure receded a lot.  the viewing area that was built years ago looks silly in the moraine filled with rocks that stretches way out in front of it.  people wander all over the rocks.  there is usually a big snow/ice flow in front but that has really melted back. place looks different every time you go.

 i didn't really think about the traffic that would be coming back from the Kenai.  fish are jumping and dip netting is open for locals.  took some time to get home.  mostly the traffic kept moving just stop and go at times and way under the posted speed limit

 did get to enjoy the bore tide for a bit.

 it's getting late tonight, trying to ponder ideas for fun things to do tomorrow.  a few things i want to do i will have to plan for dog care for the day.

 seems to be a lot of whale activity outside of Seward this year so i would love to take the Kenai fjords trek again but out to Aialik Bay.  would be a long day but could be sweet.  i also want to take the train to spencer glacier.  have never done that so it is on the list.

 may just end up doing a good long hike again.  southfork? Eklutna? it remains to be seen.

 Blossom looking at the creek below and hoping she can swim.

 the big hollow tree.  Blossom is great for photo ops...when she is in the mood.

 can't say as work was too crazy for me this week.  a few patients kept me steady but nothing out of control.  had some nice folks...aside from the self induced vomiting one. so annoying.

 guess Bill Cosby is now admitting he drugged women in past and had sex with them.  guess we all always hope that the illusion is true and he was able to keep his indiscretions quiet for a long time.  Money and power are often a combination that leads to arrogance and abuse of that money and power.  still sad to see people fall that you hoped were above it more than the others.  disappointing i guess.

 there is a place called Graveyard Point in Bristol Bay.  there is a cannery that operates for just 6 weeks each summer, otherwise it's a ghost town.  sounds pretty eerie...there has been erosion on the beaches and land above the beaches...this has caused old grave sites to be disturbed and now human bones can be found  on the beaches.  freaky...they aren't sure if the bones are those of Natives from many, many years ago or if they are bones of Chinese cannery workers that were brought there in the early 1900's to build the original cannery.

 Trump is busy making ridiculous statements and pissing off more and more people.  last i heard it sounded like he was making light of McCains military service, like being held as a POW was no biggie.  wow...that is beyond decency really.  speaking of those who have obtained a great deal of wealth and power and have lost sight of the real world the rest of us live in.

 these people all shit and fart like everyone else.  at my work, no amount of money or power or social clout can prevent those every day tasks....humility is having to be turned side to side while some nurse wipes your ass...perhaps one day these guys will be sick or find themselves in some other position where the power they have taken for granted all these years is suddenly not there anymore.

 we are taught in Nursing school that there are no VIP Patients but when anyone the administrators deem as noteworthy shows up...you can bet the folks in the offices attempt to cater to their every whim.  when i am your nurse you are another patient.  for me...everyone is VIP.  i will do my job and show the same decency, respect, care and kindness whether you are wealthy and powerful or a homeless drug addict.  wiping ass is wiping ass and shit is shit.  believe me....it all stinks! from the rick and the poor and from the educated and non- educated, from the addict, the alcoholic, and the beauty queen.

 the other day i watched a little clip that was posted on facebook.  interviews. a conservative was once again denying mans role in global warming..(if that is really happening, right?).  anyway, it just struck me as funny and ironic.  so often growing up i heard about the second coming of Christ and that all these terrible things will happen on earth.  these predictions have now been repeated over and over for what seems like 2000+ years.  to conservatives this does not seem odd or unlikely.

 yet they so often refuse to believe first off that any warming is happening, instead saying it's some sort of liberal conspiracy, and of course refuse to believe that man is speeding up this process.it's like they see the predictions of the scientists as completely ridiculous...when they themselves have predicted the end of the world for decades.   the vast majority of true scientists have no doubt that we are on a warming trend and that the rates of that warming are greatly increased and that this is most likely related to humans.

 it occurred to me that perhaps...the two are tied together.  we are meant to protect this earth and yet we are creating a situation  or at least hastening it...are we making our own doom....with the warming, food and water will become scarce.  battles will worsen between the haves and the have nots. the species that die off will negatively impact our whole ecology, fracking, dams, overfishing, death of bees... the predicted gloom and doom may well be coming via global warming and yet many refuse to even accept that it's happening.  perhaps we have a chance to reverse the end of the world by saving the planet that God so carefully created.  maybe the only ones that will be spared in the end will be those who fought for the earth in the great battle.

 it's just ironic that one mans doom and gloom prediction is seen as truth while anothers is seen as crazy rhetoric.  maybe they are both true..or maybe they are both crazy rhetoric.....

 watched a Ted talks about addiction. they guy was saying we are going about treatment all wrong. the addicts need more support and less isolation. it all sounds great and i've no doubt that we have yet to find any sort of treatment plans for alcohol or drug addicts that is truly effective...all that seems to be true is that unless the individual decides to make a change, no amount of cajoling or money or forced treatment will work.

 it's tough for the addicted ones family and friends though.  i can't at all blame them for walking away from the addicts in their lives.  addicts lie, steal and manipulate.  i'm not saying that as a judgement.   when people are addicts they will do anything to get that fix or high.  it can be really tough to straddle the support and inclusion side of the wall while trying to also not get lied to, taken advantage of and ripped off.

 there are less and less nomadic people in the world.  truly nomadic. China has been bringing it's nomadic populations in and making them give up their nomadic ways....the impact of these mostly forced resettlements is loss of pride as the cultural pride and practices wear away and are lost.  many find it difficult to fit in to the modern life.  debt, alcoholism, lack of education and direction...

 just that continuation of a few who believe they know what is best for all the people of the earth...these same few seem to believe they can "manage" the earth and it's various inhabitants. up here it drives me nuts.  too many wolves here or bears there, just kill them.  not enough moose here, they try to dictate how nature is managed...forgetting that nature  managed itself without a human presence for thousands, if not millions of years ( can't say i know the exact number of years the earth existed before mankind showed up)

 seems to be a summer of little plane crashes...survivors at least in one in Juneau.  i think just the pilot died. many of these small plane pilots are brought in from other places to fly planes...like much of our tourist industry staff...many are not Alaskans.  flying in Alaska is a different game to what many pilots trained south have encountered.  less of that when you get out into the real bush...those are the real Alaskan bush pilots

 Guess Obama is coming to Alaska end of August.  he has come once before but stayed on the local military base i guess.  only 10 sitting Presidents have ever visited Alaska. ( they don't count refueling stops in this list).  '23 Harding, '44 Roosevelt, '60 Eisenhower, '66 Johnson, '71 Nixon, '74/'75 Ford, '83/'84 Reagan, '94 Clinton,' 04/'05 Bush (GW).

 the ferns are growing like crazy. today out in Portage i saw early salmonberries. i always loved those in Ketchikan...will have to make a Berry run out to Portage/Whittier one of these days.

 i was trying to do yoga poses...this was before i chopped my hair.  many comments at work.

 still haven't gone in to get it evened out...i think my concern is that they will cut way too much off trying to make it even.

 liking my new hair do far.

 cool trees...i always enjoy cool trees.

 more selfie attempts.  but it is after 2 am...so i shall retire and hope to do some cool fun stuff tomorrow..and get some stuff done as well i guess.

grateful for:  A.  lack of major psychological issues ( that i know of).  so many suffer from mental illness and life can be incredibly unbearable for those folks.  i have occasional and fleeting melancholy, a bit of some low self esteem and no doubt some social anxiety...but really..i'm good.  B.  so far my mind seems to be relatively sharp. every so often i do something stupid and mixed up and i have a moment of wondering if i'm beginning to lose my mind...hopefully, someone will help me to know if i am...though with dementia, the patient generally isn't aware...so it's scary. C. that the walrus are back on the island...they were off for a few days while the storms blew through. i missed them.