day 1 at Hallo Bay...

 loved the light on some of these.  this was a young male.  he'd normally been chilling with is sibling, a female who was a collared bear.  she'd been tranqualized that day and so they were separated.  not sure if they got back together, but they probably did once the drugs wore off and she was acting more normal. they would naturally separate as they got to the age of breeding though.

 he wandered around eating sedge and taking sips of water from the creek.

 i was woken early by the pups and had fed them and attempted to return to sleep, but the pups were not in that mindset.

 i finally just gave up and decided to write a blog post...of course, now they are quiet and sleeping.  go figure.

 below i thought his face with the mud looked very monkey like!

 i return to work tonight.  wish i could be a stay at home dog mom....oh well, bills to be paid and i've never been any sort of kept woman....more of a left woman.  more likely i pushed most suitors away rather than being left.  this is the challenge of being extremely independent...

 i recall watching this thing where they had "attractive" people vs "regular" people do things in public that would lead them to need assistance...the "attractive" folks got all sorts of assistance from anyone and everyone.  the "regular" folks...got odd looks and no assistance from anyone.  i'm in the "regular" folks category obviously...more and more so as i get older.

 since Tusker is supposed to be "quiet" and resting post op i decided to just take a walk on the multi use paved trails in town.  we need to work on passings and greetings.  my pups tend to get too excited, jump, pull..so it seemed a good idea. took loads of treats and headed out.  we'd almost completed 4 miles of walking...when..

 sexy bear poses..

 anyway, near the end of our walk an offleash, intact male dog came bouncing our way.  we were trapped with this friendly but humpy dog for the next 15-20 min...no owner in sight.

 thankfully, it wasn't a mean dog, but trying to control 3 leashed dogs with one bouncy, intact, off leash dog circling and jumping and humping your dogs is nearly impossible. i know i'm supposed to go all Cesar Milan and calm and all that...i always seem to fail in these situations instead becoming unhinged, frustrated.  with this dog jumping, i'm trying to control him plus my now excited puppies who are also jumping and lunging.

 was trying to get a hold of the dogs collar to call the owner, but all the jumping made this act difficult.  folks walked/biked past and nobody stopped to help me. one guy did call for dog to run towards him as he biked past. the dog would run off temporarily and then run back.

 finally, in the distance i heard "loki" being called.  he finally responded and ran back to a woman who had a stroller.  never saw them again so unable to let her know just how much trouble her dog had caused.  my knee was hurting, i was a mess really.  not sure i'll ever get my dogs trained to a level to be able to be chill with a dog jumping all over us.

 does make me more and more ready to get Ivy spayed.

 went to a friends for a dog party afterwards.  that was relaxing and fun.  my dogs did pretty well there.  they were wiped out last night...as was I.  hopes of getting to the pool dashed, i settled in for a nap and some more Olympics.

 was able to watch the beach volleyball USA team get Bronze.  they finally got their play back after coming close to losing again to a Brasil team.  timing was off, team play was off, at one point their communication was so bad they literally crashed into each other.  not sure either will return for another Olympics...time to take their bronze and bow out perhaps. it was hard fought on both sides. the crowd was clearly on the Brasil side and boo'd the Americans relentlessly.

 beautiful scenery with bear...

 my news flash on the iphone this morning told of a robbery report from American swimmers in Brasil that was turning out to be a false report.  now it seems, the swimmers possibly made it up to cover their drunken recklessness.  why do Americans get those "ugly American" reputations..one wonders.  so embarrassing.  so often folks don't know how to drink with anything but reckless abandon and make complete idiots of themselves.

 the most famous of the lot seems to have miraculously escaped back to the states leaving his fellow lying drinkers alone in Brasil to face the music.  what will happen?

 i'm always surprised that people travel from the states to other nations and then are shocked when the rights and justice ways of the states are not the way of other nations.  where ever you go on this earth you will be subject to the laws of their land not your own.  the big USA will not be able to protect you from your stupidity in other nations the way it may do if you are home.  know the justice system of the nation you visit, know the laws, know how the police work...behave.

 the evening light turned out really nice in these. you never know how any pictures will turn out until you get them on the computer.  sometimes it's a big blurry mess.

 watched "the buyers club" last night.  hard to even tell who the real actor playing the main role was, he'd changed so much for it.  it was a bit brash and in your face at times, but overall a good movie.  funny Hanks also played a role where he lost tons of weight to play someone with aids.

 often think back to those early days of aids/hiv.  so much was unknown and people were terrified.  hate towards the gay community was palpable.  it was their fault, they deserved to die because of how they lived...then the straights got the disease.  suddenly, there was more attention, more work towards finding treatments and cures.

 like the main character in this movie.  often the gay community turned out to be your only ally after you tested + for hiv.  many simply were cut off from family and friends, accused of being gay, fear of the unknown.  many feared it could be caught easily and from minimal contact.

 i was in nursing school during some of these years.  i recall going to an Aids clinic at L.A. County Hospital.  you saw the folks devastated by the news of their diagnosis, or in the throws of the disease.  the drugs to slow the disease down were not yet available or not known.  it was affecting everyone at that time though.

 one nursing student in my class was kicked out partly because she was failing but also because she said she would refuse any patient with hiv/aids. that is not how nursing works in general.

 getting assistance across the boggy bits by our guide, Jerry.

 of course, the puppies are sleeping.

 my bank card was flagged as being involved in possible fraud.  a new card is on the way.  not sure what happened or what the source was.  when i logged on to my bank account a survey came up and wouldn't let me get past it to  my account details.  this may have been it but i'm thinking now not.  they did encourage me look up log in page separate and not use a saved favorites.  it seems like it actually may have been related to paying a bill on my AT&T app. i'd never done that before.  it kept saying it refused the card, but when i spoke to the bank rep later, it was accepted both times and then cancelled out.

 this world of computers puts us all at risk.  it is frightening how little it would take to mess up your life big time.  for now i will get a new card and my card is now unusable.  we have grown so dependent on this stuff.  cash...what is cash anymore?

 rocks mixed in with the sand.

 local flora.

 this old log looked a bit like a pac man

 may try to nap again for a bit.  at least an hour or so.  the pups are usually pretty good about letting me sleep in after they eat.  could be a long night at work if this is how we start.

 sold our first bag for WARIS...looks like there will be a few more orders coming in.  i suspect i'll need to do another order.  want to write to Shutterfly and see what discount i can work out due to being a non-profit.  they may have a code.  they do seem like they like to give to non-profits and individuals.

 Rolf...just out bear viewing.  super nice folks.

 this is the next day and this is the sister of the bear above they were still not back together but  she seemed more awake after a nights rest.

 pretty flowers on log in front of where i was sitting to watch her.

 she settled in for a nap..amazing how quickly these bears, which are not small, disappear into the grasses..you could walk pretty close to them and not notice them sleeping there...

 how often do we do that on the trails with all sorts of animals.

grateful: A.  that the loose dog yesterday was not mean B.  for happy pups...all three C.  for my time with Pogi.  such a wonderful cat.  he used to love playing with those strips of paper you pull off envelopes when you seal them.  made me tear up last night closing my netflix envelope.  i couldn't toss the strips away...waiting for him to come play with them i guess.