a win for the people...

 the people spoke out and they were heard.  the repeal and replace disaster did not even get voted on.  there is also too many factions in the GOP that are working against each other.  they are not on the same page as a party clearly at this point.  this is good news for many of us.  the iitoo is not really all that interested in governing really and is more interested in advancing his own greedy desires.

 for all his talk of being the big deal maker it seems he had little interest in making this deal.  he asked and then he demanded and then he threatened.  i give most of the credit though to the many people who have been making their voices heard.  the past few days when i have tried to call my senators/reps the lines have been busy, which is a great sign.  thanks to the many Americans who have begun to take part in our process.  i am very proud of them all!!  no matter what your views are, i am happy to hear that the people are stepping up at last.

 mostly for me, it just gives me hope that some checks and balances are working.

 scandals and corruption and threat of the above are very disheartening to many of us out there and it was just good to see that despite what seems like nearly absolute power on the GOP side, they have failed today on one huge thing they have been fighting about for years now.  in all those years, they really never came up with any plans for a replacement because they really only wanted to repeal it...they should have though.  we would all be much further along.  in truth, there is already the ACA in place...if we can just get everyone to work together and make the changes it needs it could work.

 historically, from all i have read this is how this stuff works.  this was massive and of course, there would need to be adjustments and outright slashes once it was in practice and live.  can they work together...it remains to be seen.  this failure was a positive step though i think.  i suspect the GOP saw they had the majority and figured they could just slam crap through without needing to work with the DEMS, perhaps this will be a good lesson.

 pups looked cute in the car.  these are from the drive i took down to the Conservation Center one day.  i'm moving slowly but am hoping to either head to Valdez tomorrow or Homer.  at this point it depends more on if i can get a hotel that allows dogs. i think those waterfalls would be cool heading down towards Valdez and then there is i guess a lake with a glacier that should still be frozen and has lots of cool ice formations out there...could be great fun.  it is after 10 pm now though. haha.  nothing like no plan.

 i'd be wanting to be on the road by 10 am, which is less than 12 hours away...still want to sleep too.

 pups are finally settling down for the evening.  we hit the dog park today.  ran into the Great Dane group and these pups love those great danes...major wrestle session.  Ivy Rose tends to want to wrestle right at my feet which makes these sessions a bit more dangerous for me.  goof ball.

 3 nights finished at work.  went well.  last night i was a sitter.  frustrating just because with some patients who have difficulty communicating you wish you could understand what they need more.  these patients regular care givers learn to pick up on those subtle cues.  so i did not know the cues.  you try your best though and i think it went okay overall, but still you feel badly because it has to be frustrating for them as well.

 my other nights were spent in IMCU and in ER taking care of hold patients.

 i signed up for some newly required courses in the fall for ER work.  still think it's a bit much to demand from the ER seeing that they have a difficult time getting help down there as it is...seems it will be much more difficult when they make additional education demands.  i'll also be due to update my PALS so fall will be busy.  drag.

 posted notes regarding our upcoming lecture for WARIS to a few groups on FB.  there are still open spots but they are filling.  did a test run of the live feed for FB.  not sure how that all works still.  how do you keep it running the entire time, why didn't mine actually post live...i had to click post after it was done.  it did work though.  so i may have to test a few more times.  i know those who are farther away would love to hear the lecture and have that opportunity. wrote him a note just to remind him, our lecturer, and make sure all is still set up.  may encourage my F&G guy to just bring Round Island pics to share.  last time he had too many pics of detailed pages....i think people like the pictures.

 Speedy will make the cool cupcakes and i'll get KH to bring the big water jug she brought last time.  maybe some more snacks.  i need to get our gift bags ready for the drawing. those were a hit last time.  also want to make sure we have information about us to put on the seats along with how and where to donate directly to help the sanctuary.

 working on a refi of the house.  quicken...went with them several years ago and they were great and have been again so far.  happy they now handle their own loans as well so i can get away from the usual big banks that i have been with before.  wanted to shorten the loan time and get as low of an interest rate as i can lock in before the rates go up.  then i can hopefully save up for remodel of kitchen and eventually my master. always big ticket items we all want...if only i had more money, right.  gotta write those novels!!

 still like the idea of buying some land somewhere in AK to escape to and put a tiny house on or tiny cabin.

 also working on getting our amazonsmile set up.  my printer/scanner was having issues..got the scanner to work though. can't seem to print from my computer since the last updates.  it is getting older and every day i'm thinking i need to start the back ups and be prepared to replace at some point.  i try to get the most out of this things though which seems tough these days.

 with AmazonSmile people can select our non-profit and when they make a purchase Amazon will give WARIS 0.5% of purchase price...we would be cool with that action!!

 gotta send off our taxes for WARIS, we make so little that it's a pretty easy process.  i also need to do my taxes.  hopefully some money to put towards a remodel.

 the mornings have been pretty chilly but the sun stays out longer and longer so the days seem to warm up and there has been quite a bit of meltage.

 have been on bear watch.  haven't seen our resident black bear mama come out onto her tree yet up Campbell Airstrip Road.  it won't be long.  hoping she has some young, first year babies in that tree with her this year.  last year her cubs were big 2 years...still baffling that all 4 of those big bears slept in that hollow tree all winter.  silly bears!

 not really looking forward to the bears waking up though.  these puppies have not seemed to properly learn to leave the moose alone yet.not wanting any bear encounters.

 these moose live out at the conservation center. i redid my membership out there.

 i thought they were putting a gift shop by the bears but instead they put in nice bathrooms and these art pieces.  that works too.

 2 of the 3 bears were awake and i suspect all of the brown bears are by now...perhaps all the black bears too.

 fun watching these two do a slow wrestle together.  the summers get pretty packed out here so going in the winter is fun...it's still ours to enjoy.

 i woke up the other day to discover that Ivy Rose had gotten to one of my slippers.  thankfully, i bought 2 pairs while they were on sale so i still have another pair.  later in the day she cruised in with the other of the pair that she had taken outside.  it was fine.  of course, one slipper is pretty useless so it was tossed along with the bits and pieces of its mate.

 the Blossom hat has been repaired...many thanks to Katie for that...it looks great, like nothing had happened.  that will just be kept tucked away and safe from possible destruction again..too precious of an item to allow it to get in the wrong paws.

 every day there is a bit more information regarding connections to Rus by this regime...there have also been some Rus who have been getting on the wrong side of Put and have been killed or tossed out 4th floor windows...

 some from iitoo crew have Rus on their hands and it looks like attempts are being made to make these folks the fall guys in hopes that those higher up do not take the direct hit.  we shall see.  i suspect there is much to discover and we will not fully understand the extent of all of this for months.

 they are trying to push through their nomination for supreme court...not sure i want them to get this done until we discover the extent of the Rus influence and if it continues today. it does seem more and more that it could.  in many ways this nominee seems not bad but at the same time he seems to be quite evasive during questionings and also there has been a lot of money put into preventing the Dems from their pick during Obama's time and now being put into getting this guy in...really hope that we can find a way when the dust all settles on this mess to insure that this big money is not allowed the power that it has been allowed.

 we seem to have evolved, or are involving,  into an oligarchy and that is not a good thing for us i believe.

 took a late nap this evening. have had lots of little headaches this week.  clusters i guess.  had been invited to a concert for tonight.  i was unfamiliar with the band so i went on line and was listening to various songs.  not sure if it was the headache but i decided sitting through an entire concert wasn't really going to work for me.

 so cute these bears.

 Ivy was in bad jumping form today at the dog park.  wild child.  Tusker joins in a bit.  Ivy is the worst though.  she seems to be able to aim right at peoples faces.  people understandably do not appreciate this.  i don't like it myself...it is annoying.

 the healthcare bill not passing was blamed on the Democrats, which is pretty funny considering they have little real power.  the GOP was unable to get enough votes on their own side.  iitoo has therefore given up on the entire idea...bored with it.  i suspect as does everyone it seems that there will probably be some sort of tweet storm at some point after he's stewed about this loss. faux news downplayed the loss as just a blip...well Hannity anyway...his head is so far up iitoo arse though.  Shep is rising up a bit and actually speaking out...i'm sure this means he will not be on faux news for much longer.

 not sure what tomorrow will bring but i was happy to have some positive news today, to have some hope trickle out.

 there is still much that is a mess and scary...the state department is being destroyed, the EPA is being destroyed, education is on the chopper...much damage can still be done.

 grateful and proud of my fellow citizens for their powers of resistance.  keep it up!!

 alcohol withdrawal is a nasty business.  was sworn at a great deal more the other night.  it's not like i get my feelings hurt.  alcohol can sure make people arses though.

 attack in UK, i think 4-5 deaths.  a police officer and an American among those lost.  always sad.  i had not realized that most police in UK do not carry guns.  interesting.  not sure of the actual gun laws there though.  i'm sure we just have a load more guns out there in play to begin with.

 these were fun wrestle shots.

 looks like this bear is getting CPR.

 guess i should go figure out my plans for this weekend and get to bed.  will have to wear out the pups as well.

grateful for:  A.  that this bad plan was dumped.  the citizens deserve better. hoping, the Dems and GOP will find a way eventually to work on plan that will improve what we have.  B.  beautiful days like today C.  the laughter of watching the pups wrestle and just enjoy their simple lives