conflicts...

 me with the pups...another selfie...perhaps they are mellowing a wee bit so i can get these rare selfies with them.  Ivy cracks me up.  today we ended up at Connors Bog.  it's another dog park, but i can avoid the little lake there.  it is the time of year to avoid all lakes/rivers and bodies of water.  they will fall through.

 the beach is fairly safe as long as i hit the tide right.  the ice amounts are minimal already out there.

 the pups have been busily bringing logs in from outside and making wood chips out of them. they are very efficient wood chippers.  i was laughing to myself this morning thinking one of these mornings i will wake and they will have created some sort of wood carving in one of these logs...a dog self portrait or a bird or something.  if elephants can paint why can't my pups do amazing wood carvings...haha.

 was intent on getting a few things on the to do list completed.  it seemed more like i drove around getting nothing done.  it was cloudy out so a good day for laziness.  grabbed an old book....one of those chicken soup books...this one was for the animal lover.  i opened the book where i'd left off years ago and the first story was about "socks" and "buddy" who were at the time of the book being published living in the white house and the little story was written by HRC.  how random is that?

 so the state department had to take down an endorsement for Mar a Lago from their web page.  our US government is more and more for the benefit of the iitoo and his family.  he's not really even making much of a secret that he still runs his businesses through his sons while in office.

 he has multiple properties which can be bought at above market prices like the one the Rus fertilizer king bought a few years back for way over market value...you can easily buy favors from this iitoo it seems.  the GOP doesn't seem very concerned.  that will change when and if they find iitoo to be more of a hindrance than a help in their agenda.

 iitoo is the only leader of the free world who called to congratulate  the "president" of Turkey.  that guy has extended his years in office and trashing their democracy...but iitoo owns a hotel there so he needs to make sure to keep a good relationships with this guy.

 if he would ever release his taxes it will probably show his financial ties to both China and Rus.  he can use his private meetings and power to broker better deals on all he owes them.  again the GOP doesn't seem concerned about this..

 it's all so frustrating.  got another form letter from our carpetbagger senator. he was hired by the Koch brothers to be our senator basically.  the money in our government is ridiculous.  Ivy above is watching birds.

 the chase is on.

 so it seems we can't trust those in the GOP to do any sort of investigation .i'm hoping there are some decent journalists out there who will dig into the story and bring the truth out...are there still good journalists out there or are they all sound bite journalists.  this society seems only interested in the short term discoveries and don't always have the patience needed to really seek out the truth in these sort of things.

 there are many connections to Rus so it will be interesting to see where that leads.

 of course, currently, the iitoo and his crew are playing chicken with NK so who knows what will happen there.  as i said in yesterdays post.  this administration could possibly be responsible for many lost lives over the next few years. i'm sure they will find a way to blame Obama and HRC.  taking personal responsibility is not going to happen anytime soon in DC

 seems like i spend a portion of each day sweeping up wood chips and cleaning up muddy paw prints...the down side to the dog door.  haha.  still prefer having it.  did cost a bit more in heating costs this winter too.

 want to get up early tomorrow to check out this mastiff.  hopefully, he gets a new home.  not sure i'm ready to add a third dog into our lives.  could be a challenge.

 i do like the guard dog aspect of a big mastiff though.  these guys are adorable..maybe too cute to look scary though.  Rio did bring some comfort and level of safety to live.  she was sweet as they come, but if you didn't know her...she could probably look pretty intimidating.  i've no doubt really that she would have done what she could to protect me.  i think these guys would as well, despite their super friendly nature.  Ivy is my little shadow.  they are watching the neighborhood and are good barkers.

 barking is a good deterrent.  just hearing that is often enough to make someone move on to the next house.

 not really sure if a mastiff would fit through the dog door.  saw a little video of a super fat cat who was squeezing himself through the tiny cat/dog door.  he made it.  haha.

 these are at the dunes.

 tongues hanging out here as well.  that is always a good sign.

 skipped the bear tree today.

 melting snow.

 dirty dogs....it's spring.  no way around the dirty dogs.

 today i was cutting up the plastic that comes around soda....just like my mother taught me.  i remember her telling me to do that when i was a kid so the sea animals wouldn't get stuck in the circles.  she was a bit of an environmentalists it would seem, right?  of course, many are even as they speak ill of liberal tree huggers.  thankfully, despite the divide many kids are encouraged by parents to not litter or to recycle.  i suspect the majority of us would prefer our air and water clean.

 regulations were put in place because corporations failed to use protective measures and were greedy.  that is how most things go.  as they are whining about being overly regulated the vast majority of those regulations are a result of their failure to take precautions.  for the land, the animals or the people. unions formed due to their failure to protect their workers.  the greed continues though and i suppose that is just part of life on the planet with other humans.  there will always be those who feel they are entitled to more than the other humans.  that they are superior.

 i suspect that many who support them really just dream to be them.  to be that wealthy and that powerful.  they don't want you...by the way.  they want it all for themselves.

 lots of good posing that day.  that happens after they have been running for quite awhile

 my sweet pair.  i'm pretty attached to these guys.  happy i have them both.  they are super sweet and entertaining.

 views

 liked the black and whites.

 and now to the bear in the tree.

 she is hiding a cub or two at least in there.

 it must be a prized tree.  there are other trees around town though that have bears living in them.  we share our lives with these bears and moose.  it's a pretty wild place still.  i love that.

 i also love that every few weeks everything looks very different..okay, in winter there are months where it just looks frozen but the other seasons are lightning fast.  blink and you will miss this or that.  it's pretty nuts. hate to leave here, especially in the summers.

 who would want to miss any of this.

 this is up powerline pass.

 and back for another walk with a friend out at the dunes.

 just an easy way to wear them out without the hassle of frozen lakes or muddy/slushy trails.  they kind of prefer you stay off trails until the melt is past otherwise the trails get all pocked up.

 the Canadian Geese arriving more and more and today when i was at Conners Bog i heard the call of a Sandhill Crane and then saw it fly overhead.  so they are back as well.

 getting into formation.

 guess  shall prepare for more sleep. i'm very good at sleeping when i actually try it.  hopefully i can work on the to do list tomorrow.

grateful for:  A.  snuggle time with the puppies  B.  elections.  hoping the balance at least is returned a bit soon.  C.  cranes, geese...welcome home migrating birds. :-)