Happy Solstice....

 cloudy out today. i woke up too early and have been attempting to take a nap before work.  figured I'd look at cute ducklings and see if that helps

 ruminating a bit more than i should.  scratching a bit as well.  the mosquito's got my ankles yesterday.

 i usually find winter solstice more of a happy day...summer solstice is the longest day but soon our days will again start to decrease each day....No!!  :-)  it is what it is.

 last i was up in Hatchers there was still a lot of snow left.  will have to head there again soon and check it out.

 mammogram day. always exciting.  I'm still convinced that if they did this annually to check for testicular cancer better ways would be created.  they used to at least pretend to make it more pleasant by warming the xray tray...nope. 

 that is the road up to the pass which remains closed at this time, well last i checked anyway.

 took the dogs to the dog park after the mammo.  clearly not enough for the ever energetic Ivy Rose.  she is the sweetest thing in the world but she can also drive me a bit nuts at times.  she just has a tough time controlling that exuberance.  i know one day she will slow down and I'll miss her crazy days.

 look at all those dandelions. kept meaning to head to Reflections lake but i got lazy. 

 this is Lake Hood.  i think i heard there was a crash today?  sounds like no deaths.  a mom and her son died after an incident on the Matanuska River.  the rivers up here can be huge and a bit unpredictable.

 watched "Fences" last night.  i think it got several awards.  well acted but way too much swearing and use of the N word. it was blacks using it but still it just felt uncomfortable. maybe that was the point.  not a movie I'd watch again. 

 really need to get some sleep this afternoon...an hour would be great.

 the little animals all grow up super fast...they need to be ready to fly in a few months in many cases.

 there is beauty all over.  it's great to take the time to stop and enjoy it all.  there are attacks on our environment all the time.  this administration is especially difficult as they are more interested in using nature and destroying it than saving and preserving. 

 short sighted people in power.  there is also an element of the "religious right" that believe that God made this earth for human purposes and that it will just be remade in the second coming so go ahead and destroy it...which really just seems bizarre to me.  there are so many details, so much variety that i can only believe that how ever it got made, who every had a role, they cared deeply.  it is our duty to use the earth while preserving it.  moderation in all things. destroy only what you truly need, preserve what you can. 

 while i was waiting for my mammo i was chatting with one of my brothers...no not that one...the guy who unfriended me walked past.  small world in AK.  he had been failing on his arguments pro kids being ripped from their parents arms at the borders so he had switched to the argument that liberals promote abortions so they can't possibly care about any children.  i just pointed out that nobody "promotes" abortions, they are allowed, we promote birth control options though.

 sadly, the party that claimed to be the party that had the moral authority no longer can claim it though try they might.  aside from their battle against abortions they would deny proper educations, deny health care, turn their backs on refugees, homeless, drug addicts, mentally ill...the list goes on.  it's pretty tough to square their cruel agenda with their claims of Christ.

 so much to me is just about common sense.  a healthy and educated populace will bring us a better economy.  a cared for environment will last us into the future.  a plan for global warming/climate change  no matter what you will admit is causing it is just wise.

 dividing a nation makes no sense except for those who seek power and monetary gain.  we are all being manipulated in that.  our nation is a mess, this administration is making sure of that.  the iitoo is no leader at all but is instead a greedy narcissist.  he means no good will towards the people of this nation, he is simply playing a segment of the population for his own gains. no agenda is worth the destruction of our great nation.

 some lessons are hard learned though.  no nation is perfect and people are easily manipulated especially when you lace in blame and hatred.  it's an old tactic, but it still works.  hate makes others easy to manipulate.  blame everyone for your issues, nobody likes to accept personal responsibility.  we want to believe we are right, want to believe that we can't be manipulated, which makes us even easier to manipulate. 

 some of the smartest people have fallen prey to cults. was trying to ask SIRI, it kept being colts and football.  anyway, well educated, intelligent people can be sucked in.  it happens all the time.  some have compared this iitoo to a cult.  i call it the cult of Don.  it's probably the same in some ways as gangs and the supremacists, but feels cleaner for more intelligent, socially acceptable people. people feel safe, needed, wanted, like they belong. probably more insidious.  not all cults end in group suicide. they are all destructive in the end. it becomes all encompassing, a dependence.  i suspect if my more rational iitoo supporters actually went to one of the iitoo's rally's they may find them selves disturbed...or get sucked in. who knows.  something about the chanting, the joined effort to a goal.

thankful for: A.  these long, long days B.  the earth and it's cycles C.  the puppies, even in the crazy moments.