each day an adventure in alaska: people really love their meme's...

but more on that later. just returned from a walk with speedy. always great to catch up with friends. we walked out Powerline. the pups seem pretty happy at this time. they got worn out yesterday as well. met another friend i hadn't seen for a while for a walk around beer can lake (otherwise known as little Campbell Lake). both took me over my 10,000 step per day goal. we mostly do hit that. :-)

I'm still chunky though. oh well. I'm in my 50's so i try to give myself a little slack on the weight thing. something i suspect we learned from our mothers and our mothers mothers before. we learned to criticize ourselves beyond what should be rational.

these are again from Homer, the kayak trek. i should look tonight and see if i can find a place to stay in Valdez. figured since i was going to skip the Lake Clark trek I'd do a drive and a test run for a dog sitter. will be odd to travel without the dogs, but it's a new sitter so it will be good to have a trial run.

you do get a sense with chronic pain that you will have to just deal with it. can't be taking ibuprofen for too long so it does get sore, but i try to wait until it feels really sore or i know I've overdone it before i take the ibuprofen now.

yesterday i painted the shed, i just have a few boards on the top. i have to get the ladder out. I'm always a bit nervous on ladders. my ribs hurt pretty bad just getting to the boards i could reach. i sang a little ow, ow song as i painted those.

our friends had just come out for the day so here they are getting picked up.

there were reports of a man who lives up off Hiland Road in Eagle River who had gone missing. all at home seemed normal, food out in preparation for cooking dinner, but he didn't return. searches have been out looking for him. sadly, he was found dead. first heard that one of the searchers had been attacked by a brown bear. the guy jumped in front of a fellow searcher. sounds like his leg got chewed up pretty badly.

when i first heard that i feared that the bear was protecting a cache....the cache was sadly probably the missing man. that is what it turned out to be. speedy's phone alerted her as we returned to the parking lot. they had not found the bear yet, but were telling folks to stay out of area. they had put police in a perimeter around the poor mans remains so they could extract them safely. he leaves behind a fiance and a baby on the way. terribly sad. these impact us all. we all use the trails so we all are aware it could be us one of these days. my many bear encounters have thus far ended without injury...but i know it just takes that one bear, that one situation. keeps things in perspective.

we had a raven trying to share our camp fire with us on Kayak Beach.

pictures and sounds of children crying as they were being dragged from their parents finally convinced the iitoo that this wasn't the win he was hoping for. that he couldn't use these small lives to push his agenda and get the votes. he signed an order to stop the separation of families after days of saying this was all the Democrats and there was nothing he could do. he's so full of shit. there are still all these lives that are forever impacted. there are still pictures of kids in cages, still toddlers and babies cries that hopefully will haunt the GOP through the election.

this has Stephen Miller all over it. he's a white supremacist...this is what happens when you look the other way and allow someone with those attitudes and beliefs get into a position in the white house. the racist agenda is alive and well in this administration. this was just a step back for them. iitoo tries to get some glory for undoing something he put in place with Sessions and Miller and his team. it's despicable.

there are still all these kids not with their parents. will they ever see them again? some have already been deported. we need immigrants. the farmers need migrant workers. they do need a system to accommodate workers coming in for work. build in a system to lead towards citizenship. quit being such a..wipes.

I'm not a fan of meme's...unless they are cute kittens/puppies. totally silly, non-political stuff. so i do get annoyed that people continue to post meme's of a political and dubious source. way too many seem to see these memes as facts...Rus used things like this to sway the election. too easy...why do people continue to keep helping in this cyber warfare. be a patriot, stop posting memes, check the back ground of things you do post. is it from a credible source?

my eldest brother and i have had a pretty rocky relationship. it just keeps going down hill. he posted a meme. it was supposed to be humorous i do get that, but his friends used it to make demeaning comments directed at liberals. he deleted my comments....i messaged him and then it went downhill to the pit.

apparently i am prone to "emotional-laced tirades about how" he's a bully and I'm so caring. i am also apparently prone to "hyper-holier-than-thou rants" against his friends. my "rants" were literally 1-2 sentences. a total of 3 comments. i can say a lot in a short rant. with him i feel like he's always coming at me with a sword and I'm trying to survive with a shield. he's a much better arguer than i am, but i am a scrapper and do not just back down. i suspect he is used to people just backing down.

may i add that his spouse was cheering behind him as i called him a bully in one multiple hours long argument. it's just time, it's enough. i am not perfect, i am a flawed person but i have subjected myself to this for long enough...gosh, why doesn't Betsy want to attend family events? spend all the money to end up in yet another argument.

i left the church. that was my choice. it did put a gap between myself and several family members. they aren't very good at keeping in touch with each other though either so it's not just that. so many have issues with family. is it because being family comes with some expectations? i don't know. i do feel i have tried to bridge the gap i created by leaving , repeatedly. i feel my relationship with most of my siblings is really good. in this case, clearly i irritate him so best for me to just walk away.

it's not good for either of us. i don't see any bridge to the divide. rather than attempt further communication i just stopped. he may not hate me, but he clearly has no love for me either. social media is not a good thing for these strained relationships. people like their memes. i would have just deleted it, but that is me. emotional freak that i am.

when i became a nurse i wanted to leave LA area. i got a job interview in South Dakota. they paid to fly me out, and put me up for the interview. i remember having that internal debate you have when an opportunity presents itself. the pro and con list.

sitting in that hotel writing my pro and con list i was concerned that i would be moving to a place where i knew nobody. would i be lonely...then it occurred to me that i was surrounded by family in California and i still felt lonely. I'm an introvert at base. i never have done well in a crowd. overall i think i do well with most people. we can't all get along with everyone though. at some point you feel you are the one singled out. that it seems to be directed at you more than others. leaving can be self preservation. still sad when you can't bridge that gap.

i belonged in the land of misfits...in many ways Alaska is the land of misfits. we are mostly independent, outspoken and quirky folks. we get each other. we don't all fit in to the normal social life in the lower 48. i can accept that. i will continue to care, i will continue to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. i will try harder to ignore political bait rather than go on "hyper-holier-than-thou rants". we are flawed but we strive to improve. sometimes to move forward it's best to shed the negative. so shedded...

i don't relay all that to upset anyone, but just to clear my head.

a young man was killed last year during a race up Bird Ridge last year. they repeated the race despite the bear attack that killed him. in memory of him. apparently a black bear showed up on the trail during the race. maybe, it was him, returning in peace as a bear this time. he was only 16 at the time of his bear attack.

loved all these dandelions on the way to Hatchers Pass

could have done a longer hike, but what we did felt perfect today. the pups were pretty good. the trail was pretty well traveled. no bear scat or bear signs seen. not even a moose.

these are from Gold Mint Trail.

wow even tea party freak sullivan called for the iitoo to call off removing kids from families. that was a PR nightmare and will continue to be. what an embarrassing 6 weeks in American history. no agenda is worth that. just disgraceful. this administration sure showed it's true colors on this one.

the iitoo can't actually create a branch of the military from what i hear....i certainly hope we don't call it space force. the Air Force already has a division that is dedicated to issues of war and space...perhaps he needs to deal with real issues here first though. everything he does is so flighty and unplanned.

our salmon numbers are down. cancelled fishing in two rivers now.

these are all out Gold Mint trail.

just reading that REI may be moving to the Sears Mall. they have been pretty annoyed i think with the current landlords in the building they have been at for years.

the SeaLife Center has a few babies. i should do a little day trip out there. not sure if either is on display yet. there is a baby seal and a baby sea otter. they look pretty dang cute.

while the pups played in the ocean this weekend we had a seal follow us along the beach. the next day we had a loon sitting out there. love seeing all the wildlife out here.

walking/writing/photography do keep me sane. hopefully, keep my holier than thou rants to a minimum.

this is where we turned back. i suspect it's melted off now..but maybe not. the pups enjoyed the patch of snow though. they always do. generally you can find some snow all year up here.

these cute faces...get me through the rough days of life.

nothing like dogs! nothing like good friends as well. thanks for the walks and the talks.

making me feel like i am not a terrible person on days when i am made to feel like i am.

the seasons change, everything grows. back to work tomorrow night for a stretch of 4.

need to work on getting my passport redone. planning a trip with my niece and her kids next spring. should be lots of fun.

pretty wet walk on this day. the dogs loved it though. tend to pick trails with a lot of water so they can stay hydrated. that is a concern at the beach. they tend to drink the salt water which isn't good for them. have to keep taking breaks and offering them real water.