each day an adventure in alaska: rainy days

i head back to work again tonight. not sure i got much accomplished on my days off. litter cleaned, carpets vacuumed, linen changed...the usual household things that need to get done.

no treks, no big hikes, though i did do the full Monday walk loop in North Bivouac yesterday. it was raining and the dogs and i meandered for a few hours looking for mushrooms. i wasn't disappointed and the dogs could care less what i am up to as long as they are on the trails and the tennis ball is available.

we will probably start some semblance of the Monday walks in October...see how things are going with Covid by then. sounds like LS works a lot of Mondays before that. we all need some normalcy i our lives. not sure what we will do for the coffee after. hmm. i do have some time to ponder that. outside for a bit should work i think.

the three nights were at least not covid rich. i know my covid time is coming. i mean, i know i get exposed. especially in the ER, but i haven't had to work Covid units for some time and i also haven't had Covid patients in the ICU.

my first night i worked ER but only as a sitter the entire night. super chill. i even was able to play cards with the patient for a good chunk of that time. i had to get a refresher course in Gin and we also played spit/speed...game goes by several names.

the next night i was put up in pediatrics. i generally feel bad when i go there of late because it seems to always mean that regular staff gets sent to NICU so they are often pissed and i get that look of why are you here and i'm being sent to nicu. it was a busy night...so many g-tubes/g-j-tubes. took me some time to get it all straight in my head. thankful for my friend and awesome charge nurse for helping me get through that. i was getting behind fast.

my co-workers saved me the next night as well.

i got to work and was slated for ICU but a nurse showed up that wasn't on the list and the patients that were supposed to be mine he'd had the night before. nobody else needed me at the time in the house so i ended up going home on call. that lasted until about 10:30 i think.

i got two patients in ICU back to back. both septic and sick. i ran back and forth between those two rooms. PEAT saved me by helping with a line placement and later taking one of the patients to CT. my other patient was returning from OR...the two beds literally almost ran into each other in the hall, one coming and one going.

one of the best things about nursing is my many co-workers over the years. i've met some amazing people.

i got the cabinet doors off the cabinets over the washer and dryer and last night i did round one of paint/stain removal. it will be a bit tougher working over the washer and dryer. i guess i could move them...that would be too easy though. i'll have to put up some plastic to protect the machines from slime. there isn't too much left on the cabinets to remove with the doors off and in the garage. it will all look great when it's done i think.

this stuff, then floors, then doors...that is the plan for the moment.

check out that old truck. the guy and his son were down on the beach. later the dog came back, old dog. but when they returned the dog was no longer sitting by the truck. these folks with some German Shepherds had been through in between. those dogs were not overly friendly...some folks really select the wrong breed for their capabilities.

hopefully, he found the dog. the car was super cool though. these are mostly from the Homer trek.

may head north on this next stretch off for a few days.

looking like rain at this time though. so we shall see. not many opportunities left for getting out of town before winter hits

this was the other lake near Kelly lake.

having a discussion with some officers on a friends page. i think one issue is that they have issues with trust and the public. it's a tough thing. i mean hard to be totally transparent as officers as it could risk family as well as themselves but i think lack of transparency is an issue.

also, i think police tend to circle the wagons around each other and that can mean some not so great officers end up staying in positions that they probably shouldn't...bringing the entire department down.

doubt many of them really appreciate hearing my opinion but that is who i am. parents and kids don't always see things eye to eye. often i feel like parents really should be careful what they are posting so that they don't end up with these battles on line with their kids. me, who cares, but their kids? seems better to just skip it...i watched my brother post stuff that upset his kids and it's negatively impacted their relationships. just seems like it isn't worth it to me.

probably like that in the 60's-70's with Vietnam. i'm sure there were some heated discussions in homes and some rifts caused.

i don't have answers and i certainly don't know everything about everything. playing devils advocate at times...it certainly has helped me see things differently, even if i was annoyed at the time.

i think lack of transparency is an issue. i also think raising the level of professionalism across the board would be helpful. it varies from department to department at this point. i recall a guy i was dating wanted to interview for a police academy. we had a heated discussion about what he should wear for the interview. i felt a suit would show his seriousness and that it would match what i felt most police departments were looking for...professionalism. after the interview he told me the other candidates for the position were not dressed in suits...guess he probably would have been more comfortable in street clothes but i still think a suit in that situation sends a better message of who you are and what most departments probably want

in the discussion one guy wrote, "you can't fix stupid, but you can shoot it". i expressed that this was probably not very professional...nor is it smart. i mean if that guy is involved in an officer involved shooting and his comments are made more public...how does that look. i'm sure they immediately remove any social media right after a shooting such as these majorly public ones, but it just doesn't look good....and no i don' t know any doctors or nurses who post crap about killing patients on social media...if we did we could be disciplined. i just think that posting is a sign that this guy has an issue. way too bold and confident he can get away with this...so i'd say this goes along with raising the professionalism and weeding out some individuals who can bring down the entire force, but mostly they circle the wagons on the least of their members instead of rooting them out. i just think that is a mistake. i'm not a cop though so my opinion is just that, an opinion. i think that comment disappeared so perhaps i accomplished that...hopefully the guy thinks before posted stupid crap like that again.

for some reason Trump is currently on the side of no Pebble mine. so credit where credit is due...thank you. not sure what the motivation for that is but i'll take it. can't say i trust him so not sure if something worse is coming or if he actually got something right.

there was a crazed Trumper screaming at the crew at Walmart in Anchorage of late, he didn't want to wear a mask and flipped out completely on them in a big rant. they look like lunatics and they are. Trump has brought out the worst in some folks. i hope he watches that video later and sees what a nut job he was. not sure many are capable of seeing themselves for who they have really become though. i think it's funny that they keep screaming about covid being no big deal while trump gets tested daily and has anyone who is near him tested...no big deal, right. nearly 200,000 dead now.

the CDC put out a stat that only 6% of those who died did not have any pre-existing conditions listed on their death certificates, of course the trump fools took this to mean that Covid death could is really only 6% of that which has been reported. i think that means that Covid killed over 11,000 folks that had no other health issues.

that is a lot actually. most just don't get how death certificates work and also they believe the CDC numbers on the flu but not covid..seems odd to me but nothing makes sense these days. yes, it's no surprise that many who die from covid had other pre-existing conditions that covid took advantage of. that doesn't mean that they died of those conditions. the Covid virus preys on those who are already weak...that is how survival of the fittest works in general. that doesn't mean that those peoples lives were not greatly shortened by the virus.

common sense is all but dead though.

science has been twisted and bastardized to suit the needs of the right wing propaganda machine.

the ANWR situation is ongoing. lawsuits pending. trump is for opening this. most of what he does is bad in my opinion...

the oil companies are investing a lot of cash to prevent their taxes from increasing. scare tactics about how jobs will be lost if they get taxed. i'm thinking if they are working that hard it must be the right thing for us to vote for...tax them. they've gotten a pretty sweet ride for years.

the dead fish of Deep Creek make for cool black and whites

before i left Covid Cat was monitoring the situation.

new trail repairs are going on...i'm always a fan of that. i guess they will put switchbacks up little O'malley as the current trail is a big muddy mess...always has been. just gotten worse with increased traffic. switchbacks should make it easier for older folks like myself to get up there. when i was young i thought switchbacks were silly, i get it now.

Falwell resigned...oh how the mighty and wealthy Christians fall. i'm pretty sure people like him are exactly what the scriptures warn of and yet so many flock to these mega churches and give fools like this their last dime in hopes of getting to heaven. i do hope they are punished in the next life that much more for their trickery and abuse of those that buy into their con.

Putin poisoned another who opposed him. that guy is in Germany getting treated. Putin is a bad seed but he totally has our current potus wrapped around his fingers...what would those taxes should if released? i guess Rosenstein put the stop to the investigation of financial connections between Trump and Putin....basically he told Mueller to pass that information on to the FBI and prevented the FBI from doing any investigation at all. i do hope someone has kept the information or that Mueller finally decides to speak out about all he knows but wasn't allowed to look into. he's been silent...so many have, when will they finally put our nation about this con job in the white house.

several of our homeless have tested positive for covid at a local shelter. the covid deniers have said repeatedly, it's not hit the homeless which they say is proof it's not a real issue...of course, they always just change their line to fit the changing facts out there. they will never believe no matter how many pesky facts come to light. they are the same about trump though. getting their information from the likes of fox, Qanon, 4 and 8 chan, alex jones...the list goes on and it's not very truthful.

i don't really have any answers for the homelessness...it's a mess in every major city. i guess the northway mall is closing...wouldn't that be easier than building a new facility. an area could be for families, old stores could be used for health services, AA, NA, native services, social services, food, second hand clothing...just a thought. i did sent the thought to the Mayors office.

Biden would not have been my first choice. i'm generally not happy with our pics for government, but he is safe and dull...after the daily chaos of this administration i yearn for safe and dull.