not ready yet...

 

the daily text message looking for help at work. i really should pick it up. it would be high census pay and i think would push my end of the week shift into some OT as well. not sure i'm mentally ready to go there. 

these top bunch are from a little trek to a cabin with friends.  love these public use cabins. so much fun. found this butterfly rock there. 

they are always a great mental escape. 

the dogs enjoy it all as well.

yesterday i headed to Seward for the day.  rain is forecast all week...another reason to work. 

we got to Seward with out any rain.  it did sprinkle off and on while we were there and then it was a steady rain the entire drive home. i had debated a side trek to Hope as it's been awhile since i've been there. rain it forecast all week...and into next week. hoping this means we may get a little sunshine while my brother is here. 

trying to plan a few fun things while he is here. i did book the 8 hour day on the boat out of Seward. that leaves early. i have also planned an overnight across the Denali Highway. couldn't find a second night of lodging with the dogs so i think i will just do a few long days of driving. 

this guy was pretty close to the road. 

lots of treats and loves. 

selfie with the goat. 

my anxiety level dropped as soon as i told my inner self that i wouldn't work tonight.  silly me and my anxiety.  i'd really like to get started grabbing some of these high census shifts soon. i think the idea that it comes to me to do it is actually a really great sign.  

we moved slowly over to Seward yesterday.  no rainbows...dang. i was hopeful. stopped at Portage Valley to walk part of the trail of blue ice. always a favorite. flat and not heavily traveled. weekends these past few years have had so many people at the trails. dang covid. made more people love the outdoors...haha.

some good news finally this past week. shock jock is getting his due in court from the families of the Sandy Hook murders.  he's been saying they were actors and the mass shooting never happened. the judgement did not go in his favor. also Kansas, i think it was Kansas, voted down a total abortion ban? today a bill passed the senate...the senate!! would raise taxes on corporations, lower costs of insulin, climate change. it heads to the house before heading to Biden. fingers crossed. 

just saw that Olivia Newton John passed.  i was in love with her music and Grease of course when i was a tween! the word tween didn't exist and looking back at this movie it's easy to see how old these high school acting actors were.  haha. oh well. sad for her though it does seem like she lived a pretty full life. 

more cute tail shots. he was much braver in the ocean water/waves yesterday than he has been.  growing up. 

i'll need to get out there and see what mushrooms i can find today.  they are popping up all over the place. we cruised a bit of a trail that i have wanted to check out but never have.  will look it up and time it better for the tides next time. Tonsina Creek.  apparently loads of big flies reported. happy i missed those. i guess the rain helped with that. i was kind of worried about Sunny hopping right off a cliff though. i don't give dogs credit but they can be distractable. i put them on leash next to the area that concerned me.  that was main reason i wanted to read a more about the trail.  i did order a new harness for him to try out.  if i like his i'll get Ivy one.  easier to put on than the one i have. 

lots of photos on all trails so i'll check those out a bit. looks like there is one section that has a warning about a "steep cliff". not sure what that is all about. suspect it goes down to the beach at that point. probably not horrible, it's a well traveled trail. it was getting pretty wet for me. super pretty though. i do always love trying out new places/adventures. 

watched a bit of a new series for me, "Emily in Paris". cute and fun. 

love this sweet shot of Ivy Rose.

she really is a sweet girl. the signage someone posted says that the point can't be reached due to  steep cliffs except at  low tide and it looks like it comes down to a pretty area prior to the cliffs maybe? will for sure have to do it at a low tide next trek down there. the low tide yesterday was at a good time for driving across but it was not a very low tide at all. 

i do feel like i haven't been very adventurous this summer again. will need to really make some solid plans next summer to get out more and explore more. yakutat for sure next summer!!

love confusing signs like this.  this is on the Richardson Highway last summer

moving slow today...not unusual. i will get out there. the rain sometimes seems to let up a bit in the later afternoons.  not really looking that way today. 

i slept good last night but as i was settling down i watched an episode of "new girl"...as i was watching a spider crawled across the screen. i thought i got the spider on a bowl and smashed into the trash but awhile later that spider was crawling across the dvd player so he must have fallen off. creepy critters do make sleep difficult.  was it really a different spider and were there many others. i took some drugs, which is rare for me, to help me get past the spider situation and sleep. 

a few interesting tidbits from the Utah trip. i was driving along and realized why everyone was passing me...the speed limit on the highway was really 70!!  oops.

as i was going through security the person checking my ID said she always loved the Alaska ID. i'm sure i gave her a quizzicle look.  she invited me around to see that when they put it under their scan pictures show up that the naked eye can't see.  a pretty humpback whale and a map of the state depending on how it's held. very cool. 

yesterday i stopped by the SeaLife Center as well. it's been a bit so i got a new annual membership. i like to support them.  

i wandered through and enjoyed the displays.

always a good rainy day thing to do

more construction.  looks cooler in black and white i decided. 

old firetrucks. old stuff is scattered around out there. just have to keep your eyes open. you have to keep your eyes on the road as well. hoping we get some early fall colors.  it does seem like the season is approaching faster than the past few years. 

wild iris... these are done by now of course.

and some lupine, always a favorite

just scenes from the drive

hopefully we get some decent weather so my brother can see the miles and miles of open space.  hoping we get some wildlife views as well.  i'll be a bit earlier than i usually go. not sure how many hunters will be out there already. 

from my stay at the meandering moose.  no luck getting a room here this time.  things are just more booked...another reason i really need to start planning ahead more. (or get a van to travel in)

in order to get a van i'd for sure need to work those overtime shifts. 

money doesn't just drop from the sky and i'm way too lazy to work my arse off.  i've enjoyed my shift work that gives me multiple days off a week.  i could, i really could, but life is too short for that.  so i choose to do without. 

this week i worked one night in ICU and the next in Peds. in the morning i had a strange discussion with a woman who came in early talking about this family that wanted to go home that day and do iv AB's outpatient. they had already maxed out their insurance coverage i think and would need emergency medicaid but with that they couldn't only get it covered if they stayed hospitalized for the next month!

seems ridiculous to me.  the things we make our citizens deal with because we do not have universal health care like other industrialized nations.  yes, it is imperfect but our system is far worse.  making people pay so much out of pocket. forcing them to file bankruptcy or just be so financially in the hole they never recover. just all the added stress.  she was all we have the greatest medical care here and people should just save $20-30 a week in order to be prepared for emergencies. after she left my co-worker made a comment on how that woman was just dripping with entitlement or privilege. we both just laughed and felt so bad for this family and the discussion they would be made to have with this trumpy fool. like saving $30/week would have covered major medical. 

i was just saying that not everyone can do that and she was all, we all make choices. right like rent or food to save $30/week that will never come close to covering an unexpected major medical cost. right. 

the church is needing to defend itself against their practices and policies on Sexual assault. apparently bishops are directed to call a help line, which is really more of a lawyer line to protect the church more than the victims.  a few cover ups, not reported to proper authorities. the typical male dominated religious answer of we will handle this on our own.  no point getting government involved. what a joke. there are reams of situations out there....and no doubt many more that are never reported at all. it looks like a few angry mothers got up in fast and testimony meeting to speak out and were basically removed as their "testimony" was deemed inappropriate.  others who were filming these "testimonies" were also stopped. not good.  i'm sure appropriate excuses will be made by the church and the faithful will find a way to justify or blame others...or the usual, people are fallible, that doesn't make the church untrue crap. 

always fascinating.

they say it doesn't happen so it doesn't. these churches do not learn anything. they just find new ways to hide. 

below looks like a beach day. we are past low tide here so that won't happen today.  bears...North Bivouac? hmm... headed to walk at Ruths the other day but a sign said a coyote had bit a dog there recently...and there were loads of kids there at camp. it all makes me start to feel ready for winter.  should spend today cleaning house. 

i have kept the Skelly's in support of Ukraine this summer. it is harder and harder to get Ukraine updates. better equipment is helping Ukraine a bit. a few grain ships have been allowed to leave port. largest nuclear plant was shelled...both sides blame the other...i trust Ukraine more than Russia for sure.  Russia also tried to blame Ukraine for explosions in a pow camp of Ukrainian pow's, many from the steel plant. 

this one looks like powerline. 

well, i better get off this computer and get on those trails in the rain.  perhaps just a loop at Campbell Airstrip.  more humans, perhaps less bears? we shall see what the mood of the moment does.  

you are supposed to tell someone where you are going but i often do not know until the last minute...life as a gemini, right? haha. 

thankful for A. a safe trek to Seward B. always finding the sweetest pups in the world to share my life with C. tasty watermelon.