near miss i guess...

 sometime between SH and I turning off Tudor to Campbell Airstrip Rd and KR doing the same a teenager riding a bike was hit and killed in that intersection.  roads were still closed when we finished our walk in a few hours.  seems strange to have been there just minutes before it happened. so unaware that a terrible event was going to occur. haven't heard much more than that.  though the report said the accident happened at about 11:30 am and we were all late to arrive.  it had to have been a bit later than that. 

 there was a part of me that wondered if i just didn't see it and drove past unknowingly...but i do not think that would have been possible.  there is a fire station a few hundred feet from there so i doubt there was anything anyone could have done.  we had a lovely and sunny walk through the woods.  we took our time and enjoyed all the fungi finds out there.  we ended up taking an extra loop as there was a moose on the tank trail and she wasn't moving...i suspect it was the same moose that made LS and i turn around a bit ago.  they can be funny like that.

 loved the light through the trees.

 haven't seen any bears but this sure does look like a big bear took a chunk out of this tree with it's claws. 

 not many boletes out there this year, but there were a few here...the squirrels were taking nibbles out of it.

 i woke up early as i had my urology appointment.  we went ahead and did a cystoscopy in the office this morning...my bladder is clear so that is good.  he figured he could whip that out and i could make my dog walk.  my Dr is super nice...he and his fiance have a pair of 10 week old goldendoodle puppies, siblings...so we had to exchange dog photo's.  haha. will schedule a CT next and see if that brings to light why i have trace amounts of blood in my urine. 

 on the plus side, i am insured and therefore i can generally afford to have check ups which can lead to finding issues and being able to treat them.  this is not always available for many people out there.

 me using berries to add to the art of the fungi.  :-) 

 lots of shelf fungi/bear bread out there...we decided these guys really like dead and decaying trees.

 the rest are from the Denali Highway .

 for some parts the color was past prime.  at the end you see we hit a nice area with great color.  all of it is beautiful in my mind.

 we stopped at MaClaren for a walk before getting to the cabin for the night.

 let the dogs stretch one more time.  they do allow the dogs into the dining area, which surprised me.  i opted to leave them in the car for our evening meal and then in the morning i did allow them to join us for breakfast.  they did ok...i had tossed the ball for them repeatedly before attempting breakfast. 

 the latest mess with Trump seems to have some bite. may move the needle closer to impeachment...at least in the congress..will the GOP ever turn on their God, Trump? it's doubtful.  still i think the Dems need to do what is right.  this man is abusing his power and the corruption is at a level which can't be ignored. 

 more keeps coming out about his with holding money from Ukraine in a bid to get them to find dirt on his political enemy...in this case Biden.  i doubt Biden will come out unscathed if only because these conspiracy theorists really can muddy the waters of truth.  it may end up being too much to overcome.  the GOP are experts at conspiracy bull...they can create a complicated tale of lies that sounds just possible.  it doesn't take much for the followers to believe every conspiracy theory delivered to them at this point...they are primed to believe by the fox news and other right wingnuts.

 the more he gets away with the more he believes he can get away with....eventually, it is possible he will grow overly confident in his grasp of power and everything will snap.  a house of cards grows tall but can be toppled by a small  breeze.  he has built his house of cards up with the assistance of the GOP henchmen....may they all topple with him.  lie in  bed with the devil...you know the saying.

 i have no pity for any of them, they have made their bed.

 why is it that women who become pregnant are supposed to live up to their responsibilities and have the baby, but women who have an abortion weren't given enough information and may feel remorse for their actions so society should protect them?  i say they are both responsible for their own actions...they are adults. there isn't really a way to totally prepare people to be parents either.  as adults we make decisions and we live with the choices we make. 

 i never felt abortion  was something i would do, though i wouldn't want to rule it out if i had been raped and ended up pregnant. i also knew that in general if i ended up pregnant i was probably in better shape than many others out there.  my family would not have been thrilled but i suspect they would have stepped up for me and the baby. people get knocked up, even religions people get knocked up. people have sex...it's been happening for generations.  for me though, until this society is willing to help women prevent pregnancies or help families after they have kids through health care, good education, a livable wage, help with childcare....and lets include help for all the kids that end up in foster care or in and out of foster care...until we have a handle on some of these bigger issues please do not ask me to join the side of stopping abortions.  we are doing a pretty lousy job with the kids we already have.  they all deserve better.  you fix these issues and I'm probably going to be more open to abortion limits...though i suspect fixing the other issues will decrease the need or desire for abortions anyway.

 i work in medicine...guess what,  parents kill their kids.  it's a hell of a lot less distasteful to have a fetus lost than a 2 month old or a 2 year old or a 5 year old. i guess what I'm saying is people who don't want to be pregnant, often do not make great parents.  maybe some of them would do okay if they felt they had support...also intelligence and a good education are not necessarily marks of good parents. I've seen some pretty dim witted people who are extremely loving and good to their kids...and wealthy/educated people who have no use for their kids.

 the bottom line is elements of society should not insist on forcing their religious/social restrictions onto other members of society. if someone has an abortion that is their choice, they live with that choice...it may haunt them or not, still their choice. 

 our cabin on the lake

 there was this family of swans out there.  those young ones still seem fairly young to make the big journey south. 

 18 house Republicans so far have said they are not seeking a re-election.  the usual statements as to why...the trump Republicans have taken over the party...the tea party/freedom caucus has become too extreme for some in the GOP....

 they don't say enough, they haven't said enough.  they resign in shame as far as i can see. 

 an old gas pump...still functions.  it's even more valuable since the Paxson pump is gone.  didn't look to see what the charge per gallon is...gotta be pretty substantial though.

 one of the resident dogs...had free reign.  cute pup

 our morning drive began

 colt has suspended the manufacture of AR-15's.  they said the market is saturated...they say this and that they will focus on military and police weapons.  I'm fine with that.  perhaps a bit of the truth is they are tired of seeing something they manufactured killing American after American.  perhaps they have a soul after all...doubtful but one can hope.

 bottom line is they probably just aren't making enough money on selling them to the private sector to merit producing the arms. 

 i think we all agree that our society has failed the mentally ill and the drug addicted.  though it is annoying that the mentally ill are currently being blamed for all these shootings...these are actually rarely carried out by the mentally ill and more likely to be done by radicalized citizens. we just don't like admitting that we have home grown terrorists all around us who are pulling these off. much easier to blame the mentally ill...even though the same folks who like to blame the mentally ill do not have any inclination to give the mentally ill access to help 

 our homeless population is growing, our prisons are too full with offenders...many of whom we make worse by our treatment.  much of our mentally ill just end up in prison because we have no better system to deal with them.  our veterans get the shaft as well often times...we love them when they serve but look away from them after they serve. 

 my conspiracy is the GOP want abortions to stop  and don't want to help the poor because they need a steady stream of humans to fight these wars they get us in to...God knows many of them aren't going and their kids get out of it.  i spoke with an older guy, he'd had major injuries when he was a teenager.  still he enlisted...i wondered why they would take someone with his history but it was his only real option in the day....he wanted in.  so our potus gets out with bone spurs and this guy goes in with actual medical issues because it's his only option for a future. 

 we had rain on our trip, but mostly we seemed to stay ahead of it as we did our crossing.

 another pair of swans...they will all be gone soon

 a bit of the fall colors

 always enjoy a good reflection.

 clouds make reflections interesting

 we stopped here so the dogs could run around a bit.  i like to stop often for them

 here is another stop to stretch my legs and let the dogs play a bit

 the colors in this section were more vibrant

 still some good reds and yellows

 the hill sides were a patchwork. 

 you never know so it's good to drive around and see what you can find out there.

 time to head to bed soon i guess.  always good to catch up on the reading.  i just started a new book...we shall see.  seems light and funny so far.  "me and earl and the dying girl". 

 nice views ahead...

thankful for A.  a clear bladder...next  B.  to have insurance  C.  to have a job

lighting....arghh....!!

 nature has some pretty nice lighting though.  these are on the Denali Highway in September.

 my handyman came by for a bit today.  starting to clean up the area and prep for install...which means figuring out electric and lighting...so i went to both home depot and lowes looking at lighting.  i did select some basic pendants for over the attached island....they are basic and over time i can alter the style of the fixture holding the lights. i just got a basic green color glass bowl.  I'd seen it previously and liked it well enough. 

 there was another woman there doing the same thing i was as well i think. it's lighting...eventually if i hate it i can change it out i suppose.  the most important part is just getting the fixture planned for.

 have debated the canned lights for the kitchen, but in the end it just feels like too much of a bother and perhaps not enough light. i like a well lit kitchen.  so tonight i went onto Amazon to see if i could find some decent led type fixtures...beats the fluorescent i guess, though i will say i have always liked the amount of light with the fluorescent...so we will see how bright these actually are.  i guess they can be put on a dimmer?  not sure what he will think of these lights. 

 we spent some time figuring out which wires went where and which switches on the power box went where.

 i also bought a range hood.  basic under the cabinet which i may tweak a bit like my friend gnat has done in CA.  i like the look she got.  then i was looking at track lighting for the living room.  i did find this one light that has like three longer arms that can be moved so i think that will work.  planning on putting an actual light in the living room since the ceiling is open.  seems like a good idea.  my house will be much better lit..more light than it ever had even with the window in place. 

 so quite the shopping spree tonight i guess.  i may get the kitchen ones and hate it...kind of modern looking but i think my kitchen is too.  the tiles are anyway. tile I'm better at selecting i think.  certain things just are a bit over my head.  lighting i think is one of those things. still need under the cabinet lighting. there are just way too many options in this world.

 he got the linoleum off while i went off to walk the dogs, he also detached the oven from the gas so he could get into the walls. i have a potential buyer for that tomorrow.  have had bites on the sink but it's still out there.  the dishwasher will just have to go in the next run to the dump/appliance dump zone. gotta get this crap out before the snow falls. 

 i did get the deck furniture in for the season.  raked a bit more.  so a fairly productive day by my standards.

 I'm still chipping away at the crap that was under the linoleum.  lots of nails and screws and glue to contend with.

 SH and i stopped to let the dogs run around on the road.  she discovered the berries and was enjoying them while i tossed the tennis ball.

 pups and i didn't get out til a bit late with all the house stuff.  i have gates around the kitchen since there are loose wires hanging all over.  don't want them to get into that stuff.

 no electrocuted puppies or humans. 

 look how happy and adorable my girl looks out there

 and he is handsome in fall colors as well.

 i have power watched the last season made of the nurse midwives on Netflix.  a favorite.  a bit sad though this season. you will have to watch it yourself though.

 i think the dogs were happy to get out and play fetch.

 tomorrow i have heater guys coming to check heater and give me a price for closing off the one vent and putting in a toe kick vent under the new sink area.

 my handyman seems to be feeling like he can move the pipes in the kitchen where the soffit was.  we do have a few options so just depends on how spendy moving them is i think. 

 me and the kids...will be a Christmas card shot I'm thinking.  i really need to get down to making that calendar.  i think the lack of snow and winter feeling weather has me behind. 

 i need to request the cruise time off as well. i have my new passport in hand so that is good....ready to plan.

 Sarah Palins son, Track, is headed to jail for a year...or i think that would be prison. that family does seem to have some drama issues.

 pfd's are in so everyone seems pretty happy in AK. 

 a judge has blocked the iitoos plans to terminate the legal status of some 300,000 Haitians.  discriminatory.  not too shocking for the current administration.  that has racist Stephen Miller all over it.  the joy of having openly racists folks in the administration...so charming.  sadly, with the new Kavenaugh judge in place, we could look at some big changes which will be more partisan than constitutional.  he made it pretty clear in his speech that pay back would happen and that he is more about the GOP winning than the constitution, but hey, as long as their agenda goes through, who cares. 

 i think the death toll in Indonesia is over 1000 now.  7.5 quake plus a tsunami.  one guy found his father and sister in an embrace entombed in mud.  pretty sad. 

 the little critters have been munching on the local mushrooms. 

 i found that the local moose have been munching on my plants. the strawberries got a good pruning.  saw a female moose out there last night strolling in my front yard, as she walked past i saw that a young male was following her.  not sure that little guy will win the battle for her but i didn't see any other males around.

 another big issue in this upcoming election locally is a Judge in a case that let a guy go free...no jail time.  the guy choked a young native woman and then ejaculated all over her, which is what she woke up to.  i guess in the states mind that isn't really sexual assault?  the crap women put up with and then the men get away with...having money increased the odds he'd get out of jail time. 

 just to show further the coldness of the humans we live with..two bear cubs were found floating in the water dead,shot and  tied to a concrete weight. not a legal kill obviously. 

 the world ice championships will return to Fairbanks this winter.  a new location at the Tanana Valley State Fair. 

 our state continues to benefit from marijuana sales taxes.  i figure they are using it anyway, we may as well tax it and get the money from it. i see far worse from alcohol quite frankly. 

 Ivy running in the fall color.  so cute.

 i should crash soon. i do have heater dudes coming. 

 braved a few newspapers.  hadn't really felt like reading them this week...

 we did get lucky with these colors. 

 raining tonight.  the dishwasher will be trashed being out there anyway.  does have a sort of blanket over the top.  need to see if MT is up for a second run to the dump. 

 don't think it will all fit in my car. 

 check out that handsome beast!!

 and then there is my cutie, Ivy Rose.  she is such a love bug.  a bit needy, but so sweet.

 still a jumper...she's almost three...hopefully, it will end soon.  for sure it's slower than it was.  but she is quick.

 she is crashed near me in the office right now.

 i cleared out the downstairs hall closet so that workers can get to the crawl space...that meant moving stuff to the upstairs closet...which then meant i went a bit crazy ditching old clothes i never wear.  so one big garbage bag of clothes is in car ready to be taken to donation.  how do we collect so much crap!! I'm feeling the big purge coming up. 

 anytime you re do a room you have an opportunity to purge your house of a bunch of useless crap. 

 i will have lots more storage to organize the camping gear in the garage once i get the old cabinets up in there.  also Skelly seems to need his own storage plan.  haha. 

 I'm a bit into the skeletons in case you haven't noticed.  they crack me up. 

thankful for: A.  a handyman who seems competent and honest and reasonable.  B.  the great feeling it is to purge yourself of useless crap.  C.  that all is not lost