busy week i guess....

 i did head to Valdez. always a little strange of late leaving home but i know it's good for me to get out there and enjoy the beauty and get out of my head a bit. it's just so easy to get sucked into the internet drama.  kind of fun at times when i come up with a good line that really makes people nuts...i mean i was baited into arguments my whole life it seems so fun to toss some red meat out there and watch others go a bit nuts.  i mean it's getting tougher and tougher to sound like you have any intelligence and defend this fool and this administration. 

 the other day i just posted GDP after pro trump folks comments...the usual answer to anything they don't want to hear or accept as truth is fake news...which is really just code for i'm stupid at this point.  i know saying stupid is not politically correct but in many cases it's become totally correct.

 i mean they have to look the other way at him paying off a porn star, grabbing women comments caught on film, caging children, chumming with a molester, not releasing his taxes...why? sending unknown Fed troops to American communities and terrify/bully/harm protestors.  they have to look the other way as he says stupid things like maybe we can put disinfectant in iv's and this pandemic will magically go away after only a few deaths, or in the summer heat or that maybe he should delay the election. or that he is looking the other way as Putin pays bounties for our military lives in Afghanistan.  ignoring all he is doing to benefit putin......

 each day the Alaska covid numbers are released and every day these fools are there saying the same idiotic stuff. another death..oh did they say they died of covid or with covid...do you die of stupidity or with stupidity.  they try to find any loop hole they can in order to make the insanity they have accepted as truth feel more sane to them. 

 you really have to swallow a lot of crap to stick with this fool and this administration...sadly, many just choose to ignore all he says and all he tweets and only seek out the few things that are washed over for them to feel good, to feel that all is going great in America. it's not.  the gop in washington are looking the other way and using this tool as a distraction to get some of the stuff they have wanted for years...judges, tax breaks for the wealthy. i'm sure many of them hate him but they love the power they have and as long as they stroke his ego they can get some of their agenda through.

 so i ended up tent camping.  it's annoying really.  i mean a hotel in Valdez was like $300/night that allows dogs.  the campground has these little cabins which basically all sat empty as dogs aren't allowed in there.  in the end. the little tent was great and cheap...oh i gotta call them tomorrow. the dogs and i were cozy.  we stayed two nights.  i was pretty early to bed and early to rise really.  ran around all day the full day i had.

 i did stop at Worthington Glacier on the way over.  it was kind of creepy as i was the only one there...that never happens.  i should have been thrilled but it was just strange.

 we spent time in old town, hit the valdez lake/glacier a few times.

 Ivy took a chunk out of a pad out there...ice or rocks, i'm not sure, but the cold water helped numb it and stop the bleeding.  i have used the time of working to not walk them and let her foot heel a bit.

 it does look better.  we went to the dog park today.  i haven't seen any bleeding.  tried to keep them out of the water.

 we also hit the hatchery a few times.  fun to try and catch the sea lions feeding on all those fish.  hit it perfect one evening.  as i snapped photo's these tiny biting flies were going to town on my hands....still sore.

 felt like a quick trip.  happy i went. you always see pretty things no matter what the weather or circumstances are.  what to do the next stretch off?  Fairbanks for some mushroom hunting/hiking?  Homer again?  Seward?

 i could stay home but we shall see. we do have that sweet little tent and the dogs are great little campers.

 there were some really fun mushrooms on the little trails by the visitors center near Glenallen.  i'm a bit of a freak on this mushroom stuff i know. they are so fun though.

 the variety is astounding really.

 some huge calving on the glacier out there in Valdez.  there are signs all over suggesting people avoid going in there, but there were tours and others taking boats out.  i'm sure the old hike part of that tour is no longer in effect...they had a huge calving...dramatic changes over a one month period....not too stable. huge chunks of ice are not stable, even if they are not easy to flip over, they do have calvings of their own which can cause all kinds of issues. i had the pups so kayaking was not going to be an option.  this is the first summer since i came here i think that i haven't paddled. 

 a guy came and measured the bathroom counters and he took the sinks.  the kitchen counter folks used lasers, he was doing it old school.  no mask worn, which now makes you nervous. i mean it's tricky asking folks to wear masks in your home.  does it become political? will be view me as liberal or paranoid...?  i mostly stayed out in the yard with the dogs while he was there.  kept the door open for ventilation, cleaned all he could have touched when he left.

 i had cleaned out the counters and drawers...clearly i had not done that for some time. more stuff in the free pile out front. all that remains of the free pile are the old kitchen corner cabinets..no takers and it's been raining off and on.  i will probably have to just take a sledge hammer to those and make firewood out of them.  oh well. had a lot of bites on marketplace but nobody picked them up. 

 tonight i was taking the old liners out. i need to try and remove the paint and prep it all for staining to make it look new again...kind of.  then when i hear he is ready to put in the sink/counters i'll have to remove the guts...maybe keeping them outside so i can try to retrace and replace the guts with new stuff....not too confident in my plumbing skills but my handyman is stuck on the Kenai taking care of his parents.

 missing the Nexium as i had zero heartburn with it and now some heartburn has returned. not impressed with pepcid so far.  hmm. even tried a nexium hoping that perhaps i could take it once a week...it was a no go...the symptoms returned, though the heartburn was gone.  not worth it.  anyone want some nexium?  i have a bottle left.

 was talking to a co-worker the other night . we figure we may lose some weight through all this covid stuff. just harder to eat/drink at work.  just have to be more careful. i clean my area/computer several times through the night.  we are used to snacking and i like to drink my fill of water, even that is not easy to do. the mask is like welding your mouth shut.

 now we have added the face shield. so we need to wear the face shield anytime we are within 6 feet of any patient. false negatives, increased + cases in AK, which means increased potential for people being asymptomatic....in truth that includes our co-workers...so each other. tough to distance in medicine at times.

 many Doctors stand back and do most or all of their exam from the door way.  we don't really have that option.  honestly, my most high risk shift of late was being a sitter.  it was a confined job with one patient in a confined space.  14 days have passed but in my job i won't be able to avoid facing covid.

 i was getting report in the ICU and was asked if i take covid patients...the way she asked kind of through me off. i was like, well i'd rather not but we'd all rather not.  i have some chronic lung issues but i don't even take medications for it daily so honestly it is pretty mild by comparison to others who have real health issues. i have worked the covid cove as they call it.  i think the upstairs area is called covid row.  they have lower patient ratios because of all the donning and doffing of gear.  just takes extra time.  i haven't worked the covid cove since that one night.  it's being run by the PCU.  thankfully it appears most of our covid cases are not getting to the icu...they are though.

 i ended up sticking with my previous assignment.  so i worked ICU for two nights and then a night in CICU.  on calls are not going to happen for me i suspect. 

 the visor was a bother mostly because with the cleaning you end up with a shield that is difficult to see through.  it gets hot too with the mask and the face shield on....something i will no doubt appreciate come winter as the hospital will no doubt be freezing.  we've put holes in so many rooms to the outside to make those rooms negative pressure ready...big holes in walls to the outside will be super uncomfortable when our temperatures are down in the sub-zeroes. i think it will be good to have fresh air for the patients though with covid.

 the ice and reflections were very pretty i thought. 

 Covi Kitty got a visit from his part time owner which i'm sure they both enjoyed. he's met the neighbors.  she says he's friendly but won't get too close. 

 i stopped by this evening to see the progress on her kitchen remodel. her cabinets are up mostly. she also has a big post that they have up in the center of the room. they insist it's needed for the structure.  i do not recall any such post when i did the tear down. none that went under the gum/lam thing.  i spoke to my friends husband who had come over to do the demo with my friend and a few others, he said he didn't think i needed to worry.  my handyman had not felt it was an issue either when he was doing the work.  made me a wee bit nervous, but i feel better after talking to him. thanks!!

 it's so fun watching remodels.  hopefully, my bathrooms will look much nicer after i finish this project...next floors!!  probably a good winter project.

 other AK news..a man was killed by a bear in Hope this past week.  very sad.  he was working on the trails by his house, the dog came home but he did not.  he was found mauled to death.  always just sounds so awful...

 there was also a mid air crash that killed  6 i think.  not sure how that happened. 

 i have a root canal for tomorrow.  so exciting.  i think they are taking more risk than i am there with the covid stuff.  thinking maybe heading to Girdwood for some mushroom strolling and tennis ball throwing.

 not many wildflowers out there heading towards Valdez.  amazing how quickly things change up here.  several weeks ago there would have been wildflowers like crazy.

 now it's mushrooms though, which i love. 

 won't be many more lawn mowings left for this season.  it goes so fast.  it's already getting dark earlier.

 homestead trail out to the beach.

 we are back on a partial lock down here. big parties/events still happening in the Valley. fools..the thing is we have this huge state but most of it is rural so when people get covid they will be headed to Anchorage for care in many cases.

 i think for many they just don't get that their actions may have consequences. i get it, people think they are just gathering with their family so that seems like it should be fine.  a sunday dinner. many families are like mine was though. we had 7 kids but once they started getting married and having kids Sunday dinners became fairly large social gatherings.  people did their own thing all week and then gathered together.  i think most wear masks for the grocery store but if in all other aspects of life you don't distance or mask or do anything different....we just won't knock it out...but again we do have the political aspect in our nation.  so sadly, we will have to do this the hard way, ride it out, lose a lot more of our citizens...

 the new car camping tent.  a more reasonable size.  easier to put up but still plenty roomy inside.  perhaps Fairbanks next stretch...hmm.  it's another long drive but Denali could be a good stop as well.

 these huge mushrooms were out there at the visitor center.  these seem more common further north of here, but maybe they get collected...they may be edible.  i would not trust me though. 

 they just look cool on the tops. 

 we all look red in there. 

 the pups were plenty worn out each night.  not as many rabbits there this summer, whew!!

 will probably turn in early tonight.  i'm beat as usual. 

 i leave my pj's on the washer downstairs so i can just strip off when i get home and put the work clothes in the washer. 

 still a few flowers left out there.

 soon it will be the chase to see fall colors.  then the ice will return.

thankful for:  A. family, friends, coworkers and pets.  together we will get through this as best we can. B. little escapes out into the beauty of Alaska...we are lucky that even though our numbers are higher than i like, they are not out of control....please stay that way  C.  to have a job, a home, comfort, food....i have been very lucky so far in life and i'm very grateful. good night.

really?

 so we can't pay our educators and for education for our youth, we can't pay to protect public lands, we can't pay for healthcare for all, we can't pay to help the veterans, the homeless....but we can pay 14 billion to bail out farmers affected by this iitoo's ill thought out tariff war, we can pay to build his crazy wall, we can pay for a military parade which really benefits nobody but the iitoo ego.  strange world we live in.  priorities are so screwed up.

 did not go to Rabbit Lake yesterday.  there are more bear things happening close to Anchorage and i found no walking partner yesterday so i headed off to Hatchers Pass with the pups.  we did nearly 8 miles out there. it was nice and sunny for most of the walk and then some rain clouds rolled in...but no rain.

 multiple warnings seen at the entrance to the terminus of the pipeline.  the oil spill is a distant memory for many who were enraged about it when it happened. this administrations assault on our environment and the species that live in it continues.  so much damage being done in such a short time.  it's pretty sad and infuriating. they are trying to make the endangered species act powerless.  this will result in species becoming extinct.  walrus are on the list to work towards protection.  any northern species on the list though will cause pain for the oil and gas industry so it goes. 

 across the bay from the terminus you can see the horizontal lines on the mountains...these were created as the ice receded.  various levels of where the glaciers once were.

 i headed back out to Valdez Lake for some beach time.  we'd been in a hurry to get on the water for the tour in the morning. i put up a few cairns and deposited some ashes from my old beloved dogs. have slowed down on this....probably a sign that i am doing better with the loss of Blossom.  still a painful memory though. i suppose it always will be because of how it happened in the end.

 this is one of those puzzle pieces of ice from the glacial ice on the beach.

 all of the ice pieces are.

 was a wee bit sore after my nearly 8 mile walk yesterday. normal i guess.  the dogs were happy and tired as well. 

 you can see the puzzle pieces in the ice below.  crazy.  very cool though.

 the trail was pretty over grown.  going alone i tried to make some extra noise to keep the bears aware we were out there.  haven't seen any signs of bears on these trails but you know they make their way through there for sure. no bears yesterday thankfully.  didn't pass too many out beyond the beaver dams.

 ran into one guy biking as i headed back.  he'd biked pretty far up and then hiked up a mountain with his dog.  always a smart way to get further back...though it is often the bikes that surprise the bears.

 there was a beaver swimming in the beaver pond reported as we walked back so i kept the pups moving along.  Blossom would have been in the pond in an instant...really any puddle was fair game. these guys aren't as nuts about water.

 the tennis ball though.  Ivy is pretty obsessed with that.  i decided it's like kids and screen time. i probably should limit her time with her tennis ball.  haha.

 more close up of the puzzle that glacier ice is. 

 i became a bit obsessed with that. 

 the iitoo is in a tweeting rampage again of late.  he claims that Rus will be working to get the Dems in...somehow i doubt that this was a topic of conversation in their secret 1:1..no doubt his way of fueling doubt in the election results if the Dems do well in the fall. 

 he screams no collusion every chance he gets...he doth protest too vehemently. 

 the deadlines are coming and going for children to be reunited with their parents. it's becoming more clear that there was never any plan or means to make the reunification's happen and some kids will be lost to the system and may never see their parents again...this is the family loving party...tearing up families in order to get their way.  cruel and heartless means to an end. 

 they are also trying to make it more difficult for gays to adopt kids.  there are so many kids in need in our nation and they are adding more to that with their border policies...if there are willing parents, they need to be considered. they hate immigrants, they hate liberals, they hate gays, they hate Muslims...this is the way of the right at this point sadly.  not sure where they got so much hate or why they feel they are so maligned by society.  they are free to live their lives as they wish...they just are not free to decide how their fellow citizens live their lives and this really seems to bother them. 

 driving around Valdez in the evening before bedtime.

 loved this big old tree. 

 read last night, watched a movie, "Gifted" and chatted with a friend.  so pretty chill night. was wondering why i just had one Netflix movie in...but my list was empty so i filled it in.  should be getting some new movies soon again.

 i just started a new book and i saw there was a movie based on this book so i added it to the list. i generally like to read the book before i see a movie.

 local art above.

 in the morning i got to the boat early for our tour out of Valdez.  always nice to get on the water when i get a chance. you never know what you will see.  not tons of animals...though we did see loads of otters. 

 a military plane crashed on Colony Glacier back in 1952.  they have been going up every summer since 2012 in an attempt to locate whatever remains and debris they can find.  the debris showed up on the top of the glacier back in 2012 and it's been a bit of a race against time to locate what they can before the debris field moves into the lake in front of the glacier.  they have identified the remains or partial remains of 38 of those lost that day. 

 the debris is about 12 miles down from the original crash site...that is how fast a glacier moves, at least this one.  there were a total of 52 souls on board

 trash cans painted and looking good

 wild irises.

 always love harbors...anything related to the sea is cool i think.

 seeing the terminus from the boat after we head out to sea.

 we headed out slowly from Valdez as there were many rafts of otters. 

 good to see their populations returning to more healthy numbers. 

 many members of the white helmets have been evacuated from Syria after their lives had been threatened.  they will be sent as refugees to nations with kinder policies than our own.  the Christian nation here is not keen on helping anyone but the wealthy at this time.  I'm sure God is well pleased with us. 

 there are still hundreds of white helmets left in Syria.  they emerged to become the only rescue operation in Syria after the many bombings but of course they are being accused of being political and so are being caught and tortured when they can be.

 Sessions spoke with conservative teens and when they started to change "lock her up" he laughed and joined in.  if she did so much wrong why have they not been able to lock her up in these two years, as far as i can see, no charges, no further investigation.  perhaps there just never was the crimes committed to charge her. 

 so many lies generated by this administration.  he is irate that anyone would question his legitimacy as potus and yet he spent a great deal of time claiming Obama was not legit.  you get what you put out in the world in some cases.

 no matter how much they hated Obama and his agenda.  he was a good and decent person.  a solid family man.  one day perhaps folks on the right will see that they were made to believe things that were greatly exaggerated if not plain false. 

 Jimmy Carter was off helping others again this last weekend.  building homes for Habitat for Humanity.  what do people do? it says who they are.  every thing that the iitoo does is for the benefit of himself for the most part.  even if it helps another person, it's done to make points to make himself look better, not out of any true compassion or empathy. 

 the iitoo screamed in all caps at Iran leader on twitter.  who would have thought the leader of the free world would do all his diplomacy through tweets? it's insanity. 

 i would welcome someone with a brilliant business mind that could also learn the art of diplomacy.  this man is neither skilled at business or diplomacy.  i can't imagine that using the language he does against every other nation (except Rus) will lead us down a good path. he is doing great harm to years of diplomacy. some like hearing a US potus scream at our allies and foes alike, but in the grand scheme it's not a great way to lead.  yes, i worry about this potus bring bloodshed to our lands but i also worry more about the damage he is doing to our nations Democracy and our world standing. 

 the walk back of the walk back of the walk back of words continues.  face it....the iitoo trusts Put more than our own intel.  do any of us really trust the iitoo in a room with Put alone once let alone twice...?  do any of us trust Put in that situation.  it's becoming painfully clear how easy it is for world leaders, especially dictator types to manipulate this man child.  he's a fool.  heap him with praise and he will drop to his knees for you. the Dems would have done better if they had taken this to heart.  it's what is working for the Repubs at this time...but at a loss.  loss of dignity, loss of self respect, loss of their party really.

 sorry, i have stayed clear of politics for a few posts, but there is so much going on and it gets in my head.  the best way out of it is to release it.  the blog is the best way. 

 leaving Valdez for the glaciers beyond...a fisherman below.

 a barge loaded with all sorts of containers, buildings and large boats....

 i had better get moving.  these dogs need a walk. i think a pre work dog park run is in order. they got the big walk yesterday.

thankful for: A.  reporters who continue to seek the truth despite being maligned by our current iitoo over and over.  B.  truth.  let it be heard, let it be known.  C.  no bear sightings in the woods