"it is what it is"....

 not only do i have to wear protective gear at work i am now wearing it at home a bit more as i tediously scrap the old paint/stain off all the cabinets in the bathrooms up and down! it's more fun at home though. i've got a ways to go but the counter guy has the counters ready to install on Wednesday so i have a goal. 

 this Girdwood mushroom is a bit phallic i must say

 i was going to attempt to remove the old sinks/counters but i was unable to get the water knob to turn...so the new plan is to turn off the water at the source before i accidently break off the pipe trying to get it to turn.  that would be fun. if i do that it will be a spendy plumber call for sure to get it all back together again. i'm so hoping to avoid that. i'm hoping that i am just a weakling..which i am.

 got most of the old paint/stain off the main cabinet downstairs.  still have doors/drawer fronts to do. those are out in the garage covered in goop now. i'm also trying to get the last of the old cabinet liner paper out. i did not glue it in there. i had just put something over it....so now i need to remove it. 

 did put some stain on, just to see how it will look.  i think it will all look good once i get it done.  don't anyone look too closely though...i'm sure it will not look that good. i picked up a few stencils...that worked well on the beam so i think i will do a bit of stencil work in the bathrooms as well.

 above was me attempting to take a peek at Ivy's pad injury.  she was not a very willing patient at the time as she just was ignoring it and wanted to keep playing. can't keep the silly girl down.

 puff balls!!

 Worthington Glacier on approach.

 a more sedate Ivy Rose on the drive home.  nobody wants the back seat in the car even though there is plenty of room for dogs to stretch out back there.

 work was busy and a bit stressful this week.  ICU for two nights and then ER. i worked peds ER for a few hours and then ended up mostly in the MRI with a patient...twice. i took his temperature when we got back, which was pretty elevated so that prompted more testing.

 not everyone should have kids....when you work as a nurse, especially in Peds you see stuff that you can never unsee.  humans are real jerks sometimes...and to be jerks to those who can't fight back makes you a special kind of ass in my book.

 a massage would be lovely.  have had headaches/knots this week.  the other day i had a headache and took some excedrin.  i started to feel the headache going away, was getting hungry.  i used the banger thing i have to attempt to break up the knots....not sure if i hit a bad spot but suddenly i was all, i'm gonna puke...and puke i did.  mostly just bile and dry heaves, but i hate puking!! the only good thing about puking is that often you do feel better after. 

 i've been in Kincaid walking the past two days.  yesterday after puking i just opted for a shorter loop with time spent chilling on the dunes. others had the same idea and there were a few hammocks there.

 many locals, who i suspect were not out walking pre-covid, have been on the trails...so more people out there.....there is also a lot more garbage.  grr!!! i'm not a fan of humans right now.

 these are still mostly from Valdez.  no trips this stretch off planned.  local walks and get this bathroom project done.

 had a frustrating patient in ICU...grunts, demands...then my friend sees the patient and laughs cause i basically saved her life the other week. she is not overly grateful apparently.  the funny thing was the other patient i had was super nice and grateful for everything i did.  such a contrast. thankful i had the grateful patient to balance out the night.  humans not all bad.

 still finding plenty of mushrooms though i didn't spot too many out there in Kincaid these past few days

 enjoying time with the critters. 

 sleep is great too.i'm a pressure player.  i can procrastinate, but when shit needs to be done i am more willing to jump to it.

 sun is going down earlier.  there is more of a chill in the air...it was supposed to be raining today but it warmed up both today and yesterday just as i hit the trails. mother nature was good to me.

 probably good that i'm releasing some energy scraping old paint off of these cabinets. it is gross and difficult.

 i really wish i had my handyman to get the guts back together...if i can get them apart. it seemed so easy on the internet site i found...and then i couldn't get past step one...turn off the water.

 hit the crawl space, which wasn't as scary as i feared it would be.  there are all these empty boxes down there from the previous owners. i think they were military so no doubt moved a lot so they must have liked to save boxes.  figure i'll just stick a few in the recycling every time i go down there this week.  clear it out a bit.

 i suspect all these fumes are probably not great for headaches. 

 i have great co-workers...pretty much everywhere i go.  so thankfully, the truth is there is more good people than bad ones. the bad ones can sure be jerks though.  "it is what it is" that is a quote by the current president of the US...in response to all those losing their lives to Covid.  over 160,000 and counting.  still his followers don't seem concerned.  he's only concerned about himself...for a man who repeatedly acts like this virus is no big deal he gets tested a lot and makes sure anyone who is around him is also tested.  it's like that Tom Cruise movie...why would you need both? if it's no big deal, gonna be gone quickly, why would he need to be tested so often and have everyone else be tested.  why both orders?

 the right as a rule has become irony impaired. like all those folks who freak out over whether new deaths are reported as being from covid or with covid.  they do not want any deaths to count in the big tally...oddly, they have no issues with people dying of the flu or with the flu.  they don't ask if people who die of or with the flu have co-morbidities.  they also don't question the information about the flu, which often comes from the same sources that they refer to ask fake or liars. if your Grandpa dies of the flu nobody tries to rationalize it away by saying he was old or he was unhealthy or they are lying about the numbers or faking the numbers.  they just say, so sorry about your Grandpa.

 there are more coming in, sick.  they are changing units back to covid units...apparently, that is a lie.

 i think i will sleep well today.

 we hit the beach today.  the dogs always love it there

 this owl is on a new bench out at Cheney Lake...a walk i did a few days back

 can't remember where the big amanita was...dog park.  below is in Girdwood.

 as is this one.  more rainforesty there.  have wanted to head to portage as well, just to see what mushrooms are out and about.

 not a lot of weeks left of mushrooms

 i want to enjoy all i can.

 our numbers of new positives have been under 100 the last few days.  way too many stupid folks out there though. if they would just buckle down we could get Alaska done with this and return to normal life here anyway.  our tourism will be ending...what little we had.  we could shut it down more, get the kids back to school and live normal lives...but the fools just can't let go of their fake news/fake virus mentality. 

 door duty/runner and on calls are a thing of the past for me.  on the plus side, the covid life has been fairly inexpensive.

 hopefully i'll drop a few pounds as well. with all the mask/shield wearing at work you tend to eat less. i like to drink my water at work so i think that has been decreased as well, which adds to the headaches.

 like these purple mushrooms

 better get a little bit more done and then head to bed.  hopefully i can get past step one on the sink/counter removal plan.

 my art work on the  beach today.  turned out kind of cute i think. maybe i could do that on the cabinets.  haha!!

thankful for A.  friends who know a lot more about plumbing and house stuff than me who are willing to answer questions.  B.  co-workers who laugh with us despite the stress of those 12 hours shifts  C.  furs to come home to, chill out with and have snuggles with. 

i don't want to go to work...

 haven't gotten as much done on those cabinets as i had hoped.  i have always been a procrastinator.

 these are still from Valdez.  where to go next?  head to Denali National Park or back to Homer?  or i could stay home.  we shall see.

 there have been two sows with cubs wandering around Campbell Airstrip trails so i opted out of that today and just did a loop out at the dog park.  took a different back trail to avoid the kids and always good to find new options

 halo's around the sun are fairly common up here.  not sure how common they are other places...did i just not notice them?

 yesterday i hit Cheney Lake before the dentist.  it was rainy so not many out there. found a few fun mushrooms.  then after the Dentist i headed out to Girdwood to explore...always fun

 the local areas seem to have been picked over a bit as far as mushrooms.  seems early this year but who knows. 

 the dentist went fine. much quicker than expected really so now i have to wait for another appointment to get the real crown put on.  just a temp now.  have to remind myself to not eat on that side until the new crown is in.  no flossing in that area either.

 this is at Worthington Glacier..above was Matanuska Glacier

 this used to all be ice...it just keeps going further and further away. they had the side trail roped off. they also had tape across this lower area which seems silly to me.  pretty safe out front here.  perhaps too many were climbing up on to that glacier there which is probably unstable.  it's all good until it isn't.

 that, i think, is a view of the Worthington Glacier as you pass by.  you can't see that part from the front where i was.

 trying to remember what these are.  they are pretty huge out there at that visitor center. 

 i'm always fascinated by the mushrooms. 

 not sure the red tent is all that flattering for us for photo ops.  :-) 

 the pups really sacked out each night though

 starting to see some color changes in the leaves. it happens a bit slow at first through August and then it will really take off

 fireweed at Worthington

 chunks of ice at Valdez Lake.  there were leaf like imprints. the ice form bizarre puzzle type pieces on the glacier to though not sure why, but it is odd and cool as it falls apart.

 Ivy in deep slumber

 ok, maybe she's not quite asleep but love being all snuggled in a tent with them

 there are some beautiful waterfalls through keystone canyon.  the canyon seemed super long the first time i went through. so pretty

 chilling outside the tent.  took them both into PetCo today. Tusker was wearing his no pull harness, which works so great i bought Ivy one today.  silly dog lifted his leg on a stack of dog food...no doubt some other dog had done that before him, but still i was surprised!!  clean up time.  brat!!

 the dogs still battle it out for the front seat.  one day, in the next car this will no longer be an option.  i think i secretly like having them right with me, but in truth it's not the safest so next vehicle i will relegate them to the back seat with a gate.

 homestead trail.

 there you can see the possible imprint a bit better.

 i'm really not excited for work. never am these days.  it is what it is though.  this too shall pass, i hope.  i suspect mask wearing will be the norm for years if not forever.  the face shields, not sure, probably for all droplet contacts in the future. 

 the cleaning makes them really difficult to see through.  i ordered a face shield that can be flipped up...i think that will be easier.   even still cleaning them all the times makes the shield itself streaky and hard to see through. not sure how to fix that yet. it's all a learning curve at this point.

 i think IMCU is reverting back to all Covid as is the area up on 4th floor.  seems as soon as we do this the case numbers will go down and we switch back. it does seem strange to have a unit mixed with covid and non-covid patients...but it is what it is.

 this guy keeps me entertained.  that big tail...he just keeps wanting to eat and keeps getting bigger

 it was hazy coming home so not many stops.  often the dogs are tired and i don't want to disturb them so i just keep driving on...usually i'm happy to just drive and get home anyway.

 i miss the cats and just being home after being away, even for a short time.

 more ice

 the drive to Valdez.

 more of that pretty, huge mushroom

 thought i'd toss back some photo's...i'll have to get off of here and get ready for the dreaded work soon.

 thankful for the great co-workers. we are in this together.

 stuff only people in healthcare can comprehend really...so we tend to hang with each other i think.

 we are all the exposed ones anyway.

 only pissed off a few folks this week.  i'm retraining myself better.  better to hunt mushrooms

 and hang with these happy's.

 Tusker takes a dive off of the ice

 as you drove in you could see the ice a bit better.

 loved the reflections...i always do

 the pups love the swimming.  the ice doesn't bother them

 if you look at those photo's they are about a month apart...huge changes in the face of the glacier.

thankful for A.  a job, even though it's stressing me out  B.  co-workers to battle this with  C.  puppies and nature to recover from work