Proud of my puppies!!!

 these are from my trek to Homer...so the start of the sea stars really.  haha. 

 a few of the baby caribou that were out there the day i cruised past.

 and of course, the young bear they have that loves to sit in this tree of his.

 saw 5 moose on the way down.  tonight i drove around and only saw one.  she had a baby but she had it tucked in and was laying down.  i suspect she had a busy day in Kincaid so i had no interest in disturbing her peace....but so sweet.

 worked ICU all three nights.  they are short so i am there.  my one patient kept me very busy the first two nights.  it can be exhausting being a nurse.  it's crazy, it's for sure different every day in some way.  i have some amazing co-workers in all the units i work in that i am grateful to be able to rely on during those stressful, busy nights when you are working hard to keep people alive. my second patient was different each night. 

 my night was all lined up last night just doing the finish work. clearing pumps,emptying foleys...things change rapidly though and one of my patients coded just after 6 am...so a well organized ending to my shift was altered immediately. we pulled the patient through, gave report. thankfully, i am pretty organized so i was only like a half hour late getting home. 

 in these situations i don't think I'm the only one who goes back over the shift and the what could i have done better, were there any signs that i should have acted on...you grill yourself so falling to sleep can be difficult.  we have a stressful job, we have lives in our care.  i think most of us take that care very seriously.  was talking with a co-worker about how if you aren't scared some times in this job you probably shouldn't be there.  no matter how long you are in this work there is always going to be moments that are unexpected and you just have to ride through it.  much easier dealing with codes of patients of other people.  just a different deal when it's your patient. eagle nest above

 earlier i had been telling a few co-workers about another late night conversation I'd had with other co-workers...it was during the Olympics one year.  we had decided that our lives would be more fulfilling if everyone were to do those gymnastic finishes...after every thing we did.  loaded the dishwasher....gymnastic finish...changed the dirty diaper...gymnastic finish!! so of course, last night in the wee hours we did our own renditions of Olympic finishes. we all agreed there would be far fewer angry people and far fewer mass shootings if Olympic finishes could become the norm...try it!! it does give you that extra pat on the back that we all so rarely get. 

 i crawled into bed, tried to decompress and drifted to sleep. 

 i awoke after only a few hours to two dogs who were determined to awaken me and alert me to something. dogs have different sorts of barks and you do get to know them i guess.  i looked out my window to see flames shooting up across the street.  by the time i threw something on and ran outside some others in the neighborhood were banging on doors and had called 911.  turned out to be a green house in a backyard.  thankful it was nothing worse.

 texted my direct neighbor and saw Ramsey...the neighborhood watch guy...out wandering so i returned outside to check on him after the fire trucks left.  the fire looked like it came from his back yard.  i guess it was the one behind him, but the firemen went through his fence to get back to the fire. 

 we talked a bit...i didn't really get back to sleep so i just walked the dogs and then ended up back in bed for a nap.

 so not much accomplished and my body is a bit tired from the two adrenaline rushes of the day.

 pretty impressed that my dogs recognized the danger and found a way to alert me

 love to watch the stars "walking" on their tiny "legs". 

 they also position themselves in such cute ways.

 ran into a dog park friend last week...he is also a nurse.  i met him at the dog park though.  I'd heard he was ill so running into him allowed me to catch up on how he is doing.  appears he is slowly on the mend.  sounds like it's been rough.  we just never know what is brewing in our bodies.  be grateful for each healthy day on this earth.  the star above does seem to be celebrating..or doing it's own Olympic finish! anyway, best to my friend and best wishes for the recovery process...

 more stars walking.

 another mass shooting...so frustrating that we are held hostage by the GOP and NRA while lives are lost over and over and all they are willing to offer the families of those lost is "thoughts and prayers".  they look the other way as lives are lost over and over and then these same gun rights advocates claim that every life is sacred and are doing all they can to stop all abortions. some of the states they are trying to stop abortions in have nearly third world track records in caring for pregnant women and the children they bring in to the world..so this idea that they care about women's health is totally laughable.  they care about controlling women...they don't actual care about the fetus...all their other actions prove otherwise. 

 GOP are against universal healthcare, against money for education or day care or for longer maternity leaves that are paid...in Canada new Moms get a year paid to give their babies a proper start...i can promise you no GOP rep will do that. 

 they also are not willing to spend more money caring for all the kids in foster care or help those kids when they age out of foster care.  they do not support making birth control available, which has been proven over and over to decrease the need for abortions.  sex education is also proven to decrease the need for abortions...in truth their draconian views on women and women's healthcare are the cause of many abortions.

 this was my first night in Homer.  late night low tide so i headed down to check my theory of where the stars were

 the dogs mostly were unaware of the stars. 

 they are currently sleeping.

 there was a large puffin die off..in addition to the loss of grey whales this year.  those are all just the ones that wash up and are found.  the puffins were the tufted puffins i believe. 

 our iitoo went to Japan and he and his administration are so petty and vengeful that they emailed Navy as they wanted to try to make sure the iitoo didn't have to see the ship named after McCain and his father and father before i believe...all who served. 

 sea stars have been having their own issues of late so it was good to see a returning group of stars....this was the only place i saw them. 

 when i went to Seward there were dead fish all over.  i think spawned out hooligans.

 not sure i mentioned that as i drove into Homer that first night i got pulled over for speeding.  no ticket though he did tell me it would have been 6 points and over $350 due to the high speed...i was all, really, i got my element to go that fast uphill?  i find that hard to believe.  he left without giving me an actual ticket...I'm still a bit concerned that I'll get something in the mail..my friend in Homer told me she thinks I'm safe, that she doesn't believe that Homer is that sophisticated.

 it's been awhile since I've gotten a ticket.  i have gotten a lot of tickets over my life time.  been pulled over a lot so mostly i have gotten out of tickets. i lost track at nearly 50 times pulled over. i know i went to traffic school 4 times when i lived in CA and you could only go once a year to fix a ticket.

 these days i drive pretty conservatively....probably the only thing that went towards conservative in my life.  everything else i tended to leave being conservative and head towards being more liberal...my driving slowed down, my "radical" views sped up.

 the day before i headed to work i walked with LS out at Campbell Airstrip.  we took some mushing trails back.  soon before we popped back out near the main trail head we had a black bear burst from the woods and cross in front of us at a lope. 

 don't think the dogs noticed, it was pretty quick.  we decided the bear looked a bit young and rather than find out where it's mom was or if it had a mom with it, we leashed up and back tracked away from that area.

 below you can see the tracks from the sea stars movements...thought it looked cool.  saw a few out there like that.  sea stars do not speed!!

 on my way out the spit to look for sea stars i stopped to text or take a photo...that same cop pulled up next to me to ask if i was okay...i just smiled and said i just stopped to take a photo. he smiled and drove on.  do they have other officers in Homer or just that guy? haha.

 these star tracks are nice...looks a bit drunken though. 

 attempted to go moose spotting tonight...figured a bit of exploring was probably good for my brain.  it was mostly a bust. i even tried going up Arctic Valley Road...that road is worse than any other roads I've traveled up here, i mean even those roads that they tell you to take a spare tire.  i turned around because i did not want to have to deal with a popped tire.

 I've had enough for one day.  maybe walking in a straight line is not very manageable for stars.

 but they always seem to look happy.

 even in pairs!!

 Ivy unaware that she is nearly stepping on a star. i tried to keep them directed away from the star so no stars were harmed

 hopefully, we all sleep well and there are no needs to alert me.

 off to rest...good night all.  remember to do your Olympic finishes...you deserve it!!

thankful for: A. the crew that came to help this morning. B.  a tight neighborhood that came to the aid and prevented a situation from getting out of control.  C.  smart dogs who can recognize danger and act upon it!!

last of tutka

on to the next trip. soon summer will be over, but for now the plants are growing at an alarming rate as happens every summer. so little time before winter the plants go into overdrive. they take advantage of every minute of sun. went to jodphur loop in kincaid. did half on the back route and then took off over the dunes. much easier for rio today as the growth on the trails is dramatic and now the trail is demarkated by brush. saw quite a few flowers blooming out there, even a few wild roses.
above is the view from the outhouse at the kayak beach yurt. elephant rock as we were heading out . the trunk shows up at lower tides. we didn't make the trek out there this time. ran out of time. i went for a photo walk in the morning as it didn't look like a paddle would be happening. at least that was the impression i'd gotten the night before. our water taxi was due at 11am. you don't want to be late and get a reputation for making water taxi's wait or have to go find you. when i got back from wandering about it had been decided we should try for a short paddle. by the time we got our stuff on the beach we could only paddle one way 45 minutes and then paddle back. which way to go? in the end jennifer put out there that it was my birthday so i was to decide. we went to what looked like the closest island, circled it and then crossed back over. that pretty much took up all our time. the island looked like it would house loads of birds, but really not much was happening. heskeff island and elephant island are far more beautiful and i wish we'd had time to paddle out to those. we really just woke up too late to get out there comfortably. i could have just stayed on the beach and skipped the paddle again, we were packed and our stuff was on the beach so no biggie. did see that whale or whatever it was. these are from that small island out there. pretty and small. some magazine poll put alaskans and specifically anchorage residents as the worst dressed in the nation. we do have our own style here and it for sure doesn't meet lower 48 standards. don't think many people up here would have it any other way. our wardrobe is casual and geared towards the weather and various outdoor activities. i'm sure i've not my share to improve our rating in this poll over the years. the winter fashion up here is skhoops. those just haven't really become popular in the lower 48...perhaps we are just more fashion forward than they know and just can't recognize a hot trend when they see it!! summers we just keep the bugs off and try not to attract bears, winters we try to keep warm. i'm not the only alaskan who wears silly dog ski hats. when your head requires a hat to keep warm you find you have many varieties. i'm sure some match the colour to the outfit. doubt many people just own one ski hat.this little rabbit was munching outside our yurt as we packed up all our crap.these are from my morning walk. this big rock kinda looks like a penis with bad herpes lesions from certain angles. often a bald eagle is perched on the top. below is the little island we paddled out to on our last day. apparently the dude who was found eating the face of a homeless guy was high on bath salts. we've started seeing these. terrible drug, makes people have psychotic breakthroughs, sounds like lsd was. people think they have super powers...and can eat people's faces off. poor homeless dude, as if being homeless wasn't enough. the guy who was high wasn't reacting to the police officers and he was eventually shot at. killed i believe. got my laps in this evening as i had dinner plans with amy and it's always great to combine a swim with a fun evening out. the dogs are already prepared for me to be out. got in 25 laps again. water feels great. love being underneath, so quiet under the water. always enjoy the brightly coloured lichens. had fun snapping off a few photo's of them. kept trying to get pics of the bird on the rock as well. the lichens are easier, they don't move!we went to dinner at pancho villa's...obviously mexican. food was good, company always better...thanks amy for dinner!! always great to just relax and enjoy a meal with a friend!more of rock and bird...these next two are of the "dramatic" runaway boat rescue. we were back by the fire to watch the action on the water. got a few errands run today. my trundle with mattress are ordered and will be delivered and i will get another estimate on carpet for the hall and stairs. so far it looks pretty similar to what lowes quoted. they annoyed me though as they led me to believe one thing about installation costs and then in truth it wasn't the case at all. cute little yellow bird. augustine in the background.thought this was a fitting name for a boat in tutka bay. hard to see but on the boat are our friends bob, tanya and maddie...heading out to tutka yurt we had just left. hopefully we left them some wood for thier fires.haven't had a chance to really chat with tanya post trip. maddie was put in her own port in the kayak for the first time. from texting i get the impression her paddle skills are still a bit weak. birds...as my friend scott would say.just more islands from just inside tutka before we got to kayak beach. didn't get to the garden or the deck for sanding. rain started up. we got pretty lucky with just a few drops here and there on our walk. this place can be cloudy without rain, that just wasn't the case really in ketchikan, when it was cloudy...rain was coming down. saw this boat with oars plying down the bay. had to wonder if it wasn't the author from that book about kayaking i had read. they didn't use ocean kayaks but instead rowed boats. can't remember the exact name, but the book was good. except that they did crazy things like paddle in rough seas and with polar bears. seems a bit nuts to me. jsut a float out there...liked the reflectionsan island on the aleutian chain has been renamed. rat island is now hawadax island...the rats are gone now. alaska is "rat free". meaning really that we fight hard to keep them out of here as they are not naturally found here. they sneak in with cargo/boats. the rats on rat island destroyed the rookeries in thier quest to eat every egg they could find. they were finally erradicated and it was decided that a name change was in order. jennifer above and a pair of harlequin ducks below.scenes from the new camp.lots of dandilions...as i said, i'm chill with them out here, but not so much in my yard.the other campers on kayak beach. luckily we had the yurt. would have sucked to be tent camping with this crew.home sweet home!jennifer seems to have a knack for finding the perfect places to relax. i built a lovely fire that night...then let jennifer take over...she does like them big and smokey too we noticed! heskeff and elephant in the background.and again...but it's so pretty!!a photo from the vietnam war of a girl running from her village naked after ripping off her burning clothing was discussed in an article in the paper today. the girl in the photo is now 40 years old, phan thi kim phuc. she eventually survived and overcame and apparently she lives in canada. interesting article. details i'd never heard about. always fascinating hearing stories of people who overcame and lived the lives they almost lost. getting sleepy and it's time for me to turn in. you will just have to enjoy photo's sans commentary!redoubt, volcano in the distance.heading for homer!puppy hat fashion statement! not bad, not bad!!who is driving the boat? he's busy snapping our pictures. amy, sandra, rhonda, jennifer and myself.now we head out to stand out on back deck and the boat captian takes a few more mountains.just a few to finish off the boat harbor experience. another successful trek into the woods. next post will be back to hte usual hikes and rambles.