should be packing....

 

i've grown very dependent on the dogs.  these are all from the big camera.  thinking of heading to Valdez for a few nights. always fun.  the lupine is starting to go crazy which could make for some pretty pictures out there.  

i do love a little road trip anyway.  may leave later today and just go part way. clearly, i haven't made any set plans.

ended up with the start of another migraine and as i felt nauseated at 3 pm i ended up calling out...for fear i would have a repeat of what happened a few weeks back. it never got to that level...of course, maybe it would have if i had gone to work.  

i hear others call out because they are camping and the weather is nice so i am trying not to feel bad for calling out for the headache.  we were just raised with a different work ethic.  one that is probably too strict.  we were taught to go to work even if you felt like crap...decades ago though, corporations had some loyalty to their employees. now...that is less of a thing. now mental health and overall health seems a bit more valued. if not by the employers, it is by the employed. 

these are at deep creek.  

yesterday the dogs got to ride in the Element to their walk.  they were really pretty happy.  i felt more confident driving the Element. 

of course, i quickly realized that i had nothing in the Element.  no bear spray, no chuck it, no bear bells...no park pass.  so we ended up just doing a shorter walk.  did hit the Potter Creek Trail.  enjoyed some of the flowers popping up. we just went to the look out.  

the rest of the afternoon was lazy.  linen is changed and i did stop by "off the chain". they have odd hours because it's voluntary so i'll try to return when they are open and see if i can get the bike rack off. 

another of the Element owners who had inquired about buying was messaging me to check in.  have met some nice folks through the Element sale idea.  they may have a neighbor that is retired and may have interest in making the bed for the back of the Element that i want for camping. 

realizing i haven't eaten anything yet today.  busy doing litter and laundry, feeding the pups and cats. 

there is a quote out there that makes me sad some days...it's something like, "someday someone will hug you so tight that all your broken bits will fit back together" i totally screwed that up. you get the gist...who knew it would be the dogs and cats that would do it.  

they make me happy.  

got the quote for the flooring.  yikes! better just bite the bullet.  will be much nicer to get it done...first the stairs/hall and main room/kitchen, then the bathrooms.  lots of expenses, but better to get things done now.  

the eagles are so fun to watch. one day one of them will turn on Tusker.  he does have fun...

bummed that the glacier is no longer a stop out there. i got zero reply from any of the messages i sent to various places attempting to contact them.  

may need to move on to a letter to the editor. words can be powerful if used correctly. 

i still have more pictures to look through. 

in the end it was probably the best thing that i moved far away.  i suspect many feared i would negatively impact their kids...lead them to the dark side as it were. i was never that dark but it's easier to assume the worst that accept that someone doesn't believe the same things you do. 

where to walk the pups today. will have my bear spray...perhaps just a false sense of security.  

my roof basket is ready for pick up at REi.  that will be for the CR-V.  figured i could put non-bear attractive stuff up there. keep it out of the main car space.  so i can load it up later today i guess. 

should pick up some more hiking pants. these are looking pretty rough.  

i also need to sand and stain the stair railings.  better to do that before they do the carpet.  the carpet is cheap...the other flooring is more spendy.  

volcanoes. 

a stop at the wildlife conservation center. always fun.

at least they haven't stopped us from going... but i suspect one day i'll go and they will say that dogs can no longer be in the car while you drive around. 

can't believe it's almost 11. time flies

those big scary paws with big scary claws

they look so cute, even though they are killers.

these ones are safely behind fencing.  those bears are out there though.  

was good for me to walk sans bear spray yesterday.  need to get more brave. i used to be braver walking out there alone.  of course, brave and stupid are often interchangeable. 

look at this cute baby musk ox.  just a few days old 

the mama was very protective.

local moose action...

and an eagle in Homer.  that is all i have.

i better get some real stuff done.  walk the dogs, pick up my item at REI so i can load car and head out either later today or tomorrow.  i could do some sanding today.  hmm...

these big birds are so cool looking. i never get bored of any of this. 

thankful for A. the flowers popping out all over.  B. feeling safer and more confident in the Element.  C. being spoiled driving the CR-V. 

knot relocation

 the prominent knots moved from my left neck/shoulder area to the right.  not as bad and thanks MJ...the lacrosse balls are on order.  a few today of Tusker chasing the big birds...bald eagles. I'm sure a violation of harassment laws, however in my defense...there are hundreds of birds.

 just finished 3 nights of work and have started packing for Sitka. hopefully i can pick up my Rx tomorrow for a trial run flying on drugs.  my anxiety in longer flights has become more and more apparent, so I'm hoping i can trial on a shorter run and see if it helps.  apparently many people fly either somewhat drunk or drugged.

 still not sure i will ever do well on those longer flights but totally not flying is probably not a realistic option.  avoiding long flights probably is more of an option.  may need more breaks between legs or even more legs i guess.  we shall see.  these days the flight pattern takes planes over my house and though i get concerned that one of these days a plane will crash into my neighborhood so far it seems planes travel without much issue over and over and over again.  the reality is air travel is pretty safe overall...just that when things go wrong, they go very, very wrong.

 Skelly got a make over this week.  he was due.  so he is now fishing with friends on the deck.

 my work week was ICU, ICU and then ER with holds. my withdrawing patient began getting more and more nuts in the last hour or so and i suspect was a handful for the next shift...of course, they may have just let him leave against medical advice.  not sure that guy has much of a long life ahead of him.  some drunks can survive their alcohol abuse for years, others not so much. not sure if it's genetics or levels of drinking that are the factors.  i do enjoy an occasional drink but thankfully, i am not one of those who have an addiction...it is terrible stuff if you can't control your intake.  I'd say i drink maybe 6 drinks/year give or take a few...when i drink it's one glass or one bottle of a wine cooler type and i rarely finish that even.

 i see the worst of what alcohol can do to a body so perhaps that has helped me keep it in perspective.  i see far more folks hospitalized related to alcohol than any other substance...cigarettes perhaps.  those are slow killers as well.  I've never smoked a cigarette...growing up in the smog of LA seemed enough.  iv drug users OD or get nasty infections at injection sites most commonly it seems. I've seen some bad cocaine induced cardiac damage.

 had my annual appointment.  not to bad i guess.  my cholesterol is climbing a bit so will need to watch that.  my HDL is always great so that balances it i guess.  blood pressure was high for me...at 122 systolic but that is not bad really and i was starving when i got to the clinic..i mean uncomfortably hungry so that may have been a factor.  i am down weight wise so that is good...perhaps it was the kitchen remodel diet.

 i was given a to do list that includes a skin check, bone density check and since i have to re-check my urine sample we'll check my a1c. diabetes in the genes...hoping to avoid that.  she isn't too concerned since my fasting sugar was 90.

 my patient had the Mueller hearing on in his room the other day, i did put it on my headphone as i finished my shift that day.  so i heard the first section about the obstruction.  since most folks haven't bothered to read the report i think the Dems are trying to figure out how to get them to get that information...which is actually quite damming. I'm not sure Mueller did the greatest job at playing the reality TV show game, but the information is still pretty damming.

 if trump wasn't potus he could and would be indicted...still a possibility for him when he is no longer in office.  I'd still like to see him impeached...i know the gop won't finish that but his actions deserve at least some accountability attempts.  the GOP will one day have to live with the fact that they gave this corrupt potus a pass and protected him every way they could....these are the same gop who impeached,  on political grounds, a potus who had sex in the oval office and lied about it.  this guy has lied constantly, even in his written statements to Mueller.  he welcomed support from Russia, he tried many ways to get the investigation stopped and has continued to obstruct any and all investigations.  how sex is a high crime and misdemeanor and all of his corruption is not is shocking really.

 it just proves that the GOP has only been interested in getting their agenda through and never cared about the rule of law.  our justice department is hanging by a thread due to Barr, trump and this administration.  a large part of that is McConnell. he will go down in history as a traitor to our constitutional ideals. he cares not to protect it or the voting rights of our citizens.  Mueller was and has been very clear when he states that Russia did attempt to interfere and has continued down this path.  McConnell has blocked every attempt to protect our elections.  the GOP has done little to nothing to protect us post the 2016 election interference.  this point seems to be the most clear in the Mueller report..it happened and it will happen again.

 the GOP members never questioned the actual facts in the report, many of them doing the questioning have not bothered to read the report they were asking questions about.  they didn't ask about the report at all in many cases, they simply went off on tangents of the conservative conspiracy theories.  facts are dead in that party, they live purely on conspiracy theories.  deep state, liberal hoax of climate change...it's just one conspiracy theory after another.  in the first session that i listened to they sounded like attack dogs using their 5 minutes to trash Mueller every chance they got.  the justice department has been, in the past, above politics.  they ranted on...apparently the only way they would have believed anything of the report was if it was all republicans doing the investigation...but any republican that speaks out against this potus becomes accused of being a member of the deep state.

 the bone spurs president trashes those who served with honor at every turn while sputtering out the other side of his mouth how much he honors those who serve.  McCain and Mueller were both purple heart recipients i believe...Mueller got a bronze star as well. those members of the GOP showering him with disrespect should be ashamed...but I'm sure they aren't.   he's even a member of their own party....but no doubt they see him as a member of the deep state at this point.

 Flynn's former business partner was convicted for lobbying illegally for Turkey.  it seems it was a pretty open and shut case.  so more folks with ties to trump and company going down.

 trump vetoed the blockage of his sales of arms to Saudi's.  they brutally murder Kashoggi and he gives them a pass and then rewards them with arms.  lets remember that many of those involved in 9/11 were born in Saudi.  this is not a nation of lovers of the US, but they are wealthy and that is attractive to the likes of this administration.  of course, i see that trump and his minions are using every means possible to block the release of his taxes....so much for his campaign promises to release them after the so called audit is complete.  his followers do not care about whether or not he pays taxes or not or if he's indebted to these nations personally or if he is shitting on the emoluments laws. if the tables were turned they would have been all over any and all Dems for these sort of things....hell if the tables were turned they would have impeached trump in week one.

 perhaps if someone gives trump a blow job in the oval office we will see the gop react....HA...not likely.  there would just be more excuses and distractions.

 Epstein was found semi-conscious in a fetal position in his cell with marks on his neck.  attempted suicide?  attempt to appear unstable to put himself in a place other than a cell?  we shall see i guess.  my sympathy is not on his side, but on all those who were victims of him.

 calls to murder some of the younger female members of congress may one day result in their deaths, it's a dangerous game.  would many of trumps more loyal followers heed the call if he tweeted out something like what the police officers in Louisiana did?  that is all it takes...permission to go against what is the social norm.  many folks are out there feeling constrained by the laws that exist and even the commandments...but as soon as they are granted permission to kill everything can change.  that has happened historically.  Rwanda comes to mind....as it's a more recent example of just that sort of thing. it's a dangerous thing to mess with.  being in power and putting out these irresponsible statements.

 for those who act like trump is being unfairly targeted maybe look up the sorts of effigies that were created with Obama.  monkeys, nooses, burning...i suspect the things directed at him and his family were far more vile than anything directed at trump.

 Ivy sitting on Tusker in the car.  he was not about to give up his seat so she just sat on him.  it cracked me up.  siblings.

 blogger is flipping out...hope i don't lose all my work.  I'm trying to catch up on my reading while i write.

 the fireweed out there was amazing.

 gotta still finish packing and write a note for my pet sitter.

these are back at Deep Creek.  eagle and gull action

 i never got pooped on which is always good.

 Tusker finds a buddy to chase down.

 these cracked me up.

 Ivy wasn't as interested in eagle chasing...she's more addicted to the tennis ball though

 Tusker is no match for the eagles though.

 thankfully.  i love these furs and i would feel terrible if anything happened to them.

 a sighting of Redoubt along with our otter friend.

 trying to get pictures of the baldie with the fireweed.

 not sure i got close enough to the eagle but still pretty i guess.

 guess i should attempt to sign off.  i may lose this entire post as blogger keeps sending me warnings.

thankful for:  A.  fun times with fun dogs B.  that i got out before the real craziness began.  C.  sleep