count down to Christmas begins!!

 walked with new puppy George out in Eagle River today.  Briggs Bridge.  a bit icy but we all survived. loved these tiny ice crystal stars in the mud.  we saw several of them.  can't say as I've ever seen fairly large stars like this...they were 1/2 inch to nearly 1 inch in diameter maybe.  so fun!!

 some of these are meeting George after the Monday walk last week.  he's gonna get big!!  1/2 malemute, 1/2 aussie i think. super cute.

 the size difference will change dramatically over the next few weeks/months.

 finished my last night of work on Thanksgiving eve.  slept great after a night in ICU.  kept fairly busy.  then i woke at 1 and realized the Friendsgiving meal i was attending started at 2pm not 7 pm.  oops!!  booked in to shower and hit the road. 

 it was a very fun and relaxing night of fine eating and game playing.  before i realized it the time was after 10 pm!!  the dogs got to attend so there were 4 dogs and 6 humans!  8 hours of play was great for these tykes.  they were tired but ready to romp again today. 

 we played Mexican Train dominoes. is this politically incorrect.  it was discussed but thankfully, there were no battles or anyone offended.  it was just a comical conversation....like can one build a wall? we also played another card game that i won, but can't recall the name of.   i have always enjoyed games and feel like we should all be gathering for game nights more often. 

 headed to Potters to watch the sunset.  it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow i think.  there is a good low tide at sunset tomorrow so perhaps a run down to the beach would be fun. 

 we had a pretty powerful wind storm the night i was working.  i was worried about fences and limbs coming down at the house and dogs escaping.  the dogs were fine when i arrived home so i was happy.  the dog run was all tweeked from the wind and a few items had been moved around in the yard but no damage.  whew!!  i did see lots of limbs and fence sections down on the drive to dinner last night and when i was cruising around today.

 from reports there were gusts over 100mph.  so pretty strong.  seemed like the Hillside and Turnigan areas were hardest hit.

 that took away almost all the snow and left patches of ice...since the snow packs down on the trails, that means the trails themselves all become ice skating rinks...as well as the side roads and side walks.

 we all took turns holding the baby...knowing we may not ever have that chance again.  he's already getting too big for it.

 today was a great day to get out there and pick up the dog poop! that is an exciting day in my world.

 my brother texted hoping i could fly down and watch his teens for 10 days while they cruise.  i would have easily done it if i lived closer...and i did do it for many of my siblings...well not 10 days, but i did do a lot of baby sitting in my younger days when i did live closer.  i will see if a partial could work out but flight times, dog care here and not having enough vacation days will probably make it unlikely....i feel badly as these are the days when you do wish you lived closer...but overall, i love life in AK and am really happy i landed here.

 i did laugh as in his text, he generously mentioned he'd pay airfare and that i could bring a friend, girl...he specified.  nice that he thinks i may have flocks of men who would desire to travel with me...or even one man who would, but at the same time it also gives me a glimpse into how i am viewed and always will be viewed. 

 i mean i did have my fairly slutty days but i would never have and never did behave in any way disrespectfully when around my family.  i left the church but that in no way made me become a terrible person.  in some ways i think it's just naivete on their parts....or they really do think I'm some wild, sex crazed maniac. was friend that's a girl also mean that i shouldn't bring a lesbian lover?

 another sibling had called me when his daughter and her husband were coming to visit to warn me that they are very conservative...i had to ask him if he thought I'd be doing lines of coke in front of them? what is it they expect from me.  i mean i rarely drink anything but milk and water. i have never actually tried any drugs and my sexual encounters were always within the confines of a relationship...granted my relationships did not always last an extended period but i am pretty dull really.  to have people assume the worst of you and feel the need to point out correct behavior is odd to say the least.

 it just shows me that no matter how old i get or how many years i am out of the church i will always be seen as someone who left the church and is therefore suspect.  how can we ever have normal relationships if they can't ever just accept me for who i am?

 if they go out with business associates and they order a beer with the meal i presume there is no issue.  that they would not make a request for them to not drink.  if a business associate had lost their home in a quake or something would they tell them that they are welcome but their live in partner is not? 

 always love train tracks.  no trains went by as i was there. i am always careful

 it was cloudy everywhere else but we did have this patch of blue skies.

 after i headed over to Bells Nursery...they have a tiny Sees candy store inside the nursery.  sadly, they don't have any milk chocolate patty's...my favorite.  i had them create a box for me...what is Christmas without See's. :-) 

 this is the big snow plow and this is the view you would have if you were on the tracks and one was coming at you.  I'm sure this plow took out more than a few moose.  looks like a bad way to go!

 more of these cool ice stars.  you can see the pine needles for size comparison. 

 view from Tudor Rd.

 i stopped by the shelter, always like to see what animals are there.  there was a boxer looking dog which began to bark immediately...nope!! one kitten, it was already getting a meet and greet for a home.  one big malemute/shepherd cross out being walked.

 got the bills paid and a few errands run so it was a fairly productive day.

 i have enjoyed dominoes the few times I've played.  we always had dominoes at the house, but we never played.

 we played Nertz, Gin, Hearts, Spit, Uno and Mile Bornes? what was that one? we also played Life and Sorry, occasionally Chinese Checkers. lots of solitaire...oh War of course. Yahtzee. it was usually myself and my two older brothers for most games. 

 no computer games since we didn't have computers...we did get pong when it came out.  it was pretty dull so it did not interest us for long. we were pre Atari and Nintendo and Wii. 

 we had a pool table and ping pong tables seemed to come and go.

 the rest are Homer pictures..

 the fire weed was nuts so i was driving up roads checking it out .

 so beautiful!!

 that is the spit in the background.

 wish i had seen a big moose in the fireweed...would have been cool pictures.

 you can see a sea of pink on the mountains all over the place.

 better in this one below.

 photo's never really show how amazing it all is but i sure had a fun time with all those flowers.

 many months to go before this happens again. 

 do need to start planning treks for next summer.  want to finally hit Katmai bears and the land of 10,000 smokes. have never been to King Salmon so it may be fun to take that route out to Katmai. 

 maybe i could do a little walrus viewing with that, weather permitting of course. walrus permitting as well. 

 maybe i will start to work on Christmas cards...though i see a stack of cards from last year that i never got addresses for.  it's becoming a lost art. 

 hoping everyone had a lovely holiday. 

thankful for : A. no slips on the ice  B. puppies...who doesn't love puppies  C.  the great food of Thanksgiving, great company...so relaxing. 

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