so much crazy shit happening!!

 these are from Chicken and that drive.  still looking at the many pictures from the past week. 

 got put on call for maybe 20 minutes my first night of work, went home around 3am last night from the ER...was in the ICU the first night.  we shall see what tonight brings.  I've been pretty lazy and sleepy all day.

 but so much has happened and it's nuts and it's bound to get even more nuts.

 the NYT op ed.  it was written by an anonymous person higher up in the iitoo. basically, it says he's unfit to lead and that they are basically doing all they can to prevent the worst of his impulses from becoming reality.  while i do appreciate that they are preventing his worse impulses it does bring on more questions in my mind. 

 what they should be doing is working towards getting him out of office if he is unfit, not staying put so they can selfishly get their agenda through despite him. they are not elected officials, they are hired by the iitoo.  therefore, they do not work for the people of the United States. 

 another thought that comes to mind is how far are they willing to go to protect these United States from their unfit leader?  are they willing to kill or be killed if needs be?  we actually do have means of removal for an unfit leader...all this says to me is that the agenda comes before our nations security. so to be clear, this means their goals are party before country.  will this lead to bloodshed in the oval office if they can't contain him and a dangerous situation arises...i mean the guy speaks highly of despot leaders and dictators, he spoke in absolute private with Put...

 in my dating years i remember i learned something.  it may seem silly or unrelated, but the thing is....if you find yourself making far too many excuses for bad behavior you need to re-evaluate your situation.  we all tend to make excuses in situations when there is an outcome we desire.  sadly, we often find it easy to excuse very bad behavior in order to get what we believe we want and/or need.  in those situations, when i found myself making such excuses, i reminded myself that it was time to abandon the relationship. i needed to look at the larger picture and the consequences of excusing this bad behavior. i needed to remind myself that i deserved to be treated better.  that if you need to constantly make excuses for someones bad behavior they do not respect you.  they do not have your back. 

 this iitoo does not have their backs.  it's far beyond time to let the American people know the truth of the situation.  it is not the job of those hired by the iitoo. 

 so while he and faux news rail on about how they need to find out who this person is and fire them...despite the fact that this same sentiment has been heard over and over again in those around this iitoo, we need to thank the NYT for doing it's job.  they know who the person is.  they knew publishing it would be  challenging and that they would make themselves a target but unlike those surrounding this iitoo they are putting country first. the American people deserve to know that our leader is amoral and unfit.

 while the GOP excuses his behavior in order to get their agenda through, get as many right leaning judges in place, know that they are compromising themselves far beyond repair. they are putting our nation at risk.  they absolutely refused to allow Obama to place judges.  they have manipulated and abused the system for their own power grab, for their own agenda. 

 our nation fails if one party refuses to compromise.  we can not survive as a one party system yet that seems to have been the goal of the GOP all along.  they have worked for years to neuter the other party in order to have their religious agenda forced upon all the other citizens. all while screaming that their religious freedoms have been curtailed.  as far as i can see no US citizen has been limited in their practice of religion.  not allowing public prayers in schools or for the ten commandments to be posted in public buildings in no way diminishes any ones freedom of religion.

 we live with people who look different, think different, come from different cultures, religions and back grounds.  we must find ways to compromise.  to give the majority of citizens the ability to pursue life. liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

 so many on the right seem to have become convinced that they are under attack. really the only churches that have been bombed or burned or attacked seem to have been mostly non-Christian. if they do not protect all religions then they cannot protect their own religion. 

 this iitoo is surrounded by many who have already been found guilty or plead out to crimes.  it's not a stretch to believe that the iitoo himself may be compromised or simply just a corrupt individual..yet the excuses fly.  "no collusion".  so it seems that anything short of collusion is acceptable behavior in a conservative leader as long as the agenda keeps sailing through.

 when i watch bits of the iitoo rallies it is frightening.  terrifying really.  those folks there are cult like.  he knows he is right in saying he could shoot someone in front of them and they'd just applaud.  no matter what he says at these rallies they do just that, applaud.  they applaud quite literally even when he makes absolutely no sense when he's speaking. 

 after the "no collusion" excuse the next excuse i hear often is that "pence will be worse".  yes, he would probably be more effective at destroying things i don't want destroyed.  he does not have whatever it is that the current iitoo has that causes people to roll over and forget their morals and ethics.  he can't command a crowd as he seems to. 

 there is also hope that the midterms will give him a little less power to work with. 

 i must add as well...that one hopes if the iitoo is removed due to being unfit and having his party protect him knowing him unfit, simply to get their agenda through, that there would be some shame. that shame would hamper them.  can't say as i really believe they have shame in the current DC GOP, but one can hope.  one can hope that they will see that they put their agenda before the needs of the people and the nation. 

 i keep telling myself that perhaps this is what our nation needs to actually "drain the swamp".  we may just need to hit rock bottom so that we can put more protections in place.  the founding fathers may not have seen the level of corruption and greed that would befall the current leadership in DC...often on both parties.  ironic though, that the party that screams less government, less government controls may actually create a situation due to their selfish behavior where we are all forced to put in place more controls to protect us from the likes of this mess again. (or at least try)

 Obama spoke today.  he was pretty frank.  it was an excellent speech.  for all the hatred directed at him...he has proven repeatedly to be a decent and ethical man.  no person is perfect and i do not expect anyone in that job to be perfect. they all make mistakes, they all learn.  you can't really totally prepare for a job like running the USA.  it's always shocking how maligned he is while the same who malign him turn around and praise the iitoo.  the iitoo record and behavior show his true lack of character..but again, the excuses are made repeatedly for his bad behavior. it's a false hope that he could in any way care for anyone but himself.

 he puts himself before country, but he also puts himself before anyone and anything.  that just can't work in a leadership position such as what is needed in our nation.  yes, anyone who does this job, who desires it, must have some ego.  i have thought that in many jobs.  to be a DR and cut into brains and such...you need some ego, or you would never be able to do the job.  to decide to be an adventurer and go where others have never gone..you have to have a bit of conceit..or you would not do it.  there is a big difference between having the confidence to be able to go where others would fear and in being an egomaniac.  narcissists could care less about the greater good, could care less about kindness or decency. 

 we had a lovely little jaunt to Byers.  i was in the cabin the first night alone.  the door is extremely heavy and loud.  the dogs were on alert.  i was in Byers 1 for the first time.  not the grand views of cabin 2, but it was easy to be right there by the parking lot. 

 that is the first public use cabin ever built in AK.

 my friend came out for the second night.  both nights bedtime came early.  it was great to just crash early and catch up on rest.  i slept pretty well both nights.

 the pups were pretty wiped out as well.

 we hiked around the lake on Monday. the south bridge is in rough shape. there are loose boards, which SH unfortunately found.  thankfully, other than getting wet no harm done. the other end of the bridge is falling.  we were able to pass over it.

 there is a new bridge on the other side of the lake. 

 we both agreed the trail seems longer than the 5 miles it always says it is and both of our devices put it closer to 7..i threw the tennis ball a lot though...so that would add steps.

 the next day we packed up camp and it was cloudy but soon it cleared as we headed north.  neither of us was sure what we were planning for the day.

 in the end she drove maybe 30 miles into the Denali Highway and i drove across and back around to Anchorage via Glennallen.

 it was a long day with a lot of driving.  stopped to let the pups out several times along the highway.  by the time we hit Glennallen and gassed up they were done for the day. 

 i did the marathon drive back to Anchorage without stopping.  i was alert and watchful for moose, which i saw none of.  i did have a close encounter with an  owl. full wing span pretty close to the windshield. 

 while we were out at Byers eating our late afternoon snacks/meal we started to hear siren after siren.  it wasn't until the next day we got word that there had been a bad accident 10 miles from us up the road.  passing was involved i believe.  4 died, including a 5 year old. very sad.  at the time we started to wonder if we should try to see if they needed any help. 

 i decided later that by the time the sirens came help was already there.  we had no idea until the sirens that there was an accident.  besides we would have just hit backed up traffic on the two way road and been trapped.  we can't always help.

 the next day i also started to get texts again.  my eldest brother had been hospitalized. sounds like he is faring ok.  while we don't get along much at this time, i would never wish ill upon him and i do hope he recovers to good health. 

 these are along the road headed from Tok towards Fairbanks...a pretty dull section of road. would have been better off going to Glennallen again and then north from there as far as scenery goes.

 in between trips i watched parts of McCains funeral.  the flag in the National Park, of course, was at half staff.  respect afforded this war hero by all except the iitoo himself. such a jealous, selfish, petty human. 

 found myself worried a few times about the bear and her cubs we'd seen in the park.  worried that the buses being there watching the little family had also put them at greater risk.  had the mama bear been distracted by the bus noises and smells...too distracted to be alerted to the dangerous male bear headed her way.  it is very possible, which is sad.  i will not know what happened to them in the end.  a friend was in the park after us and heard rumors of the scene we'd witnessed and rumors that he male had killed the cubs. 

 I'm just not sure how easily proved that would be.  I'm going to tell myself they are just bus rumors and that somehow the cubs or at least one cub made it back to the mama.

 i really need to go throw that tennis ball for the pups for a bit . enough rest today.  it's beautiful out there...and i have work again tonight.  did hit the dog park yesterday

 Ivy was limping a wee bit after a crash with Tusker.  nothing bad but a day of sort of rest is probably good.

 the cabinets have arrived in town and will be delivered on Tuesday.  not sure how well they will fit in the garage.  it's time to really pack up the rest of the kitchen and take the steps to tear stuff out. 

 this was just a little lake i stopped at with pups along the way.  always looking for good places to let them get their run on.

 got some great pictures of them over this past week.  thanks SH for the photos you took.  it was amazingly beautiful going across the Denali Highway. seems a good idea to switch off this trek with a trip up the Richardson to Fairbanks every few years.

 almost to Fairbanks at this point.

 this are at the official end of the Alaskan Highway.

 the pipeline comes into view

 and the big rivers of  Alaska. 

 i better got make these pups happy. much more to discuss but that is enough to clear my head.  don't make excuses for bad behavior in others...they rarely are worthy of it. 

thankful for: a.  safe travels these past weeks  b. getting to leave work a few hours early...it doesn't happen often but i do enjoy it when it does.  c.  that there are still some decent folks in DC and that they are fighting for our nation and for the people of our nation...may good reign over evil...

back from Denali National Park and headed to Denali State Park...

 back from a fun trek into Denali with friends. still looking at photo's but here is a teaser with other photo's tossed in. i knew i was going to miss my furs so i took some pictures to carry with me...not that i don't already have thousands of photo's of them in the phone, but hey. they are cute.

 lingered in bed a bit before getting my day started. who wouldn't linger with these cute snugglers?

 i took them for a stroll in the dog park at U-Lake before i settled them in and took off. 

 i think they had a nice stroll.  didn't want them amp'd up before i left them for the week.  i don't leave my dogs very often.  in case it's not obvious I'm somewhat of a home body.  i love the idea of travel but i know that i am not all that keen on it...just hate leaving my crew. always easier to leave home if the heart of it, these critters, gets to come with me.

 wrote their names on mushrooms.  we strolled the back trails to check on the mushrooms.

 my friend TO arrived and after we loaded up we took off to LM place to pick her up.  it's a 5 hour drive to Denali.

 we made it in time to set up camp without much rain, go get dinner in "town" up there and then come back for a campfire and wine. there was a mist coming down and i must say, not many campers out.  lots of RVs of course, packed with campers who are fair weather and apparently don't like to do campfires in the rain, haha.

 i got to test out my new car camping tent.  i like it.  it's pretty big though.  two rooms.  i think we were all cozy...maybe me a bit more since i had my blow up mattress. 

 my iphone pics never load in any order so this is day two in Denali at Wonder lake.  we got lucky with an afternoon trip down to Wonder Lake...the entire range came out so we got the official Denali/Wonder Lake photo's.

 the next morning after a good sleep we packed up the camp and headed out for a walk at Horseshoe Lake.  figured it was a good idea to get some walking in before we sat on a bus for hours getting back to the Kantishna Roadhouse Lodge.

 this is our adorable bar keep at the lodge, he's been there for over 20 years.  totally remembered our drink order preferences. 

 the weather improved a bit through the day.  we had breaks in the rainy weather.  eventually Denali graced us with just the top of the mountain. 

 along the way we saw caribou, a moose and even a pack of wolves.  they were pretty far off but still cool to watch them on the move below the road.

 we saw lots of bear activity.  much of it fairly far off.  we did have a rather exciting bear encounter.  i was just looking at some of those pictures.  hoping to get through this round of photo's before i head back out tomorrow.

 we watched a sow with cubs grazing on blueberries no doubt.  we were about to roll on when i spotted a second large bear in the distance headed towards the area the sow and cubs were in.  so we opted to stay and see what happened.  that big bear was sneaking up to the sow and cubs.  eventually he did surprise her.  we all wanted to warn her as she didn't seem to notice for a long time...not possible though. 

 she charged the big boar and he ran, but pretty quickly he stopped and spun around and chased her.  he chased her for over a mile we figured down the hill. the cubs high tailed in up the hill. they crossed right in front of the buses and then just kept running. 

 eventually the boar stopped chasing the sow, but she kept running for a bit before turning in a big loop back in the directions of her cubs. 

 this is my new tent at Riley Campground

 we never got to see if the mama reunited with the cubs.  we will just have to tell ourselves that they did and that the big boar was not able to do any harm to the cubs. 

 we were getting pretty hungry by the time we arrived.  i was trying to sort out the details as our reservations had been all screwed up.  I'd originally wanted one room for us all, when i booked it wouldn't let me put the names all in one room. when i tried to call the number was not really active as it was non season so then i forgot about the screw up.  it got more messed up with our switching of MW to TO...not sure why this got all messed up but it did.  so i got into a bit of a scuffle right off with the manager guy who was pretty rude and condescending. 

 went back and forth through our meal with him, eventually he did take the time to sit at the computer and see how screwed up it actually was and that i was not a nut case.  so we all ended up in one room....though i still think we need to all look at our charges closely and i still wonder if we were charged too much. 

 aside from that glitch all went smoothly and i think we all had a great time.  the next morning the weather, which had been rainy off and on that night, improved until we ended up with the full range views and Denali view in the afternoon.

 the rest of these pictures are on the way to chicken.  these are the sunrise at the campground.

 we signed up for the moderate hike, it was a lot of up hill  but only 4 miles.  great views from the top and again the mountain graced us with the top view.

 after we got back from the hike we caught the bus to Wonder Lake...that was when the skies really cleared up. we chilled there and then planned our walk back to the lodge so we would be back in time for dinner.  it was a 3.5 mile walk...though i think we all think it was a bit more.

 also, even though we'd been told there would be no shuttle back to the lodge for us and we'd have to walk, the others that took the bus out apparently were told a shuttle was coming to get them.  we were later asked why we never showed up for the bus and  also told they had looked for us.   thankfully, it was a beautiful afternoon...so we got a lot of walking miles in that day and we were totally ready for dinner when the time arrived.

 after dinner we went to a lecture they were having about adaptations in animals in the area.  the girl did a really great job on her lecture i must say.  the lodge then offered a shuttle back to the lake for the evening.  not much of a sunset and the mountain was clouding back in when we arrived.

 it rained pretty solid all night and all the next day....and all the next night too.  happy we got that one beautiful day out there.

 we were going to do a chill tundra walk but we bagged on that and instead took the shuttle once again to wander around Wonder Lake.  not much of a view but still pretty. 

 the other two had arranged massages for the afternoon.  i hadn't really wanted to commit myself to a massage in case the weather turned nice. it didn't.  i took a little stroll with TO around the lodge before she headed off then i took another stroll while they were gone.  that stroll was all uphill so i came back and jumped onto a little tour they offered.  it got me to the end of the road there for a photo op. 

 we met loads of nice folks on the bus who made our stay even more enjoyable.  everyone at the lodge was super nice...other than that first nights issues.  i think the desk clerk went out of her way, after witnessing her managers behavior, to be super nice to us. 

 we skipped the lecture the second night and just chatted and laughed with the many new friends we had met in our time out there. 

 our wake up call would be super early the next morning.  we had to have our gear outside our doors for pick up by 0520...that is am!! some body's alarm went off at 4:30 though.  i had no idea it was that early so i just got up and started brushing my teeth and getting ready...then i was informed it wasn't 5 am but 4:30.  don't think i really got back to sleep.

 our drive out was rainy and foggy for the first bit.  we did see some caribou and a bear but nothing as dramatic as on the drive in.  the termination dust had settled pretty far down the mountains but not far enough to bother the buses.

 thankfully, the drivers of those buses have a lot of experience and the park must pride itself on this. our driver wasn't the most exciting but i was very happy to see her caution in the wet conditions we found ourselves in.  i was never concerned.

 one of our new friends was very anxious about the steep bits of Polychrome Pass.  this helped me to forget my concern over the heights...she had said the night before she was counting on our antics keeping her calm and getting her over the scary bits.

 that road is not really wide...just a few feet wider than the width of two buses.  the bus drivers have signals and chat as they pass often.  there are rules for who stops their bus and allows the other bus to pass.  there are signs to let each other know there are animals for sighting.

 my one friend loves her Denali bus drives.  I've never been on the official bus, but we were on lodge bus all the same.

 these are at the campground in the morning before we headed out.  figured I'd let them swim and get some of their excitement out.

 don't believe anyone is joining me for tomorrow night at the cabin...maybe not either night really...so i figure i can take my time getting there and crash when i want.  no hurry really.  perhaps I'll stop a lot along the way.  maybe hit Talkeetna finally.  haven't been there all summer.

 the fall colors will just be getting better and better.

 this was a lake along the way towards Tok. the reflections were just beautiful that morning.

 i better crash so i can get myself moving again for tomorrow. 

 still a lot of  photo's to look through. hopefully i can get those knocked out before i crash.  still some laundry to fold as well. 

 i love a good reflection.

 caught up on the news...mostly just saw a few of the eulogies for Senator McCain.  he planned his funeral back in the spring it seems.  he had called Obama and Bush to request they each speak.  interesting i thought.  figured he'd ask his buddy Graham.  i do hope he gave him instructions to not be such a follower. 

 the iitoo was requested to not attend.  he was so disrespectful to McCain.  guess he pulled the White House flag up way too early...so petty and small minded.  only cares about himself.  so jealous really.  pathetic.  i guess he was spotted out golfing while the service was going on.  also told not to attend was Sarah Palin...found that interesting.  bill and hill were there so that says something as well. 

thankful for:  A.  fun trek to Denali with friends.  always so great to get out in nature and enjoy all that was created.  B.  safe travels C.  that he pups and cat were okay when i got home.  the pups were pretty excited to see me.  good to be loved by pups...