Scribblings

How you know it’s time to take a break

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They say people and their pets eventually start to look alike. Well, this isn’t exactly a pet but it seems to me that perhaps Katie needs to take a short break as she is having a sympathetic tongue reaction to the eagle’s tongue. And that says “Take a break” to me.

The eagle is one of the many we are caring for at Bird TLC here in Anchorage. The bird is getting ready to be placed in an education program. And no, the eagle’s tongue doesn’t usually stick out like that. Katie’s maybe, but not the eagle.

Thanks to Phil

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Columns 2015

There is no bar so low our Republican legislators can’t find a way to get beneath it

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It must have been the dental surgery I had last week. That can be the only reason I missed my legislators coming to my door to find out what I really think about the work they did this session. They did come around, didn’t they? Isn’t that the reason they gave for their little two-week working vacation? So did anyone have a Republican legislator come knocking on their door to see how they felt about budget cuts? And remember, if you were one of those foolish people who thought the legislature existed in the 21st Century and so used e-mail,

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Scribblings

Once in a while, a nice surprise

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Got the bill from my dental surgeon for implant surgery I had. Found a $450 senior discount on the bill. I guess growing old does bring some perks. If you live in Alaska, his name is Eric Nordstrom and he’s actually a pretty amazing dental surgeon on top of being nice to the elderly. What more could you want?

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Scribblings

If you haven’t heard

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Leonard Pitt’s column about the guy trying to crowd source $30,000 for his health care is a must read. The guy is a Republican who refused to get Obamacare because he could pay for himself and didn’t need no stinking government welfare. Well, he got sick. Used up all his savings. Couldn’t work. And apparently health care providers don’t take bootstraps as pay. He then tried to get Obamacare but enrollment was closed. He wasn’t eligible for Medicaid because he lives in one of those states where a Republican governor refused Medicaid expansion money. So, as Leonard Pitts so wisely

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Columns 2015

Dental surgery aftermath

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I awoke today to no pain in the surgical site and no need to take pain meds so I am back to being functional… ok, maybe functional is too high to grasp but at least I’m not sitting in a chair drooling while watching BB reruns. That has to count for something.

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pictures, Scribblings

My sister… she doesn’t always get it right but you gotta love her for trying

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So I get an e-mail from Judy that Ed Norton from the old Honeymooners Show (think early 1950s Jackie Gleason) will be at her casino/hotel in Atlantic City to sign autographs. I respond with a shocked expression of surprise. I thought for sure the guy was dead by now. And if he wasn’t, he had to be almost 100. She happily replied that yes, he was probably about 97. Then I thought about it a little more. But before I could e-mail her back that Ed Norton was the name of Art Carney’s character on the show and not an

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Columns 2015

Etok – the Inupiat rebel

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Etok, Charlie Edwardsen, Jr., was definitely one of the most colorful people it has been my privilege to know. He was amazing in many ways, and in just as many ways could make friendship a challenge. He was who he was and made no apologies for that.

Etok managed to keep his passion for his people alive through more decades than any of us thought we’d survive. When I first met him in Barrow in the early seventies, I knew nothing really about the struggle for land claims or the indigenous rights of Alaska Natives. I had been seduced there

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Scribblings

Has anyone seen the legislature?

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They’re supposed to be in special session yet nothing but silence emanates from their offices. I guess I shouldn’t expect much more than silence given that their collective IQ doesn’t come up as far as Forrest Gump’s. And if you delete the Democrats and only total the IQ of the Republicans, it’s downright scary how low the number is. Maybe the need a guardian appointed to help them the way we do for people with special needs. Or is that just insulting to people with special needs?

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