My Spring Saturday - Part 1

I set the alarm to get up early this mornng so I could stop at a couple of yard sales before going to the emergency preparedness training in downtown Juneau that I had signed up for weeks ago. 

The morning was beautiful, and I mentally decided, as I drove down Glacier Highway that I would at least stay with the training for the morning, and then make a decision as to whether or not I would stick it out through the afternoon sessions......

Happily, I saw two does running along the highway while driving towards Auke Bay this morning.  Deer sightings in Tennessee are very very common, but in all of my travels in Juneau over the past 3 1/2 months, I have only seen a total of three deer (one a couple of months ago who almost stepped right out in front of my car Out the Road, and these two this morning - seen very close to the same area as the first)..........

Every day on the way to work I drive past Auke Lake, and there are many many times where the lake is as smooth as glass, and the mountains and pine trees are reflected back in the calm water. 

I have never stopped to take a picture of the lake when it looks like that because the parking lot is on the opposite side of the highway from the direction I am travelling on my way into town, and during rush hour and during the week there is just too much traffic to be bothered with.  On the way home at the end of the day, the water is inevitably rougher. 

At 7:30 on a Saturday morning though, I discovered that the traffic is quiet.  And on this morning I was pleased to pull over and take this picture.  The picture looks like a postcard, and I wish I could say that it was because of my wonderful photographic skills. 

But in reality I just think that there is no way to mess up a photograph when you are lucky enough to have such a natural work of art presented before you.....and Auke Lake is a wonderful work of art.

  

I stopped at two yard sales on the way to town.  The first one was at a horse farm between Auke Bay and the Valley, and I was very excited to have an excuse to see horses up close again - something that I have not seen since Tennessee.  When I arrived I was sorry to see though, that these horses were eating hay from hay feeders while all standing in deep mud.  There was no grass growing in their field at all, and no place really for them to run.  I was not happy to see this......

At the two yard sales I bought a wooden filing cabinet, two throw cushions, a small area rug, soapstone eskimo carving, bear and pine tree candle holder, a fleece vest and two fleece sweaters all for $17.  I was very pleased with my finds.

The emergency preparedness training was designed for civilian locals, and provided information on community resources, identifying emergency situations ranging from natural disasters to terrorism, communication, evacuation, stay-in-place plans, emergency supply kits etc. It was interesting.  Some of it was very interesting.  And some of it was information that I was already familiar with.

We had a 10 minute break every 90 minutes or so, and I took these pictures during those times.  The event was located at the Juneau Yacht Club.  This facility is located adjacent to the Aurora Boat Harbor downtown, and on this beautiful and sunny day, with mountains and the channel all around me there was no shortage of picture taking opportunities.  A beautiful place on a beautiful day.

I stayed with the training until mid-afternoon and then left during one of the scheduled breaks.  At first I felt guilty about leaving early - until I drove across the Juneau Douglas bridge that is, and headed to Douglas beach on the south side of the island.  More on this in my next blog post.

One last picture from Auke Lake this morning