Arenas, Boat Harbors and Bears

On Thursday night I went to bed early.  I woke up at 1:30am when I heard something hit the ground down in the kitchen and then heard the lever action on a rifle.

I walked downstairs to see LC wearing a headlamp and messing with a Marlin.  My sleep fogged brain wondered WTH was going on.

We have a heavy door on the outside of the porch that leads downstairs to our walkway.  The door has a bolt on it, and every night we bolt the door closed.

While my Mountain Boy was sitting in the living room he apparently heard something pushing on the porch door. 

He walked outside onto the porch and heard it again.

At first he thought there was a prowler wandering around our house or our neighborhood, so walked back into the kitchen to retrieve both a headlamp and his firearm.

While he was grabbing for his gear he looked outside the kitchen window and saw a bear at the top of the stairs pushing on the door.

When my Mountain Boy turned the headlamp on he scared the bear down the stairs. 

With rifle in hand he went out onto the porch, hit the bear with the headlamp again and it ran off into the woods behind the house.

Thankfully an easily spooked bear...............

I spent late Saturday afternoon and then into the evening, on Douglas Island over at Savikko Park.

The weather was the same last night that it had been on Friday - heavy pouring down rain, high winds, cold and socked in clouds and fog.

Thankfully the weather does not bother me, and I always remember that rain and cold is better than the hot and unbearably humid that I left back in Tennessee.

And regardless of the weather, I think that Juneau is always very beautiful.

I spent some time yesterday at Treadwell Arena in the park, before walking down to the boat harbor and then back to the Arena where I was slated to meet up with my Mountain Boy.

The picture above was taken in the drizzle and winds, at the protected boat harbor.

When I look back at the beautiful pictures that I took over the past almost 3 weeks when the weather was so warm and the sky was so blue - and then I look at the pictures I took on a typical nasty-ass day in this Alaskan capital city - I realize how much I like pictures that I take on nasty ass days.

Because the day is so grey the pictures are also so grey. 

With jolting shots of blue, red and yellow that truly stand out.

These pictures speak to me in a different and quiet way that warm and sunny do not.

A different kind of beautiful.

But still beautiful none-the-less.......

Pictures taken of hockey practice late in the afternoon..........

I started at the arena, and by the time I made my way outside the pouring rain had slowed to a constant cold drizzle.

It did not matter.

I took my time, walked and looked and photographed and enjoyed this very beautiful boat harbor.

And as always, the mountains that completely surround it.

Unlike the boat harbors downtown or in Auke Bay, I rarely see people walking or working around their boats at the harbor on Douglas Island..

I don't know why that is.

Today there was nobody walking anywhere in the area (aside from people rushing to and from the arena parking lot) except me.  And those are the times that I love to be outside more than any other.......

The Juneau-Douglas Bridge on a cold and grey day..........

Looking back at Douglas S from a rocky path that extends out into the channel for about 50 feet............

Some more rusty and unknown (to me) objects that are incredibly interesting and architectural.  I came across these beautiful things in the parking lot across from the boat harbor...........

Back at the arena I met my Mountain Boy for a quick Subway sandwich meal, and a walk to one of the pavillions where we warmed ourselves with a fire set in one of the bar-b-q pits.

It was very very good to see this good and decent man, after working a very long day. 

After eating and warming we went to ice skate.

I have not put on a pair of skates since I was living in Canada.  In fact I have not put on a pair of skates in probably 25 years or more.  So last night seemed like a good night to give it another shot.

I moved to Canada when I was 16, by way of Norway then England then Australia, and never did a whole lot of ice skating.

Thankfully what little I remember how to do came back fairly quickly, and I had an outstanding time.......

Me looking like a goober, thankfully with the lights turned down and the disco ball spinning..........

And two young women doing a much better job than I was..............