When we lived in Tennessee Jamie used to sleep overnight on the couch in the living room.
Unless it was storming outside, and then she'd join us in bed.
Not a big fan of big noises..........
Ever since she moved to Alaska she has slept at the end of the bed.
This morning I woke up to find her sleeping curled up in a ball right beside me.
I don't know how she knows when I am going to work, but she knows, and while I am getting ready in the mornings in preparation to head out the door, she just sits on the couch quietly and watches my every move.
But when I am home and getting ready to head outside to take her for a walk she somehow knows before I even say a word.
She eagerly follows me from room to room, getting more and more excited until finally I look at her and ask her if she wants to go for a walk. Or a ride.
And as soon as I say those magical words she gets hysterical with excitement - jumping and barking and eagerly looking towards the door as if to say "well come on then - let's GO!!"
I don't know how she knows, but she knows...........
I was off work today because it is Veterans Day, and when I woke up glanced out the window to see what the day looked like.
It looked cold and damp. A constant and drizzling rainy day.
By mid-morning I took my bored dog and my bored self and headed out the door for a short walk down to the end of the country road I live on.
The road ends at a cove, but there is a short and narrow gravel road on the right that leads to a number of homes hidden in the pine trees, and eventually a trail, the cove and the open channel.............
The picture above is of some of the pine trees that reach into the sky close to the channel.
A beautiful picture of part of a beautiful place on a damp and rainy day in Juneau............
Walking out of my driveway this is the road leading up and out of the "holler"...........
At the top of the hill we headed towards the water............
Over the summer I bought a pair of waterproof and lined winter boots for three bucks at the Salvation Army store downtown.
This is the first time I have worn them (prematurely as it turned out because my feet were too warm on this walk).
Not exactly sexy footwear but for a walk on country roads and rocky beaches in late fall in Alaska I think that I like these boots very much............
The cove at the end of my road.
There are a number of homes located right on the beach on the opposite side of the cove.
The people who live in those homes access them from Glacier Highway, parking in spots along the highway and then walking down hundreds of stairs to reach their houses.
The house with the green roof is a huge home, and looks to me more like a small office building - maybe a doctor's office - than a home.
But it is situated at the end of a quiet road and has a beautiful view of the entire cove, and consequently is in a wonderful and enviable location.
The cove must be very deep close to the entrance to the channel - deep enough at least to allow my whale from this past summer to partially explore it............
Continuing further, Jamie and I turned right and slowly wandered down a narrower gravel road that I found so unexpectedly a month after moving into the house.
The road is very closed in with tall pine trees on both sides.
There is still also a good deal of undergrowth, even though much of it has died back for the year.
With the exception of still-constant drizzle, the walk was absolutely quiet, and I really enjoyed watching my dog explore and sniff and mark and lead the way for me.
Tail was wagging the entire time, and I have often marvelled at the fact that you can tell what a dog is feeling by watching the back end.
She was out and exploring and walking point and having a very good time on this quiet Thursday.............
One of a few homes hidden in the pine trees close to the water........
At the end of the gravel road is a circular turn-around.
When you walk around it there is one final short, moss-covered and pine needle covered and soft-on-the-joints trail before finally reaching the water..........
There is a bench on the trail that looks out over a very very beautiful view of the water.
I have sat on that bench many times, having first discovered it in April on a cold early-spring day.
I was surprised to see this pine tree down close to the bench, and after looking at where it broke off realized that it had fallen only recently.
Jamie quickly crawled underneath the downed tree, and then crawled back. And then crawled underneath it one more time just for good measure, each time wrapping her leash around a small tree trunk.
It took me a few minutes to untangle her before we could continue down to the water..........
The view from the bench.
Beautiful although even more beautiful when the day is clear.
I have seen whales in the distance and whales up close at this place.
Also a very large but elusive sea lion that I was never able to capture in a picture...........
Lots of pictures of my dog's butt today.........
The very first time I made it to this place I bushwhacked from the turn-around, not having seen the trail at the time.
I did finally find a very short trail and while heading towards the water unexpectedly came across this recliner.
My first thought was that it was pretty redneck.
My second thought was that it was pretty redneck.
By the time I made it to the recliner I realized that I had wandered onto private property, and after looking at the view from the chair, which was lovely, continued onto the beach..........
Views of the coves and channel and hills..........
One last dog-butt picture..........
Today is Veterans Day, and all day I found myself thinking about the two veterans who are so close to my heart.
LC is probably about 12 hours from Bellingham right now.
He has called me a number of times wanting to talk, and I can't talk.
Nothing to say.
And no way to say it........
Chris is probably in New Brunswick right now although he still has not called me to confirm.
Knowing him he may or may not have remembered to pay his cell phone bill, and Sprint just keeps taking messages that get stored away in dead-message-land.
Regardless, I spent my day thinking about these men.
And thinking that I have said far too many goodbyes over the past year...........
One more picture of my dead-sexy boots...........
No comments:
Post a Comment