A Long Short Week

It's been a crazy week.

After walking in the snow with LC at the beach on Sunday we went home and hunkered down on the couch to watch a WW2 movie.

By half way through the movie I had a head cold, and by Monday morning I had the flu.

I spent all day Monday laying on the couch feeling awful and went back to work on Tuesday light headed and stuffed up but no longer with flu symptoms. 

It was going to be a long week, that should have been a short week since Monday was a holiday but turned into a long week anyway.

A week of chasing my tail and dealing with confrontational and rude people who have no sense of common decency let alone professional integrity.

I spent the entire week feeling sick and feeling tired.  And feeling sick and tired.

Of people with no sense of common decency.

These are all random pictures of random events taken throughout my travels this week.............

My computer crashed when my young replacement down in Tennessee inadvertently sent me a computer virus.  I learned a lot about this young man that I did not want to know when I contacted him, and it ended up costing me $157 to get my computer fixed...........

My Mountain Boy met me on Wednesday evening at Centennial Hall in downtown Juneau and we attended the Legislative Reception.

The event is meant as an opportunity for new legislators and city residents to freely mix and mingle.

LC and I mixed and mingled only a little, but did have an opportunity to eat a lot of free and fancy food on sticks.

And then we stuffed our leftovers into napkins and took them out to the truck so Jamie could have the opportunity to eat fancy dog treats on sticks.........

Wednesday was a day filled with snow.

I made my way on foot throughout the day from one meeting to another downtown while the snow continually fell, and by the end of the day (as LC and I were making our way in both trucks from Centennial Hall to the Unabomber Cabin Out the Road) it was obvious that we had had a LOT of snow on that day.

Even though snow had been falling all day long none of the roads had yet been ploughed, and even Egan Drive downtown was a deep snow and ice filled mess.

By the time we arrived in Auke Bay it felt like we were truly a long way from civilization.

I was surprised at the huge amount of snow that had fallen in just one work day, and also dismayed to see what the highway looked like as we drove further into the country.

I lived in Canada for many years (including northern Ontario and New Brunswick - both of which see a lot of snow each winter) but cannot remember roads ever looking as they did on Wednesday night.

Regardless, we made our way home in one piece and by the time I walked up the steps to the house and stopped for a moment to look around me, I could finally appreciate just how beautiful it all was............

By the next day it was 38 degrees and raining and it has been raining ever since.

The huge amount of snow that fell is only about 10 hours turned into a slushy mess and is now almost completely gone again.

The roads are mostly clear, but our side road has large places that are now nothing more than skating rinks.

LC drove down to a turnaround this morning near the house to turn his truck around, and what happened is what I have been afraid would eventually happen to one of us at some point this winter.

He pulled into a driveway, backed out and continued to slide backwards uncontrollably in the skating rink that is now where a dirt turnaround used to be.

Thankfully he ended up getting control of the truck before sliding off the road and down the embankment, but I will be very glad when the ice is a done deal..............

I look back over the crazy work week that I have had this week and realize that I have not been given the opportunity since the day I arrived here in Juneau to just "settle into my job"...........

A few pictures taken while traveling on foot in downtown Juneau...........

It has been a grey and damp "short week" filled with frustration and fighting illness.

But there have been brief moments that have lightened my heart.

Looking at the snow on the mountains around Juneau and across on Douglas were some of those brief moments.

I love them.  I still love them. 

They still have the capacity to pull me (even for a few moments) out of whatever frustration or anger induced funk I happen to be wallowing in.................

One of my meetings this week was held at this coffee shop.

It is a nice enough place with decent and strong coffee and overpriced food and people who wear their scarves in creative ways around their necks.

We met for much longer than I expected and as I stepped out the front door alone into a mild day with light snow, I looked down and saw this beautiful, friendly and large black dog waiting patiently in the snow for his coffee drinking owner.

I looked at this over sized pup for a moment, smilingly walked over to him, crouched down and talked to him and loved on him for a few minutes, as white snow continued to pile onto his jet black fur.

Another brief moment..........

Pictures of the lovely narrow streets in back of Juneau...........

The front of The Wharf - a very lovely commercial building right next to Marine Park downtown.

The Wharf backs directly onto Gastineau Channel.

Visitors during the summer can watch the floats planes take off and land. 

Sometimes from the large windows inside a restaurant at the Wharf.  And when the weather is dry and sunny and warm sometimes from the outdoor restaurant in back of the building. 

The Wharf also contains many crafty and artsy stores that downtown Juneauites and cruise ship visitors love.........

I have seen a few of these cars around the city recently, and the other day I stopped to take a picture of this one in the snow.

It could fit into the bed of my truck...........

Fancy people talking fancy talk while eating fancy food.

And I sat in the back corner with my Mountain Boy smiling at him and laughing with him and eating food far richer than what I am used to.

And the ridiculousness of it all was not really a bad ridiculous. 

Another one of those brief moments...........

Huge amounts of snow fell in only a few hours.

Pictures taken late into the night from our front porch.

The snow is almost completely gone already because of rain and mild temperatures.

But for one night (once I was done driving in it) it was very very beautiful..........

Snow up to her shoulders.

James really has become my "mush doggie" instead of my "redneck doggie"

Watching my dog play in the snow is funny and sweet.........

LC's camera takes better pictures in the snow and the dark than my camera does.

So very beautiful...........

Illness, computer crashes, snow storms, tail chasing, confrontational and angry when there is no need for confrontational and angry, sliding downhill on a skating rink driveway, snow storms, unploughed highways, fancy food on sticks, brief moments of gentle reprieve.

It was a long short week.........

My sweet coffee shop pup............