Meanwhile, Up at the Library...




Whooee! It's raining buckets outside tonight; blowing sideways, cold, black as pitch. Just a typical late November night in Southeast Alaska. As one gal from the farm used to say, " It's raining like pouring pee out of a boot." Well, I've never poured pee out of a boot before- but if I had to,I can imagine that it would be quite a downpour. Obviously this isn't a picture of anyone pouring anything out of anything else. Because I'm using the library computer and I'm not overly comfortable with it, I'm digging into the archives of my picture file for something to write about. I don't want too much time to elapse without posting something to the blog. I decided to post these pictues of Brian Bitz. He was diving off the airplane float last year when I took these. I think he was looking for some crabs- the yellow bag is to hold his catch. He didn't get anything on this particular day, but he mentioned that he's picked up King Crabs on occasion and of course Dungeness. When they first started building the breakwater I remember coming out of the harbor in my Highlaker and looking down and seeing Dungeness crabs walking along the bottom. At low tide you could scoop them up with a long handled net.
I think it was January or February when I took these pictures. One of the really cold months. I don't even like to be on land when it's that cold, much less the water. You can't really tell from the pictures, but he was pretty chilly when he got out. He mentioned that there were about 100 bicycles laying around down in the harbor area. For some unknown reason there is a certain segment of society here that seem to derive some pleasure from stealing bikes and then riding them off the end of the dock. I don't know what fun that would be, but I've never tried it. I've heard from other divers who have said that it can be dangerous diving around the area. Over the years people have tossed all manner of things off the docks- engine parts, trolling wire, crab pots, cable, just about anything that could sink. Out of sight, out of mind I guess,unless of course you're diving, in which case all the junk can be a dangerous obstacle, capable of snagging your suit and possibly drowning you. All the more reason for me not to take up diving. I wouldn't mind going swimming though. I haven't done it for years. It looks like the pool may be up and running soon so I may have to give it a try again. I'm not a very good swimmer, but if I put on a pair of fins I can lay on my back and paddle around like an otter... a lumpy white otter with a big gut sticking out of the water. The very image is enough to scare anyone. Oh well. Maybe I can talk Brian into lending me his wet suit, it might prevent a panic at the pool.

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