Follow the concrete sidewalk

Every year when I was growing up, usually in the spring as I recall, one of the  TV stations would run the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz. If you recall there was a part when Dorothy lands in Munchkin land and all the little munchkins start singing about following the yellow brick road. It would lead to Emerald City in the land of Oz. Well, we don't have a yellow brick road, but we do have a  greyish-white concrete sidewalk, and while it doesn't lead to Emerald City, the area surrounding Hoonah is pretty green right now so maybe that counts for something. I really like this sidewalk. It gives a little bit of a finished look to the area. I'm hoping that the tourists will utilize it now that it's here. One of my biggest complaints with the tourists is that they walk in the road, seemingly oblivious to the fact that people are using the roads to DRIVE on. What a strange concept that must be to some- or so it would seem. The state even erected signs alongiside the road way warning people not to block traffic. With such a diverse group coming off the ships, I wonder if they shouldn't put the warning in like twelve different languages like at the airport. Or, they could just put a picture of a person walking in the road with a circle and an X through it-an internationally recognized symbol that you can't do something;  or perhaps a drawing of someone being thrown through the air with two x's for eyes and a madman like driver hunched over the steering wheel, looking strangely like me, speeding off down the road. Anyway, at least for the stretch of road from the cannery to the ferry terminal there is a delightful new sidewalk for everyone's pleasure. Jan and I decided to take the dog for a walk several nights ago and enjoy the new, smooth, delightful concrete path. Rigby took about thirty steps, stopped ,squatted and took a dump right there, on our brand new sidewalk. That's not even natural. He didn't even bother looking for a patch of grass or a bush close by. How rude! Fortunately Jan had enough forsight to bring a few plastic bags with her. He wasn't the first four legged creature to christen the walk though. When it was still under construction a bear decided to leave his mark too. I heard that one walked on the wet concrete as well. I guess they smoothed it out. Too bad. I would have left it- it would have made a great conversation piece.

Comments

  1. CamilleJuly 6, 2012 at 10:53 AM

    good blog dad, so glad they deceided to put in the sidewalk makes for a much more enjoyable walk. can't wait till I can walk on it. hahahah to funny that Rigby did that, go figure

    ReplyDelete
  2. AutumnJuly 6, 2012 at 11:19 AM

    That was funny, way to go Rigby! Now, they should have had that sidewalk up when we were growing up here, would have been great to rollerblade all the way to the cannery. However, knowing my luck I would have struck the only rock embedded in the cement and would have gone flying...great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. TB BottsJuly 8, 2012 at 12:41 PM

    You're just a chip off the old block Autumn. It would have been nice to have had it then, but we have it now, so we'll enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ajSeptember 21, 2012 at 10:18 PM

    oh wow..that's really nice! so much has changed since I've been home..is most def time to make a trip back to where my roots are! love and miss ya'll.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Sick Pack

Image
      Jen came for a visit the other night. Apparently she had picked up a cold when she went to Juneau last week. Nothing like being crammed into a confined space with hundreds of other folks to test the old immune system. I hadn't seen much of her recently so I kind of wanted to talk to her and show her what I was doing with the new book and get some input. I knew that she was sick, so before she arrived I grabbed out a large bottle of Cran-raspberry juice for her to take home. I guess it's full of vitamin C or some such thing. Then I got to thinking, maybe I should get a mask for her to wear so I  don't catch her cold. She thought that was funny, but she didn't wear it, maybe because it was a dust mask like you'd use when sanding sheet rock and not one like doctors and nurses wear. I guess if a doctor wanted to do a little construction around his house he'd have a ready store of surgical supplies on hand and wouldn't have to worry
Read more

The End of an Era

Image
  I was going to do a blog post about my last days of fishing on the Bonnie J. I've given the boat to a worthy person I believe and I wanted to reflect a little bit on my time with her, but yesterday my son Brian called with the news that my friend and long time Hoonah resident Fagan Skaflestad had passed away. It came as quite  a shock to me for some reason. I don't know why. He was in his early eighties I believe, but he always seemed so robust, so full of life. He was one of those guys that just seemed like would live forever. I can't even recall when we first met, I feel like I've known him most of my life. His family has been around Hoonah for decades. His dad, Alf, had a logging business and he and the boys logged up and down Port Frederick for years. They had a camp up in Salt Lake Bay if I recall correctly, and Fagan used to tell me about running around in a skiff up in the Narrows, fishing for King Salmon. He had the uncanny ability of finding fish when few oth
Read more

Clear but Cold

Image
Behind Lumbago Way Frozen mud flats Spud Creek's frozen     For most of the three weeks that I was in Juneau for jury duty, the weather was clear and very cold. For the better part of the first week I knew it was clear, but we couldn't see the blue sky above because of fog. It was so severe that the commercial jets were forced to fly over Juneau and of course there were no small commuter flights between Juneau and the outlying areas, which meant no mail or freight that would normally be sent via airplanes. Jan always gets a little claustrophobic when it gets like that. It's a terrible feeling to think that you can't get out of here if you need to. When I finally got back home, I decided to go out and get a few pictures of the mud flats that surround Garteeni Creek. The creek itself was still flowing somewhat and the Mallards and Canadian Honkers were availing themselves of whatever there was to eat in the stream. I've heard stories of ducks being froz
Read more