And Now the Dark Time...

What happened?  When I left town it was in the mid-50's and the foliage was still more-or-less green.  It was fall or at least what passes as fall in these parts.  There was barely a hint of termination dust behind the Mendenall Glacier.

Upon boarding Alaska Flight 61 in Sea-Tac the pilot cheerfully announced that the weather in Juneau was clear and eighteen degrees.  Previous communications with mom had indicated that Juneau had already experienced its first Taku winds of the season - gusts downtown and in Douglas over sixty mph. 

Uh-oh...

Sure enough, final approach into Juneau included a bump or two and the wind was blowing pretty good down Lynn Canal.  And disembarking from the plane into the great outdoors confirmed the temperature.  It is winter. 

The point was driven home yesterday when we got a couple of inches of snow.  I was serenaded all morning by the sounds of sirens as Juneauites re-learned how to drive in the snow.  A couple of cars were in the ditch when I went downtown for a workout.

It's now 8 AM and barely twilight.  And it was getting pretty dim by 5 PM.  We are now entering The Dark Time.  Oh well...

My trip was fun but certainly not a typical vacation.  I spent the first week in Hillsboro at my friend Adam's mom's home.  Read all of Adam's medical and social records and made sure that his disability attorney had received all important documents.  We had a very good meeting with the vocational rehabilitation folks who have been working with Adam and procured a document that I expect may well be critical to the judge's decision.  The hearing itself occurred on October 17th.  After the hearing the attorney was coy as to the prognosis; but I interpreted his mumbling to indicate that approval is a 50/50 proposition.

After the hearing Adam and I took a road trip down the coast to Northern California. 

We stopped in Newport to visit his grandma who was in the hospital - she passed-away peacefully just a couple of days after we saw her.  She was very elderly and frail and I think the family recognized it was time...

The weather in southern Oregon and Cali was quite sunny.  We did the Redwoods tour including the Avenue of the Giants.

The Avenue of the Giants - these trees are big!

The southern Oregon coast just south of Coos Bay

From Arcata, California we motored up to Ashland, Oregon.  A night of theater.  None of that low-brow Shakespeare stuff for us.  No sirree.  We saw "Animal Crackers" the theatrical production that most folks would recognize from the Marx Brothers film of 1930.  It was great!  Hooray for Captain Spaulding, the African explorer...

Then back to Portland/Hillsboro for the weekend.  We went to a techno music show at the Memorial Colliseum - featuring one of Adam's favorite DJ's "Bassnectar".  I am now offically a Basshead.  The show was quite amazing.

Unfortunately, I did not get to visit any of my ol' Juneau pals living in the Great Northwest.  Next time, buddies!  I did get to spend some quality time at a great supper with Amanda and Leah in Portland.  Amanda hopes to be back to Juneau in a week or so and Leah is still beavering-away at the Sokol-Blosser winery.  They both looked fantastic!  I'm mighty fond of those gals.

So...time to settle in for the winter.  Mom is doing OK and I will ascertain auntie's status when I motor up to see her today.  Baked a couple of loaves of zucchini bread yesterday and will make deliveries here shortly.  I expect that auntie's house will need some serious work...

Later gang!

On Holiday

Wheels up this afternoon for Seattle.  And tomorrow morning I will motor down I-5 to Portland for a spell.

Sunday I will be enjoying fine dining with Amanda and Leah in the Pearl.  I do like Portland! 

I'll be staying at my pal Adam's home in Hillsboro.  Adam has his SSI eligibility hearing next week and I will be offering moral support and meeting with his attorneys.  Adam's mom has been doing a lot of the leg work getting prepared for the hearing and I will be more than happy to assist in any way I can...

After the hearing I hope I can manage some sort of road trip for a few days.  We'll see.  I will be back to Juneau no later than the end of the month.

Bottom line...no blogging for a bit.

In other news I have now put all the yards to bed...finished cutting-back perennials at mom's on Monday.  For the first time ever, I actually did all the fall chores in decent weather.  The chore is almost enjoyable when done under the sun.  I still have bulbs to plant but it's still been in the 50's during the day and I was afraid to stick 'em in the ground.  I should be able to manage the bulb planting when I return...

Well, gotta finish packing and think I'll head to town for a quick workout. 

I leave you with another gem from the Alaska Coastal series...

The ramp crew are dressed like caddies from the Masters.  

Hasta luego gang!

The Ryder Cup

I am a terrible golfer.  I enjoy it immensely.  I am just not very good at it.  Thus, it is hardly surprising that I watch a lot of professional golf on television.  If I can't do it...I can at least watch those who can...

This weekend the biennial Ryder Cup event was held near Chicago.  The best golfers of these United States take on the best the Europeans can  muster.  The tournament is held over three days with team events, e.g., four-ball, the first two days and then twelve mano y mano matches on Sunday.

The U.S. has not done particularly well in the Ryder Cup the past couple of decades.  But on Sunday morning the red-white-and blue crew were poised to pry the Cup out of the hands of the Europeans leading ten to six after two days of play.  The U.S. needed only to win five matches of twelve to clinch; and historically the Sunday matches have been the Americans' best event.  It looked mighty grim for the Old World.

Then the wheels came off the bus.  The Americans not only didn't play as well as they did the first two days - they didn't even look like the same players.  One of the biggest upsets in golf history ensued.  I was shocked, dismayed and appalled.  What happened?

Four American players prepare to tee-off on Sunday at the Ryder Cup.  Tragic.

  Four of America's best prepare to tee-off at the Ryder Cup on Sunday.

From left to right:  Phil Mickelson, Brandt Snedeker, Tiger Woods and Bubba Watson

These guys didn't even look like the same players from the earlier rounds...

The regular PGA season takes a break until January.  Time to focus on the baseball playoffs...

In other news, my pal Enrique arrived yesterday and will be staying with me through mid-December.  He is starring in Perseverance Theater's production of "Oklahoma!".  It's great to have a roomie again.  Unfortunately he arrived without his faithful four-legged companion, Nikki, who is being boarded with his mom in Texas.  The theater booked Enrique on a circuitous series of multi-airline flights from Austin to Juneau and the airlines refused to allow him to book a doggie on the flights.  Damn!  Nikki is my pooch pal.

The weather the past couple of days has been and is predicted to continue to be half-way decent.  On Sunday I cut back all the flowers in the yard, mowed for the last time, and spread fall fertilizer.  Yesterday I mowed mom's yard and fertilized there as well.  And today it's up to auntie's for the same treatment.

I have been spending a lot of time at auntie's helping out with chores and generally functioning as morale officer.  She has been pretty chipper.  She has decided to get a new TV and computer.  She is upgrading her TV offerings and finally getting a cable connection for the computer.  She has been operating with a dial-up modem (yes, they do still exist) and the slow connection does not work well for her.  For example, it takes about a half-hour to load my blog.  She gets impatient and tends to start pounding the keyboard with predictable and unfortunate results...

Last week I called our local telecommunications provider from auntie's phone to make the necessary arrangements.  The provider guy had to speak to auntie to verify that I had her permission to order the changes.  This took a mite longer than one might expect insofar as she felt compelled to reminisce about the history of television in Juneau.  

This trip down memory lane invariably begins (but does not end) with the story of how my arrival in this world coincided with the arrival of television in Juneau town.  I spent the first weeks of my life at auntie's home as mom recovered from some medical complications.  It seems that auntie and her daughter, Jan, found me quite charming and doted on me morning, noon, and night.  My uncle and cousin Sandy, - not so much.  They preferred to watch the test pattern on the new TV.  Although I have no recollection of these events, I find the story entirely credible - if for no other reason than I have heard the story a thousand times.

Finally, I was permitted to conclude the business at hand and at the end of conversation the call was transferred to a third-party to verify that auntie did, in fact, desire to change telephone providers.  As he prepared to transfer the call, the provider guy gently suggested that auntie might want to confine her answers to "yes" or "no" with the person at the verification service.  Auntie laughed - but also complied.  I was proud of the ol' gal.

Later gang!