;)
As regular readers know, when I am home I try to take a good walk, bike ride or both everyday, but I hadn't in probably a week or so. So I finally did. The warm weather that had brought rain and melting over the weekend had been driven out and the air was cool - not cold, but cool. About 22 degrees F (-6 C). Sarah's Way was covered with ice of the slickest kind.
When I first stepped out, I tried to walk across the street so that I stay on the left-hand side of the road, but each time I took a step forward, I would just slide right back.
So I stayed on the right until I reached the corner where a certain kind of dreadful insanity rules, then carefully picked my way across to the left side and almost instantly came upon these three, well camouflaged moose. It kind of made me sad to see them, because they were just outside the home of the late Patty Stoll, who died of cancer in September of last year.
She was like me in that she loved to get out and walk, bike, or ski and it was always a joy to come across her on the trail. Unlike me, she took care of herself when it came to eating, sleeping and living habits, but the cancer got her anyway.
;)
I found some frozen footprints that had rotted a bit during the thaw and rain. I wondered... could they be mine? My heel leaves a mark kind of like that.
;)
I tested it out - too big. But then maybe it got bigger when it was melting. Truth is, I don't know.
;)
I walked along Seldon and finally reached the paved bike trail, which was completely bare. No ice on it at all. Relieved that I no longer had to worry about falling, I walked on. Soon, I heard the sound of dog paws and claws, clicking against pavement, coming from behind me.
I turned and saw this dog advancing quickly toward me. Suddenly, it turned and dashed out onto Seldon - right in the path of a car that was coming fast. "Doggie!" I shouted, hoping it come my way, but it didn't. The driver hit his breaks hard, veered to the left and shot by the dog - missing it by maybe two or three inches.
This is not that scene. It happened very fast. Not only did I not have time to raise my camera and shoot, I did not even think about it. All I thought about was trying to get that dog out of the way.
The dog then came back to the bike trail, trotted up aways ahead of me, then once again dashed out into Seldon, right in the path of another driver who also had to brake hard.
No. This picture is of the third car that the dog went in front of, causing the driver to brake. This driver was coming out of a turn and going relatively slow, so it was not so close a call as the previous two.
;)
A bit further ahead, as the dog moved along in front of me, I came to a house up the hill a bt, under construction, with carpenters working on the roof. One of them began to whistle and call out to the dog, as if the dog was his. From their vantage point, they would not have seen the worst of the near run-overs.
I figured if one of them was bringing the dog to work and then letting it run wild, he ought to know how close he had just come to losing his dog. So I turned onto that street and began to walk towards them.
;)
I had not gotten far when this car came driving slowly down Seldon. The driver was whistling and calling out for the dog. The dog headed toward him. It now appeared that this was the dog's owner, not one of the men on the roof.
;)
I was going to tell this man how close his dog came to getting killed, but before I could come within conversational range, he turned the car around, whistling and calling to the dog as he did so. I thought he would get out and let the dog into the car, but instead, he drove off with the dog chasing happily from behind.
His house must have been nearby. Unless he reads this blog, which doesn't seem likely, he will never know how close he came to losing his dog on this day.
I am not judging him. I think just about everyone, even the most responsible and loving, who has ever kept a dog has had that dog get away and go out wandering.
Obviously, when this realized his dog was gone, he came looking, found it, and returned home with it.
Having seen the dog dash obliviously into the paths of three different cars, I was not certain how wise it was to have that dog chase from behind on a busy road, in the lane of oncoming traffic, but I trust they made it home safely.
;)
A bit further along, someone tried to sell me a car. I didn't buy one.
;)
It was dusk, and the dusk was beautiful.
;)
A raven came by, headed to its home in the foothills to the Talkeetnas. It had put in a good day's work and deserved its rest.
;)
Next came a C-130 Herc.
;)
And then came Margie, driving in the car. She stopped to see if I wanted a ride home. Normally, I would have kept walking, but it was 4:00 o'clock - time for me to take my break and head for Metro Cafe. So she picked me up, got out of the car at the house and I continued on to Metro.
;)
When I reached Metro, I saw that there had been what appeared to be a minor traffic accident on the church grounds across the street. I shot this image as I began the turn into the drivethrough lane.
;)
Elizabeth had witnessed the accident. The investigating officer came in and, in a friendly and non-threatening tone of voice, asked her if she could tell him what she had seen. She agreed. She handed me my Americano. The officer began to ask his questions. I played the role of the lazy reporter and drove off, without hanging around to learn the details or take any further pictures.
All I try to do in these quick walk and drive by pictures is to create a bit of the flavor that is Wasilla. Even with just this much, I could taste that flavor. That was enough. I did not want my Americano to get cold. So I drove off, leaving the larger story untold.