Its been a while since I wrote. Getting in here to write made me realize why. Between Google forcing me to recall passwords, making be retrieve my phone to complete 2-factor authentication, and then needing to perform a privacy security checkup before continuing, I forgot what I was going to write about to begin with!
The whole process reminded me of the debacle I went through yesterday in my attempt to sign-up for Medicare. That is a very long story which I won't bore my readers with but suffice it to say I am still not signed up. If it is any indication of how the federal government runs things its military is no threat to anyone as they would be too busy shooting at itself to take aim at any external enemy threat.
Yesterday's frustration did motivate me to go take a walk around town with Cindy which was a good thing. It was a beautiful, sunny spring day with temperatures stretching into the 40s. Its been many months since we had a full 24 hours where the temp did not slide below freezing but I'm sure that day is coming soon despite the 3+ feet of snow still lying about over the landscape.
Partly into our walk we were hailed by a native lady riding her bike along the icy, waterlogged streets. She inquired if she could help us, assuming incorrectly that we were some "early-bird" tourists wandering around looking for some particular landmark. Her bike was equipped with a semi-clear plastic cargo box in which we could see she had various personal hygiene items such as her toothbrush and a water bottle. From its contents we assumed, possibly incorrectly, that she was one of the many homeless residents of this fine community, but unlike so many of the areas homeless, she showed no signs of intoxication. Indeed she seemed quite civic minded, stopping to pickup litter and put in trash cans and mumbling words of disgust at how people were such lazy pigs for throwing trash on the ground when the were proper recepticals within a few steps fo where they discarded their mess. Every several hundred feet when she pushed her bike to a particularly icy stretch of the path she would open up her cargo box an extract a small hammer. Then she would proceed to chip away at the ice to make the walkway less treacherous. We probably "tag-teamed" with her for a couple of miles, with her first riding ahead of us and us eventually passing her by as she stopped to chip more ice or pick up trash. We never did exchange names which I have some regrets over. She seemed a kind soul and I wish her well where ever she finds herself today.
Cindy and I eventually found ourselves downtown and decided to stop in a small shop called "The Fudge Pot" for an ice-cream cone. Unfortunately they informed us that they only serve ice-cream during the summer months. I do not understand why they don't as it is a well known fact that we Alaskans crave this sweet treat most during the cold, dark of winter! Alaskans eat more ice-cream per capita than any other state!
Further along our journey we paused at a cross-walk awaiting a break in the traffic to make it across. Watching the traffic light on the far side of the street I suddenly felt as if the earth was moving. The light pole seemed to slowly lean towards us, dance for a moment and then accelerate in a drunken arc like a crashing rocket. It crashed to the pavement directly in front of us trailing a tangled octopus of wires and cables. Cindy, ever the quick draw with her phone, immediately called the cops who then dispatched a fire truck to await the city's Public Works crew to remove the traffic hazard. If we had been 10 seconds further along our walk, if we hadn't spent several seconds chatting with that above mentioned homeless lady, the light pole would have crashed down upon our fragile heads. That homeless woman saved our lives!!
