Awesome week in Juneau

I went on a work trip to Juneau to assist at the State Museum in their big SLAM move, aka tearing the old museum down and completely relocating to a new facility!

 Abby got to go! I scheduled it for spring break and took her with me. Our big trip. No Hawaii this year - Juneau work instead!

 Art smchmart. She likes ot play hide in seek in the "art gallery". It's also a popular spot to nap.

 At the state museum, part of the week was spent offsite working with arsenice laced birds. We took photos, completed condition reports, used XRF (http://www.bruker.com/products/x-ray-diffraction-and-elemental-analysis/handheld-xrf.html) to test for arsenic (they were pretty much all positive), vacuumed them (I opted to not vacuum), and bagged the birds! I am particularly proud of this bag.

Meet my friend chicken hawk. I like him becuase, well, his name is chicken hawk, and he was not treated with arsenic, so we could get to know each other more personally.

 I arranged for Abby to have daycare at the school. What, Juneau has daycare at the school?! Wow, what a concept.

 It was a nice school.  Everything was very close. Walkable.

I love the way the clouds hang in Juneau. 

 Since we had to walk everywhere, I was worried about the weather (afraid of a big snow dump or ice storm), but everything worked out great. We had days of snow and rain (totally pleasant) and a couple days of windy sun (also just fine).

 So we had fun in the evenings!!!

 Eating our way through town!

 

 Our funnest evening was walking ALLLLLL the way up the hill as FAAAR as we could go. The town grew straight up the mountain.  We went up one staircase, and another, and Abby still wanted to go up, and then we were almost to the top, so one more....

 

Found my favorite house! At the top of Starr Hill, right above the community garden and playground of sorts - a grey and pink quonset hut!  Had a yard AND a flat parking space!

 

The housing in Juneau, in comparison to Kodiak, is marvelous! Fabulous! Luxurious! So many cute houses!  This one had it all too.

Pasagshak

 

 I decided Abby and I needed a Pasagshak getaway.  I do not make it out there enough. A piece from my car fell off the last time I went, so I just can't take the risk. I borrowed a friend's truck, and off we went!

 

 We spent a lot of time at "work", making sand drawings and selling them to each other.

 We explored, finding "cool stuff" like this round rock imbedded in a round rock. Abby said she had the most fun she's ever had there, which is awesome!  We definitely had a great day together. Lots of hugs and snuggles, LOTS of talking (on her part), and overall good times.

I used to take her picture by this one rock every time we went, but after a major landslide, that rock and a huge section of beach we used to play in is buried.

 Marston matting used as fence (photo above).

 My dream house, again. Much bigger now with an addition of a second story bedroom and an arctic entry.

 

 Complete with a cat like Basil.

 Great view for doing dishes. 

 We caught the last bit of sun at the Olds River. One of my favorite spots on Earth.

 

 

 She played with ice. Her little fingers were so red and cold afterwards.

 

 

 No salmon yet.

Basil the cat

I was going to post how awesome my cat is, sorry, our cat.  She is fat, happy, and has no bad habits, which I didn't think existed in a cat. She is our constant companion. Unfortunately, she vanished on Friday. I thought I heard her in the house after I went to bed, but discovered she was gone the next day. She did not greet me, ready to be fed.

If she does sneak outside, she is such a puss she always comes right back. When she didn't come back, and didn't come back, I freaked out! I did not handle her missing well.  I had never thought about losing her, and I was a mess! I cried all day!  Basil has been the glue of my fabric these past few months. Sounds silly, but she sleeps with me, sits on or by me, doesn't talk back, is soft and fuzzy, and very mild mannered - a great companion! I just had not even considered her like "missing never to come back" kind of way, and I completely panicked.

I posted to FB, and hung some flyers, but no Basil. I was going to do a bigger search the next day, but Timmy's mom convinced me to go look one again that night. At first we drove around the block calling her, but as we were driving, I realized she had to be close to the house. It was quiet, so I got out and walked around the block calling her.  You could hear me for about a half mile!  The acoustics were good...but, I heard no quiet meow back (she's a quiet meower). Finally, there was one last house I was going to check, which I had walked by about ten times that day, but I was going to check again, one last time, and alas, I heard a faint meow. She was under a shed by some chickens in a fenced yard. She got it, and couldn't get out. Oy! 

Next puzzle

Creations

 Abby and I made a slide together, so I could teach her about slab building. She made a couch with a rug and pillow, an egg, a strawberry for grandmum and granddad, and a leaf. She underglazed them and they are waiting to be fired.

 I am getting pretty good a judging a kilnload. Three tries and it all fit in perfectly. Glazing is always were it goes awry...fingers crossed - there are a lot of exhibits coming up!

Dough remote controlled car and birthday cake.