I have had so many calls of support the past few days I do not have time to address them all individually. All I can say is thank you very much. Thank you for your friendship, prayers and thoughts.

It has been quite busy the past few days being unemployed. I was required to switch from my old septic system to the new North Douglas sewer system by December 6. I am glad I hired an expert. After seeing the magnitude of the job I realized it was foolish of me to think I could have done it myself. Project is done. I have a flush toilet in my house still. That I am told is a necessity for my abode to be considered a cool bachelor pad.

I had dinner with Jill at Kenny’s Wok Thursday night. After dinner we took a walk though the ghost town that is the downtown tourist corridor. After strolling past all the closed tourist traps we walked on the deserted cruise ship dock. I had the honor of introducing Jill to the Patsy Ann statute on the dock.

Friday morning I got a call from Kim inviting me for a walk on Sandy Beach with her dog. It was the first sunny day in a long time in Juneau. The walk was spectacular with fresh snow on all the mountains and blue sky.

Sandy beach was one of my favorite places to take photos during my career. I took photos of about 25 4^th of July s there for the newspaper. There were sunny days with perhaps a quarter of Juneau’s population there. Sometimes there was wind and rain and only a few dozen hardy Independence Day revelers. All dutifully photographed by yours truly. One of my favorite 4^th of July photos was of my friend Holly Gray proudly walking around with her US flag over her shoulder. She is so pretty I had to take several photos of her over the many celebrations there. I took photos of her from when she was a little girl to a women with children of her own as old as she was when I first photographed her.

During today’s walk on Sandy Beach with Kim we came upon the partial remains of on old skiff emerging from the sand. I like to wonder what experiences the skiff might have had. Did it ever save fishermen from a sinking boat in a long ago forgotten storm? Did the shipwright who built her giver her a name? Her lines are long and elegant. She must have been a beautiful boat. I think it was a dory design.

I took a photo of Kim in the boat. She used to be a river guide and demonstrated various rowing styles.