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Sunday, November 20, 2005

Powerline run

The snow returned today. Geoff and I headed behind the house to get a few runs on our snowboards. We found a powerline run that was short but sweet; however, that did not change the fact that beneath five inches of fresh power was a rain-drenched layer of glare ice. On the way home a couple of kids called out to us from the hill. When we looked up, we saw them beckoning us toward a jump they were building, with the crest approaching the tops of their heads and an instant drop-off into a steep gully. It looked like a blast and would have been tempting if not for the whole certain death aspect. And my family thinks I'm not going to live through the winter.

This evening I took a backstage tour of the tallest building in Homer ... the Mariner Theatre at the high school. The production manager of our hometown Nutcracker ballet led me up the twisting staircase to the "deck," a full seven stories above the stage. Already a bit dizzy and disoriented from climbing those stairs, I stepped onto the cross-linked metal platform and, of course, looked down. I'm one of those vertigo people that tends to see long drops rush up at me ala, well, Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo." So I just froze in place, absolutely exposed with no hand railing on a bottomless, dangling floor. I must have looked absolutely stricken because the production manager said "I like to bring the little kids up here. They think they'll turn to Jello and slip through," he said. "It gives 'em a good scare." As I struggled to find my center of balance, I felt exactly like Jello, but I didn't say anything. Although the rest of the tour was a bit hazy after that, walking around on those narrow catwalks with my heart in my head and vice versa. And my family thinks I'm not going to live through the winter.

3 comments:

  1. Just read thru this main page here and I must say, I'm homesick(sort of!) While I don't miss the months of darkness in the winter, and having 2 seasons, winter and August 15th, I still miss Deadhorse!

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  2. It's been a long time since I was up on that catwalk but it sure is neat up there. Although I don't worry about ghost stories, the mariner theater has one. The story goes that when it was being built (back in 84?) a construction worker fell from above and died. The stories we heard were from a few janitors several years ago who worked alone at night, some of the stories were first hand some second. Doors unlocking themselves several times in a night, seeing a figure of a construction worker, strange noises, all when no one else is around. We thought they were just joking around at first, but they never cracked a smile and assured us they were quite serious. Of course I've never seen an article about anyone dying in the theater but then I wasn't even 10 years old back then.

    Never seen a ghost myself, don't think I ever will, but I've always been interested in a good ghost story. Sorry to go on so long.

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  3. so.....
    some time has passed
    the snow has built up....
    have you taken the jump?

    I am a land dweller....
    unless the powder is deep

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