Home from town

Hi Everyone, As usual it took longer in town than we anticipated. We still have not adjusted to what it takes to get everything in an orderly fashion in a single pass thru town. While we are at home we make a list of everything we are going to town to get, then we add to the list on the way to town (it takes 4 hours total to get there so we might as well do something). Of course there is always that thing that you think of while in town, then when I buy something for the cabin it needs install parts or supplies that don't come with it and the place I bought it is out and then, and then, and then.
So this trip here is the short list of what we did: Laundry (we hauled it to town for the first time instead of doing it by hand) We sold the truck in Anchorage an additional hour away, We bought 4 ea 530 amp hour batteries for the cabin - they weigh 113 pounds a piece, we purchased a used On-Demand water heater from a very talkative lady (on craigslist), we bought a Toyo fuel oil furnace for back up heat for the cabin, we picked up a "fixed wireless" phone system from the phone company for the cabin, we got the ATV part, we bought groceries, a pressure tank for our new water system, propane parts for our new water heater, chimney parts for the new furnace, and on, and on, and on. Oh yea, we also had dropped off and picked up the boat from the repair shop and I added a 28 gallon auxiliary fuel tank to the boat myself, while in town.
All in all it was a very boring trip, can you tell?

Now I gotta tell you a true story. We went to look at a freight sled that attaches to the snow machines (cause we will need to go to town in the winter also) that was listed on craigslist. We followed the guys directions to his place down the end of a dirt road (not unusual around here). This was on the way to drop off the boat at the repair shop so we still have the boat. We get to the end of this dirt road and here is a "salvage yard" full of stuff. There is a $40,000 camper in the middle of all this stuff and that is the guys home. There are tires and trailers and snow machines and trucks and scrap steel and you name it, stacked everywhere. We are at the end of a road that stabs right into the middle of this stuff and there is nowhere to turn around a pickup truck and a 22' long boat. NO WHERE! We look at the sled and it is a good one but not the style I am looking for so we gotta get out of here. We start backing down the road, we go about 500 feet and there is a little turn off, it is tight but I think I can get turned around. I pull into this drive and dropped the boat in a small ditch. It is not a big deal, but it is too tight to back back out so I have to pull on through into the driveway. There are no trespassing signs posted every 10 feet and I am not kidding, but now we are into it. The driveway is so narrow that the weeds and tree branches are rubbing the truck, and it is curvy. The boat is rubbing on everything and I can't help it. We look up at this house once we go up this driveway and Charles Manson is standing on the top deck looking down at us. UH OH. Then pit bulls are running around all over, and then They show up, 2 people and one tooth. We are in the middle of the forest in a clearing near a house with pit bulls, Charles Manson and the zombies AND no where to turn around again. We just started laughing. Long story made shorter, We made the right impression in our old pickup and my long beard and hair and just coming in from the bush we fit in go figure, (see the picture of me fresh out of the shower). After talking to them for a minute the one with a tooth started to lead us on a path that circles the house and back to the driveway. After much jockeying around and tearing the front plastic valance off under the front bumper we got around their place and heading out the driveway the right direction. The one with no tooth lives in a truck camper that is setting on the ground with "sexy senior citizen" sticker on it, the one with a tooth lives in a broken motor home on the opposite corner of the clearing and Charles Manson apparently lives upstairs only, in the house, as the down stairs appeared to all open for the pit bulls including the ones still in cages and the fighting ring, from what we could tell. What a neat experience. Goes to show you that you can't judge people, they just want left alone to live their way and since we weren't hurting them, they chose not to hurt us. Whew!

We got back to the cabin about 8:00 last night (Friday Night) and hauled the stuff in that should not stay out in the wet. That means we hauled the new furnace, the water heater, the telephone system, the laundry, and the groceries. Two trips and another hour and a half later we started making popcorn for supper.

Another interesting side bar. On the way home I told Myra I had a very uneasy feeling that we had bears visit the cabin while we were gone. I was right but they did not do any real damage. The burning barrel is knocked over and has been worked over and dug thru and there are 8 piles of bear scat around it. From what I can tell it is a mother (very big) and at least one cub and probably two cubs. This is all judging from the size of the scat and the tracks. We are not in the habit of taking pictures of poop but this is by far the biggest pile I have seen out here. The good news is it is full of berries so it looks like they have plenty to eat.

Now there is a ton more work to do here. With all of the stuff we have purchased I will be working on plumbing, heating, electrical and telephone, besides, cutting wood, installing pilings (if it ever quits raining) digging the root cellar, building an Arctic porch, fixing an ATV, thinking about a real workshop and OH SCREW IT, I think I'll just go fishing.

See Ya, Thanks for reading!

Roger



Whew am I glad to be home! Those trips to town are exhausting and they seem to create an awful lot of work! LOL! Just have to keep reminding ourselves that some of this like putting in the fuel oil furnace and water heater are one time things (I hope!) and we won't have to do them all the time. Some things like cutting wood will be constant but hopefully we won't be playing "catch up" all the time.
The "turn around" experience was definitely a "trip" all of it's own. Glad I didn't have to get out of the truck while we were there! That toothless "sexy Senior citizen" was the scariest!
Oh one thing Roger forgot that we did in town was take Hans to the vet. He is good and healthy and already weighs 30# at 3 months old! The vet even said he is interested to see how big he gets. Hans does have HUGE paws and joints! We may have to add on to the cabin just for him. (Guess you will have to come back from fishing Roger).
Don't let Roger fool you either. The picture of him just shows what going to town can do to a person!!!!!! Even Jeff and Hans are glad to get home. Right now they are on the couch with me trying to play and making it very difficult to type. Creating some good laughs when they fall off though.
Well not much more to add at the moment. Guess I will have to get to work now. Put away the groceries and laundry,  make the bed, cook something for lunch and supper, help Roger with pilings (if no rain), and bringing the rest of the stuff from the boat, need to make some fire weed honey before the fire weed is gone. The locals say that once the fire weed has bloomed all the way to the top the first snow is only 6 weeks away and it has already bloomed a little over half way now. And the rose hips will be ready soon to make into a vitamin C rich jam. Oh yeah and need to clean inside, the dirt and dust never seem to end around here even with the rain.
OK I am with Roger, screw it let's go fishing! Oh poo that means cleaning the fish and getting them into the freezer (oops got to pick that up in town yet) and the beat goes on and on and on and on. It's all good.
Blessings and thanks for reading, Myra