There is time to Breath

The two guys I Referred to earlier this week have been found and both are at home now. I have included this link to a news paper article as part of this update.
It is mostly accurate except a few things. The guys weren't scouting trails, they were trying to go get fuel AND Dave (according to him) was not the almighty savior for Russ. Russ was not in good shape but the coke-sing was only for the last little bit of the walking trip, when Russ was getting really weak. They also only walked a few miles, not 7 1/2 as stated in the article. It was a rough few miles across ice rubble and slush.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/dispatches/news/7635-thanksgiving-joy-for-alaskans-who-cheated-death
You may have to copy and paste this link into your browser address bar to get the news paper article. Thank God the guys survived this one.

Myra "moved" over to Northwoods Lodge yesterday for the Caretaker job that We have. We loaded up about 9:00am on Friday and went over there. I took Shan and Eric to the landing strip on a Snowmachine with trailer, along with their luggage and away they went. I stayed with Myra until about 12:30pm or so then back to our place to do some work on my snowmachine. (track alignment and tension adjustment) I went back over to see her about 4:30. I found her setting on the couch watching TV, chilling out. This is funny because we have not watched actual TV in over three months and that was in a motel room. We have not had TV since May. I set with her for a couple of hours and we cuddled and had a little dinner. By 7:00 we realized that we do not want TV in our cabin. We had flipped thru channels and the directory, found the same old crap and came to realize that we had not spoken much while that blasted thing was on.
We have talked (communicated) more in the last six months than we have in the previous thirty one years of marriage.
As most of you know, we were married at sixteen and eighteen years old with a child on the way. We had known each other as casual acquaintances for years through a cousin of mine and we lived two hundred and fifty miles apart. We had spent about three weeks together "Total accumulated time" as a couple before I ask her to marry me. (The proposal is a whole story of its' own) We jumped into marriage and family life and work when we were still children ourselves. We raised our children to the best of our ability.We worked jobs then started a business and Myra went to college etc, etc, etc. We were just "always" busy with Life in the Modern World. We were living the "Great American Dream".
We never took the time, made the time, had the time or knew how to "Just be Us". If we had any time it was used for a vacation or a TV or an escape from "reality" by one means or another. Even a radio in the vehicle is a distraction from the other noises that may have been entering my head, real or imagined; I just gave it Time.
Today I can tell you that I have stopped to breath. I have stood in the absolute quiet of the winter forest and been able to hear my own breathing. I have sat in the quiet I listened to myself breath. I have stood by the river with Myra and experienced Freeze Up and the silence. I have sat in a quiet cabin and listened to Myra breath. I have heard her speak and felt her words.
We have been together Twenty Four hours a day for three months and I woke up this morning without her in the cabin. I miss her! You may not find this strange in your current life or marriage for yourself but, for me this is a new feeling. To be separated for this short of a period of time and to wake up, already wanting to be back with her, is new for me.
In 1982 I got my first salaried management job and I worked a lot, in 1986 I got a job that required travel from time to time. In 1989 I got a different Salaried position that required many many hours and some travel. Myra went to college and in 1994 we started our own business. This evolved into a business that was licensed in 26 different states and I was gone at least three weeks out of the month almost every month. A few times I was gone for months at a time.
To wake up after only 13 hours apart and truly feel that I miss my wife, and have time to feel that feeling is new for me. What more can I say about this life today? I have been given another gift in life, and this time, I have time and awareness to know it and accept it.
It is about 11:00am here now. The sky is mostly blue except for a patches of clouds. A patch directly overhead is giving us a very gentle snow fall, with blue sky and mountains in the back ground. The sun is staying very low in the sky's these days. Sunrise was at 9:48 this morning and Sunset will be at 4:00. The sun never rises high enough to be above the trees right here. If I go to the hill by the river I can get a clear view of the sun.
I am enjoying these short days with a new appreciation. I don't have to race around to get things done. I just do whatever I can get done during the daylight and use a light to do what I need to during the dark. This "Used" to be a huge inconvenience because I HAD to get things done.
Once upon a Time, I HAD to make X dollars a day to pay the bills or pay for the vacation. I Had to bust my butt so I could afford the finer things in life. As you know, we sold all those "Finer" things in life to be able to live this life. The sale of those "Finer" things did allow us to jump into this life with both feet. Most people (not all) around here worked their way into being here, by being here and building their cabin and hunting, trapping, fishing and crafting their way to what has made them comfortable. We worked thru a different avenue to be here.
Today I know that I never needed all those "Finer Things". I know of many people around here that never had the "Life" that Myra I had BUT they have always know what has taken me most of my life to learn.
Had I known that I did not "Need" a vacation to enjoy life or a motorcycle to feel free or a Hot Tub to relax I sure would have worked a whole lot less to get those things. I was successful by most accounts of modern living.

I heard a minister at a funeral a while back say that he never heard anyone say on their death bed,"Gee, I wish I had worked more". I am one more guy that won't be saying that!

We have not been to town for months and We can survive on what is in our freezer for a few more months if we needed to. I could hunt and fish enough to stay ahead of the game of survival for the time being. (By the way, the freezer is not plugged in, it is cold enough to store the food without electricity for now.) We have wood for heat and can get more. We don't "Half to Have" Snowmachines and ATVs and Generators and the like. We have figured out how to live this life without that stuff, however; that stuff does make it "easier". If I ran out of fuel tomorrow We could survive and eat. I might lose more weight because of more work but We could do it. Not only can I do it, I would be happy doing it because I have time to breath. I have a freedom that I have never known before. I have a whole new realization of what is Necessary for life and what just makes life a little "nicer or easier".
I am pretty sure that Myra and I will return to "society" to live again someday, although I can't make any promises. When and If we do I will be a different person. I am a different person. I will Never Again obligate myself to anything beyond appreciation of Life and Love. The "Finer Things" in life is time to breath, time to love, time to see, time to feel, Time. Time is Free, I just did not know it! As I see it today, I worked so that I had Time to play and enjoy life. What Bullcrap was I selling to myself? I can't blame anyone else or anything else. I bought into the "Finer Things" in life theory.
Time is Money; Bull! Times a wasting; No but you can be wasting it! Time does not Stand Still (This one is True). USE your time Wisely; This has a Whole new meaning for me!
What a Gift my God has Given me today! I have Time to Breath, Time to Love, Time to Appreciate, Time to Feel. If I die with my next breath, I have had Time!

My Wish for all of you is this: MAY YOU HAVE TIME! You don't have to take it, You don't have to make it. You only have to Breath and Appreciate it! See what is Right In Front of You!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.
I am looking forward to my TIME with my Family and Friends this holiday season.
Thank You for Allowing me to share myself with you today.
Roger

I Love You Myra!

(update- great news)Sad News plus Pictures of Freeze up

(This is an update to the post below. The guys reffered to below were found this morning, alive! One with Hypothermia and in hospital.) Great News!!!!

I have to start this Blog Post with a heavy heart from some sad news. We got word about an hour ago that two people down river from us are missing. One of which I have met and both we are very familiar with. Dave Luce owns Luce's Lodge and resort and Russ Bevins have both been on the Yentna River for 20 years and more. They left there homes this morning to go to town to get fuel and have been missing ever since. The river is still very UN-stable and we have gotten reports of other people getting wet (dropping thru the ice) trying to travel, now two are missing. Please throw out a prayer for their safe recovery and for the families comfort. Hopefully they get found along the river trying to get warm after getting wet but getting out of the water. It is now night time and temps are beginning to drop. It was near thirty today and heading for the teens tonight.
I am having a hard time getting into this post, I will do my best.

This video is part of the actual Freeze Up as it happened. Myra and I were standing along the shore looking at the stopped Ice in front of us and we were looking at all the water still running. It was very quiet right in front of us but we could hear a crushing sound coming toward us from up river. As we watched the Ice begin moving again from up river acting like a bulldozer plowing into the stationary ice and pushing it further and tighter. When you watch this short video you will see stationary Ice with the moving ice coming toward us. I am sorry the video is so short, my batteries died and this happened fairly quickly. Myra took 4 different videos but it was the first time with her camera and we found out that the settings were not quite right and they did not work. The push of the ice went all the way past us and the whole river flowed very slowly with ice for about 10 to 15 minutes then it just crushed to a stop right while we stood there, all went silent, completely silent, and it has not moved since. It was really an amazing gift of Gods nature to be there while it happened. We have talked to people that have lived here for years and never been at the river at the right time to see and others (Dan and Jean) that live right on the edge of the river for 35 years and have only witnessed the actually "setting stop" twice.

The jumbled ice where it has packed together is the thickest and safest ice to travel on. The flat ice is never considered safe because it has running water right under it, that moves very fast and the flat ice usually does not get thick. The jumbled ice is two to three feet thick immediately. The problem comes in because the flat areas can happen anywhere so one has to be very careful to choose the first path on the river. Some of the smaller flat areas do freeze to fill in the gaps in the jumble, so after a week or two of cold weather there is typically a safe route to travel.

The problem we have right now is the ice has not been set very long and we have had a little warm up. the river water level is raising so it has opened up some new holes in the ice. Now, after everyone being land locked on there little islands in the forest for nearly 3 months people are anxious to get out and go somewhere. Hence, things like "getting wet" happens. Willie, the new neighbor (to our neighborhood) showed me just two days ago where he had been in water just over the hood on his snowmachine, where he broke thru trying to get off the river.

Pictures from the Hill in the front of our front yard. I walk out here occasionally for a wider expanse of the view. This is the same hill we see over from the inside of the cabin. Sorry for the water on the lens of my cheap little camera
These pictures were taken the morning of Freeze Up.
This is just frost and ice accumulation on the trees from the cold of this period. It had been running about 2 to 5 degrees during the day and 10 below at night during the freeze up period.
This was taken Just before the ice re-settled to its' final place.
Good looking Guy huh!
Huh, you talking to Me?

Isn't the depths of the slush and ice cool. I am walking right on the edge of shore, not on any ice.
These pictures were taken right after the river had stopped in its' final set, about 15 minutes after the video.
I thought the black and white version is awesome.
This is a view straight up into some trees from the river bank.

My heart is a little heavier now for our fellow river dwellers. We got another call to update us. The men have not been located and the Coast Guard Search and Rescue has been called in. The last sighting of them (according to the State Patrol Investigation)was just before the confluence of the Yentna and the Susitna river. They stopped to talk to a man that lives there and got a report of poor ice going up the Susitna, so they decided to go Down the Susitna to a town called Point McKinsey. They have not been seen since by anyone along the rivers or in Point McKinsey. There is still hope that they are stuck along the river somewhere. They are both skilled outdoorsman and can survive this weather if they are OK. Dave Luce had just found out Friday that his wife has Bone Cancer. This is all hard to absorb from here. There is nothing we can do from here but Pray.
This is truly an amazing and beautiful place, it does however, belong to God and all of the forces of Nature. I hope that I never forget this and those out here remember as well.
Thank You for being here with us!
I will talk to you soon,
Roger

Ohio for Holidays

Myra and I will be flying to Ohio for Christmas and New Years. We will be in Ohio late Christmas night and will be flying out the morning of January 9th.
We would love to make arrangements to see everyone during this time. Give us a call or email to see if we can work out timeing for either a group get together or a one on one visit.
When we leave Ohio we will be going to Florida for a week with Myra's Mom.
Back to Alaska on 1-16
See Ya,
Roger

They are making a Trail

The river has jammed and two guys are going out to make about a 7 mile trail today. I can not travel the river yet for a couple of reasons; First and foremost, I am a chicken and there are still a few areas of open water. Second, we don't have any snow on the river so there is nothing to lubricate and cool the snowmachine.
All I need for river travel is some snow and someone elses tracks (that did not fall in the river) to follow.
Pictures and stuff to come, just pretty busy for now. Wanted to do a short update.
Thanks for caring enough to read this!
See Ya,
Roger

A Mental Experience

Today was a typical day. I went over to one of my wood stashes and split, hauled and stacked about a cord of wood today then I started cutting up another really big tree that fell down in the forest near the trail. I have been trying to collect dead and down trees fast enough to keep up with our wood consumption so that our stock pile does not deplete until the dead of winter. Myra did her domestic chores and visited with Shan today. I cut wood until it got too dark in the woods to be safe. I looked at the sky and it was glowing red so I headed for the river to see what was left of sunset. This was about 4:30pm this afternoon.
When I arrived at the rivers edge I had one of those experiences that I want to try my best to share. Please close your eyes and read along, try to feel and picture this through my words. Oh wait, open your eyes back up or you can't read along.
The Air; it was 9 degrees out side and very low humidity. There is a gentle breeze blowing along the river bank and it is gently polishing my face with the crispness. It does not feel all that cold mostly crisp, I believe this is due to the low humidity. Breath in deep through your nose and get a sense of the cleanest air with a crisp edge. There is no smell that can be separated or sensed, just clean and crisp.
The Snow; crunchy under foot. When on a path the snow is very solid. Step into the fluff over by the edge of the high bank and sink to the middle of your shins in a delicate powder of crystal snow. You walk through this snow easier than walking through water, it just moves away from your feet as you stride foreword.
The Sound; Gentle breeze, only the slightest rustle in the trees. The water is flowing over rocks in the river, there is a bubbling noise from this. There is Ice and Slush floating in the swift current. The ice, as it hits the edges of the rim ice makes an almost Hollow sounding grinding noise. As the slush rubs together in the water or along the bank it makes a hissing noise. This gentle hiss never stops along with the gentle breeze and the bubbling water. The sounds are gentle and orchestrated, it could lull you to sleep with a perfect picture in your mind.
The Scenery; Standing twenty feet above the rivers edge, water and ice flowing. Surrounded by a Forrest behind, beside and across the river. Look to the right, up river, and there is Yenlo Hills and Yenlo Mountain, capped with snow, but interestingly enough the lower sides of the mountain seem to be void of snow. The sky above this mountain has thin clouds of slightly gray and blue. Look left and there is Forrest covered with mostly blue sky with wisp of clouds painted orange by the sunset. Begin to look from there toward straight ahead and the sky changes. The clouds go from orange to almost yellow to blue, then lavender. The sky clears shortly before the Tordillo Mountain range comes into view. The tops of the mountains appear to be on Fire with the sun. Brilliant, fire orange clouds (blowing snow) lifts from the edges of the mountains. They are lined all along with the fire glow. Peaks to eleven thousand feet down to the valleys as low as I can see above the forest. The contrast between the forest that is just across the river and the mountains that are from thirty to fifty and sixty miles away is spectacular. From deep evergreens to fire orange rimmed mountains going up and down.
All I could do was stand still and breath. Feeling alive beyond any sensation that I could compare this to. The colors change as the sun goes down, I can't move. Minutes went by, Colors went by, Ice flowed, the breeze blew and I just stood there, amazed.
Eventually it got dark and the show subsided. When I finally did walk away I realized I had stood still so long my legs and feet hurt. I had to loosen muscles that had strained for the days work. I climbed onto the snowmachine and rode home, put things away and the day is coming to a conclusion.
I am a lucky man today!
Thank You for being here,
Roger

River Travel maybe Soon

We got word today from our friends at Yentna Station that the river ice jammed in front of their place today about 10:00 am. This is about 25 miles down river from us and as I am told it typically takes from 1 1/2 to 2 days for the jam to reach back to us. I went to the river 3 times today just to watch the ice flow and see it progress. There is definitely the most ice I have seen so far. The excitement from other people along the river is almost palpable. We are in contact with several people via facebook and email and everyone is ready for the river to freeze solid.
We may be able to travel in about 7 to 10 days. the forecast is for clear cold weather for several days in a row then snow on Sunday. This is the perfect scenario because the river will have time to get solid then the snow will cushion it and lubricate the snowmachines.
This is all great news and a little disappointing. We begin care taking the lodge in 9 days and that means one of us always has to be there. This means Myra will not be going to town because she is not traveling 65 miles down river on a snowmachine by herself. I am the MAN around here and that is MY job darn it! Just kidding about all that male chauvinist stuff but, she won't make the trip alone so I will be making a trip or two by myself since we can't leave the lodge unattended. All in the timing huh. I guess God decided to see how she will deal with being in the bush for about 4 months straight without seeing "civilization".
I am very happy to say that we seem to have done a good job of stocking up on fuel and groceries to get through this freeze up period. We did get some good advice from our friends and neighbors about what to expect and how to plan for it. Of course heeding their advice and making the list and deciding just What we were going to stock was up to us. Thank God we were not to proud or dumb to listen to what we were being told. We haven't really ran out of anything except popcorn. Thankfully one of the neighbors had been in town and they called us before they flew home to see if we needed anything and they brought us more popcorn before we actually ran out, but we are using the new supply now. If you know Myra and I well, you know popcorn is a staple of life and it might not be worth getting up in the morning if there is no popcorn available. Thankfully, we never had to find out!
With all of this being said, we still have not seen the river stop flowing here and there is no guarantee that I am going to town in 10 days until I am on my way to town (if you know what I mean). So, I have spoken proudly about us doing a good job BUT, this is still all contingent on God following my plan and he finishes freezing the river. If he fails to read my script (or if he reads it and laughs at it) and he decides to do something different, like thaw the river back out and make us wait longer, then I will have to wait and see if we did such a good job all over again.
Life has been pretty routine for the last few days with a couple of exceptions. Myra got to do laundry in the house, with a machine! I think I posted before that I got the little washing machine that was here working all except the water pump, if not, well I did. We pour the water into it and I re-plumbed it so that it gravity drains. Here is the kicker. I welded together a 33" by 40" stainless steel shower pan and installed it up stairs with a drain pipe into buckets downstairs. We took REAL comfortable showers (here) for the first time last Friday. No standing in a galvanized tub and no shower curtain sticking to my leg Woo Whoo! OK, back to the laundry. I got the idea that the shower pan was big enough to set the little washing machine in it. This is required since the seals on the agitator leak and it drips all the time you are using it. I would fix it but it is obsolete and no parts available. I may have to try to make some new seals if the leaking gets much worse though. OK, back to laundry again. Anyhow; we carried the little washer up stairs and were talking about getting the buckets around to drain it and Myra said "too bad there isn't a way to just put a drain out the kitchen window or something since it will take so many buckets to drain this thing". Bing! a light went off in my head. I grabbed a couple of 90s, some more pipe, tools and misc stuff and in under 20 minutes I devised a detachable drain line that we stick out the window when needed then remove it when finished. No tub under the cabin, no worry of water leaching where we don't want it, and it works. I will dig in a leech field next spring but for now, we have quite a few less buckets to haul and indoor laundry and shower facilities.
Oh Yea, the shower. Our shower curtain rods are made from two 12" wall style plant hangers hanging down from the ceiling holding Birch sapling tree "curtain rods". Myra went to the woods and found 3 saplings of "just the right size" and cut them, then peeled them and sanded them to make the rods. I then screwed two of them to the back wall of the shower (one on each end of the shower) and hung them from the plant hangers. Then laid the other rod on top of them for the front rod and tied them together with some nifty nylon rope. I put Fiberglass board on the back wall of the shower and we have a three sided shower curtain and it looks and works great! Life is SO GOOD when you can take a HOT shower in a full size shower stall. If only I could tell you how nice it is. You might think you know but trust me, until you have gone months with either motel showers (few and far between and in a motel), use baby wipes or you are standing in a galvanized tub with a shower curtain stuck to your legs, you don't know how nice it is to have a good shower. I still have to haul the water to the barrel and charge the battery that runs the water pump, put fuel in the generator that charges the battery, haul the fuel 65 miles to get it here, haul the propane for the water heater, but I have a shower, oh, how sweet it is!
My first trip to town on the snowmachine I will have to figure a few things out. We have purchased a new (used) heavy hauling style snowmachine that is at the Deshka Landing where our truck is. I have purchased a freight sled from our friends at Yentna Station that I have to pick up from them, and I need it to haul our groceries and supplies. I will have to leave a snowmachine at the landing when I pick up the new one so I would like to leave the small machine there. The small machine does not have a hitch so picking up the freight sled would be out of the question. Myra bought a loveseat that I am supposed to pick up along with groceries and propane while I am in town so I need the freight sled. I need a two person snowmachine to be able to take two people to the landing to pick up the little snowmachine and get both machines back up river. It's another riddle of living up here. I can't take Myra, I can't leave the two person machine (the new machine is one person) I can't haul the freight sled with the little machine. I guess I go 40 miles past Yentna Station, with the little machine, get the new machine, go back to Yentna Station and pick up the freight sled, go back down river 40 miles, then go to town. Let me see, that will be 63 plus 40 plus 40, yep one hundred forty three miles to get to the landing on a snowmachine for the first trip after freeze up. Then I get to drive about 35 miles into town.
Did I ever tell you it is one hundred and two miles to the closest Walmart, and that is in Wasilla (the far side) which is the nearest real town. There is the community of Willow with its population of 83 people and then Huston with 150 people but to actually go to a real store it is well over 95 miles.
Enough for one post, sorry for no pictures again, it is really cold and my cheap little camera is not doing well with it. Maybe I will get a new "cheap little camera" when I get to town.
Thanks for letting me share. It really helped to think thru the snowmachine freight sled thingy.
Talk to you soon,
Roger

What Routine?

Let me start off by saying Thank You to all who have served or are serving in the Armed Forces. Without your sacrifices things like this blog would not be. Thank you.



Jeff and Hans



OK that said now it is my turn to let you know how life is for me today. I have no "routine" per se other than if it needs done, do it. LOL Most days Roger gets up before I do, he is a morning person, I am more of a night owl. He will usually let me know when the coffee is ready unless it is really early like this morning. (He got up at 6:30 for some reason). I was awoken at about 8 when he yelled at Hans to "KNOCK IT OFF"!!!!!!  Apparently Hans was chewing on the underside of the house. He loves to chew on wood and loves to grab a hold of roots etc and try to pull them loose. He is such a puppy! Oh wait he is only 6 months old. Sometimes it is hard to remember since he is bigger than Jeff.



Roger "cooking"



Medium Rare Rib eyes Mmmmmmmmmm!



Anyway where was I? Oh yeah time to get up. Coffee, Internet, Farmville. Got to keep those crops and animals alive right? It's just practice for the real ones. Get dressed, do dishes if needed, they do NOT get done everyday. That would take too much water so I do dishes when necessary. Which means either we are out of silverware or out of counter space to stack the dirty ones. One way of saving on the amount of dishes we dirty is to cook in the wood stove like tonight. When I had asked Roger what he wanted for supper he said he was in the mood for beef. Anyway he pulled a couple of rib eyes out of the freezer and we were talking of ways to fix them when Roger said something about cooked over fire. Well I was off and running with that one. How could we possible cook them inside the wood burner? We don't have a basket thingy like some people use on grills for fish or hot dogs so how could this be done? Steaks over a wood fire just sounded wonderful and I was going to figure out a way by golly. So I started looking at what I had for cooking on the grill and over a campfire and BINGO! Two really big long handled cooking forks and some S hooks squeezed together and WALAAAAAA!

There is always cleaning of some type or other that needs done, laundry, cooking, making bread, sewing curtains, and then do it all over again. It is a continuous cycle that you just do. There are some days when I just don't feel like doing it so some of it gets put off but you can only do that for so long or you get buried pretty quick in a 640 sf house. Thank God for the back porch and the "barn" for storing stuff in. Yes Roger is probably right that I have been "bushwhacked" at times. I think some of that is also the time of year. The first Halloween not with the grand kids, and now Thanksgiving coming. We will be lodge sitting between Thanksgiving and Christmas so if the river doesn't freeze up and become safe to travel on by snow machine it may be after Christmas before I get to town. I won't go by myself, not like Roger would let me anyway, even though I hopefully have my "crash" out of the way. I was just trying to get it over with early. Actually I was paying too much attention to the dogs and not enough to what I was doing and where I was at. Oh well, lesson learned, the dogs will have to watch out for themselves.

I posted a picture of the Let It Snow sign before but I think someone read it as you can see. This isn't even since the last snowfall but the one before. Now you can't even see that little bit of Santa.

I could post tons and tons of pictures of the sunset from last night but I will do that later. It is getting late and I am about ready for bed. So here is one of them, again an incredible, indescribable unbelievable show of God's Handiwork. On those days when I am struggling with the isolation and missing family and friends it seems that God gives me a show like this to again remind how blessed I truly am. I have a wonderful husband that I finally am getting to know, usually even like him, 4 wonderfully fun and funny animals, a roof over my head, food in my belly and some of the most incredible scenery imaginable. I truly am blessed to have this opportunity. Thank you all for sharing it with us. Blessings, Myra



What could I possibly say?



Quick Update

I don't have much at all today but wanted to touch base with everyone.
The snow machine "Lucky" just might not be at fault for all those broken mirrors? Myra and I went for a short ride the other day. It was her first time out on the machines this year. I warned her of how soft the snow is (top 6 or 8 inches anyhow) and told her to shift her wieght and lean in extreme because it was like driving on water. I was riding Lucky and was leading out our back trail. I got to the end of our property and stopped to look back before I turned onto the next trail. NO Myra. I turned off my machine and listened, No Myra. I hollard loudly and I hear a return "something". I hollard again and I hear "I got it back up". Well, to make a long story short, when I got back to Myra she was still cleaning the snow off of her glasses and staightening them. It seems she went in face first as she fell off the machine as it was tipping over.
No harm, No foul, she did not get hurt and neither did the machine, but her face sure did get red from the cold for a few minutes, lol.
Anyhow, she now leans to extreme on the little hills and corners and no more incidents have taken place.
Over the last few days we have gotten about 13" of fresh powder snow that has settled down to about 8" of fluff now. this is on top of 6" of very hard packed base. The temperatures have been in the single digits the last couple of nights, 2 degrees last night, and a high of 12 yesterday.
The river has the most ice on it I have seen so far. Neighbor Eric came by yesterday, during conversation he said in his experience that it appears to be about 2 more weeks for "Freeze Up" maybe three at the absolute most. Of course he then added the disclaimer that, God is in charge and this is always subject to change.
Oh well, still here for now, and living the dream.
Thanks for being here,
See Ya
Roger

Today, as I experience it.

We have posted twice now that freeze up has started. As of today we have had snow on the ground for 12 days with absolutely no sign of melting. We even had a hard down pour of rain about 4 days into the snow and it did not melt. It has snowed some every twenty four hour period since it started. The river on the other hand, well, as the video will show it was beginning to freeze nicely. While a little of the rim ice is still in place, there is no floating ice on the river again today. I know that I don't know much about the Eco system around here but this river is strange. Freezing is as fickle as water depth during the summer, I have no idea what it is going to do.
We have been land locked to our little "Island in the Forest" for between 7 and 8 (me 7, Myra 8)weeks now. This is the first time I actually looked at the calender and counted weeks since we have been to town. We do have the two different neighbors that are a couple of miles away and Willie did move to his cabin which is a little closer. Willie is a true Bush person in every sense of your imagination. Picture a guy in his Fifties, lives alone with a couple of dogs, little formal education, lots of love for the territory and been in the woods a long time. Yep, that's Willie. Anyhow, visiting with the neighbors is not a regular thing. There is always so much to do for everyone out here. Just living requires so many hours of the day, it does not matter if you have our little cabin or 10,000 sq ft lodge with a racquetball court, there is a lot to do just to get thru the day. We have only been to each neighbors place one time, together, that I can recall. On occasion I will go over for something like water or mail, or Myra will go for mail or water and this will result in a short visit, but this is not a social event out here. Accessible right now, by means of land are, Northwoods Lodge with Shan and Eric, Bentallit Lodge with Tom and Pat, and Willie.
When living a "Normal" life we would get up in the morning, start the coffee in the Bunn coffeemaker and let the dog out. Coffee was done in 3 minutes or so and off to the shower we go. Then, onto the computer, do email and begin the day of work. Walk into the garage, get into the vehicle and drive to a destination. Get out of the vehicle, walk into a heated/air conditioned building and go about business. When we would get hungry, just go buy a meal somewhere convenient. Building to vehicle, back to building, back into vehicle, etc. If at work in the same building for 8 to ? hours then it was back to the house, picking up an item or ten at the store on the way home. We would live for the weekends and time away from work so that we could go play or do something for ourselves, or just relax and do nothing. Does all of this sound familiar? Work and the number of hours required to travel to and from was the means in which it afforded us to "live". We did see more people (many thousands more) and have very close relationships with some of them (you). The personal time spent together talking, visiting or playing was limited and precious, and still is. Life just seemed to keep getting in the way.
Today we live a very different life. I will speak of my " developing routine" here. I get up in the morning put on my robe and slippers. Go down stairs and change into tennis shoes.Go outside to pee, let the dogs out and start the generator. Come in and start percolated coffee and check the wood burner and get it stocked up and warm in here. Thirty Five minutes later coffee is done and the wood burner needs adjusted. I have now been up for nearly and hour and done virtually nothing but get warm, get electricity, get coffee, get "pee'ed" and maybe have time to get dressed but not usually. Now there is time for a little "wake up" so I fire up the computer for a while, Read the news on the Internet, check email and cook some breakfast. No microwaved or fast food here, usually oatmeal, if we have cereal you get out two cans of condensed milk, dilute it with water, shake it in a sealed quart jar, then you pour your cereal in a bowl. Now put on the tennis shoes again and go outside to relieve some coffee. How many of you have gone outside in nothing but a robe and tennis shoes in a foot or more of snow and 15 degrees to pee, more than once? I know it is a really bad mental image but it is life! Now dressed I've been up for 2 hours and time for chores. Dress for work includes putting on the outside clothing and boots and the gun. Outside is shovel a path, clean snow off of vehicles (snowmachines), scrape snow off of roofs (cabin, generator shed, barn and shop), fire up a snowmachine and pack snow, then groom smooth so we can walk around comfortably, then stock wood into the back porch as needed. Now Pump more fuel into gas cans if needed and check the water supply. Once all of this is done I can begin my task(s) of the day. These may include cutting or splitting more fire wood, going after water, fixing something or building something.
Yesterday for example Myra said she needed an Ironing Board to make her sewing task easier and we did not bring an Ironing Board. We went to the barn and picked out some wood and proceeded to Make and Ironing Board. She now has a nice little portable Ironing Board that she is Making a cover for. I proceeded to work on welding the stainless steel Shower floor pan that I am making. At this point in time we still stand in a 15 gallon galvanized laundry tub to take a shower. At least we have running hot water to it though we do have to haul the tub outside to dump after every shower. When I finish the shower pan I will install it with a drain pipe to go outdoors into the galvanized tub for now, that we will have to dump it quickly so it does not freeze. Next year I will dig in a leech field for the shower and "Gray water" from the house.
After six to ten hours of working on projects plus meal times I can settle in for the evening. Oh Yea, first I may have to re-shovel and pack snow and clean roofs and cover the snowmachines as it seams to be snowing regularly and Every night at least a little. Then gas up the generators so they are ready for the following morning.
We do not have normal TV so most evenings are spent reading with the radio on and some time on the computer looking up "God knows what" stuff or reading a manual for something that isn't working right etc etc etc. Sometimes I watch a video (DVD) and a couple times a week I will watch an outdated TV show on the Internet.
Did you know that even though it seems simple to set down and type that it takes between two and three hours to do one of these blogs. By the time pictures are sorted, re-sized, uploaded and the typing is thought thru (most of the time) the process is quite extensive. This blog post has now taken over two hours and has one video.
Anyhow; back to the general theme of this post. Our life is very much different from what it used to be but it has many familiarities. Instead of going to a Job to earn money to buy the things to live and entertain the Job is to live and build the things we require or want. There is no more "free" time than there was before, in fact, there is less time because of things like wood stove (needs attention 24/7), water (hauling and transferring), waste water and honey buckets, preparing every meal (always), outdoor attention requirements etc. There Are NO modern conveniences even though we have conveniences that are modern. Examples: We have electricity but not with out a generator (and maintenance) and fuel and we have running water but not with out hauling it In & Out etc. There is different time available to "spend" unlike anything that I was once accustomed to. Vegging on the couch for a day still involves maintaining heat, power, water and meals. The utility companies and pizza delivery just don't exist. We don't just run to the store or the fast food place, we don't Just plug in the microwave, we don't Just turn on the faucet to get a drink.
Now after eight weeks of virtually no contact with other people other than computer or some telephone I do see it starting to wear on Myra. I have never been a social butterfly and have always said I could be a hermit. This might just be true for me as I feel very grateful and happy to "just be" here. I do miss the kids and grand kids and will be happy to see them when we make a trip to Ohio, and I even miss most of you folks. I am pretty content to just Be here with Gods gifts of nature for the most part. This style of life does afford time to think. Prioritizing what is Really important is coming to the forefront of my thought process more and more often. I also see Myra struggling with the seclusion. This was the first Halloween she missed with the grand kids and it has brought about a tough period to go along with eight weeks of just being here. There is a lot of personal learning going on with in both of us.
As a couple I think we are doing quite well (at least as I see it). Of course I could be the last to know if there is a problem brewing between us because I am a guy. Again, we are together (at least in very close proximity) twenty four hours a day. This is a change from me traveling about three weeks a month for work. This is another Huge change in our lives, almost as big as the relocation. I personally am as happy with this change, or happier, than anything else. (You will have to ask Myra for her prospective on this.) I feel like I am truly getting to know my wife on a whole new level than ever before, and I like most of her. (She understands, as anyone who has been married thirty one years will understand.)
It is Sunday morning, I have been typing this post for nearly three hours, Myra is beginning to make bread (have I ever mentioned I like bread day) and I have my chores to get done. Sundays we are pretty Non-routine around here. I have found it good to still Take a day to do something different. We do also make time to get out into these surroundings and enjoy the gifts God has given us today. Being able to appreciate the little things is an important part of this life.
Thank You for allowing me to share,
Talk to you soon,
Roger

Transistion Time

Well, the snow has been on the ground for about 5 days now. We get an inch or so more every night, then a little melt and settling during the day. We are up to about 6 inches of wet heavy snow pack on the ground. It is time to transistion from ATVs to Snowmachines.
I found it necessary to do some playing the other day before it was time to put the ATVs away and Myra took a bunch of pictures. I had a good time tearing up the yard. You might notice the black straps under my Bibs. There are still Bears wondering around out here, so my gun is still strapped on. I am told that on years like this (late winter arrival)we should expect to see bear sign for another month at least, Oh yea, and they get hungry, tired and discontented.
Today I got out the Snowmachines from under their tarps. They both started right up, as expected, and away I went on the test runs down the trails. All went very well with the little sled,it ran well, handled a little stiff but loosened up and back to the cabin I came. I hooked up to the groomer that I have built and pulled it around a little bit and it works very well also. The snow is so wet and heavy that the short track machine did have a problem pulling it so I parked it and emptied the snow out of it and declared, all is good.
I jumped on the two person 800cc machine and took off down the trail. This machine has a history of bucking, unexpectedly, like a pony we had when I was a kid. The ponies name was Lucky and I was never sure if the pony was Lucky because my Dad did not kill it with the two by four, or if the rider was Lucky that the pony did not kill them? Oops, got sidetracked, back to the snowmachine. Well me and the 800cc Lucky rounded the first tight corner and caught the side of a little mogul and over I went. "Luckily" I had just rounded this corner and was only doing about 2 mile an hour. It was a slow motion tip over, with plenty of time to recall my mistake. I even had time to watch the machine tip onto the mirror on the left side. "Luckily" it was the mirror on the left side because this machine has broken 3 mirrors on the right side. One of them was less than two hours after being replaced from the previous rollover (ask Myra, I can't tell). Anyhow, the left mirror flexed on its' spring loaded mount and snapped right back into position. No Harm, No Foul, the machine is perfect and hopefully it got its' bucking out of its' system for the year. I drove it back to the cabin and hooked up to the "Skwagon" that I built.
Definition: "Skwagon" vowel, meaning; ATV Tow behind Wagon that Roger made Skis for and strapped them to the wheels. Another story, another time, with pictures.
OK, I hooked up to the Skwagon for a test run with it. The Skwagon performed flawlessly but, the snow is so wet and heavy, when I had to run slow with the Skwagon I could not kick up enough snow to cool the radiator and the machine overheated. I caught it quick and again, No Harm, No Foul. Another lesson learned and another challenge to overcome. We had planned on pulling the Skwagon with "Lucky" to haul our water. Now the snow is deep enough using an ATV is not feasible and I can't pull the Skwagon until it gets colder, the little snowmachine has no hitch, a short track and I don't believe enough traction to pull a skwagon full of water up the hills around here. Here in lies the challenge. It is not easy to just strap a full 50 pound water jug on a snowmachine, let alone 9 of them. We have about 35 gallons of water in the barrel and 9 empty jugs now. I have got some "Sifering" to do in the next day or two to figure this one out. Or maybe we will get "Lucky" and we will get a good cold powder snowfall and the problem will be solved. I REALLY don't want to carry these jugs by hand for a long distance and it is a very big slope on the bank of the river to try to strap them on a snowmachine, the machines are tippy enough with out more top heavy weight. The neighbor water is still about two miles away and to make that trip five gallons at a time on the snowmachine might be the only option, we will see.Oh yea, we can always melt snow on the wood burner. It takes about 11 gallons of snow to get one gallon of water (I looked it up). That should only take about 4 hours a gallon. Ya think?
Always remember, Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. I have been asking for snow, I got it, AND I get a new opportunity to solve a need. I guess this is Gods idea of a Bonus gift ay?
I am really not complaining, just sharing the thought process.
Thanks for listening, and being here with us.
Life is good,
Roger