What.....It's June Already?

Wow time flies when you are busy, busy, busy! Just looked at the date of the last blog and went WOW! March of course is always crazy busy with freighting for Roger, Iditarod and getting plants started for the garden.
Iditarod this year presented a few challenges. About ten days before volunteers were due to start arriving at Delia's which is where we lived for about 20 months and which is also the second checkpoint on the Iditarod dog sled race, the generator shed which supplied power to the entire site burned to the ground. We received a call about 10 pm from someone who had been going up river and spotted it. Anyway we had to round up a separate generator to use for each building. The people of Skwentna community were awesome in their offers of help. So that put some extra work on Roger to get that all set up but he pulled it off! Iditarod weekend itself was of course awesome! The "Darlings" and the "Sweeties" run the checkpoint like a well oiled machine. For the most part Roger and I get to hang out and visit and eat all the yummie food the "Sweetie's" spend all weekend cooking.

Ready for Dogs and Mushers!

Checking a Dog

At the end of March, Craig who is our friend and also now both our "boss" put together a group of volunteers for a weekend at his cabin and to come spend a day putting the sheeting and roofing on Roger's workshop. There were a total of nine of them that came out and they did in a day what would have taken Roger and I a couple of weeks probably. I cannot tell you how much gratitude I have for all of them.

This is the workshop at the beginning of the day.

A Wonderful Bunch of Folks!

Thank You All!

The rest of March, into April was busy for Roger with freighting and tours. I was busy answering phones and learning the "ins and outs" of a new job.  I also went along to help on a couple of freigh runs and a tour. Oh as well as the daily chores of life in the bush. Want to stay warm, better bring in more wood, want bread, make it. And the list goes on and on. Some days I do have to say I miss some of the conveniences of living "on the grid" but life out here at the Phillips place isn't too bad overall. And things have gotten even better this year during breakup.

Hauling to Hewitt Lake

Sunset at Hewitt Lake

WE NOW HAVE A WELL!!!!! I don't have a finished kitchen but we have a well. Our wonderful neighbor Tom who has a well rig out here brought it over for us to use. Roger and Tom also drilled a well for neighbor Willie and between the two it was about 3 weeks of work. We do not have it all plumbed to the house yet but it sure is nice to just stretch a hose from the well to our holding tank in the root cellar and fill it up. It will probably be July before that is plumbed as fishing season is about to start. And then Roger did a ton of work on the yard, tilled up the garden area, and built a greenhouse. It will probably be freeze up before my kitchen gets done. Roger still has about 2 weeks before he has to leave for 25 days of guiding up at Tal Vista Lodge, then a week or two break and then about 20 more days of guiding, so hopefully he will get a little bit more done on the kitchen before then but with the other stuff that needs to be finished, like the greenhouse which is close to done but will take another day I am guessing. And lots of other little odds and ends things. I do not have pics of the greenhouse, yard etc at the moment but will try and get some soon and do another post.

On a sad note our friend Joe Delia passed away on May 1st. We flew into town and attended his Celebration Of Life on May 18 and Roger is currently in town doing some shopping and seeing Norma. I am home holding down the fort and tomorrow I am going to do a few things just for me that I keep wanting to do but never take the time.
Well time to end this, find some supper and relax. Thanks for visiting our blog and may you have a blessed day! Myra

Sunset in Skwentna

Don't You get Bored?

I can't tell you the number of times I have heard that Question.....

Don't you get Bored in the Bush? After all, there are no roads, no stores, not many people, nothing to do!!!

Oh My God, that could not be more wrong,,, NOTHING TO DO !

   It has been 6 weeks since we have found time and energy at the same time, to do a blog post. When there is energy available, it is used to do task that allow us to live here. When there is time, it seams like resting is the first thing on the list of things to do.
   Myra's last post was mostly about daily life and how it has been going. This one is not going to be much different.
   First of all, Myra spent 3 weeks in Ohio and Florida visiting Kids, Grand kids and her Mother. While she was away I tried working more on the kitchen and did make some progress but I did not get it finished. She is currently using plywood counter tops. God Bless here patience. I probably will not get the counters done until break-up now.
   I went to town for 4 days when Myra was due to fly home. That trip to town was exactly 5 months and 1 week since the last time I had been to town. That's right, I came home from town on August 26th and I did not go back to town until January 29th. I had not driven or even gotten into our truck. I had not seen a road except for the road at Deshka Landing's entrance.
   Freighting season with the snowmachine started in mid December and I got very busy immediately. The "new" snowmachine I bought 2 years ago became a struggle to keep going. I have put 13,312 miles on the machine. Almost every mile of that has been pulling freight sleds, usually 2 at a time, over the rough and bumpy river trail. The suspension is just flat wore out. It seamed that every trip I had some sort of part break on the suspension. After about 1300 miles of freighting and fixing this year, I could not take it anymore. I bought a 2013 Artic Cat "Bear Cat" Groomer Special snowmachine. I have already put almost 2000 miles on the new machine.

   Here's your picture.
Ooop's the picture did not come through. I have a new Iphone and an old computer. They refuse to communicate. I will try to get you a picture in the future.

This new machine does not pull as well on new or soft snow as my "old" Super Wide machine, nor does it float on top of really deep snow, BUT, Boy is it comfortable to ride. Right now we have VERY Icy conditions and VERY hard trails and the new machine is actually better in these conditions. It has Studs in the track for grabbing the ice. I am not able to put the same style of studs on the Super Wide because of machine design. As it turns out, I will end up using both machines for the correct conditions. First though, I have to replace most of the parts of the suspension on the "old" Super Wide machine. It is setting in my shop right now with broken parts that make it nearly impossible to move.
   We went through a very warm period of two weeks in the forties and lots of rain. The river was not travel-able for 10 days and it almost broke up completely. It was a very scary time for those of us that live out here. We almost ended up losing the freighting season and having to fly everything out here. That would have been a disaster for us financially.
   When Myra got home she started a new Job. She is now answering phones and emails / selling tours for the Snowmachine company that I do tours for. If she does a good job, I do more tours. If she does not, She gets fired and I haul more freight and do less tours. LoL.
   I have guided (I think) 14 tours so far this year, to go along with freighting over 3000 miles. Myra is now scheduled to work for 3 different lodges for a few days here and there over the next 3 weeks and possibly a 4th lodge entering the picture. The Iditarod dog sled race is the first week-end of March and we host the 2nd checkpoint of the race which takes up the better part of a week and I still have several loads of freight backed up from the warm spell.
   Don't You Get BORED? UH, NO!
Now let me see, We still haul every drop of water we consume, have to keep a generator running a few hours a day, burn wood for heat, make most food from scratch, are in the middle of a remodel, keep snowmachines running, answer phones for a tour business, haul freight, work at lodges, play racket ball as often as possible (to stay in shape), deal with snow, cold, rain, ice and manage to right an occasional blog post.
   Did I forget to mention, while I was in town to get Myra, the fuel oil furnace that we have for back-up heat quit working. All of the water lines froze, the water heater froze and broke, the cabin got down to about 0 degree's, Myra's plants all died, The kitchen faucet split, all the stuff in the refrigerator froze and it was a general pain in the butt.
   Today, I took the day off. I rebuilt the clutch on a friends snowmachine, Then we adjusted the valve clearance, changed a few suspension parts on his machine, changed the oil filter (not as easy as a car), and a few other maintenance items. Then another friend stopped over and we rebuilt the clutch on his machine. Oh Yea, and before that, I played racket ball and on the way home I stopped by Willies and diagnosed a problem on his snowmachine and he went and got some parts for it. (I still have Willies to fix). Then I split a little wood and loaded up the wood supply on the back porch for Myra.
   Today was just a Boring (Don't You get Bored) type of day. Myra worked her phones, cleaned house, went to two different neighbor lodges for a little bit and made dinner etc. She was bored to!
   Tomorrow, I do a snowmachine tour (She's doing her job), then Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I freight.
Yep, We get bored in the Bush!
Good thing there is no roads, no cable TV and no modern amenities of being in town or we would get busy. We have lost a combined 80 pounds or so in the last year!
Thanks for being with us on this adventure!
Don't get Bored
Roger