Woo Hoo A Day in Town!

Hi all! I know it has been a while since I have done a post. I could give you all kinds of "reasons" but the bottom line is I was pretty down for a while and just didn't feel like it. It was easier to just let Roger do it. Anyhow I am doing better and so I thought I would at least do a short post.

I actually got to go to town yesterday! We left here about 8 am and headed in to the landing. Got there about 11 and I headed for Wasilla to do some grocery shopping and to look for a desk chair at the resale stores. I stopped on my way in at 3 Bears which is like a store between Costco and Walmart in the quantity and sizes of what they carry. I like to go there first that way if they don't have something I want I know and can look for it when I get all the way in to Wasilla. Anyway I got done there and headed the rest of the way into town. Hit the resale stores and was totally bumming cause neither of them had any desk chairs at this time. Decided I would check new ones at Walmart and Fred Meyers but all of them they had were EXPENSIVE! Most of them were also leather and I didn't want a leather one as I tend to get sweaty in those as well as I knew the cats would jump up and down from the chair and their nails tend to leave little marks. I did find a few other little items I had on my list but no chair. :-(  I have found myself not working on my craft stuff very much as the chair I have been using is very uncomfortable and so I avoid sitting at the desk.

I finished the grocery shopping, picked up some MORE parts for the snow machine and decided it was time to head back out to the landing. I had gotten done what I set out to do in town which was to get the groceries, and hopefully a new vacuum and a desk chair. I had struck out on the chair but I did manage to find a vacuum. I have been using a shop vac with attachments the past few weeks as the little vacuum we had brought with us had quit working properly and there was no more repairing so into the trash it went. Ugh!!!!!!!!! Have you ever tried to get up animal hair from a rug with just a shop vac? It takes forever and then some. About the only way to get enough suction is to use the crevice tool and go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and then do it some more. So I was happy to find what I hope will be a decent vacuum for a reasonable price.

So I am driving on the Parks Highway heading for Deshka Landing and see a sign for Big Lake Road. Hmmmmm there is a resale / pawn shop in Big Lake. Check the time, Yep got time to stop. Walk in the store and lo and behold they have 2 desk chairs. Yippee, and all that good stuff. Checked them over and bought one. It is a heavy son of a gun and you should have seen me trying to lift it into the bed of the pickup. I couldn't get the tail gate open so had to go over the top! Sure was glad it is an older truck and I didn't have to worry about "scratching" it!

I got out to the landing and looked around to see if Roger was back from the snow machine tour he had done for Craig. Didn't see him so I headed for where our sleds were parked and started to load the groceries and stuff into the totes and cooler for the trip home. In the winter you use a cooler for the stuff you don't want to freeze. Luckily a friend had told me this when I said something last fall about putting the coolers away for the winter, she laughed and said "No you will want to use them in winter for the stuff that shouldn't freeze". Another learning experience.

Anyway Roger got there and we finished loading, ate some subs that I had picked up and we left for home about 7 pm and got home about 10. Took care of what absolutely needed to be handled, sat and checked email and went to BED! I am not used to riding that many miles in one day and I am feeling it this morning that is for sure. And I get to ride again today as I am going to go spend a couple days down at Yentna Station while Roger goes to town for his Coast Guard class so that maybe he can do some guiding this summer.

Well that is it for now, sorry no pics but I need to transplant some seedlings for the garden, finish putting away the groceries and get things around for me and the boys to go for a couple days. Oh yeah and make sure that the cats are set for that time period. I will try to post a little more frequently in the future.

Thanks for sharing our adventures.
Blessings, Myra

Another Trip to Town

I am here at the cabin by myself tonight, which is a first. I have the animals but Roger is at a friends down river and is staying there tonight before heading into town again.
Stayed at Dan and Jeans last night then came the rest of the way home today. Roger is going to pick up the doors for the back porch, some more meat for the freezer and also haul some fuel.

Packing It In

We brought back a bunch more groceries, including MORE dog food! And Roger is going to pick up a couple more big bags of dog food on this trip. This is a picture of what our truck looks like every time we go to town. It's really kind of funny and fun to try and fit it all in.

Hans had his vet appointment on Wednesday, got his shots and checkup. He already weighs 48# (which is only 6# less than Jeff) and he is only 4 months old! We could be in trouble...........the new back porch may have to become part of the house just for him. LOL. We also had it confirmed by the vet that Hans does have a vision problem. We were pretty sure of it just from our observations of his actions, like if Jeff gets too far ahead of him on the trail he will sit down and wait until either we catch up to him or Jeff comes back for him. If you call him and he is too far away you have to call him repeatedly so that he can follow the sound and I can't throw a stick too far when we play or he loses sight of it and can't find it. His peripheral vision is also affected which is why he is so jumpy when approached from the side or rear. He is such a character though that there is no way I would get rid of him. We get many a good laugh from his antics.

Foraker (L) & McKinley

We did bring home the new stove, now Roger just has to come up with some time to hook it up. It seems like there just isn't enough time to get all this stuff done. I have to keep reminding myself that a lot of what we are doing at this point is a one time thing (like building the porch) and that maybe next year we will have some time to actually enjoy this wonderful place and go and see more places such as Mt. McKinley from somewhere other than the boat on our trips to town. Although it is awesome seeing it this way also and we are truly blessed to be able to.

Tomorrow I should go and pick rose hips for jam before they are gone. Things hit their ripeness and are gone quickly around here. (Bears?) Thinking of bears they did not visit while we were gone this time. It may be that mama bear has been killed as two neighbors have each killed a bear in the last couple of weeks. Roger did put nails around the windows and cut off the heads to discourage them from "window peeking". I also need to go over to Bentalit Lodge for some strawberry plants that Pat offered. I'll get some water while I am there too. Hopefully Roger will make it home tomorrow evening but it always seems to take longer in town than we anticipate.
That is all for tonight. Here is another sunset picture, if you look close you can see the fog starting to form on the river. Thanks for sharing our amazing adventure.

Sunset on the Yentna River, Alaska

Blessings to all, Myra

More Progress

The Back Porch

Well there has been some more progress around here. We now have the back porch under roof, windows in and the tyvek on.  We are heading in to town tomorrow and will be getting the doors for it. We are also going to be getting me a new stove / oven! Yea!!!! Roger will be making a few trips back and forth over the next few days as we need to stock up on more fuel, and he is also going to tear apart the trailer we hauled our stuff in from Ohio to Alaska. We are going to use the wood to partially side the back porch and the stainless steel that he put on the floor of the trailer will become my counter tops. I am just excited about getting a full size oven rather than this darn little RV thing that when I make bread it rises and hits the roof of the oven and falls. :(
We again have "running water" as Roger did fix the pump sensor switch. It is amazing how much gratitude we have for even the simple things like running water that so many people take for granted. We are learning to be grateful for so many little things like beautiful sunsets, the sounds of the quiet, a friend calling to make sure we are OK as she hadn't talked to us in a few days, neighbors that offer you some of the bounty from their garden, and strawberry  plants to start your own patch.

The Boys

Hans goes to the vet tomorrow while we are in town for more of his shots. He is getting so big it is hard to remember that he is only 4 months old. He is now taller than Jeff, not as stocky but he is eating like a horse! But then so is Jeff. I think they are trying to fatten up for winter. I know that I have to stock up more food for them for during freeze up. Trying to keep their food and water bowls full is becoming a full time job! LOL
Well the popcorn is almost ready, and then it is bedtime. Here is another sunset, hope you aren't getting too sick of them. They are so different all the time it is just amazing to me. God's handiwork is awesome!
Blessings to all, Myra

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggg those darn Bears!

Denali (Mt McKinley) on Right

Hi all. It is Friday night and we made it safely back from town yesterday evening. We stopped by Yentna Station Roadhouse on the way home and picked up Anthony, Dan and Jeans 12 year old foster son who has been driving all of us nuts wanting to come and stay with us for a few days. It is different having someone else around besides just the two of us and the critters.

The bears visited again while we were in town and ransacked the burning barrel and also our miniature "root cellar" that Roger had dug a fed weeks ago so we could at least keep a few refrigerated things. Roger had put a half a salmon in there and forgot to get rid of it before we went into town. Needless to say they not only got the salmon but also the cheese, eggs and butter that were in there.       :(

I have been busy trying to find places to put stuff in the cabin, especially groceries as we have started to stock up for "freeze up". It can be quite a while that the river in unusable to travel either by boat or snowmachine. We did bring up the refrigerator and a small chest freezer but do not have them up and running yet. Soon I hope. Our inverter did come yesterday, Tom from Bentalit Lodge which is about 2 miles from us and that we can drive to on ATV's picked up our mail when he went and it was in!!!!!  We went over there today and got the mail from them and filled water jugs.

Roger jacked up the cabin a couple inches today, taking it slow and easy and letting things settle each few inches. It has been a challenge to do with all the rain we have had. Today was the 27th day in a row that it rained! It has been one of the wettest, cloudiest, gloomiest summers on record here. :-(  And even with all the rain it is still dustier than all get out in this cabin! Nothing seems to stop the dust.

Well that is about all for tonight from me. Thanks for sharing our adventure.
Blessings, Myra

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

IT'S BEEN WET

Sorry we did not post last night, got side tracked.
I just got done reading that it has been the 8th wettest July on record around here. No Wonder I get wet every time I go outside. Anyhow, Rained it all day again yesterday. All I accomplished outside was getting the boat pumped out and peeling the rest of the logs for the Pilings. It was just pouring the majority of the day.
As Myra told you, we have a nice view of the river now and if the clouds ever lift I believe we will see the Tordillio Mountain Range. Time will tell on the distance view. When we get a good clear day I will snap some pictures and post them.
We are getting around to go to town as I type this (I should not be setting here but I felt bad for not posting last night), Myra is packing laundry to go. This is the first time we have hauled laundry to town to do it but there is a ton of it and it really needs a good machine washing. The hand washing is a huge amount of work and Myra's hands swells something terrible when she does it. I have to figure out a primitive mechanical washer for out here. We have sold the big Dark Gray Truck and are going to close the deal on that, we are getting the boat motor fixed, picking up the ATV part (hopefully) buying a used instant water heater (maybe) take the pup in to the Vet for his first shots, fax some papers, buy groceries and supplies, return a chainsaw part and buy the right one (I hope), sign up for a "fixed Wireless" phone and then do the things I haven't listed.
We are going to get the fixed wireless phone so you all can call us, especially if you have no long distance charges or lot's of minutes or free nights and weekends or whatever. We will be able to get free incoming calls at the cabin when we do this. The phone rates are outrageous up here and that is why we have been so restricted. It cost us 15 cents a minute to call out and the same for incoming if we go over minutes now. We will keep you posted (no pun intended) on the phone status.
A very busy couple of days in town just getting started, You may or may not hear from us again until Friday. We should be back home on Thursday but usually we are wiped out after the town / river trip. There is not much to post from town, as it is just the hectic life of the city.
Thanks for reading!
Talk to you soon.

Hi all. As Roger said it has been wet, wet, wet! And then wetter! I don't like the idea of hauling stuff to the laundromat but the hand washing thing is really hard on my hands. Especially jeans and things like that. With any luck all of the stuff we need  to do and get from town will happen so that we can came back home Thursday. Going into Wasilla is busy enough and this time we have to go to Anchorage too.
Time to get moving so that we can get some stuff done in town yet today. It will take at least 4 hours to get into Wasilla. And it is already 10:00 and we still need to load everything on the boat.
Blessings, Myra
Roger