Ah, the Joys of "helping" people

Ok so after a little mail exchange today with one of our followers, who apparently is a little upset that we haven't responded to them personally since, oh I dunno mid December (I mean hell 3 weeks is an eternity right...?), here's Gungnir's rules for helping out with advice for those who want to try to follow in our metaphoric footsteps or just want to know how we did something.

1. We will respond as our schedules will allow, we offer advice for free, we are real people with real lives this isn't a reality show and we're not getting paid for it. That means that sometimes we're not able, willing or even motivated enough to provide you with a timely service (that's timely according you your timeline not ours). If you'd like a timely service them please feel free to contact with a consulting company of which there are many for your questions, often these companies will charge a fee, but as they say you get what you pay for.
2. Do not whinge, demand, act entitled, or be disrespectful, you asked for our help, we did not ask to help you out. Any of these acts will likely cause me to either delay or completely ignore any subsequent contact. If you respond with some kind of negative mail I will respond with perhaps good advice that may help you adjust to life in Alaska (if you ever get here) you a free to ignore this advice, however we are not so different to most Alaskans, so if you do choose to ignore this advice then you may later find that Alaska is not the place for you. Most important advice I ever give is that in Alaska, unless you set a date, people who agree to help will help when their schedule allows (this means when they feel like it). Don't have a hissy fit if you haven't set a date you want the help by, and you blow past that date, that just makes the person who agreed to help to retract the offer, and flip the bozo bit. Independence is highly respected here, go get some if you don't have some already.
   
3. Follow the blog and postings that are made, often you will see hints and tips explaining what we're doing, or our current status, that will give you an idea as to our immediate priorities and any possible delays. Bear in mind there is always fuel and water to haul, and wood to split on top of anything else that you're seeing.
   
4. Winter is not the best time to ask for assistance, we currently use about 1/3-1/2 cord of wood a week that needs splitting for heating, not doing this is not an option in less than a day our living space will be at ambient temperature, so even when we're sick, tired, and have no light this is happening (more than once I've had to split a 1/8 cord at 9:00pm and 30 below because something got us home late). It's tedious and a grind, and it can make us a little cranky. It's necessary however, because without doing it, we would at times never get the generator running so we could get the truck running, and that's assuming that the temperature is high enough so that we are not at risk of dying by being at that sustained temperature. Next year may be different, we'll let you know.
   
5. If you have a deadline, then let us know. For 10 years prior to this my work environment was based around deadlines, if there is no deadline, then I'll get around to it when it's convenient, which may mean that other priorities are put first, including the less enjoyable priorities of taking the poop buckets to our pile or the more enjoyable such as sighting in a rifle or getting some plinking or just sleeping in may be prioritized far ahead of your current burning issue.
6. Be prepared to look at your problem from our situation, we are trying to build a house in a place where the road is a mile away, that road leads roughly 135 miles to the nearest real civilization as people in the lower 48 know it. We have done nearly all of what we have by ourselves, everything here was brought in by us, from the lumber for the house to the gas for the generators. There have been no vacations, time off is what we have after we've done the chores, or going to watch a game in the NFL playoffs at a friends in Manley. There are no weekends here, no schedule except chores.
   
7. Your emergency is not my priority.
   

So after all of that, if you still want our help and advice, then please feel free to contact us, either as a comment, or in private. Since this is the first person that we've helped who responded in this way (strangely no one else has complained) I figure that it might be a good idea to post my ground rules. As a by the way, if you offer help to us, those same rules apply to us. At least one of our readers knows this, he offered to come help out this summer, and for one reason or another it didn't come about (you know who you are ;P) no problems at all we appreciate the offer and will accept it wholeheartedly when their situation is such that they can deliver on their offer.