Squish Squish Squish

It finally stopped snowing and warmed up really quick, now everything is mud and slush... mush!

It warmed up so fast that we may have missed out on that sweet spot when the snow has melted enough so the truck doesn't get stuck but the mud (erm, ground) is still frozen enough so the truck doesn't get stuck. Just means more small trips around the place with the ATV and getting everything muddy and sloggy dragging it in the sled instead of a few larger and relatively mud-free and dry trips in the back of the truck.

But, hey, at least we can't complain that everything outside is buried... now it's just under water. And again experiencing that wonderful Christmas morning feeling when something you've been searching for all winter finally reappears as if by magic :)

It only took a couple warm days for the mosquitoes to be out in full swing, so I'd better get the dunks spread around the place to hopefully keep the worst of them at bay. At least right around the cabin, hopefully, please, I really don't want to be twitchy and anemic another summer LOL.

Fingers crossed that we don't have a rainy spring & summer this year so our poor trail gets a chance to dry out completely for the first time in nearly 2 years. I might be paranoid, but I'm beginning to think the dry summer we had the year we came up to look at the property and the first year we were here was just a rouse. The NOAA was in on the deception, or else failed to mention that the 16" of precip in this area was really monthly and not annual. The cake was a lie I tell ya!

Random realizations and DOH! moments:

1. If you buy lumber that won't fit in your truck/car and you know you have to cut it when you get home for the project anyway, just bring the cordless circular saw with you and cut it right there in the parking lot. (assuming that the hardware store isn't nice enough to offer this as a free service)
2. And if you have sheet goods with multiple or complex cuts (which even nice stores get peeved about do for you) you can do the same if you remember your portable table saw and generator.
3. Following on that theme, if you know the firewood you're picking up is too heavy to load into your lifted truck by yourself, just bring the generator and log splitter with you to the site and have fun tossing cordwood instead... I mean, you have to process it somewhere eventually right?

Snowing... Again... Really

We have gotten some serious snow this year. We have snow up to the doorstep... which is over 2' off the ground and we even shoveled that area!! All our paths look like canyons carved through the snow just wide enough to get the sled through. I must have shoveled at least 10 tons of snow between clearing paths, excavating our stored supplies, and digging the truck out of drifts. There are drifts up to my chest in the woods around us, and most places are at least up to my hips when I punch through the hard pack. CRAZY.

And wouldn't you know, after clearing a whole bunch more while it was sunny and melty last week... it's decided to snow AGAIN. So far, we've gotten at least another 8-9 inches this weekend and it's still coming down hard.  I swear shoveling and snow must be like washing your car and rain.

Other than the return of the sun and temps mostly above zero, you sure wouldn't guess that it's nearly April. Other folks down in the L48 are already harvesting their early garden crops and we can't even see the tops of most saplings much less any soil. I'm betting that we're going to have a long squelchy mucky boggy break up again this year. The truck is already parked at the top of the driveway because of the snow, maybe it's time we took her up to the road before everything turns to mud.

Coming Soon to a Homestead Near You... Lake Wardle v3.0 -- JOY!!

Status Update March 12 2012

OK so this one's going out specifically for Diana (yes you know who you are...).

I know we've been a little quiet for a while, we've taken some time off, and of course received a couple of good dosings of winter crud from the local village. So we've been in a state of mostly hibernation for the past month. However we are alive and well, and are recovering or have recovered from the crud (at times it seems like the gift that just keeps on giving).

So what have we been up to, not much I guess, we miscalculated on the firewood for the heating season, so I've been doing daily patrols to reclaim a bunch of the dead standing we still have from the 1969 fire that came through here. We've also gotten on with a couple of inside tasks while we've been mostly locked out of outside work due to temps (except the firewood of course).

However on the positive front this has given me the ability to reclaim much of my complete lack of video-gaming time from the previous couple of years. Ahhhh. how's that living in the Alaskan bush and playing video games, now I know you guys all are 100% positive I'm crazy, and only 99% positive Plickety is crazy.

We're still looking for our card reader on the photo front, I suspect it's still in the tent, which had a slight discombobulation over the winter, with us not being in it, and getting significantly more snow that we've received in previous years. I'm not sure if we were in it, whether the main ridge support would have given out, or not, maybe we made the right decision to live in the cabin after all. It does make it difficult to recover stuff that was left there however, since the center of the tent is currently about 2' from the floor. Fortunately other than the conduit everything else looks fine. So with some more lengths of Conduit it will be returning to service as soon as we can either figure out how to remove the snow "in" the former roof, or it melts whichever comes sooner.

Other challenges we're having involve the trail from our cabin to the easement, since it's rarely traveled, and with the snow we've had (and drifting) the clearing for the tent we made isn't worth the risk of getting stuck, and because it's a clearing if we do then we can't just winch ourselves out. So the big red truck that can, is currently parked just on our property at the trailhead. The easement is mostly OK, except for where our neighbors dig it up using their vehicles, this is a problem right now, since temps are not as low as they have been so the hardpack tends to fracture under pressure, and surprisingly our truck is light footed in comparison to SUV's and so on. Oh well, these things are sent to try us, in  4-6 weeks we'll be parked out by the Highway anyway.

Anyway that's what's up, and proof positive we make just as many mistakes as anyone else. For instance leaving stuff in an unoccupied wall tent over the winter, and being a little lackadaisical on the trail maintenance.

Sadness - Charlie Kitten RIP

After a sudden onset illness and two days of rapid decline, our Charlie passed away in my arms early this morning.

We aren't sure of the cause; but we did our best nursing her and keeping her as comfortable as possible. Ultra-low temperatures precluded us from making the 4 hour trip into Fairbanks to get her to the vet despite our continued efforts to get the truck running and on the road.

We adopted Charlie in 2007 from our vet while Odin was hospitalized the first time after being diagnosed with diabetes and chronic renal insufficiency. She had been abandoned by her previous owner and had been living in the vet's kennel for nearly a year at that point, so we have never been sure exactly how old she was.

Despite general crankiness, Charlie was a loving and adorable kitty. She was with us and provided comfort throughout Odin's illness and eventual death in 2008, and the death of his sister Celine in 2009 of massive stroke shortly after we arrived here. She valiantly survived a drive through Canada, two winters in wall tent and Ripley's puppyhood.

Charlie will be sorely missed, everyday, as I miss Odin and Celine.

Still Ticking

"Partly cloudy. Patchy ice fog. Lows 30 below to 45 below. Light winds."

Pretty much sums it up ;) Seriously, we get B-grade horror movie effects every time we open the door as the warm interior vapor rapid chills and forms a thick layer of fog across the floor when the cold air rushes into the living room. It's trippy.

We've been staying inside warm and cozy unless it's absolutely critical to be out and about. Even then, we try to limit it to as short a time as possible. Getting bits and pieces of projects done a little at a time... mostly depending on whether it's warm enough for the generator to run, or the truck to start. The poor ATV is hibernating, even a warm freshly charged battery and plugging her in on the generator won't get or keep her running most days. Not to mention that I keep having to either dig building materials out from underneath 4-5 feet of snow, or whatever I need is buried and hiding somewhere in the crap we have stacked up all over the house.

I truly loathe living in an active work space, and working in an active living space. The first 90 minutes of every project is moving everything "domestic" out of the way and gathering up/moving in all of today's materials so you can work. And the last 30 minutes, at least, are spent putting all the work stuff away somewhere and re-establishing domesticity so you aren't reaching over a 5 gallon bucket of paint while you're making dinner. Considering that we only have about 5 hours of sunlight these days, it doesn't leave a lot of time to get anything done that requires light and power tools. We can either have lights bright enough to work or have big power draws, but not both!! And I really don't want to try doing precision finish work with a headlamp or a handheld battery-op saw.  I admit it, I am just not that good (or maybe I'm just that OCD heee!).

We gotten the joy of being trapped inside the house because the doors froze shut. Not just a teeny bit of seasonal swelling, but actual creepers of ice sealing the jamb. T'was very special... we needed a heat gun, jimmy bar and deadblow mallet just so Ripley could go out for a pee LOL!  I think before next winter we'll need to get a different heater, and possibly a different stove, because the "unvented" models we have now are putting out just a teeny bit too much humidity (they're safe indoors, just create water vapor). Since the rest of the house is so tight, the condensation is icing up the windows and doors something chronic. Of course, we'll (hopefully) have everything properly installed, insulated, caulked, and painted as well as the arctic entry porches built... which should all help immensely. It will at least move the condensation and frost zone out a couple feet. Heck, I might even have curtains up next winter... gasp!!!!!


With any luck, I'll at least have the kitchen, pantry and bathroom squared away before break up. If I'm really lucky, it'll be done before it warms up enough for engines to run properly and we need to focus on getting in next year's wood. Because, really, the disorganized mess is driving me totally bug-nuts. Having Aspergers, I don't usually get cabin fever like "normal" people because I like to spend time cooped up by myself, but I do get a little freaked out when things in my space aren't organized and put away properly. (OK, a lot freaked out, so I'm spending a lot of time rocking in my recliner while window-shopping for organizers and pantry canisters online in an attempt to self-soothe).

But, all in all, we're doing well. Hanging in there and taking it a bit easy this winter now that we aren't freezing our tails off in the tent ;)

Taking some time off

Hey Guys,

Just a short posting to let you all know that things are going ok. We've opted since we're comfortable to take some time out of our schedule to just kick back and relax a little. Since the Days are short, and it's been a little chilly, we're not exactly in the heart of construction season anyway. Although saying that we've been in positive digits on temperatures for a couple of weeks at least, and we have a rather heavy snow build up in comparison to our two previous years.

Anyway this is just a short notice to let you know we're doing fine, and not to worry. Happy belated Thanksgiving, and hope you and your families have a great holiday season.

Warm and Toasty

We started to move into the cabin this past Friday once it became apparent that the snow wasn't likely to stop. It's been sooooo nice sleeping in a warm, dry and level place again!! We've been scurrying around moving the essentials from the tent with the truck and ATV, and getting rudimentary utilities set up down here at the cabin. Got the battery bank and inverter moved (ow ow ow - pulled muscles!!!) and the electrical panel with a couple circuits wired so we could get the satellite dish mounted and internet back online.

We'll be rushing around the next few days to get the rest of the electrical wired and our water tank/plumbing sorted ahead of the forecasted winter storms headed our way. Once that's done and we can organize the living space so we're not tripping and climbing over boxes, totes and buckets, I'll write up a longer status post with the many pictures of our progress (yay, I found the camera's card reader) all from my new cushy recliner!! Imagine, real, comfortable seating again instead of folding camp chairs... what luxury!!

We can worry about getting the non-essentials and the tent down to the site and getting the rest of the drywall and flooring done in the pantry and bathroom; and doing a bit of additional clearing and organizing outside before the snow gets too deep, etc. All the remaining interior finish work can keep us busy during the long winter... and we won't even have to freeze doing it this year, or have to work with Gumby Gloves and Frankenboots on -- WooHoo :)