Spring time in Alaska

Hi  folks, Monday was the day  of Spring. I decided  to celebrate by making a trip to my remote cabin. Monday, I met my friend Randy at his house about noon and we loaded up and left about 12:30. What a beautiful day to fly, the sky was clear and the sun bright.

We got to the cabin and Randy dropped me off and he left to go to his cabin 6 miles away. As I approached my cabin, I noticed snowmachine tracks leading up to my cabin. Oh no, ran through my mind.

I got some work done inside. I put down a rug I had at my town cabin.

I bought a new phone and hooked it up to my fixed cell box.

What you do is, hook the phone up to the box to the right then, hook the yagi antenna to the box

This antenna should be mounted above the roof but, My ladder is under the snow somewhere. I'll mount it when the snow is gone. I have in inverter below the shelf hooked up to a 12 volt battery to plug the phone and box in.

Here are some more photos I took. These are the Beluga mountains behind my cabin.

Here is the view of Denali from my place

These are random photos of my property and lake. This one is my lake

This is the antenna for my phone

Mmy new coffee pot

Enjoying a good cup of coffee

Randy picking me up

Had a visitor in my yard

The weather is getting much better, the daytime temps have been in the 20's and 30's, clear and sunny. We are now having 12 hours of daylight. I am presently waiting on my freighter to haul stuff out. He is very busy.

I am looking forward to the snow melting and my lake opens so I can get a lot of work done. By the way, remember the new refrigerator I bought? It turned out to be to big. It was hard to keep full for 1 person so, I sold it and replaced with a smaller one and it is working out very well. 

  Hope you like the pictures. Take care

Getting close

Good morning, it's 8:05 am and just had breakfast. Hash browns topped with 2 eggs.

mmmmm

I know it's been awhile since I posted, that's because not much going on and pure laziness. We've had quite a bit of snow since my last post.

Snowmachines

iiiiii

k

I cut up some  trees I cut down for a neighbor a couple of years ago.

Anyway, what I mean by getting closer is, I got a hold of a freighter to haul a couple of freight sled loads out to the cabin. Starting next week, I will be taking stuff to the staging area. Once it is all there, he will haul it out to the cabin. I haven't decided whether I will follow him out or fly out and meet him at the cabin. He figured about $400 for 2 sled fulls. The sleds are about 5'x14' long.

Next week, I will be running around getting propane, gas, etc. I plan on taking photos from now on to post and document the whole move. I'm getting really excited now that I am closer to getting it all together. so, stay tuned and I will try to post more frequently. Take care.

CABIN TRIP

Hi everyone,  made another trip to the cabin on Sunday. We left my friends house about 10 am and for once, no problems. It was a decent day to fly. I didn't take much stuff this time. Got a fire going and I hauled stuff out of the cabin and cleaned it out. Afterwards, me and Randy sat down opened a thermos full of coffee and had some homemade cookies. I apologize for no picture, I forgot my tripod. I did take a few pictures of my property.

I did start the day off with a good breakfast. Eggs, ham and hash browns.

MOOSE TRACK, they were all over my property.

Looking out towards my lake

My plan was to get the cabin completely cleaned out and as I started, Randy yelled to me that weather was setting in. Meaning snow.

Once again, the weather cut my trip short. It started snowing and it started to get colder and I couldn't more pictures because, my camera started freezing up. I took a picture of my wood stove fired up.

Sorry, it's the weathers fault.

When Randy and I were sitting there having coffee and cookies,  we decided that, there is no better life. It's beautiful out there and quiet. I decided, on my next trip out, I will spend 2-3 days and blog each day from the cabin. I was thinking about next weekend but, it is suppose to be in the negative figures and don't really want to leave my town cabin unheated for that long but, we shall see.

This week, I am going to get a hold of my freighter and make arrangements haul the bigger stuff out by snowmachine. I will definitely keep you all informed. I have to admit, I am getting excited about the move. Hopefully my next adventure will be finding a good partner. OK, that's it for now, hope you enjoy this trip. Take care.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Hi everyone, Merry Christmas. Today is a good day, I was glad for the two most important things I look forward to. Waking up alive and coffee, lol. The temps. have been slightly above 0 to -24 degrees. I started my day off with a good breakfast.

Eggs, toast and ham with coffee of course.

Then I kinda sat around enjoying my coffee and the quiet. After awhile, I went out to split firewood to replenish my inside stack.

With installing the ceiling and my great wood stove, this stack will last 3 days in -24 degrees.

There is nothing more invigorating than splitting wood in cold temperatures at 69 years old.

 We finally got plenty of snow and that makes me very very happy. Seems Winter is the only season that gets my juices flowing.

This is my Christmas tree, the very first one I have ever bought and artificial at that, oh well.

This is how it's looking here since the snow we got, my deck

I am so glad I bought that $40 snowblower, it took about 20 min. to clear the snow.

Now! I've been holding off posting for something special. Last Friday, my friend Randy and I flew out to the cabin and yes, there was a glitch. It was cold and I mean cold, around -5. The skiis were stuck to the ice on the lake so, I had to rock the wing until he moved it to the snow.  Then, the engine was taking longer to warm up which took about 40 min.

Finally, it warmed enough to fly. We took off and Randy noticed that the gas was reading below 8 gal. he said he put 15 gal. in. Then the plane stalled for about 5 seconds and a lump hit my throat. it immediately corrected and the fuel indicator showed 15 gal. Everything was cool then and I do mean cool, more like cold. He had a gap in his slider window that came back on me, glad I was dressed for it, lol.

We got to the cabin without a hitch. We carried stuff to the cabin then, Randy went back out and tamped down a  runway to take off. I went to work taking some re bar ( 6 foot pieces of 1/4" round metal bars) and tied bright orange surveyors tape to them and distribute them as a guide to my cabin.

Why you ask? I have made arrangements to start having  things freighted out to my cabin so, I can spend much more time out there and do some work. My friend Chris who runs a lodge 16 miles North of me will be grooming the trail and freight my stuff out in a week to 2 weeks..

I apologize for not providing pictures, it was so cold, my camera would not work. Next weekend is suppose to be in the 30's and if it is, I plan to spend 2-3 days. So, keep your fingers crossed. Take care.

"Tis the season"

        MERRY CHRISTMAS

              and

          HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wishing Everyone a very Merry Christmas. This is the most special time of the year for me. There is something about Christmas that affects me Spiritually, Emotionally and Happy. The only present I can hope for is, our world can come together and the hate would become a thing of the past.

Where is Winter?

Hi folks, that is the big question. So far, we had 2 snowfalls amounting to about 1/2 inch. Everything you see in the following pictures is frost.. That's right, we received more frost than snow.

This past month, the temperatures have been below 0 degrees the coldest was -11 and the highest is 15 degrees which is today. We are still waiting for the snow. In the meantime, I really haven't been doing much because of the cold except, splitting wood.

I have been making a few trips to town just to get out. A couple of days ago, I bought a Lazy Boy rocker recliner for $50.

Well, that's pretty much it for now.  I am working on a post describing my first remote caretaking days. I'm hoping to have it done by next weekend. Thanks for visiting.

THANKSGIVING

          HAPPY THANKSGIVING
                       

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. Please, think of those who are going without and if you can help, please do.