Tuesday November 26, 1996
We came in for Thanksgiving. We
brought in a new chair for kids that folds into a bed. On the way in his mom's
sled broke. We got to the Earth station around 3 pm. Bob Rosenberg was there
and said he had seen bear tracks in the trail. Everything went smoothly. We
could still see where I broke through the ice at Whisky Slough a couple of
weeks earlier. We ate too much soup. No bears,
Wednesday, November 27, 1996
About +10 F at wakeup. We could
see the mountain for part of the day. It started snowing in the evening. I went
out and got the rest of our stuff. Did a big 3-D puzzle. Justin won at Trivial
Pursuit. Built a big Lego house and got ourselves orcanized.
Thursday November 28, 1996
Snowed lightly all day. temp +20˚F.
Rollie, Mary, Melissa and Megan Ostermick came out for Thanksgiving. The two
girls (in their teens) skijored all the way in. Then with Justin they played
all afternoon including making a big trail down our sledding hill. The adults
talked all afternoon while we prepared dinner and drank cranberry slush with a
little vodka mixed in it. Went out around 9 p.m. to. get the Ostermicks home
and I didn't get back until 11. The trail was good and fast. I noticed what
looked like several moose bed indentations in the snow near the trail up to the
cabin
Friday November 29, 1996
Snowed lightly in the morning,
10-20˚, The mountain came out for a little while. Temp turned colder in the
evening.
Justin had a long nap. Then he and
his mother did a lot of playing in the snow, sledding and even made a sled
jump. I tried to make a trail up to the lake but didn't get the whole way. I
fixed the other snowmachine. Ridlings are in across the trail. They said they
saw a big bull moose in the swamp area. I won at trivia.
Saturday November 30, 1996
5˚ at wakeup.
Justin took his snowboard in deep
snow to the lake. He even passed me on the snowmachine where I was stuck on the
way. Then he and I went over to the Ridling's where he played with the kids
while John told me about that moose. It was a big bull ran and right at them.
they took off and it followed them for a minute or two.
In the afternoon all the kids came
over to our place and everybody took to our sled hill. After that almost worn
out, most of the kids went back to their cabin, all but Josh who stayed to play
with Justin indoors for a while. We all worked on a puzzle. Outside the clouds
faded a little but the mountain never came out. Snow started toward evening.
Justin' mom skied for a while until she learned about that moose. I made
Justin's desk ready to take back to Valdez. He drove the machine almost all the
way home. About 10˚ in the evening. We go out tomorrow.
Saturday December 21, 1996
Clear and 18˚ Mountain was out all
day. I was already there; Justin and his mother came over from Valdez today.
They arrived at the trailhead around 2:30 p.m. Had been using her snowmachine
because mine was in the shop having quit from the dunking it got in Whiskey
Slough about a month earlier. I moved to the four-wheeler (OK as long as the
trail remained clear and hard packed). Justin rode with his mom. The cabin was.
warm and everything was in its place. I had brought most of our supplies when I
came out earlier. Reasonably calm for a first day, but tired we all went to bed
early.
Sunday December 22, 1996
Clear and 10 to 20˚ Mountain was
out all day. Got the Christmas tree, best one yet. Set it up in the northwest
corner. Justin won the Garfield game. We took it easy all day;
Monday December 23, 1996.
The day before the
day before Christmas
Clear and sunny for one of the
shortest days of the year, 10-20˚ Mountain was out. We woke up early enough to
see a spectacular moonset over the mountain.
I cut a dead spruce down for
firewood but the chainsaw wasn't working very well and I had to stop before bucking
it up into stove lengths. Justin and his mom made a fort in the branches. Then then
they went for a walk around Squirrel Hill. Later she went across the big hill,
coming down the big slope behind the house.
Tuesday December 24, 1996. Christmas
Eve
10˚ at wakeup
and a bright full moon moving through a few clouds, and we saw another
spectacular moonset.
The pile of
presents under the tree looked bigger. Justin and I went out the trail all the
way to Talkeetna for some ice cream. He ate two fudgesicles. We saw four moose
including a big bull still sporting antlers. I wondered if it was the one that
chased John Ridling at Thanksgiving and we kept our distance. When we returned,
the pile of presents looked bigger. Justn and his mother went sledding for a
while and worked on their fort in the fallen tree at the bottom of the hill.
They uncovered a pile of moose nuggets. (In winter moose nibble on twigs for
sustenance and as a result leave droppings consisting mostly of digested wood
in the form of nuggets.) When they came back the pile of presents looked even
bigger. I read Justin some of "The Hobbit" and he fell asleep. So did
his mom. When they woke up they said the presents pile looked bigger. Outside
we heard Boone's trail howl as he chased squirrels.
Later we had dinner and let Justin
open one present. He was worried Santa wouldn't find us out here in the woods. I
told him I would take care of that and I went about lighting up a runway for Santa.
I had planned for this. I took a box of votive candles and a bunch of brown
sandwich bags and headed down the trail. At intervals, I spread open a bag, put
a candle in it, and lighted it. When I finished we had a lighted landing strip
all the way out to the main trail. That satisfied Justin and he stood for
several minutes looking out the picture window at the curving line of lights on
the trail.
Temperature 0˚ at 7:30 pm.
Wednesday December 25, 1996. Christmas Day
10˚ to 20 ˚ and. clear with
mountains all day. Justin rose very early but we held him back, only allowed
opening his stocking. We ate a quick breakfast and then tackled the pile of
presents. Three moose were hanging around at the bottom of the hill most of the
morning. I called them "Christmoose." At one point Boone chased a
moose but he gave up quickly fighting deep snow that the moose got through much
easier than he did. Mom and dad were kind of grumpy all day for lack of sleep.
Thursday December 26, 1996.
10-20˚ Clear and the mountains were
out.
 |
| Morning light |
We
went over to the creek for water. Justin took a walk over the new bridge. Later
Johnny came over to play. We played 13 Dead End Drive. Dull day.
Friday December 27, 1996.
Clear and warmer, above 20˚ Me
moping all day for some reason. Justin and his mother went sledding for a
while. I asked Sue when she called John
if she would ask if he would bring me back a bar and chain for my chainsaw. We
visited with the Ridlings for a while and came home late. I read Justin a
little more of "The Hobbit."
Saturday December 28, 1996.
Clear, 5˚ at wakeup. Mountains out
with some thin clouds overhead.
Saturday December 28, 1996.
Clear, 5˚ at wakeup. Mountains out
with some thin clouds overhead.
We had another moose in the yard all
morning. Joh brought over the parts for the chainsaw and I worked on that until
I had it running again. An uneventful day.
Sunday December 29, 1996.
Getting colder, temperature dropped to
zero overflight. I got the chainsaw running and bucked up the rest of that
tree I cut and started hauling the chunks up to the house for splitting,
cursing Henry David Thoreau the whole time. You see Thoreau wrote wood warms
you twice, once when you split and again when you burn it. It's obvious he had
his firewood delivered. I have counted at least six warming points in the
process. Here's some more about that. Firewood and Revery I also put two wedges on the center support for the floor.
Monday December 30, 1996.
Clear and cold again. You could tell
January was coming. Minus 10˚ at wakeup, rose to +10 during the day. We went up
to the lake and Justin ran the snowmachine a little more. I noticed sunlight
reflecting off the snow part way down the hillside on the lake's south shore,
another sign January was approaching. The high hill on the south side of the
cabin blocks the sun from around Thanksgiving until early January. The return
of the light is almost festive. I usually noticed it January 14 which is
Justin's birthday. If it happened on a certain day of the week, I called it Sun
day, Son day. Sunday. We climbed up into the sunshine and reveled in it for a
while. Justin's mother skijored all around the lake twice. We went over to John
and Sue's for a while after dinner.
Tuesday December 31, 1996.
Minus 10˚ When we woke up. I made a
quick trip out to refill the propane tank and (of course) pick up some ice
cream. When I came back Justin and I headed for the creek to refill the water
containers. His mother didn't feel well and took it easy all day. I hauled a
bunch of wood chunks up the hill to the chopping block.
I roasted a rack of lamb in the Webber
for New Year's Eve dinner. We had our New Year's bonfire but we all fell asleep
before midnight.
Wednesday January 1, 1997.
5˚ below at wakeup. Justin and his
mother spent couple of hours adding to their tree fort at the bottom of the
hill. I spent most of the rest of the day dealing with the firewood. It's a
never-ending chore. We played Trivia in the evening and I won.
Thursday January 2, 1997.
We went out today to see the movie
"Space Jam." Then Justin and his mother went on to Valdez while I
came back and spent the next three days trying to get in as much firewood as
possible and get the cabin in order as I wasn't sure when we'd be back.
Clouds were forming and not the nice
fluffy ones like you see in the sky.
Wednesday March 26, 1997
Clear
all day flirting with 40 degrees, then down to 10˚ at night. I had come out
alone and this day drove to Wasilla to meet Justin and his mother and then
bring him back to the cabin with me. His mother and I had separated and a nasty
divorce epic was beginning. We had an easy trip in to the cabin and played
around for most of the day. As a special treat in the evening we spotted the
Hale Bopp Comet out the big window and there was still enough light to make out
the mountains underneath it. (As usual when I spot something exciting I forgot
I owned a camera.) We also heard two different kinds of owls hooting in the woods.
Thursday March 27, 1997
Clear. Warm during the day, cold at
night. Mountains were out all day. We went sledding. I cut up a huge spruce
tree that had fallen across our trail — firewood lengths. We saw several
squirrels over the day. We played several games. Justin said I snore very loud.
John Ridling came up for dinner. We spotted Hale Bopp again. We started reading
"Lord of the Rings."
Friday March 28, 1997
Clear and the mountains were out
all day. On days like this I often stop and gaze across the hills to the
mountains and simply appreciate where I am. Warm in the days, cold in the
night, perfect March weather. I hauled all the wood from the blowdown up the
hill for splitting. In the afternoon we went for a snowmachine ride. Justin
drove almost two miles, (Understand, I sit behind him on the seat and hold him
in place and always ready to correct a mistake.) After a while he complained
his thumb hurt. I tried to show him how to hold throttle deep against his skin
between his thumb and first finger, but his hand was just too small. When we returned
I split some of the spruce firewood, a lot easier than birch. The mountain
turned pink in the sunset as we waited to see Hale Bopp again.
Saturday March 29, 1997
Clear again at wakeup and all day.
10˚ to 40˚ We could see the mountains all day. We made a trip to Larson creek
for water and Justin broke a bunch of hard ice by throwing rocks. Back at the
cabin Justin had some fun playing race to the outhouse. John came up for dinner
again. Hale Bopp showed up and Justin said it was little and had one face
(whatever that means). He went to bed early to wait for the Easter Bunny.
Sunday March 30, 1997
Clear again, 10˚ at wakeup. Easter!
Justin followed a trail of chocolate eggs (indoors) to a Hot Wheels Easter
basket. We Had to leave that day.
[NOTE: Life there became
interrupted by large gaps between trips to the cabin. The divorce turned
serious. I thought through several paths I could follow. I finally decided to
build a new house in the same neighborhood, not visible to each other, but close
enough for Justin to run back and forth. I had to focus on building and
legalities for a while.]
Thursday July 3, 1997 (3 months)
House
building materials had been held up so we went to the cabin. All the way from Valdez to the cabin in one
shot, got there at 2 p.m. after taking a couple of breaks along the trail. Made
it all the way up to the cabin on the four-wheeler. Temperature was HOT, not
used to that here. Later I drove out to the landing where Larson Creek flows
into the Talkeetna River to pick up some things for the Ridlings. We had
hamburgers for dinner at their house. Justin ate two.
Friday July 4, 1997
Sunny and hot, with clouds over
toward the mountains blocking the view. I split some more firewood and cleared
a path to the outhouse. I also built steps to the deck. Justin entertained
himself occupied with his toys. A thunder storm cooled things off a bit. We had
a steak dinner with John and Sue Ridling. Justin actually ate some cantaloupe.
We rode around a little on the four-wheeler while we drove back to our cabin.
Went to bed around 10 pm.
Saturday July 5, 1997
Overcast
in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon. I cut some logs that had fallen
in the main trail to add to our firewood pile and then dug out an ugly stump
near the house. At 3 we went fishing at the mouth of Larson Creek. We didn't
catch any fish but we had another thunderstorm while we were there. We came
home, ate dinner, then cleaned the place up because we had to go out the next
day.
Sunday July 6, 1997
Saw a woodpecker in the morning and
Justin called to some ravens. Then we headed for Valdez.
Friday August 29, 1997
Justin and I came in today, Sunny
and hot. The trail was full of puddles. Justin had to walk around some of them.
We reached the cabin around 3 in the afternoon. A bear had been there. The
hammer that I use to nail the bearboards in place to protect windows and the
door had been knocked off the window shelf where I left it and the shelf had
been chewed. That shelf is outside of a kitchen window over the cooking stove
and any number of food scents could have been engrained in the wood. Also some
Visqueen I'd covered some firewood with was torn up. A plastic gasoline and
some foam insulation panels had also been pulled out from under the east end of
the cabin. There were claw and tooth marks in the panel pieces. As bad as that
may sound, I was pretty proud of myself; the damage was minimal and the bear
had not been able to enter the house. Inside we played some games and had lunch
for dinner. At least Justin did.
Saturday August 30, 1997
Rain drizzled on and off all day.
We stayed indoors most of the day and played several games. When we tired of
that we dug out the Legos and build the large sheriff's office and jail. When
the drizzle finally let up I went out and dug up two more stumps that had been
in the way of the snowmachine for years. Justin won a Trivia game for about the
fifth time. I won only once. We had steak and noodles. We went to bed early.
Sunday August 31, 1997
It rained hard during the night and
all day. We are going out today after lunch so we spent the morning preparing
the cabin for a long vacancy. With all the rain we expected the puddles in the
trail will be even worse than when we came in and that proved true. WE were
covered with mud and soaked by the time we got to the trailhead and had to
change clothes and take off our boots before we got into the car.
[NOTE: There is a huge gap
in the narrative, almost a year. The materials to build that house in Valdez
were scheduled to arrive in the first two weeks of September and I went to work,
interspersed with demands of my job. I had gotten far enough to move in by mid-February
but there was still a lot of inside work to be done. And the cabin sort of lost
its priority as I adjusted to this new life of having Justin every other week.
I agreed to let his mother (who was a teacher) keep him over the summer
vacation. The result was I didn't get back to the East Pole until late May
1998.]
Saturday May 23, 1998
Justin and I came in today over a
trail that was muddy and difficult. We got stuck three times going up Jeep
hill. (The first, biggest, toughest hill
on the trail.) After that it was better but still muddy. We got to the cabin
around 1pm, washed ourselves and changed clothes. Then we went down to John and
Sue's. I went to the Larson Creek landing to pick up some gear a boat had left
for them there, two trips. That done we went back to our cabin for a while and
took a rest. Then we went back down the hill for dinner. Justin ate a lot.
first hamburger, then steak. After dinner we came back and fell asleep
listening to The Green Hornet.
Sunday May 24, 1998
We slept late and played most of
the morning, Had breakfast at 10:30. Played Junior Trivia and Justin won again.
We took a nap until 3:30. Then we went back down to John and Sue’s and the kids
played for a while the everyone trudged up to our place where they played
outside. We went back there for dinner and let the kids shoot off some bottle
rockets. Back home and ready for bed at 9:30. Out tomorrow.
Sunday May 24, 1998
Overcast. 45˚ We took John and
Sue's stuff to the Larson Creek landing. Justin spotted a moose and thought it
was a horse at first. It was just starting to grow antlers. We left at 9:15 for
the trip back to Valdez.
Friday July 3, 1998
Partly cloudy and warm. It rained
all night. We came all the way from Valdez in one day. Rached the cabin around
2 pm. Everything was fine. We saw a whole family of spruce grouse in the trail.
The hen played. broken-wing to guide us away from the chicks. The trail was
almost dry and in good shape. Justin got a BB gun and can shoot it very well at
the age of 8. We made a no-bake cheesecake and took it down for dinner with the
Ridlings. We didn’t get back home until 1 a.m.
Saturday July 4, 1998
Rained all night, warm and cloudy
all day. We got up late, ate breakfast, then played a game of Garfield. Played
Sorry too. Justin won 2 out of 3. Then we went down to John and Sue's and
Justin and Tres played Star Wars. After that we went to the creek for water.
Came home and took a nap. Fireworks tonight. We hung around the house until
early evening then went back to the Ridlings' place and set off our fireworks.
We took a round-about4-wheeler ride going home to bed. In bed we read a lot of
Garfield.
Sunday July 5, 1998
Overcast 55˚. We are on our way out
at 9 a.m.
Sunday August 16, 1998
Rain! We came in today in the rain.
The trail was full of puddles. It took almost two hours to come in on the
four-wheeler. Everything fine at the cabin. The rest of the day it would rain
hard and then the sun would come out for a while then the rain returned. A lot
of wet clothing hanging around the place. We played Milles Bournes.
Monday August 17, 1998
We went to Talkeetna to meet
visiting relatives Larry, Gretchen and their daughter Kelly. Instead of hiking,
they rode up. to the Larson Creek landing in a boat while I drove back on the
four-wheeler. Justin went with them. It would be his first trip on the river. I
had filled three jugs with water from the creek by the time they arrived, we
loaded their gear into the trailer and headed for the cabin, everybody hiking
and me on the four-wheeler. I managed to get stuck in a puddle and put Justin
on the wheeler to drive while I waded in behind and pushed. A fellow hiking
down the trail came over to help push and we got it out. The relatives didn't
have the footwear to slog through a deep, long puddle. At the cabin we relaxed
and talked for a while — lots of questions to answer. Justin showed them his BB
gun and he and Kelly and then Larry took turns shooting. That led to the .22
and more shooting. I roasted a big chateaubriand in the Weber for dinner. After
dinner we chatted while Justin, Kelly and Larry played Trivial Pursuit. Tuesday
August 18, 1998
Clearing and sunny in the morning
but the temperature had dropped to 35˚. After breakfast we played a huge game
of Monopoly. I won that one. Then we had lunch and traipsed back to the Larson
Creek landing to meet the river boat coming to take them back. When the boat
arrived we said our good-byes and waved as they headed back down the river.
Back at the cabin we played Dungeon and recovered, had a dinner of leftovers
and read to the end of Treasure Island.
Wednesday August 19, 1998
34˚ at wakeup and the mountains are
out. Lots of cleaning and putting things away so we can go out today. With two
days of sunshine the trail had improve and the trip out proved uneventful.
Saturday December 26, 1998 (Christmas Eve for us.
Custody, you know.)
We came in all the way from Valdez
in one shot. Justn drove the new snowmachine all the way. First time. Yay!
Temperature was zero inside the cabin when we got there. This was one of those
times I had a fire all laid out in the stove and got it going with one match. I
started up the cook stove and made us some warm split pea soup. In about two
hours the cabin had. warmed to 60 degrees. Wee brought in our supplies and then
went down to Ridlings' for a few minutes where we had turkey sandwiches from
their Christmas dinner. Then back to our place where two exhausted guys went to
sleep early.
Sunday December 27, 1998
0˚ when we woke up. The mountain
shined bright in. pink alpenglow. WE straightened things up, then headed out
for the trailhead to greet some guests. Friends Vince and Jennie Kelly were coming
in with their daughters Linnea and Malaika. Justin drove one machine with me pulling
a sled with Jennie and baby Linnea. Vince drove the other with Malaika riding
behind him on the seat.
The whole thing
