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It's been quite a while and we have a lot to go over so we'd better get started. This is going to be mostly about the East Pole so be ready for that. I seem to be all healed from my adventure with the maul that sent me to the emergency room last time. Big whew on that one. You get to be my age and you wonder every time you get hurt if this one's going to be permanent  I came in to the East Pole two days ago. I can't remember having a better trail – like a highway. Then I got farther up the trail to the cabin than ever before pulling a heavy freight sled. I was here with everything in the cabin in less than two hours. Even got the snowmachine unstuck where it had stopped. And for once I wasn't exhausted. Sometimes parts of that chore slop over into the next day.
     Chickadees arrived just about the same time, so I fed birds even before I got a fire stated. It's been cold here and the indoor thermometer read zero. In two hours it had reached comfort level though not completely warmed yet. Opened the cabinet doors to thaw all the canned goods.
     By midday Sunday I was moved in and living here and comfortable with it. That usually takes three days or more. Felt so good I made a real meal, roasted chicken breast, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. Usually it's Dinty Moore and Chef  Boy R Dee for the first few days.
    Had a bit of a mystery early on. A couple of days before I left last time I had tried to bring down a huge birch tree for firewood. Talking 70 or 80 feet, another one that blocked the Denali view. The problem was it didn't fall. I cut the notch on the side where I wanted it to fall and then a horizontal cut above it from the other side. I got almost halfway through and the tree leaned backward pinching the bar and chain in the cut under a couple of tons of heavy birch. I tried yanking it in a couple of directions with a come-along but it wouldn't budge. I finally had to give up. I unbolted the bar and chain from the rest of the saw and took it up the hill, hoping the tree would fall while I was gone.
     Well it had fallen all right but a new snowfall buried it. A few cursory eyeball searches couldn't locate it. No visible bumps in directions I had thought it would fall. So yesterday I went down and poked around with my avalanche probe. I found it but it had fallen in quite a different direction than I had expected. As a matter of fact if you drew a line between the two expected paths, this would have made a 90-degree angle. That's the kind of situation that made logging one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. I am glad I wasn't cutting at it when it went down.
       By that time it was getting late so I went back to the cabin. I did a test of my arm and tried to split one of the huge sections left over from the last tree. I did it with a small sledge hammer and a wedge and split it into halves. Those I could split more with the small maul, a sled full.
     Then today I reassembled the chainsaw with new bar and chain and headed down the hill. It took two tanks full of gas but it is now all dug out and cut into sections. I brought three up and found out something wonderful. They split easily. I was just trying it out to see how they would work and didn't expect that. I was able to split all three including one of the huge ones that came from near the base of the tree. So now I am even for the trip so far, three sleds of firewood out to burn, three put on the stacks. If it's this easy I will get well ahead of it by the time I am done with this tree. Next year's firewood..
     Clear and cold and I see a half  moon a'risng and Venus bright off to the northwest. Temperature goes just below zero at night and then up to almost 20 during the day. Beautiful night skys with moon shadows playing down the hill. Not quite warm  enough to sit on the porch with a scotch in the sun yet, but it's coming. I even learned something about my camera today that will make my pictures better. Nothing to help my view of things though.
    At this writing there is a faint line of pink right on the horizon. The mountains are black shadows against a sky deep gray heading into the night. A few stars out to accompany Venus on her voyage through the night. Creedence on the stereo. Peaceful. Good to be home.