Getting ready yet again

Snow level on Pioneer Peak 10/10/18

     Finally some termination dust showed up on the mountain, maybe a month to a month and a half
late. It isn't a lot and doesn't come down a thousand feet on the slope yet but at least it holds the promise of winter. And what does winter mean? Well, T.S, Elliot wrote in "The Wasteland:" "I read late into the night and go south for the winter." Only, I go north for the winter, just as soon as there's enough snow to make the trail passable with the snowmachine.
     That doesn't mean I haven't been absorbed by one of Alaskans' favorite passtimes — getting ready.
Ever since I left the East Pole last April I've been carrying around a shopping list, some big items and some little ones and this past week I took care of the last big one. Hauling the snowmachine over to the shop for its winter prep. I do my own layup in the spring when I put it away but I like to have a professional go through it before I take off for the winter. It's worth the money not to have to worry about some mechanical breakdown out where I could be stuck for a while.
    That was a big one. Another was runner material for my heavy duty sled so I can haul out a nice captain's bed for my grandson. Hope to get that done before Christmas. Also after 30 years my propane tanks have been beaten up enough that the dealers won't fill them any more. I bought one last spring and took it out. I brought the second one out when I left for good and traded it in on a brand new one, so when I get there this year I will have two brand new almost full tanks. I use propane for my kitchen stove and for lights around the cabin. With electricity now I won't use nearly as much as I used to. I usually have to haul gas but I have three full five-gallon cans out there already.
     I do have to haul my generator in this fall. I had to bring it out after the short trip this summer after it wouldn't start. I thought I might have to take it to a mechanic, but cleaning out the fuel system did the trick and I was able to start it here, so it is ready to go back.
     Other than that, it's just food and medicines and some standards I need every time. I have two standing lists, one for 30 days and one for 90 days, that hold the items and quantities that have to be bought every time. I also do an inventory when I leave so I can adjust the lists according to what I have left at the end last spring. I usually buy all that stuff a day or two before I head out for the new winter.
     Also have a few new books and DVDs ordered and delivered and ready to go.
    Still a little bit of this and that to pick up, but now comes the great fall waiting after the getting  ready has been accomplished mostly and the twiddling of thumbs begins.
     New snow on the mountain offers hope, but it may be late. Heat records were set around the state through September and Fairbanks has gone the deepest into fall ever without snow. It's a little like watching paint dry, watching the snow level progress down the mountain until there is some on the ground. More snow falls more often at the East Pole than here, and sooner I hope. Now entering the twilight zone between getting ready and getting going.
   
If you are curious at all, search the words "East Pole" on this blog.