What have we become?

Just so there's no mistake; SARCASM!

     This is the way I understand it. The governor of Maryland used his South Korean wife's
connections back home to purchase Corona virus treatment gear, chartered a Korean airline's airplane and had it flown to the U.S. He demanded the airplane land at Baltimore's airport rather than Washington, D.C., despite the fact that none of the Korean pilots had ever landed at Baltimore's.
     The governor's reasoning was reported to be he feared the federal government might intercept and confiscate the cargo. In addition to the landing plan, a contingent of Maryland's state police met the airplane, remained to guard the unloading and transportation to a storage facility, and then patrolled the facility, again to protect the materials, principally from the federal government.
      This is what we have come to; the leader of one of the United States' 50 states distrusts the federal government so much that he felt it necessary to use almost-military precautions to protect vital health care equipment needed in his state from his own federal government. And, again, as I understand it, there have been cases reported where the feds did intercept shipments intended for states in the past few weeks. I have not seen a credible report of that activity, however, so don't take it for gospel. Three reliable sources reported the Maryland governor's actions today.
     We know, of course, who's ultimately responsible. How long do we have to tolerate this? I have been tired of it for a long time, I hope others are coming to the realization.
    And then there's this: Alaska Public Radio posted a story last night heralding the arrival of a FedEx cargo plane landing in Anchorage packed to the overheads with materials needed to fight this plague. I hope that is not in danger of some federal interference but that's less likely because our governor is a suck-up, just like our congressional delegation, to the #fakepresident. Still an armed guard might have been judicious just in case.
     Have you missed me? Ha.
ELSEWHERE:

Ryan Warner

@cprwarner

·

Colorado bought 100,000 coronavirus tests from S. Korea-- using emergency funds. They're here now.

@GovofCO says he kept it under wraps so they weren't confiscated (by feds or others).

And, A full report from Snopes

About cheating death

The day before I left the East Pole for the season I hauled a sled full of stuff out to the trailhead. Among the items in it, the chainsaw lay strapped right on top. Taking it out for some servicing. The sun shined fuzzily through a hazy sky that day and the trail ran hard and fast.

So, comes the big day. Lots to do before leaving but with all the chores done and the sled loaded again, I took one last look around the cabin making sure I didn't forget anything. Fire laid ready for a match when I return. Check Moth balls between the windows and the bear boards to discourage bruintrusions. Check. Cell antenna brought indoors, check. Propane shut off and disconnected, check. and on and on. Toward the end of that survey my gaze fell on the little collapsible Swede saw I used to carry on my snowmachines but don't anymore.

Nah, I thought.

Out the door, locked, tested. one more check outdoors and off we go into a thick snowfall of wet heavy snow. (Later I recalled I forgot to bring in the bird feeder. A bear destroyed the last one, so I had better buy a replacement for next winter just in case it happens again.)

On my way and the machine/sled combination seemed sluggish. After just about a mile I had added a load of snow to what already felt like a maximum load. Looking back all I could see was snow, It covered the load and added maybe 50 pounds. The previous day on the return trip the machine had kicked so much of that wet snow into the sled I couldn't even tip it over; I had to shovel it out. Because of that I had covered this load with a tarp but it didn't help much. Every so often I had to stop and flip as much snow off the load as I could.

But that paled with the next difficulty; 

Two trees had blown down across the trail. I encountered a small birch first, the thickest bunch of its branches hiding trail, Just past that a larger spruce blocked the trail. They had me stopped wondering how I was going to get out of this mess. My mind flashed to that chain saw in the truck out at the trailhead. Then I fantasized that little Swede saw a mile or so behind me in the cabin. Neither would be much help now. The high berms along the trail discouraged an attempt to go around them. I tried driving over the birch but one ski went under and the other went over the main trunk. I backed up. I walked ahead and looked at the spruce which was bigger but had gone deeper into the snow of the trail. It looked like I could drive over that one if only I could get around the birch. I tried lifting it and pushing it off and it moved but when I let go it snapped back into place. Then I got the idea to try to trample the brushy part, that looked pretty good; jumping up and down on it even lowered the trunk a little so I might be able to get both skis over it.

I got a good running start at it and aimed for the smallest branches. Woo Hoo I got over them, and then there was no stopping, With a head of steam up, I aimed the machine at the low part of the spruce and crashed over it, in the process bringing a tangle of branches in the grill, tangles in the skis and even some in the track. However, I was past the obstruction and once I'd removed the detritus from the machine headed on to the destination. At the trailhead, the snow stopped and the roads from there on were dry. It was like Nature had to take one last lick at me before letting go. I hope I am welcomed back next winter into a kinder atmosphere. After the fact I posted on facebook that I had cheated death one more time.

Obviously nothing in this story was death-defying. As a matter of fact in the rare adventures that could have ended that way, I haven't said it. So, here's what's about cheating death. When I ran a tour boat, every day on our return, once the crew had tied off the boat, I always said, "cheated death one more time.' It was meant to be humorous. It was meant to kid the people who had been a little apprehensive about riding on a boat in the ocean. But in my own head it was also an homage to the natural powers that be for allowing me another safe voyage, and acknowledging where the power actually resided.

            More recently I have used it to tell people who expressed some concern about something I have been doing that things came out all right.

East Pole Journal April 11, 2020: I split the chopping block today

The focus of this picture is on what's not in it.

That's the symbolic end of the firewood gathering for the season. All told, two cords of birch, half a cord of spruce and that should do it to keep me warm next winter while I cut wood for the following year. (I keep repeating that as if there should be some lesson to be learned from it.) Anyway, to be honest there are two more chopping blocks out there but they have been driven so deeply into the snow I can't find one and the other is at least three feet down and frozen in. I will find them in the summer or early next winter.

Unfortunately this celebration also has to mark the end of the season at the East Pole for me this winter. The forecast has rain and snow in it; the extended forecast, only rain. Time to bug out.

It's been an odd winter. After several relatively warm ones, this one had a long cold spell. In a way it was easier and in a way more difficult. My plan to come in early for a short period and put in trails, then go out and make my major supplies purchase and be able to get them up to the cabin in one shot worked for the most part, no frozen eggs or milk. Plus less wear and tear on me having to haul stuff up by hand. But then I had to go out for a couple of weeks to do some business and it snowed more than three feet while I was gone. I had one of the worst days ever coming up my trail. See The terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad day for an account of it.

After that the weather grew progressively more pleasant. Days and days in a row of bright sun and temperatures in the 30s and 40s going at night down into the teens or single digits, just about perfect. If that weather would only last I could stay here until Covid-19 is just a memory. I may come back anyway and try to make it in summer, we shall see. My housing situation has changed and I have to find a place to live as soon as I get out so the next few weeks should be interesting.

Here it is.

I had been thinking of a travel trailer and going vagabond for a while, but they won't let anyone into Canada so travel Outside is out. It might even be tough in Alaska. All the music festivals I had thought of going to have been cancelled. I thought this might be the year I make it to Burning Man or Coachella, but I guess not now. There are usually a couple in Alaska too, Salmonfest for one and one in Chicken, the town that was supposed to be named Ptarmigan but no one knew how to spell that. We shall see.

Anyway that's a wrap on this winter and seriously not looking forward to spring. I don't mind isolation at all living here but out there where there are things to do that involve lots of people, well, it isn't going to be a good year for any of that. Isolation in a crowd is no fun at all.

The East Pole Journal

Love in the time of Covid-19

I searched my mind and the cabin for 

someting I could use for a mask. This is

the best I could come up with. The face 

covering was tucked and zippered into the

 earflap of this hat I bought on impulse at 

REI.  It's stretchy, so snug. What do you

 think?

As the time grows closer to leave the East Pole for the year, I've been doing a lot of thinking about how the world has changed since I came out here in early December. Of course the biggest thing is the Covid - 19 business. I listen carefully to what people say on the news or on reliable internet sites and I think I have a handle on how to act in the new world. One part of it demands quite a change in attitude for most people and myself in particular. When there have been mobile diseases in the past I think most of us, and me for sure, have overlooked consideration for the other guy. I think we mostly protected ourselves and while maybe paying lip service to our own fault in spreading the flu, I doubt most people give that much thought as they get their flu shots and go about their business. This time the emphasis is on spreading the disease to the other guy as much as it is an attempt to protect ourselves.

Being isolated in the woods like this, I haven't had to deal with it either way. I've only spent any time with two people out here and that was more than three weeks ago and no symptoms. I did make a couple of shopping trips and tried to be careful. I didn't notice many people wearing masks or gloves but I did notice people attempting to keep some distance from others. Those were more than two weeks ago. Still nothing.

Now, looking ahead, I am what they call elderly at the age of 77 so I am considered susceptible even though I am in excellent health and after a winter out here in some of the best physical shape of my life. My doctor calls me a fine specimen. But I suppose I have to consider age susceptibility. I never get the flu, and least haven't for more years than I can remember so I don't bother with the shot. And, for the most part living alone and seldom going out in public except for food and mail I don't feel much danger as long as I take some measure of preparation.

But it's about those others, the ones who face greater danger than I do and I think I am going to go mask and gloves more for them than for me. For example I have a friend who is now enduring treatment for a serious form of cancer and that means chemo. And, chemo means a compromised immune system. He wrote on facebook the other day that he had to go to a store for food. He went early in the morning and encountered only a few others in the store. But, among as I recall maybe 20 others, only one wore a mask and one other wore gloves. He wrote in anger. Maybe all those people feel strong enough to go without protection my friend rightfully so thought those people were taking chances with his life too. The inconsiderate were actually threatening people more likely to be infected.

Then there's the case of my friend Joe May.

Joe May is one of the toughest and most interesting people anyone could hope to meet. He grew up on the tugboats and ore ships of the Great Lakes. He fought as a young Marine in Korea. After coming to Alaska he won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and ran the Yukon Quest, another thousand-mile race. He went on to sail the big oceans with his wife for several years before returning to Alaska and taking up residence in a place called Trapper Creek, a widespread community of cabins more than 100 miles north of Anchorage. 

He has faced so many dangers and so many hardships in his adventures even he can't remember them all and he has faced them with a scholar's attitude and subtle down home humor. He might tell you how he packed his sled for a trip in Greenland, along the way explaining Mawson's mistake when he and his crew almost died in Antarctica in the early part of the last century. When asked to write about sled dogs he went back to their roots in Siberia long before any of them set a paw on North American soil. Along the way he has met some pretty tough challenges and one way or another survived them all.

Now, Joe at the age of 84, is facing a danger and a difficulty over which he has no control. Like most of us who are aging he endures some serious health problems, but takes them with good humor. Then this Corona virus came along and it's something out of our reach. We older folks have been designated as particularly susceptible to the virus and we're told that we need to take extra care about interactions with other people no matter how tough we think we are. Living as isolated as we do, that shouldn't be difficult unless others don't adhere to the same social distancing rules. 

They endanger all of us but if the health officials are to be believed they are a particular danger to the aging. Here we are in Alaska with its low population and living away from the busier centers where we may be less susceptible but it only takes one careless person to reach out and touch us; still we see people in pictures crowding beaches, supposedly religious leaders still holding services for thousands of people with no regard to the dangers they present to themselves and others. And as Joe points out in a message he sent a neighbor, even our friends ignore the warnings. Joe sent me the following today:

            I made a trip out into the neighborhood today and was stunned. People were standing around, nose to nose in casual conversations or asshole to elbow in the store. I wore a mask and gloves and was stared at like some sort of freak.

            At first I was depressed and then got angry. If these fools want to kill themselves and each other, well, that's their business...but I get resentful when they put Sandra and myself at risk. I want to live long enough for some fishing this summer. All it will take is one infected person out there to turn this place into a Brevig Mission kind of Petri dish. Be careful.

Joe

So as I contemplate moving from this neighborhood to that other one, I have all this to consider about how to function in this brave new world. I know one thing, I plan to be much more conscious of that other person I come in contact with and do what I can to protect them from me. And I can only hope others will show me the same consideration.