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.
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| Morning light |
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
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