Tuesday December 22
Good morning from Silty Slough. We made it through the longest night of the year. Now they begin to get shorter. My see pappy machine says I slept a little over 8 hours. It has a modem in it that reports to the government when I’m sleeping, how long, if I hold my breath, etc. I think they just want to see when they can sneak up and take my guns while I’m asleep. I’ll disable it after January 21st. I put up a couple motion detector lights. Some of you liberals may think I’m paranoid about the government, but the light is mostly to check for moose or coyotes before we go out at night.
It was snowing when we went to bed. 23 degrees at sunrise and about 5” of new snow. It was pretty deep for my slippers when the dogs and I went out to remark our territory. Back inside all three of us were rewarded with a chewbie for going potty.
Kari and I had a good ride to the post office on Thursday to mail the cards. We found out that it doesn’t open on Monday or Thursday morning until after the mail plane arrives. So we ripped a hole in the zip lock bag the cards were in and hung them on the doorknob. A trip to get the mail is a 5 mile ride and if you figure the cost of running 2 snow machines about $20. If the postman brings your mail to the door you are fortunate, don’t be a whiner and complain about the post office.
Roger texted Saturday to see if I wanted to make a one day turn to the landing to haul fuel on Sunday. I didn’t think very long and replied…Sure.
Before bedtime I set the alarm for 7 to be ready to meet Roger by his place at 9:15. Kari is planning on going down to have coffee with Myra. We went to bed early. Since I have an air mattress, I think I was dreaming about floating above the earth in a hot air balloon watching Roger and I hauling fuel up the river. All of a sudden something ran into the balloon there is a big woosh of air and I was falling toward the earth. In reality at 5 am Mayor Cooper jumped up on the bed and that’s when things went haywire. I was still half asleep and could feel the mattress rapidly deflating. It seemed like a half a minute and I was flat on the wood floor. Cooper and I haven’t had time for a pedicure lately so I thought one of us may have punctured the mattress. Kari woke up startled and wondered why the automatic inflator was running. I called on my best early morning troubleshooting skills. I figured out that the quick deflating valve had popped open. Snapped it closed and in a couple minutes I was back riding in my hot air balloon. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I lay awake and worked on the addition to the asylum until 7 when the alarm went off.
Kari made a huge country breakfast… no I’m dreaming again. I had some breakfast and Kari made sandwiches for Roger and I to eat at the landing. Sleds fueled, oiled, warmed up, and ready to go. I waited on the river and Kari went up to Myra’s to join her for coffee and talk about their husbands. Soon I saw Roger’s headlights coming out to meet me on the river trail. Roger is hauling double freight sleds with 3-55 gallon barrels on each one. I have a single sled with 2 barrels. I’m saving a space to bring back an antique snow machine that I’m fixing up for the grandkids to ride around Silty Slough. Roger is the trail master, he has the contract from the state to mark and groom 60+ miles of trail from the Landing to Skwentna. Previously he marked the trail with 875 markers. That works out to a marker about every 360 feet, some a little farther apart on the straightaways and some closer in the turns. Today will be stop and go into the landing while Roger adds, replaces, and straightens up the markers. He is pretty good at doing it on the fly. I am following behind and can see him reaching back over his shoulder and getting another marker from his quiver. 60 markers added today. The weather is pretty good, warm in the 20s. There is very light freezing rain most of the way coating the windshield. I’m still riding with my helmet open. The rain changed to snow about Scary Tree with about 17 miles to go to the landing. There is a lot of flat light so the bumps and dips are hard to see. The reflectors on the trail markers are a welcome site. The worse the weather the more welcome they are. Thank you Roger for doing such a good job.
About an hour from Scary Tree we are at the landing. Roger is filling his 330 gallons of barrels and I pulled in front of our stall to drag the little snow machine out and load it on the back of the sled. I feel like I’m getting stronger than I was a couple years ago.
Roger helped me tie it down and we ate our sandwiches and fruit cake. I pumped 103 gallons of jet fuel into the barrels and 8.9 gallons of gas into my machine. Snow machines are not exactly high mileage vehicles, but if Joe and Ho have their way they will be solar powered. Good luck with that.
Time to hit the dusty trail, still snowing. There is quite a bit of open water to go around right out of the landing but the trail is a good safe distance away from it. Roger has it marked up real well. You still see tracks where people take short cuts and risk it. The light is still flat hard to see. Last trip we passed a couple guys ice fishing on the Su. I’d never seen anyone ice fish on the river. Turns out they were fish and game guys doing a survey for burbot. They are supposed to be good fish to eat. I don’t ice fish, it is one of the three unnatural acts along with jumping out of airplanes and same sex sex.
Just a little farther down the Su the visibility was really bad, Roger got off the side of the trail a little bit and stopped. Normally you can just keep moving and ride it out. This time the river left a log in the way and the rear ski on the front sled hooked it. Too bad we can’t hook a burbot as easily. Roger unhooked both of his sleds, put a rope on the back of the first sled, and pulled it sideways off the log. He hooked onto the hitch with the rope and pulled it ahead on the trail. He pulled the back sled out with the short rope, hooked everything back up, and we were on our way again. Another cats ass trophy narrowly averted. (Don’t know how to spell catastrophe). The snow changed back to freezing rain about Scary Tree. We kept ginning along up the Yentna River in the flat light. I couldn’t wait for it to get dark so I could see again. In about 35 miles Roger peeled off into Fish Lakes Creek to drop the back sled off for delivery tomorrow. I continued home to Silty Slough. Nothing that needed to be unloaded tonight. Kari had a nice pork roast ready to eat. Everything tastes better at the cabin. We passed snow machiners both ways on the trip but we didn’t get close to another soul. Bet all of you can’t do that. I wore my mask the whole way to keep my nose warm.
Yesterday Kari and I went out to pack the trails, put black garbage bags on the lath marking the runway, and let the boys get some exercise.
We also packed the fresh snow on the landing strip in the slough and straightened out the dogleg at the west end. Then it’s back to the cabin to unload the sled from yesterday and transfer the fuel into our tanks in case Roger wants to make another trip before Christmas.
Today is laundry day. We need to pack the trails and runway again. I don’t know why Mayor Cooper appointed Kari and I to the Silty Slough Road Comission. I’m ready to resign.
It is a lot of work to live out here. There is no serviceman to call when things go wrong. You just figure it out. It is also relaxing, quiet, beautiful scenery, and the trails on our property are like being in a park. It’s a great place to avoid the Chinese virus and wait for things to head back toward normal if that is possible.
Stay safe and healthy my friends and again Merry Christmas.
Thank you Lord for getting us through this storm.
I’ll be in touch.
Blue skies!!!
The View from the Outhouse 