The view from the outhouse

Sunday December 12, 2021

Good morning friends, from Silty Slough.
4 degrees this morning and windy. It was cold inside when I woke up, 62 degrees. I knew we weren’t out of propane, I had just hooked up a 100 pound bottle at midnight. Downstairs the Lochinvar Cadet boiler was flashing an error code. E12 translates to no flame. I got into my spare parts stash and replaced the flame sensor and igniter. When I removed the igniter it looked like it had deformed from overheating, surely this is the problem. Tried it again, still no worky. Next step is to take the igniter out and see if it is sparking. It is, so the computer board is ok. Good thing because I don’t have a spare. If it was bad we are dead in the water until we can get one from the factory in Tennessee. It must be low gas pressure or a bad gas valve. I brought another 100 pound cylinder inside and hooked it up to the system. Still no worky. I turned the outside bottle back on and the boiler fired. It still wasn’t getting all the propane it wanted and was not firing to full capacity but slowly increased as the bottle inside warmed up. Emergency over. I’m sure glad I signed up and went to the two day factory installation and service school in Nashville. They never figured out that I wasn’t a real heating guy, just some guy that needed to be able to keep his boiler running 60 miles from the end of the road.
I’ll have to keep the big 440 pound (100 gallon) tanks for cold weather. They have a larger surface area than the 100 pounders have for the propane to change from liquid to gas. I’ll have to get the infrared camera back out and photo a bottle. Should be interesting. We will circle back to that in another View.

Here are the day to day adventures.

Tuesday December 7
Too cold to work outside today. Can’t account for my activities. Probably an afternoon nap. I’m sure I did something constructive but that was about 5 days ago.

Wednesday December 8
Same as yesterday

Thursday December 9
It is too cold to work today, so Kari and I took the snowmachines out to pack and groom the trails and start packing the airstrip in the slough. Roger and Cory came by in the afternoon for cocktails and snacks. About 8 o’clock Kari and I went out to groom the yard. I decided to pull the freight sled that we had been sawing on by the greenhouse out of its snow heap. It pulled really hard. I had to put a strap on it and yank it. It still wouldn’t slide like an empty sled. Lots of snow and ice frozen on the bottom of the skis. It took a few yanks and a 50 foot rut where my track was spinning to finally get it going. Soon Teddy and I were able to take it for a ride on the trail and polish up the skis. We came back and hooked up the groomer to smooth out the ruts I had made. The snow needs to freeze and set up a little more for the groomer to work good so Kari packed the yard with her machine and a tub sled.

Friday December 10
The weather was good enough for Cory and I to work. We got the greenhouse closed in and the door hung. Later I plan to fire up the bullet heater and dry everything out so we can store some tools that are in our way under the deck.
Roger came by to drop off the groceries and packages that Myra brought with her on the plane this morning. Wow, fresh eggs, lettuce, and tomatoes along with new boots and gloves. I’m a happy dog today.
Braised beef short ribs over mashed potatoes with home baked bread for dinner.

Saturday December 11
It is cold and windy today. Generator failed to autostart so I had to go out early in the morning to reset it. The dead spruce trees are really swaying, but I don’t see any breaking off. I downloaded a Kindle book about AutoCAD to try and learn a few more things. Bonnie and Clyde, the big 100 gallon propane bottles gave up at midnight. I went out and hooked up a 100 pound bottle. In hindsight I should have put Earl the 50 gallon bottle in the game. He is better in the cold temperatures. Might have saved some trouble. Oh well, the igniter needed to be changed anyway.

Sunday December 12
This afternoon we went out to groom and mark the airstrip. Kari and I got it groomed and we put in a few stakes but the cold wind was too much. We will finish it up another day. A half dozen Iron Doggers went by like a streak on the smooth trail that we groomed beside the airstrip. The snow was so light and fluffy the stakes barely stood up. Don’t know how the trail masters are going to get the river trail marked on the 15th. Having leftovers for supper, so Kari said since she didn’t have to cook she would bake a cake. That’s a good trade.

Huge moon tonight rising in the East. Supposed to be able to see 4 or 5 planets in a line.
Our big outing this week is a trip to the Skwentna post office. We will let you know how that goes in the next View.
We appreciate everyone’s likes and comments. Keep them coming.

Stay safe and healthy my friends

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

The view from the outhouse

Monday December 6, 2021

Good morning from Silty Slough!
We are suffering from a heat wave. Be careful of making wishes without thinking out their consequences. It is 50 degrees warmer this morning than the 22 below it was on Friday night. It has been snowing for more than a day and we have more than a foot of new snow. I went out with the boys and made a trip to the outhouse. It is 28 degrees out so I figured underwear is good enough but I swapped my slippers for boots. I knew I was in trouble when only a little bit of Coopers back was sticking above the snow, while he was breaking trail ahead of me. 10 steps and my boots were packed with snow. Wow, is that cold on my bare feet. I’m this far may as well go on. I made the rest of the trip with great haste, put my boots upside down on the heated floor to dry, and hopped back in bed to warm up. The dogs were right behind me.
Here are the happenings since the last view.

Saturday December 4
-22 during the night warmed up to -7 during the day then cooled back off. Too cold to snow. Good news the freezers we have outside are unplugged and not using any electricity. Bad news is the boiler is running more using propane and electricity. Bonnie and Clyde, the two 100 gallon propane tanks, gauges are showing almost empty. I want to squeeze every little bit of pane out before I switch to Earl. They usually run out in the middle of the night just to get even with me for leaving them out in the cold. I’m not looking forward to refilling the tanks when I get to town. Will need an armored truck just to haul the cash to pay. Remember everything I mean everything is more expensive with Brandon. How is all that free money working out for you liberal socialites? No comment again. Funny how all of you got quiet and hid.

Sunday December 5

It was 9 below when we went to bed last night. Forecast is to warm up and start snowing about 1am. Up to zero when I woke up and plus 3 at sunrise with a forecast to warm up to about 10 by sunset and continue warming through the night. We have about 4 inches of new snow and it continues to fall. The guys are coming to work today. The choice was cool and light snow today or warmer and heavy wet snow tomorrow. We got the Palram plastic panels on the greenhouse side and the metal roofing on the storage side. It snowed at least another 5 inches during the day while we worked. We are now undercover, meaning a roof over our head. Not undercover like Kamala. Did you see Brandon’s handlers are thinking about having him appoint her to the Supreme Court so they can have him pick a new VP for them, maybe Hillary. Will be interesting, all of the Ho’s opinions on the court will just be her stupid giggle. Typical Brandon administration, search for the least qualified person to do the job. Sorry, I got sidetracked. The greenhouse looks really good from the inside. I want to see how it does when we get some sun. One more day and we will have the walls covered and the door in.

Monday December 6

Like I said earlier warm and snow today. It is supposed to continue snowing until 5am tomorrow. No work on the greenhouse today. We have bigger fish to fry. Speaking of fish, I think the only reason the guys came to work yesterday was the fish tacos Kari made with homemade slaw and chocolate chip cookies for dessert on special for $7.95. I had another taco for supper about 9 o’clock last night. May be enough for one more today but don’t tell Corey.
The bigger fish to fry today is to get out on the snow machines and pack the trails. Maybe a runway in the slough too. The snow falling now is wet and heavy so we should be able to pack a good base. Finally time for a fun outdoor activity other than pumping diesel or changing propane bottles.

I hope all of you have a great day. Stay safe, warm, and healthy.

Thank you Lord for all of your help, we never would make it without you.

I’ll be in touch

Blue skies!!!

The view from the outhouse

Friday December 3, 2021

Good morning friends, from Silty Slough.
11 below at 8 this morning when the boys wanted to go out. Happy that there is no wind. It cooled off a bit more and was 13 below when the sun rose at 10:05. Sunset is at 3:45. That’s 5 hours 40 minutes of daylight. Only 18 days until the earth starts turning the other direction and the days get longer. You can tell these stupid Biden supporters anything and they will believe it. Still very little snow. That’s a good thing if you are trying to work outside. Not so good if you want to travel more than a couple miles on a snowmachine. We seem to be using more propane than last winter. Then I finally figured it out. Last winter we had two or more feet of snow on the roof and several feet around the cabin to hold the heat. Mother Nature’s warm blanket.

Over the weekend I used AutoCAD to get the drawings made for the greenhouse. I already had a rough pencil and paper sketch. With my laptop I was able to make a detailed drawing and calculate the lengths and angles of each piece we needed for the framing. This was helpful since we didn’t have a big flat surface to draw everything out on and build the angled end walls. Time to print everything out on paper. The black inkjet cartridge had dried up. We had a spare but it was color. Finally got the drawings switched to blue and printed them out with blue ink. I will call these the blueprints instead of plans. I was happy it was too cold to work Monday,13 below. I needed the extra day to get all the blue prints finished.

Tuesday November 30
Roger and Corey slid up the slough on their snow machines arriving before 10am. It’s 15 degrees and later it warmed on up to above 20. I already had some 2 x 8s milled. They took them back to the mill to make into 2 x 4s for the walls. Too much time and trouble to start with logs. We cut the pieces and started framing. Everything fit up pretty good and we had three walls up by quitting time at 4 o’clock. Kari had chicken and noodles for our quick lunch along with hot chocolate.

Wednesday December 1
The weather was pretty good, not as warm as yesterday and cooled off as the wind picked up at the end of the day. We got about 3” of fluffy snow overnight, so Cory brought his leaf blower to clear things off. Works pretty good. Roger and Corey built the center and front wall while I cut the 2 x 8 rafters for the back. Moose chili for the lunch special today, with drink and dessert for $8.95. Tip not included. After lunch we got some sheeting on the walls. Roger cut out a window in the west wall while Corey and I set the rafters on the back. Kari is sewing Christmas presents in her spare time and needs money for more fabric.

Thursday December 2
10 degrees this morning and windy when the guys arrived. We put up more sheeting. Cory and I cut and put up the front rafters while Roger worked on the purlins on the back. We dug the plastic sheets for the front out of storage but it is too late to get that started. Roger installed the window in the opening he made yesterday and it was time to call it a day. Pretty nice job for 3 partial days in the wind and cold, if I do say so myself. I can taste the “tomaders” already.

Friday December 3
It is too cold to work today. Forecast is to warm a little tomorrow then warming on up to 19 and beginning to snow on Sunday. We need a couple more days to get things really shaped up on the greenhouse. So far all the wood except the treated lumber for the base and the OSB sheeting. Is grown and milled right here on the property.

I didn’t expect to get any of this done this year. It will be a real bonus to start growing some vegetables in the spring.

Roger called to let us know he and Corey were going to the post office. Kari tried to convince them to stop for the fish taco lunch special but they weren’t interested. Now she will be really short on fabric money. I guess I’ll have to start her a go fund me page. Since she doesn’t have any lunch customers the fish tacos are canceled. I guess it is leftovers for me. So much for the go fund me page.

Couldn’t think of anything to good to say about Brandon and the Ho, so I won’t say anything.

9 below at 3pm, suppose I should wrap this up and go out and check the propane supply.

Stay safe and healthy my friends, and stay out of Walmart. Buy local.

Thank you Lord for keeping us healthy.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

All previous views are at http://www.siltyslough.com

The view from the outhouse

Saturday November 27, 2021

Good morning from Silty Slough. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.
It was 1 degree this morning, been cold for too long. A few days ago it was 13 below when we woke up. Speaking of woke, when are these wokes going to wake up?
Still no snow. I’ve included pictures of today and this same date last year. On Monday Roger and Corey rode their snow machines up the river to the slough and delivered the mail that was dropped off at Bentalit airstrip. We had some Baileys and then a late lunch. I must have had too many Baileys, because I agreed to attend a wood splitting party at Rogers the next day.

Tuesday Kari and I woke up early. She made a breakfast of Spam and toast to fuel me up for the day. Have you seen how much Spam costs now? Over $4.00 a can at Costco. My thanks to the handful of voters that actually voted for Brandon. Anyway I’ll circle back to that. I plugged my snowmachine in to warm it up and got all bundled up for the 2 mile trip. My machine started and I let it warm. It’s about 5 degrees now. Then I headed through the woods and down the ramp to the slough. There were a few scratches in the ice from Roger and Corey’s machines yesterday. I went down the smooth ice in the slough and out onto the river. The river has smooth areas that froze last but most of it is chunks of snow and ice. Pretty rough. My glasses are fogging up so I took them off and put them in my pocket. I could see a little bit of the route they took the day before, then I would loose it. I decided to get across the river to the north side and follow the smooth ice hugging the shore to Rogers ramp. I wish I had pictures but no time for that. Just trying to stay out of the pucker brush. Now it is a short ride to Rogers place. They have a lot less snow here than we do. We split wood for a few hours with a break for lunch. Sunset is a little after 4. I left the party at 4 so I’m not on the river in the dark. Same trip in reverse. The skis and track make a lot of noise on the rough ice even for a deaf guy. In no time I’m back in the slough and at the cabin. The boys were excited to see me. It was like I’d been gone for days instead of hours, but after all we have been together 24/7 for several months. Kari wasn’t quite so excited, at least she didn’t climb up on the snowmachine and lick my ears. I’m not super excited about riding on the river Thursday to go to the Thanksgiving gathering at Bentalit.

Kari baked most of the day Wednesday, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, and a couple pumpkin rolls. I rested up from yesterday’s party and ate the extra pumpkin roll filling spread on graham crackers.

Thursday morning we got up and around, Kari made a green bean casserole. Soon we carefully packed all the food carefully for the trip over the rough river. We left the boys and the cats in charge of the asylum and headed over the river and through the woods. I wasn’t sure how the trail through the swamp was so we decided to take the back trail by Corey’s and then along side the airstrip to the lodge. The trail is more dirt than snow. I don’t know how we made it without overheating our machines.
The meal and visit was very enjoyable. Only a few people made it due to the trail conditions. 6 plus our wonderful hosts Tom and Patty Brion. All too soon it was time to leave to get back up the river before dark. We took the swamp trail this time, much better. Hopefully this is my last trip on the river until we get some snow.

Kari and I have been talking about an outdoor wood boiler to heat the cabin. Tom has one at the lodge and we talked about it after Thanksgiving dinner. Friday I called a manufacturer in Michigan that I have kind of settled on. I can’t get down there until late May or June to pick it up but want to lock in the price before steel continues to increase to near gold prices. He answered all my questions. He also said that steel prices have gone up 300 percent in the last year. Seems they are going up about the same rate as Joe and the Ho’s approval ratings are going down. Their ratings are lower than a snakes belly in a wagon rut. By the way that’s Kamala on the bottom, on her back, giggling. I got a boiler locked in, I just need to get it up here and installed. Is there anybody in America that knows anything about the supply chain other than the Peter Puffer from South Bend. Brandon has circled himself with incompetence. The Secretary of Energy doesn’t even know how much oil we use a day. Who elected this administration anyway? So far I figure Brandon only got about 4 dozen actual votes, not 81 million. Not one of his supporters will tell me he is doing a good job. I’m waiting….

Since there is no snow and the temperature is forecast to be about 10 degrees I have talked Roger and Cory to come over and frame up a greenhouse. The base is in and the woman is after me to get it done. We will get started Monday or Tuesday. If I were down south and it was 10 degrees I wouldn’t even go outside. This cold weather wears on you. My brain must be freezing.

The other day Kari was on the phone when a black fox came strolling through the yard, the boys went nuts, someone invading their domicile, or someone new to play with. I thought they were going to rip the curtains off the door. I didn’t want to let them out. Not in the mood to play a game of fox and hounds with it cold outside and starting to get dark. I can see me out on the snowmachine looking for them for an hour or so. The next night they went out and chased down a shrew. I wouldn’t let them kill it. They have plenty of food, maybe the black fox is hungry.

I know I jump around a lot. Sorry. I guess I could try to be a real writer and make an outline and rough draft, etc. But I just say whatever comes into my mind at the moment, just like I would if we were talking. “Let’s go Brandon.”

Last night the generator failed to autostart. I think i may have figured it out. It is speaking to me to let me know that the fuel is getting low, not out, just low. It will start if I go out there, but it knows that I would rather fill the tank during the day than go out and visit with it in the middle of the night. Today Kari and I added 47 gallons to the 50 gallon tank. I keep records of fuel and maintenance in my phone. The last 24 days the generator ran twice a day for 2.5 hours each on average. It burns .404 gallons of diesel fuel an hour at about $4 a gallon without freight cost to get it out here. That’s $8 a day or $240 a month for electricity since the sun isn’t shining for free solar electric. Thanks for the high fuel prices Brandon.
As I’m writing this paragraph I received a call that came up on the ID as potential spam. I was just telling you how expensive Spam is. I figured they may just be giving some away. I usually get rid of those callers by asking them what color their underwear is or something to that order.
This one is from MEA, the electric company. Who says big brother is not watching. They want my opinion of electric rates, etc. When they found out I’m 30 or 40 miles from the nearest electric line they didn’t value my opinion at all. I think the reason why the Brandon approval ratings are as high as they are is they are polling the dead voters.

I fooled around with the infrared camera the other day. Some picts are posted.

See all the looters and shoplifting gangs in the cities. Mayor Cooper put out a shoot to kill order for any looters of the root cellar. So far no takers. It’s too cold to dig a hole in the ground now with the backhoe anyway.

That’s about enough for today. Still waiting on the Biden supporters to fess up.

From the Silty Slough, have a great day. Stay warm and healthy.

Thank you Lord for your many blessings.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

http://www.silty slough.com

The view from the outhouse

Saturday November 20, 2021

Good morning friends. It was 11 below this morning for me and the boys first morning pilgrimage. They made it fairly quick. Teddy didn’t even wait for his chewbie just hurried upstairs and claimed his warm spot in our bed. At these temps it is a two dog night in the bed. If it gets any colder I will have to find another dog and make it a “Three Dog Night”. That seems to ring a bell.
The boys and I were just back in bed all snuggled in and warmed up when a friend called from Indiana. So it’s back out of bed, get my hearing aids in so my phone can Bluetooth to them, go downstairs so I don’t wake the woman, and call him back. We talked for a while and then I needed to find some information for another friend. All of a sudden, to use a term that I picked up over 50 years ago, “The pain done struck.” I need to go to the outhouse. Not worth the time or effort to go back upstairs to get my clothes on. I’ll just make a run for it. It wasn’t that bad when I was outside earlier. Slippers on and hit the path. Now I’m happy that the generator autostarted as advertised, just not happy with the timing. I have vents cut between the outhouse and the adjoining generator shed to share some heat and keep the toilet seat from icing up. Works fine most of the time. When the generator is running…not so much. The fan on the generator draws air from the outhouse when it is running and exhausts it through the radiator to the outside. This creates a vacuum in the outhouse. The replacement air comes from outside into the vent system and up through the hole in the toilet seat, at a pretty good velocity I may add. If you don’t understand windchill you need to come up in the winter and try this out. At -11 and whatever speed the wind through the hole is you have less than 30 seconds to get the crossword finished before frostbiting the family jewels. With great haste that task is completed and I return to the bed. I know I’ve mentioned this story before but I wanted to share it with any new readers.
We all went for a walk again on the island yesterday afternoon. I told you this was a bad thing to start. 1 1/2 miles in snow machine boots and bibs, 3 degrees. At least the wind was calm. I guess we will get in shape even if it kills us.
We noticed snow machine tracks in the slough yesterday. Not ours. Now I see posted that the first Iron Dogger made it to Skwentna yesterday. An annual Yentna River milestone. Hopefully not too much longer and I’ll get my chicken sandwich and root beer float at KFC.
I didn’t get around to the infrared camera yesterday. I may try today since it is Saturday and I usually take the weekends off. Only thing it is so cold there may not be any heat to photograph. I’ll let you know.
Not much else happening in the slough right now. I think we will just chill for now.

Stay safe, warm, and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

The view from the outhouse.

Friday November 19, 2021

Good morning all, from Silty Slough, Alaska. 7 below this morning at 7:30 when the boys wanted to go out. The wind finally calmed down, so it was pleasant waiting for the boys to do their business. The moon is still pretty high in the western sky and bright again. There must have been some sort of power outage in the universe last night because the moon got really dim about midnight. You could just see it as a red orange glow. It was beautiful and there were a million stars along with it. They didn’t have the northern lights turned on last night, also must have had to do with the power outage. This is a great place to view the night sky. No lights around anywhere. Anchorage is 60 miles away as the raven flies, we don’t have crows so I can’t say that. The nearest neighbor with lights is a couple miles away so it can get pretty dark here. Speaking of dark, that’s how the woman has to have it to sleep. When I get up it is pitch black in the cabin. I stumble across the living/bedroom usually stepping on one of the dogs bones to hunt for my glasses on the counter. I can barely see the colon on the clock on the microwave. Kari has it covered with a piece of blue masking tape because it is too bright. I don’t know what happened to the numbers that tell the time, but they are gone. The first real light I see is when I push the button on the solar system remote to check the battery charge. Then I feel my way down the stairs. Don’t want to turn the light on because it will wake Kari up and I really don’t want to waste electricity. I know when I make it to the landing because I can feel the smooth warm tile with my bare feet. Left turn and down more steps until smooth warm tile again. Now I can turn on the shop light and find my slippers.

Yesterday morning I was awake but still laying in bed in the total darkness. I felt the bed start to shake slightly. It took me a couple seconds to think, earthquake!! Now I’m waiting, is it going to stop, is it going to get stronger? No pretty constant, but it sure is lasting a long time. I’m thinking this is the test for my post and beam design for the addition. Hope it works, I sure don’t want to do it over. I finally figure out it is Teddy on the foot of the bed vigorously scratching his ear. I would give him about a 2.3 on the Richter scale. Emergency over.
I see the Democrats in the house passed the Build more inflation bill. The Ho is going to get to be President for a day while they look up Brandon’s arse and try to find his head. Funny cause Brandon couldn’t find his arse with both hands. Oklahoma is the only state in the nation to have the average gas price less than $3. That needs to increase so that the morons there that voted for Brandon can pony up like the rest of us. Pretty bad to go from exporting oil to China to begging China to release oil from their reserves to bring the price down before the holidays.
It still isn’t daylight yet. Sunrise is at 9:28 sunset is 4:11. The river continues to firm up. Thursday’s picture that I posted on Friends of the Yentna group looks exactly like Wednesday’s. Reminds me of the movie “Groundhog Day”. Kari, the boys, and I went for a walk yesterday afternoon to check the river out. Starting a bad precedent, she and the boys are going to want to walk everyday now. I’m starting to like the cats more, inside creatures.
I posted pictures of the addition on a couple sawmill groups Wednesday. Got several hundred likes, a few friend requests, some compliments, a couple job offers, and a marriage proposal. Must just want the cabin. I vetted the friend request to make sure they weren’t wokes or snowflakes before I accepted them. I mentioned my blog on the posts siltyslough.Wordpress.com. I copy all of the “View from the outhouse” posts there in case I get kicked off Facebook. I noticed that advertisements were popping up in my view so I sprung for $4 a month to get rid of them. I also got a “free”domain. The View now resides at just plain siltyslough.com. Tell all of your friends and neighbors.
I didn’t do much meaningful work yesterday. Cleaned off my workbench from the things I piled on it while cleaning out my toolbox. Moved everything up on shelves to be cleaned off later. The cycle continues. I did resurrect a couple flashlights from the dead. Pretty important when the days get down to less than 6 hours of daylight.
I think I will play around with the FLIR infrared camera today and see if I can find any cold spots or air leaks I can repair. Since I can’t hear air leaks in my tires anymore, I wonder if I can fill my Kubota tire with hot air and see the leak with the camera. Just need some hot air….Joe or Blo?

From siltyslough.com have a wonderful day my friends! Stay safe and healthy.

Thank you Lord for your many blessings.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

http://www.siltyslough.com

Tuesday November 16

The view from the outhouse

Greetings from Silty Slough. It was 7 below zero when the boys wanted to go out at 8am. It was a bit chilly, not freeze the hairs in your nose cold yet but cold enough. Seems the colder it is the more sniffing and exploring the boys have to do. I can take it for 5 minutes or so in my tee shirt and then I bribe them to come in for a chewbie. I join them with a chewbie for myself… a mini Almond Joy bar. Then the jingle pops into my head “Sometimes you feel like a nut…sometimes you don’t..”Today is Mayor Cooper’s third birthday. Kari is going to bake him a pumpkin peanut butter treat while I try to teach him to hold up 3 claws when I ask how old he is. We are getting him an AR for his birthday. I know some of you may think he is a little young but after all he is 21 in people years and I must say smarter than most of the Brandon administration.
There is a glow in the east southeast so the sun should peek out at 9:23. Lost another couple minutes of daylight.
The boys and I went back outside at 10. I walked out to the edge of the bluff to take a picture of the river ice. The snow is crunchy under my slippers. Good it is only a couple inches deep. The river is more white ice and less open water. Temps are still forecast for below zero overnight for the next few days -13 for the lowest, so that should firm things up.
Did you know that water reaches it’s maximum density at 39 degrees Fahrenheit? That is why northern lakes are clear and the lakes down south are cloudy and murky. How so? When the water at the surface of a lake reaches 39 degrees it is heavy and starts to settle. This brings up the next layer and it cools and starts to settle. The process continues until the lake has turned upside down. Then the surface can further cool off and freeze. This process happens again in the spring when the ice melts and the top layer reaches 39 degrees and does the flip flop all over again. The lakes down south hardly ever cool to 39 so they don’t turn over and clear up. Enough following the science. Kari has baked scones and made hot chocolate so it is time to take a break and as my old friend from Indiana used to say “grocery up”
I posted that yesterday’s task was to sort the shelves and take inventory. We got that done. We found things that we forgot about having. We don’t need too many items. I think we have enough food to make it about a year. Longer if Cooper and Teddy can catch some squirrels. Still not sure if we can get to the Thanksgiving gathering across the river. I mentioned earlier that the one thing we don’t have in the freezer is a turkey. Does anybody know how eagle tastes? I’m sure the cook will prepare a tasty dinner, I would call her a chef but they get paid more.
Just got a message that our neighbor is flying home maybe tomorrow. He will bring the mail that is delivered to our place at Wolf Lake. Still same as the turkey we can’t get across the river to get it. Anyway all of your cards and letters will be only a couple miles away from us.

Still no word from any Biden supporters, must still be hiding out in their basements.

I hope all of you have a great day.

Thank you Lord for your many blessings.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

The view from the outhouse

Monday November 15, 2021

Good morning from Silty Slough. It is a little chilly this morning 5 below the goose egg. I went out at 9 to take pictures of the river. The ice stopped moving during the night. The forecast is for colder weather for the next 10 days cooling on off to minus 11. This will set up the river ice nice. After that we need it to warm up and snow to make a good river trail. We took the boys for a run down by the river yesterday…meaning the boys ran, we rode. I took some videos of the ice. Kari and the boys say the ice banging around is noisy. I’ll take their word for it since I don’t hear well. I took a picture to show how strait the moving ice sculpted the frozen ice along the shore. Pretty impressive the amount of energy in the flowing river. The wind was blowing and we got cold pretty fast even being bundled up. I must say it is the coldest I’ve been so far including the time spent outside in my underwear and slippers taking pictures. I thought it may toughen me up a little. So far I haven’t noticed a change.
Sunrise is at 9:20 today, you will see that it is an hour or so earlier than my last view. That’s because the weather app on my phone didn’t turn their clocks back. Sunset is at 4:20 for seven big hours of daylight to make free electricity.

When I went outside this morning I noticed some light along the edge of the door. Where there is light there is cold air. Time to add some weatherstripping. The new door we added last week has a nice new plastic threshold seal that doesn’t leak. Kari and I make it a point to step over the threshold not to step on it. They really aren’t made to walk on. I repaired the one on the entry door to the cabin earlier so it doesn’t leak air. Makes a difference especially with propane approaching $4 a gallon and climbing. Thank you 81 million morons that voted for Brandon. Maybe not 81 million, I guess some of you are dead and others never existed. One of my FB friends or acquaintances posted on her page that after the election the Trumpers would just go away and hide under a rock. Looks like that’s the case for Joe and the Ho supporters. Haven’t heard from a single one of them. Crickets or is it just my hearing?

Get ready for the big Rittenhouse verdict. There will be rioting and looting. Nobody will do anything about it. Some will get shot, there will be more trials, then more riots. The cycle continues. The Dems have let Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco turn into real shit holes. I used to like to go to all those cities but not anymore.

Today’s project is to rearrange all of our food supply on the shelves downstairs, update the spreadsheet, and make a shopping list for when we get to town in December.

Cooper spends hours laying out on the deck in the cold snow watching for squirrels, ravens, eagles, and looters. I equate this to humans ice fishing. Teddy doesn’t like to ice fish.

Ever notice how some people have all the answers even if you don’t have a question? Just sayin.

That’s about all that is going on in the slough. Not much happening. Stay safe, warm, and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue Skies!!!

The view from the outhouse
Saturday November 13

Hello friends from Silty Slough, Alaska. As I sit here at the asylum on the bluff high above the Yentna River I finally have time to think of something to write about. It is warm inside the cabin and the electricity is on. Not a good time for “free” solar electricity with the sun so low on the horizon. We made .3 Kwh and used about 7 Kwh yesterday. That was with 6 of the 8 solar panels with snow on them. Kari and I coated them with RainX this fall and it seems to help. I noticed a few more have shed since the sun is out. The generator runs once in the morning and again in the evening.

It was a bit warmer than the 1 degree forecast for this morning. 11 degrees at 8am when I took the boys outside. The sun will rise at 10:14 and travel a shallow arc in the trees. Then it will slip over the horizon at 5:25. 7 hours and 11 minutes of daylight loosing I think about 3 minutes a day until December 21. There is more ice in the river this morning.

Mayor Cooper and Teddy have come up with a plan to help take some slack out of the supply chain. Up here we have a few more links than they have in the lower 48. Anyway they think the pride of Indiana Mayor Pete could use some help. Talking about an incompetent piece of work. The country is best off when he is home letting his baby feed on his fake boobs. Anyway back to the plan. I have been surveying and drawing plans to build a port for container ships right her in Silty Slough. This is the perfect government boondoggle. It will fit right in and help with the infrastructure spending bill. Cooper figures that we may as well get our share from the ignorant liberals. This is our most robust scheme to date. It doesn’t matter that ships won’t be able to get to our port. No problem that there aren’t any roads here, no electricity, no fuel, no trucks, and no people to work. Brandon’s administration is so incompetent they will send us the money and we won’t have to build anything. I plan to do an environmental impact study for a few million bucks. I think it will show that we need a couple more outhouses so that if Joe comes up for a visit he won’t have to shit his pants again. He may even like to go bear hunting.
Mayor Pete says the reason for the supply chain problems are due to childcare issues. Teddy is going to get a grant to open a daycare center for a couple thousand kids of the port workers. Don’t worry we won’t have to build it. Mayor Pete is the poster boy or girl for the Peter Principle. He has been promoted to the height of his incompetence. Look at all of Brandon’s administration, what a collection of freaks. A regular circus menagerie. All of the wokes got rid of the circuses and sent the weirdest ones to the White House.

When I mentioned free electricity earlier it made me think of all the “free lumber” we have been using. Let me tell you something if you haven’t figured it out yet, nothing is free. That free stimulus money you got, you will pay it back 5-10 times over. Just go to the gas pump or grocery store. I figured out free lumber ain’t cheap either. There are tens of thousands of dead spruce trees in Alaska. We have several hundred around our property. Beautiful trees that are more than 100 years old all dead from the spruce bark beetle. To get this free lumber you need tools, chain saws, spare chains and parts, a tractor to get the logs to the mill and haul the milled lumber, spare parts for the tractor and mill, a sawmill, and a 4 wheeler or two to ride around and scout out the best trees. Since I’m almost 70 I can’t do everything by myself so I need to hire help. Labor to find the trees, fall the trees, limb them out, cut them into logs, drag them to the mill, saw them into lumber, haul the lumber to the cabin, stack and sticker it to dry, and tarp the stacks to keep them dry.
I’m not complaining, there are benefits, we don’t have to freight the lumber 60 miles on the river, it got trees down that might fall on us or the boys, it helped eliminate some of the forest fire hazard, and we will end up with a beautiful post and beam structure. We most likely would not be building what we are if not for the spruce bark beetle.

Kari and I have been laying low since it has gotten colder. We try to do a project every afternoon when it warms up. One of the things we did was re arrange the garage so that we could cut a door through to the addition and run a couple electric circuits to the lower level. We move some lumber up on the deck and moved the rest of the windows and door for the front wall inside.
We put osb up temporarily on the cabin ceiling where we prematurely removed the knotty pine so we could tie the addition in. Makes it warm again. Still no words from the Brandon supporters. I guess they are copying his modus operandi hiding out in their basements.

Here is a brief day by day. If I miss some days it is probably that I screwed something up and don’t want to come clean about it. Big gap between Nov 4 and 10. Lot of alcohol missing from the storeroom. I remember now. We were celebrating the shellacking the Democrats got in Virginia and across the country.

Wednesday October 27
We saw the first ice in the river today. 30 degrees outside. Kari and I milled up some 1” slabs into free lumber and hauled it to the cabin.

Thursday October 28
There is more ice in the river. It snowed less than 1” overnight. Today we milled some beams that were cut off into 1” boards and stacked them on the deck for interior paneling.

Friday October 29
1” of snow today

Saturday October 30
28 degrees. 8 inches of snow during the night. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. For the benefit of all you wokes let me be the first to tell you “Merry Christmas”

Sunday October 31
39 degrees rain windy at 430 when the generator failed to autostart and I had to go out in my underwear to get it going. I know I don’t have to go out in my underwear but it is that time of year I need to toughen up.

Monday November 1
Rain

Tuesday November 2
Rain again. It is not looking a lot like Christmas anymore

Wednesday November 3
34 degrees today. River is up with very little ice. False alarm on freeze up
Did one of my least favorite cabin chores, filled the generator tank. I’ll like it less next winter. I bought this fuel under the Trump administration. I’ll have pay through the nose to replace it with fuel from the Brandon administration. Thank you morons that voted for him.

Thursday November 4
I think it rained again, very depressing

Wednesday November 10
Cooled off a bit. It was 1 degree at 830 am. There is a lot of ice in the river. Kari and I finished the door into the garage.

Thursday November 11
There is less ice in the river than yesterday.
Kari and I replaced the wiring we ripped out to install the door and ran 2 outlets to the addition

Friday November 12
12 degrees more river ice. We built a stoop for the new door. Changed the propane bottles because I don’t want to run out in the middle of the night and be changing bottles in my underwear and slippers.

It is sunny today. Kari has been helping me everyday in addition to housework, making Christmas presents, and cooking some good food. She works very hard, I think most women wouldn’t be able to carry her lunch bucket, as the saying goes.
We have been eating good. Moose and noodles, homemade pizza, ribs, homemade mac and cheese, pineapple upside down cake, and homemade frozen custard to name a few items. I don’t have pictures because I’m usually too hungry to take the time. Today she is making homemade bread, potato soup, vanilla ice cream, and brownies with raspberry sauce. I don’t know why I can’t loose any weight. Oh well it takes a lot of fuel to run a big engine.

We only have a few days left before Thanksgiving for the river to freeze so that we can ride to the neighbors for the big gathering. Otherwise I can see the Thanksgiving turkey floating away down the river. We don’t have one in the freezer so I guess we will have to smoke a beef brisket. Turkeys are easier to smoke since you can light the feathers.

In case we are out of touch between now and Thanksgiving, let us say.

From the inmates at Silty Slough we want to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Kari, Don, Mayor Cooper, Teddy, Piper and Oden the cats.

Thank you Lord for your many blessings even spruce bark beetles.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

The view from the outhouse
Thursday October 21, 2021

Hello from Silty Slough. Several days of rain ended this afternoon. The sun rose at 9:09 and set at 6:30. Nine hours and twenty one minutes of daylight. Living the dream of free solar electricity is drifting away for now until February or March. So now we mostly rely on the diesel generator, at how much a gallon Joe? I’m amazed at how the sun shines on these 8 panels that are about the size of a door. They make electricity and it goes down wires inside a pipe to a gizmo in the shop that puts it into a battery bank. Then it comes back out and through another gizmo, along some wires upstairs to the toaster where it is turned into enough heat to burn my bagel. The temp was 30 degrees this morning and it finally warmed up to 37. Skies are clear now. Still no snow and the river is extremely low. Since the last post we had a bit of good weather and we’re able to continue working on the addition to the asylum.

Thursday October 7
I needed 3 more rolls of bituthane roofing material so I had our son Ben pick it up and take it to Anchorage to come out to Skwentna on the mail plane today. It rained most of the day with low clouds, so no mail plane. With the rain there is no work on the project.

Friday October 8
The mail plane ran late in the afternoon and brought the bituthane and glow plugs for the generator. We didn’t make it to the post office today so now it will be Tuesday before we can get our treasures.

Saturday October 9
Rain today so I may not do much. Actually I probably won’t do anything. It would be a good time to update my to do list.

Sunday October 10
Weather is good so Roger and Cory made it today. We put the Tyvek on the second story walls and installed the windows in between rain showers.

Monday October 11
It is raining again, maybe I should think about turning the addition into an ark. This is Columbus Day or Indigenous People’s day today for all you woke morons. All of you want to delete or change history. I just hope I’m around long enough to delete everything about Joe and the Ho’s train wreck of an administration. I dug out two stumps. Kari and I swept out the addition so it would dry out before we are able to work again.

Tuesday October 12
Ben arrived by airplane today. They landed in the slough in the afternoon. Roger and Cory made a run to the post office and dropped the mail off to us on the island. I changed the glow plugs in the diesel generator. Hopefully that will cure the slow starting problem. Usually it fails to auto start in the middle of the night so I have a few trips dressed in my underwear and a headlamp under my belt… that is if I had a belt.

Wednesday October 13
Today the crew got the sub facia and purlins on the east side as far as we could go toward the existing cabin.

Thursday October 14
I cut 24 rafters for the west side while the crew completed all of the 1” over the deck and most of addition. Then they covered with bututhane. We are ready to set the rafters tomorrow.

Friday October 15
The crew set the rafters on the west side as far as we had the 1” lumber down. For the past week or more Roger and Cory still have been having a terrible time getting here in the boat. Boats don’t do well in below freezing temperatures.

Saturday October 16
Today it is cold, 25 degrees, the sun came out and it warmed up a bit in the afternoon. I cut the boards for Ben and Cory to put up the sub facia and purlins on the west side. Kari and Roger milled beams that we need for the area over the existing cabin. There was a pumpkin drop at the Skwentna airport and we got a mini air show when about a dozen planes flew by just above the river. One landed in the slough and a couple made touch and goes on the sandbar across the river. Roger and Ben planed the beams we need for tomorrow while Cory and I set the bathroom window in place.

Sunday October 17
This is our last day to work with a full crew.
We set the last two 6 x 6 rafters over the existing cabin and added another 3’ of 1” and bituthane. Then we built a temporary roof over the existing cabin until we can take part of the roof off in the spring and tie everything together.

Monday October 18
28 degrees sunny this morning, it warmed up to 41 later. Cory is taking the day off. Roger came by in the afternoon to get things picked up and buttoned up. He, Ben, and I patched the roof around the beams as best we could. Kari was cleaning up and arranging the lumber we will need if we can work any inside during the winter. The plane picked up Ben and grand dog Leo at 3:30 while Roger made one more trip to the post office.
Still no snow and no ice chunks in the river, but it won’t be long.

Tuesday October 19
Kari and I took down the down shelter where we planed the lumber and cleaned up a dump truck load of shavings and sawdust from the planing. Kari secured the tarps on the lumber piles so the stay covered for the winter.

Wednesday October 20
The generator is still failing to autostart every time it needs to. Time to do some cabin chores. Fill the batteries with distilled water. Check the specific gravity of the acid in each cell. I was afraid one cell was bad but they all checked within reason. I found a couple loose wires in the glow plug circuit, so I hope that fixes the auto start problem. Kari is doing laundry so I will give the batteries a hot equalizing charge for a few hours when she is finished.
I just had a great idea. I want to make some whiskey so I need a still. We also use quite a bit of distilled water for the batteries and my CPAP. As a matter of fact we are low on our supply right now. If I had a still we could distill our own. It is about a dollar a gallon in town, so with the rising cost of propane..”Let’s go Brandon”…I think I can distill my own for maybe $2 a gallon. I’ll have to get Mayor Cooper right on this good government program. We can say we are producing ethanol for fuel and get a grant. They don’t know we can’t grow corn in Alaska.

Thursday October 21. Snow was forecast most of the day but it didn’t happen just light rain and 37 degrees. I did nothing, just write this post. Tomorrow we will get busy on the to do list if I get a “Round Tuit”
Like my friend BobbyRay Howard says “It isn’t worth doing if you can’t put it off until tomorrow.”

Stay safe and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!