The view from the outhouse
Sunday April 24

Good morning all from Silty Slough. I woke up at 4:45. My phone weather app says the Skwentna temperature is 27 degrees. The thermometer here says 32. It is supposed to warm up to the 50s this afternoon as it has for several weeks. Sunrise is at 6:08 and sunset is forecast for 9:58. If my common core math is correct that’s 15:50 of daylight. It has been clear, sunny, slightly below freezing in the mornings, and in the high 50s sometimes 60s in the afternoon for days. It is pleasant to sit out on the deck in the sun and have a break or eat a meal. Not a lot is going on right now, just waiting for the snow to melt and the river to break up and flush out. I’ll try to account for our activities from the last view.

Saturday April 17
This is my first full day back. It is nice to take a break and depressurize from the trip to town.

Sunday April 18
Kari and I shoveled the snow off the outside steps and recovered the extension ladder I left laying on the steps last fall. We hauled the ladder up on the deck so I could repair the motion detector dusk to dawn LED light. Since it is lighter than dusk just about all night I really don’t know why I need to repair it. It won’t come on anyway. It is a longtime thorn on the to do list and not too difficult. A couple years is long enough to put it off. The ladder is too tall, I had to leave the bottom far from the wall. Kari is going to stand on the base so it doesn’t slide. “If you get a text, if your mother calls, don’t leave to answer it.” I don’t want to ride the ladder down the wall. I figured I would find a loose wire and that would be it. No loose wire, I have another light to replace it. Didn’t take too long. I think I’ll take the old one apart and see what makes it tick. Motion sensor good, LEDs good, the power supply is bad. A new one on Amazon is $39 a whole new light is about $50. I’ll save the parts in case I need them or until Roger helps me clean this shop. I’ll leave the ladder up so I can check the aim when it gets darker this evening.

Monday April 19
I spent most of the day on hold taking care of business with the insurance companies, social security, and checking the balances on the stack of gift cards that crowd my wallet. Tonight’s menu is steak, salad, and homemade bread. I think there is banana pudding for dessert.

Tuesday April 20
It is warm in the afternoon so I decided to fix the big gap under the entry door downstairs. It has been there most of the winter and the entry has been colder than I remember from past winters. I should have fixed it a lot sooner and saved some propane but it was cold. I guess someone should have given me a round tuit sooner because it was a fairly easy fix in the warm sunshine. I can tell the difference in the morning with my bare feet on the tile floor.

Wednesday April 21
The snow has melted off the Kubota enough so that I can get on the seat and give it a try. I left the battery in it all winter and was surprised when it fired right up. I pushed some snow straight ahead and made a spot where I could move fore and aft. I need a couple more days of sunshine to really be able to get around.
Tonight is beer battered halibut chunks on the deck.

Thursday April 22
Today is a good day to change the oil, oil filter, and air filter for the diesel generator. It hasn’t been running with all the sunshine, only when we needed the electric clothes dryer a few days ago. The solar system is making all the electricity we normally need. Sometimes 8kwh a day. It would be more if we could use it. After the batteries are charged to 100% in the afternoon it knows not to make any more electricity. I have charged every spare battery that I have and don’t have anywhere else to store the excess electricity. The toaster and microwave use the most electricity so we have been having a lot of toast for breakfast. Then the light came on. I’m going to use the excess electricity in the afternoon to make a lot of toast and freeze it to have on the days when it is cloudy and we are short on electricity. Maybe AOC can use this in her big green book of energy conservation tips. She wouldn’t get it though. Tonight is lemon chicken and it was very lemony. That’s good though lemon juice helps prevent gout.

Friday April 23
25 degrees this morning warmed up to 60. Our menu choices are gradually changing to what do we need to eat before it goes bad. Tonight is hot ham and cheese because it is time to finish up the ham I brought from home.

Saturday April 24
Today I added fuel to the Kubota and plowed a bit around the yard. I’m doing better than last year. I think I waited for more snow to melt so I haven’t been stuck yet. I’ll let old Sol do some more work before I make a real sloppy mess. Tonight is lemon chicken soup. The rice and carrots mellowed out the leftover lemon chicken so it was actually pretty good. One more meal of it left. Time to move on to the next items in the coolerator.

Sunday April 25
The trails are getting thin. I think today is the day to take the snow machines to Al’s shed. I kind of want to keep one handy here but where can we go anyway. The river is soft but not soft enough for the boat. Silty Slough is filling up with water so you can’t cross it. Looks like we are stuck on this little chunk of paradise for the time being. I’ll take the batteries down and reinstall them in the 4 wheelers and give it another day or so until we make the final transition from skis to wheels. I’ll let you know how that goes in the next view.

From the asylum high on the bluff above Silty Slough, take care my friends and stay safe and healthy.

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

siltyslough.Wordpress.com is hot. Had a 20% increase in followers in just one day. 10 to 12

The view from the outhouse
Wednesday April 21

Good morning from Silty Slough. The boys let me sleep in until 7 this morning. It is 28 degrees and sunny and will be warming up to the high 50s like it has been doing for quite a few days now. 15:30 daylight today. I just read a post that in the last day or two we started a period of not getting totally dark, just twilight. This will continue until August 25 when the sun once again goes far enough below the horizon for it to be to be dark. We are making as much solar electric as we are using now and have been for a couple weeks. I’ll pick up the adventure on Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday April 4
We went to Northwoods Lodge for a get together with friends and neighbors and enjoyed a wonderful meal and a good visit with everyone. Roger and I made plans for our last trip to town on snow machines for the season.

Monday April 5
Roger and I headed to town in the afternoon. He is going to have his right knee worked on and will need a ride to and from the surgery. The trip on the river is painless. Roger has a tub sled and I have a freight sled with a tub sled hooked behind. All I have going in is some trash, an empty propane cylinder, and two empty fuel barrels. The plan is to head back out to the cabin as soon as Roger is up to it. He is optimistically thinking Friday or Saturday. We plan to pick up the stakes marking the river trail on our way home so he can reuse them next winter.

Tuesday April 6
When I sent my right hearing aid in for repair last trip they removed the custom molded earpiece, put it in a plastic bag, and handed it to me. Normally they keep it. A thought flashed through my mind… this is the last time I will ever see this. The good news is that the hearing aids are still under warranty for one more month.

Roger has some tests today so I’m heading into Costco to pick up my right hearing aid and drop off the left. Yes you all ready know it..the custom ear mould is no where to be found. I have looked everywhere, in all my pockets, in the dryer, in Roger’s truck, in all the places where I find my lost glasses, it is gone.
They were very busy at the hearing center and just traded me hearing aids and gave me a soft plastic dome to replace the missing earpiece. No time today to take a new impression to have a new one made. I’ll have to make an appointment. Thursday at 10, Roger should be ok to be left alone by then. They can mail everything to Skwentna when it arrives.

Wednesday April 7
Roger had to be at the surgery center at 8:15. I couldn’t stay there and wait so I headed to the Sunrise Grill in Palmer to kill some time with the hungry man’s breakfast. Then I went back home and worked on drawings for the steel gusset plates we need for the addition to the asylum. Shortly after noon the nurse called and said Roger was waking up. 20 minutes later I’m in the lobby, here comes Roger and the nurse, walking, no crutches, no cane, no wheelchair, nothing. I was figuring on picking him up in a wheelchair at the back loading dock. He just walked out front to the Yukon and got in a little slower than normal. We got back home and Roger took it easy while I went upstairs and worked on my drawings. Looks like the Friday or Saturday plan is out the window, he has a follow up appointment on Tuesday.

Thursday April 8
Tony from Builders Choice called first thing. Our windows and doors have arrived. I stopped by there on the way to Costco to get my earpiece ordered and measured the crate. 5 feet tall, 8 feet long, 30 inches wide. Now the diarrhea, no dilemma, do I haul it standing up, laying on its side, or wait and put it on the barge this summer? Top heavy standing up on a sled, not sure about hauling the glass laying flat hanging off the sides of the sled. I’m only betting about half of what I bet on the foam insulation trip to the cabin. The windows are all on one sled though so I won’t have anyone to blame it on if I screw up and roll it over. Let me think about it for a while.
Back to Anchorage and Costco to get my earpiece ordered. I sat down in the booth and the lady asked how old they were. Same as hearing aids almost 3 years. She makes a phone call to the place that makes them. Now they scan the impression and print the earpiece with a 3D printer. They keep the scans for 3 years. So happens they still have mine on file and will print one up. A needless trip to town. So while I’m there I pick up a heaping cart of supplies to take back to the cabin from Kari’s AnyList app. I added a couple things like ice cream, a 4 pound bag of miniature candy bars, and several other items that I felt like we needed to get through breakup. A few hundred schickles lighter and I’m on my way northbound on the Glenn Highway toward Wolf Lake. Roger is a little stiff today, the ice machine that circulates cold water around his knee is helping. We figured that some internal cooling may help so we got in the Yukon and went to Wasilla A&W for a root beer float. My toe is sore again so I figure some cooling will help it also. I’m not at liberty to say how many cooling trips we made until heading back up the river. We talked about a road trip to Sterling to visit our neighbor. He has a steel fabricating business and can make the gusset plates we need. Roger called him and we are heading down tomorrow for a visit and a tour. I have to get the drawings finished tonight to take along. These plates are a crucial part of the post and beam puzzle.

Friday April 9
Breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe and on the road to Sterling. It is a beautiful day for a drive in the sunshine. We headed down along the Turnigan Arm with a stop for Roger to walk a bit, then on into Turnigan Pass with a stop at the rest area for more exercise. On past Hope Turnoff and soon we are making the turn onto the Sterling Highway passing Cooper Landing and the Russian River Ferry. Now we are into the burn area from last years fires and soon we are at our turnoff to visit our cabin neighbors. They have a beautiful place. We went over the plates we need, took the tour, and had a nice visit. The plasma table that the plates will be cut on was impressive. I hope my drawings are correct. Soon they will be turned into steel.
We had a late lunch at a Mexican place in Soldotna. Very good. Don Jose’s. They also have a place in Homer and Anchorage. My hearing aid battery died so I went into Walgreens to get some, running silent, just to see if I could. I can hear a little bit and along with reading lips I can fill in some of the blanks. Problem is masks make lip reading difficult. Anyway I made it out with fresh batteries. I’m on one ear operation but this aid is tuned up fresh from repair and on the side Roger is sitting. Headed back north for home. Can’t remember if we made a detour for more internal cooling but probably so since we were close, meaning within 5 miles.

Saturday April 10
We need to make a dump run sometime before Wednesday our next target for returning home. Roger asked if there was anything to work on. Since we are going to the dump I would like to maybe throw some things away from my shop. These are real treasures. Since they are of no sentimental value to Roger I figure he can talk me through it. These are things that I may need in the future, pieces of wood and metal that I have cut off from other projects, the old wiper motor from the boat, a wireless WiFi router that doesn’t work, old truck parts that I have replaced, old parts from a boat I sold 5 years ago, you get the drill. Speaking of a 9.6 volt drill that I don’t have a battery for. I’ll wait until he goes to sleep and retrieve some of the best stuff and put it in my stash upstairs, with all my old cell phones, power supplies, chargers and hundreds of cords that one day I will need.
There was a bag from Duluth Trading from our last trip when Roger bought the shirt I wanted out from under me. You remember from a previous view. I’m thinking I should go through all the garbage and look for my earpiece. I looked at the Duluth bag and low and behold right on top of everything was a clear plastic bag with my earpiece in it. Now I will have two right ones and only one right ear. I guess if Bill Gates gets his way with these vaccinations and I grow another right ear I’ll have an earpiece for it.

Sunday April 11
Roger overdid it yesterday so we are going to have a day of rest. Our wonderful neighbors have been feeding us dinner almost every night since we came in. Roger wasn’t up to walking down there this evening, but that didn’t stop me from going. I wonder how long I can milk this? The food is gourmet off the charts. They always send a plate for him. Most of the time I stash it in the hangar and eat it later.

Monday April 12
Roger is limbered up today. He insisted on going with me to the dump. I am thinking he thought I may rent a mini storage for my treasures that he was throwing out. There was a tear in my eye as I pulled onto the scale to weigh out. I think the lady felt sorry for me and only charged for 160 pounds. I know we had at least 400. On to the Sunrise for breakfast. That’s the only sunrise I want to get up early enough to see right now. I must have waisted away most of the rest of the day. Not sure what Roger did.

Tuesday April 13
Roger has a couple appointments today so I hung out at the house and drew some more. I’m not sure why at 69 I’m trying to learn AutoCAD just to draw a cabin plan. Maybe I can get a job when I grow up and figure out what I want to be. Keeps me out of the bars but so does the gout.

Wednesday April 14
Roger has one appointment in the afternoon. Then we are going up by Talkeetna to look at a puppy. A and W is on the way so we swung in for some preventative medicine. I wouldn’t want him to be in any pain on the long drive. At Talkeetna Roger liked one of the pups and soon it was the three of us on the way home.
Sometime in all of this it has snowed 14” at the cabin, now it is very warm and the river is getting soft in the afternoon. It is supposed to get below freezing Thursday night so we are planning to head out early Friday morning while the river is still firm.

Thursday April 15
I took a long shot and called the hearing center just to be sure my hearing aid hadn’t come in. It had and they were waiting for the earpiece to come in before they called me. Roger, the pup, and I headed in to town again. I picked up my hearing aid and as if by magic the latest Costco coupons became effective today. Kari had updated AnyList because a lot of items we use had coupons. Roger and the pup waited in the truck while I shopped. We headed home planning our gala farewell dinner like you do on the last night on a cruise ship. Must have been good but I can’t remember what it was. The totes are all packed and all that is left is to put the cold food in a cooler in the morning.

Friday April 16
We are up early. Loaded everything in Rogers truck since I will be leaving mine at home this time. One last trip to the Sunrise for breakfast. We were too early for A and W. To the landing and we loaded everything on my freight sled. Lowe’s called to inform me our bathtub is ready for pickup. Too late, I’ll float it up behind the boat in June, any takers for an adventure?No fuel, windows, or propane this trip with the river conditions. It was below freezing overnight but warming up fast. Roger volunteered to pull the freight sled and I didn’t argue. We started picking up trail stakes right out of the landing. Quite a few had been run over and broken. A few were frozen in the ice. In the 16 miles to Scary Tree we picked up less than 60 stakes. Roger averages putting about 16 stakes per mile to mark the trail so there should have been about 250 stakes. It is a shame that so many are run over. After Scary Tree there were a few more stakes left. When we got to mile 22 or 23 the river was getting soft so we gave up recovering stakes and picked up the pace toward home. The river had some patches of overflow but nothing too long or too deep. Soon we were turning into Fish Lakes Creek to get off the river and take the back way to Rogers. All is well as we headed along the swamp runway. At the turnoff I ran off the left side of the trail just a little bit and started bogging down in the soft snow. I was able to get on the throttle to keep moving and ride it out. When I got back to the trail I went too far off to the right and was stuck. Roger had no place to turn around so he dropped his sled and backed up about 300 yards to yank me out. We went on to his place and unloaded his things off the sled and left the pup to play with his new brother. This morning leaving the Sunrise I called the pup Gridley. Roger thought I said Ripley and said I kind of like that. So the pup finally end up named Ripley. We headed for Silty Slough and I got stuck one last time on a tree that fell across the trail from Rogers back to the river. Soon we are at the asylum. Roger is ready to go home and get his leg up. Kari had the trails and yard packed, the deck shoveled off, and a good dinner of ribs, homemade bread, and a Caesar salad. I think she and the boys were happy to see me. I know I was happy to see them. We sat on the deck in the sun in our short sleeves, with snow all around, very comfortable. Reminds me of people in shorts at the ski lift. It’s good to be home.

That’s enough for now. I will pick up the final segment of this adventure in a few days when we make the transition from snow machines to 4-wheelers.

Thank you Lord for keeping us out of the river.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

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I’m up to maybe 10 followers. It’s really gone viral.

The view from the outhouse.
Easter Sunday April 4

Good morning and Happy Easter to everyone from Silty Slough. The boys wanted to take me out to potty at 8. I missed the white sunrise at 7:12. We have about an inch of fresh snow and it is still falling. 27 degrees now forecast to go to 37 later today then cool off for a week or so. Sunset is at 9:01, the days are getting longer fast.
I reviewed my last post to see what untruths I had written so I can keep my story straight. The last post ended with the adventure on March 19. I was going to start today with “Don’t pay the ransom, l have escaped” A band of gypsies or maybe President by cheating Biden supporters captured me down by Scary Tree and held me hostage. There is no cell service there so I couldn’t post “The view from the outhouse”. I had quite a yarn spun up.
Actually Kari and I have been running up and down the river hauling material for the cabin addition.

Saturday 20
We unloaded the sleds from the trip up the river yesterday and fueled the machines for a trip in tomorrow.

Sunday 21
Kari and I had a good run on the ice road. This time we took it on past the Deshka River 11 miles and made a right turn down the Su to come into the landing from the north. It is 5 miles longer but a little smoother. It was warm and sunny again so it made for a nice trip. Warm meaning in the high teens low twenties.
The boys stayed with Roger and Myra to play with there buddy Mister.
Monday 22

Tuesday 23
Our trip to the cabin today is to haul the rest of the bathroom fixtures. My responsibility is the shower door. In the past I’ve had bad luck with doors, so today the pressure is on. Trying to remember, I think Kari has a couple barrels of fuel and beer. We got intel from snow command that two snow cats were broken down on the ice road and had it blocked so we took the river trail. The first 16 miles is bumpy to Scary Tree then it is fairly smooth the rest of the way home. We stopped by to pick up the boys and continued on to Silty Slough. I was relieved when we stood the box with the shower door in it up and didn’t hear any broken glass. It was a successful trip.

Wednesday 24
I’m heading in solo today to get another load. I’m tired but the trail and weather is so good I can’t pass it up. I’ve made enough trips in flat light and snow storms. Roger and Myra are coming in tomorrow. Myra is going to stay a couple days to get supplies for breakup and Roger and I are going back.

Thursday 25
I’m up early so I made a trip to Palmer to the Sunrise Grill. I need some fuel for today’s trip.
Then I’m off to Houston, AK to get 105 gallons of heating oil at $2.39 a gallon to haul up the river today along with a couple bottles of propane, bathroom sinks, and an antique trunk that still has Railway Express Agency labels on it. I almost said old antique trunk just to aggravate you. I got everything loaded and tied down. Roger was finishing up with his 300 gal fuel load and soon we were on the road again. Reminds me of a song. The light is good, trail is fair, soon Roger is peeling off left at about mile 33 1/3 to make his fuel delivery. I continue on unsupervised and soon I’m passing mile 45. I think those are both records. 9 miles to go to the asylum. Sure glad I don’t have to go to mile 78. The boys were coming down the trail through the woods to meet me when I topped the hill by Al’s place. Kari and I got the sinks and trunk unloaded. I’m planning on dropping the fuel in the morning and heading back in with Roger. Kari is going to stay home and keep Roger and Myra’s dog Mister.
Friday 26
I woke up at 4:40 the electricity was off so my CPAP wasn’t C-papping. I got up and looked at the solar system control panel and it showed a fault. The generator did not auto start. I went outside to the generator shed in my underwear and slippers and tried a manual start. It started but the speed was low only putting out 45 cycles instead of 60. It shut down after 30 seconds or so. I guess I’ll have to change the fuel filter. Rounded up the tools and a pan and a filter from the Alaska division of the North Judson NAPA store. I Changed the filter getting diesel all over me. This is why I don’t wear clothes. Too hard to get the diesel smell out. Still the same speed low. Ok change the filter at the tank. Same drill diesel all over me again. Started for another try. Good, speed is up, putting out 60 cycles. I go in and clear the fault on the inverter/charger. It won’t hook up to the generator, AC volts too high. I get my meter out. 330 volts when it should be 240. I went back out to the generator house and could see and smell a bit of electrical smoke. Shut it down. Rig for backup Honda 2000 generator. It is only 120 volt so I have to tie the two legs together to power all the cabin. Inverter in bypass, charger off, flipped the breaker from the generator. Wella lights are back on at the asylum. I let Roger know I won’t be going but will bring the 2 drums of fuel to drop off at his neighbors. We got that done and he talked me into leaving Kari in charge of the Silty Slew Electric Co-op while we go to town. I’m only going to be gone for 2 nights. I went home to get my trail clothes on and get Kari checked out on the system. Keep fuel in the generator. If anything goes wrong call me. But if something goes wrong the cellphone booster won’t be powered, so run a cord from the second Honda generator and plug it in. Don’t call while I’m sleeping because I won’t hear it anyway. You’ve got this, I will see you Sunday. Before I left I got on Amazon and found a replacement voltage regulator $39 send me two. Only problem they won’t be here until April11. Roger and I made a fast trip in hitting 40 mph once in a while. I got on the phone to look for a voltage regulator locally. The 3rd place I called would have one at 4pm today $440……I’ll call you back. 4th place can get one for $339 but will have to check if it will fit. It may be a little bigger. He thinks he may have some used ones he will make me a deal on. Will call tomorrow after he looks in his shop.
No calls from Kari so all is well. There is about 8” of fresh snow in the driveway so I got the Kubota out and cleared it. I will clear the ramp tomorrow so we can get the hangar door open and load the boiler to go to the cabin. Time to get something to eat and have a nap.

Saturday 27
Saturday’s outing is into the big city with Roger. I dropped off my right hearing aid to get sent in for repair so now I’m on a single ear operation. Went to Cabelas and couldn’t find what we wanted so we swung by Duluth Trading. Roger found a pair of slippers he couldn’t live without. I found a shirt in the clearance section. It was a large, I need an XL so Roger bought it for himself. I found a pair of Alaska Outdoor Gear pants for less than half. When we got to the checkout. My shirt that Roger bought had been marked down a second time $16. Let me try that on again I can wear a large, for 16 bucks I can wear a medium or maybe even a small. So we left Duluth, Roger with my shirt. Made a low pass at Burrito Heaven on Boniface Parkway, then to Home Depot Wasilla for 12 sheets of Hardie Backer after a stop at Fred Meyer for a $400 gift card. I was 79 cents short with the gift card when I checked out at Home Depot so a nice lady behind me paid it and offered to help me load it in Rogers pickup. He was in the restroom changing into his new shirt I think. The generator repair guy called back and he didn’t have a used regulator. I asked why there was 10 times the difference in price between his and Amazon. He said that he had looked at those and they wouldn’t ship to Alaska. I didn’t tell him that I had two on order to ship to Skwentna. I went back on Amazon and found another one that would ship quicker and had it sent to Wolf Lake for delivery on Wednesday. Now I will have one replacement and two spares.

Sunday 28
We want to leave the landing at 1pm. I got up and moved the trailer and blew the snow off the ramp. Roger helped me load the boiler and tie it down. We stopped for breakfast and I stopped to top off my diesel transfer tank in the back of the pickup with heating oil. 32 gallons filled it. I figure I may as well keep everything full because it is only going to go up in price. Please don’t get me started.
We got all the sleds loaded and on our way. Roger and Myra broke away at mile 52 and I headed the last two miles home. I was really tired so I ate and was in bed at 7pm.

Monday 29
I went to the post office today with Roger to deliver fuel. Roger has to get the supply there now to last until he can deliver again in December when the river freezes back up. I groomed a little bit along the runway and the trails around the cabin. The snow is holding up good so we should be able to get a few more freight trips in. I rigged up a bigger tank on the Honda generator so we don’t have to fill it so often. We are making solar power now that the roof has shed so we can turn the generator off most of the day.

Tuesday 30
Today was a do nothing day. Made some phone calls to take care of business. Rested most of the day. Left a lot of messages. Not many people call back.

Wednesday 31
Today was another slow day. Kari and I loaded and fueled the sleds to go to town tomorrow. I am looking at the weather closely. We have 5500 pounds of spray foam insulation to haul out. It is very expensive and cannot freeze.
Roger is meeting us at the landing Friday at noon.

Thursday 1
We are up early and ready to head into town at 9. Dropped the boys off with Roger and Myra. It is early. In the snow covered river I can see black silhouettes of moose, snow machines, and tent camps. As I get closer they look like stumps that have floated down the river in the summer and lodged on sandbars. As I get even closer they look a lot more like stumps. The trail is good so we were at the landing well before noon. I got about 3 mIles down the road and had to return to get the tote of ratchet straps I left on my machine. We will need these tomorrow to strap the barrels to the trailer. Kari’s car was at the landing so she headed on home. I have one propane bottle to fill. The price has gone up 20 cents to $3 a gallon. I think it is time for a root beer float at A and W. Root beer is $9.99 a gallon. Glad I’m not trying to heat the cabin with that.

Friday 2
I woke up early stressing about the temperature. It is about zero at the cabin forecast to be 25 after noon. It is 6 degrees here and forecast to be 18 by 11am. I text Roger to delay an hour until 1pm. Kari and I went to South Anchorage to Uresco the place that sells the spray foam. It is 18 degrees now and sunny. Decision time. It can’t freeze, today is the only day Roger can haul. Once it is on the trailer I don’t have a good place to keep it warm. The 10 barrels weigh 550 pounds each so I can’t unload it and reload it later if something goes sideways like in the Suez Canal. I have a generator, tarps, and a bullet heater if we break down. Last resort is to take it to the hangar, pull the airplane out, and back the trailer load of foam in. I used to get paid a lot of money to make good decisions. Today is getting me down. I have about $13k riding on it. The guys at Uresco loaded the 10 barrels on the trailer 2 pallets of 4 drums and one of 2. Kari and I put moving blankets and tarps over the drums, then strapped them down. 2 straps around all the drums and several straps over the top. Barrels standing up are hard to strap. I see why we haul them on the sleds laying down. I cranked the straps as tight as I could. I planned to stop at the scale house about 10 miles away on the north side of Anchorage. We are out on the New Seward Highway, the temp is going up, we are cruising, only about an hour later than last planned. We had travelled 2 or 3 miles and a couple people went around waving at me. Wow Im getting famous like Marty Rainey. People are recognizing me from “The view from the outhouse”. Kari then says she can see a strap dragging in her mirror. I got off at the next exit and found a lot to stop in. The barrels scooted together and the straps got loose. The ratchet on the strap I was dragging is toast. I tightened everything up. They won’t move now. Under way again only lost about 15 minutes. Kari reported another loose strap so I exited at Arctic Valley Road and tightened things up again. Back on the Glen Highway cruising again. Crossing the Knik River a truck pulled up beside me and waved. I gave him the thumbs up and he went on. I don’t think he has been reading the view so I pulled over at the next wide spot. Check the straps, everything is tight. Maybe he had been reading the view. I just get going again and my phone rings. Hey this is Joel the spray foam guy. Just waved at you on the bridge. Looks like you have a good day for hauling foam. I have only talked to Joel on the phone and texted. What are the chances he would see the tarped barrels on my truck and figure out it was me? On through Wasilla and on to the landing without further delay. Roger is waiting with 3 snow machines and 4 sleds. Roger is pulling 2 sleds with 2 barrels each. Kari and I are each pulling a sled with 3 barrels on each one. We strapped the generator, propane, heater, and clean laundry wherever it would fit. The barrels are heavy for Roger and the old guy but we were able to lay them down and roll them off the trailer onto the sled. Last barrel is on and everything tied. Rogers starter decides to give up the ghost. Murphy is alive and well. Roger tried wrapping a rope around the primary clutch and pull starting it. Then we both tried to pull. Then we backed my machine up to the front of his and hooked the rope to it. I took off. Still no workey. If all else fails get a bigger rope. This time I took off and it started. Once again MacGyver kicks Murphy’s arse. Now Roger needs to get going so his machine doesn’t overheat. Kari and I need to get suited up so he takes off slow. We caught him at about mile 4. The temp is about 27 now and still rising. We made good time and were in Silty Slough before 7. Roger split his sleds and took them on to the cabin one at a time. Kari towed me with a short strap up the hill with each of our sleds. We rolled the barrels off the sleds and into the shop. It was a long day. I’m sure glad to have the barrels in the warm shop. It was great to have Roger and Kari on this adventure. We will worry about standing the barrels up and arranging them tomorrow. Right now Myra has dinner ready and we are ready to eat. Dinner was wonderful, after we finished eating we loaded up the boys and headed for the asylum.

Saturday 3
The cabin has been running on solar since Thursday when we left. The voltage regulator arrived in the mail at Wolf Lake Thursday. It was easy to change out and adjust the voltage and frequency. Kari went over and got Roger’s barrel stander upper tool. I think this had a lot to do with getting the barrels arranged so she could take a shower. It was about all I could do to stand them up with an extra push from her.

That’s enough excitement for one post. I’ll pick it up again starting with Easter Sunday in my next post.

Thank you all for reading and sending your encouraging comments. Stay safe and healthy my friends. I hope you had a happy Easter.

Thank you Lord for your many blessings!

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

http://www.siltyslough.wordpress.com

The view from the outhouse
Saturday March 20
Good morning from Silty Slough
Spring has not sprung at the asylum. I think it is frozen down to the ground. I will go out later and give it a yank. Hope it doesn’t break. That’s where the term spring break must come from. It is 17 below zero this morning. The sun came up right on schedule at 8:01 and is scheduled to set at 8:21. 12:20 of daylight. Until a few days ago I thought today, the equinox, the first day of spring, that night and day would be equal length. I discovered a new term…equilux. Meaning equal light. It occurred here on the 17th and varies by latitude. No Teddy and I didn’t just make this up. Fact check it. Enough seriousness and education. Let’s pick up on the adventure, if you can look at some of the things that happen to me and laugh or say look at that nutcase, I don’t feel so bad after all, you have made my day.
Sunday 14
I woke up an hour later than normal this morning. Don’t know what happened. I don’t set an alarm because Kari is the only one that would hear it and she doesn’t want to get up when I do anyway. I just wake up by my internal body clock.
We are just hanging out waiting for our appointments tomorrow. I spent most of the day running from the hangar loft down the stairs to the printer to try to figure out how to get the drawings that I took out of my head and into the computer out of the computer and onto paper. They are jumping all over the paper, some half on some half off, too small, too big, some not even showing up at all. Finally I decided to take the printer upstairs, what a bright idea. Things are working better now, I’m starting to figure this out.

Monday 15
Kari had her new knee checked and the doctor renewed the warranty for a year. We could go to the cabin today but it is getting late and it is overcast so there will be a lot of blind spots with the flat light. The forecast for tomorrow is sunny and warmer in the afternoon. I’ve heard ducks fart underwater before.

Tuesday 16
Today is the day, headed north. All we need to do at the landing is load a cooler, a couple totes and the boys in their kennel and tie everything down. The sleds are frozen down but a couple jerks with two machines tied together and they are free. You can interpret that a couple ways, but we try not to be jerks. We were fueling our machines and ran into a neighbor from Hewitt Lake. He said the ice road was good so we decided to take it. The narrow sled had the most weight so I was pulling it. Kari had Bigfoot the sled with wider skis. We were both heavy. I don’t know how much the metal roofing weighed in addition to the 1200 pounds of lumber, dogs, and totes we had. We stopped at the turnoff to the crossover trail, Kari said she was pulling hard, very light on the front skis so she had to really ride all the time leaning to steer. She was concerned about the hills coming up. I offered to swap sleds but she thought my sled was even heavier. Ok, press on. My machine is pulling fine, the crossover trail is amazingly pretty smooth. There are two little climbs on it and Kari made both of them. Soon we are dropping down onto the Deshka 7 miles of flat river. We stopped before turning onto the ice road. It starts with a long steady grade. The plan is if Kari can’t make it up I will continue to the top and drop my sled. Then I will come back and tow her up the hill. There is one other spot like this and one that is quite a bit steeper but shorter. Some how she made all three. On the flat trail she could only do about 19 mph at 6000 rpm. In a couple hours we are at Silty Slough. Kari dropped her sled and made a couple passes up and down the trail to the cabin while I let the boys out. We may have to harness them up to get these sleds the last quarter mile. You know the drill by now. Kari hooks to my machine with a short strap and up we go. 1 sled delivered to the cabin. Back down for Bigfoot. Up we go her track is spinning a bit throwing snow at me. I give my machine more throttle and our speed is bleeding off just as we crest the grade on the ramp. Here we come spinning out of the 270 degree turn and up the long crooked grade past Al’s cabin and to the top. We just made it. I told Kari that don’t know how she ever pulled that load with her lighter machine. She just looked at me and said “Skill”. Who am I to argue, “Yes dear”. Get the coolers in so the food doesn’t freeze. The boys are happy to be home. I am too.

Wednesday 17
We waited until about noon for it to warm up. Todays task is to pack and groom the yard then get the sleds unloaded. Tomorrow we are going to make another trip to town for another doctors appointment and more building material. I’m glad we are generally healthy, just trying to keep it that way.
Kari is going to pull a tub sled to pack the snow and I’m going to pull the groomer to level it out. Once you move the snow it will freeze and firm up. Kari asked if I would hook her up to the tub sled full of batteries, ice, and snow. It is heavy and probably frozen down a bit. Usually you can bump it with a ski and it will pop loose. I got her hooked up she can’t shake it. I hooked my machine to hers. Still no moovie. I know, I’ll hook my machine to the tongue with a long strap and give it a quick snap. What is the worst that can happen, I bend the hitch a bit? Here goes, hold my tea. I can’t drink beer, I get mean and want to fight. I give it one quick jerk here comes the hitch and the whole front of the plastic sled following right behind me. Unfortunately the rest of the sled and batteries weren’t ready to accompany us and remained frozen to the ground. Kari and I rolled on the ground laughing. I guess you have to expect some losses in an operation as big as the Silty Slough Asylum.
We laid pallets and the 2x12s down to stack the metal on. Remember all of this is on 3 feet of packed snow. On the 20th when spring is here and it all starts melting…… in your dreams. Anyway it is easier to unload than it was to load and soon the chore is finished, tarped and strapped together for the big thaw.
I can’t talk about dinner now, I don’t remember, maybe it was pork steak. I remember it was really good as usual. I guess I need to take more food pictures Julie and Greg.

Thursday 18
It is a beautiful morning. About zero. The sun is shining and it is looking like a great day for a snow machine ride. We loaded 3 totes of trash and laundry along with the boys in their kennel on my sled. Kari’s sled is empty. The boys are going to spend the night with Roger and Myra while we do a quick trip. Lowe’s called yesterday and let us know the rest of our bathroom fixture order was ready for pickup. We had planned on bringing fuel because it is quick to load but now we are going to bring a new concept to Silty Slough, indoor plumbing. We dropped the boys off sometime after 9:30. When you are suited up it is difficult to look at your phone to check the time. Out the back way past the swamp airstrip, up a steep grade, past the end of Bentalit airstrip, down onto Mud Lake, past Northwoods Lodge and out to the river via Fish Lakes Creek. The river trail is ok today, not as bad as sometimes but not as good as it was on Tuesday when we came up. At milepost 37 we made the turn onto the ice road. We are cruising now 28-30 mph. I’m kicking up a cloud of snow and just catch a wink of Kari’s headlight now and then behind me. She is staying back to stay in the clear air. These iron dogs are picking them up and laying them down. Feels good to be going fast enough to actually have to lean to the inside of the turns. Watch out for moose and any oncoming traffic. The Snow Federation inter galactical convoy shouldn’t be headed south until star-date Saturday. In no time we are making the turn onto the Deshka River. 18 miles on the ice road non stop so time for a short 2 minute break. Kari pulled her rig up beside me and said “I was going 40.” That’s pretty fast to tow a sled, might void the warranty if you hook a ski on something. 7 miles on the Deshka downstream with the current and 7 more to the landing. The trail is still pretty good with a few rough spots. About 2 miles from the turn off onto the crossover trail I saw a couple piles of fresh moose nuggets. Around the next bend there is a cow moose and a yearling in the trail. I’ll stop and wait for Kari since she has the pea shooter. They continued down the trail ahead of us and finally made a turn off the river and up the bank. Interesting to see junior wasn’t doing what mama wanted him to do so she was kicking at him once in a while. I guess moose don’t use time out chairs. The crossover trail was much rougher than it was on Tuesday but it is only a little over 4 miles so the rough ride was over in a few minutes. We joined back up with the river trail and passed milepost 2. Here comes mile 1 and then we are on the boat ramp headed to the parking lot. The remote started the truck to warm it up. It is diesel so it should be warm by the time we get to Wasilla. It isn’t too cold but my bare fingers always get cold undoing the ratchet straps. I looked at my phone and it is only 11:50. We must have made it in two hours or a little less. A new track record even with a moose delay.
At the house we unloaded the truck and changed into normal clothes. On to Lowe’s after a stop for human fuel. They had our order on a cart except for the bathtub. There were two vanities but we had already picked one up last week. I couldn’t remember which one so it was a trip back to the house to check. Back to Lowe’s to get the right one. They missed the bathtub on the initial order so it will have to come up on the barge this summer. Now back to the landing with the first pickup load. We will have another load in the morning. Back at Wolf Lake and bed by 10:30. It’s been a long day. I’m sure glad I’m retired.

Friday 19
I was on the way to the dermatologist this morning after stopping at FedEx and Fred Meyer Fuel to redeem some fuel points. I hadn’t looked at the temperature yet. That would entail pushing the button on the dash to clear the service the airbag, change oil, and caution ice possible message that blocks out the temperature reading. Fred was having a 4 fuel point per dollar special on gift cards so since I need a lot of things from Lowe’s for the build I bought $1500 dollars worth of cards a few days ago. That works out to a dollar a gallon off 210 gallons of fuel. 14% savings at Lowe’s unless you loose the gift cards. I can see why they offer 5% off to use your Lowe’s card. If Biden hadn’t caused the price increase I would have saved another dollar a gallon. It looks like you idiots that voted for him are being well represented. Back to the rest of the story.
I got really cold pumping the two drums of fuel. The last task was to fill my truck with diesel. It will hold 35 gallons if it is really empty so I go ahead and use another 1000 points for a dollar a gallon off. If you only take 20 gallons the points are still gone. I squeezed 32.3 gallons in. It was so full I could barely get the cap on without forcing some out. Talking about being a cheap airline pilot. Squeeze that nickel until the Buffalo poops. On warmer days I would have climbed back up in the truck bed and added the 2.7 gallons of diesel to the barrels of gas that I had already pumped. Today my hands are just too cold so I leave the $2.70 savings on the table and hop back into the truck. I managed to push the button on the dash. It is 4 below zero and I’m in my underwear and slippers. No that’s another story, I’m in street clothes with damp gloves. I could just say 4 below but if I add the zero it makes the reader have more sympathy for my fingers.
I’m warming my fingers with the heater on high blower. I look out and framed perfectly in the windshield is the Krispy Kreme store. I have time before the Doctor for a low pass at the drive through. What the heck I’ll get some to take home to Kari if they make it all the way.
I don’t really need to go to the dermatologist, I just froze the same spots that he is going to while pumping fuel. Everything is good there and he gives me a year warranty before he needs to X-ray my wallet again. Good doctor made me look about a month and a half younger. Must hurry lots to still do. Stop at Pappa Murphy’s for pizza to take for dinner. Load truck, get my boots and snow machine gear, and explain to Kari why there is an empty Krispy Kreme donut box in the truck.
We met Roger at the landing, got all our treasures loaded and strapped down. It wasn’t even too hard getting the two barrels of fuel off the truck onto the sled. Fueled the machines 11.1 gal for the trip in and mine wasn’t completely full when we left the cabin. Suited up and off we go. Not too cold between 10 and 20 degrees. The sunshine feels good. Space command posted earlier today that the convoy to the dilithium crystal mine would be departing home base for Whiskey Bravo. It would be best to be out in front of them.
We turned off the Deshkaand onto the ice road. Too late we are behind the convoy and the trail is very soft. Roger is heavy pulling doubles of fuel. He motioned Kari and I to go around and pack the trail ahead of him. All is well until we caught up with the convoy accompanying the mother ship. The first two snow cats were able to move over enough so we could get around. I was coming to the crest of a fairly steep downgrade and could see half a dozen snow machines stopped in the trail. Must be a problem with the convoy. In about 20 minutes the sleds started moving and we followed. I started down very slow and got near the bottom where everything was stopped again. Roger being heavy barely got stopped at the top. Pretty soon I see Roger heading down toward us with a rope tied to the huge snowcat towing him down the hill. Actually what is happing is the cat is easing down the grade with Roger tied to the blade for his brakes. Otherwise Roger would have passed us like a shot. After another 20 minutes or so we are able to get around the next load. What had happened was they had a high hoe and I don’t mean Kamala, that was too heavy for the steep grade and had to inchworm it down with its bucket. Smooth running now. Myra is watching us on Spot and has the oven preheating to be ready just when we arrive. Be efficient don’t waste propane. Propane is money. I can taste the pizza as we get closer. It is really getting hungry out. When we were stopped waiting on the convoy I was wondering if anyone had ever eaten an unbaked Pappa Murphy’s. I know the cookie dough is good unbaked. Soon we were eating pizza and talking about our day. After our visit we loaded up the boys and headed to Silty Slough. We are light so we made it all the way to the cabin with single machines pulling the sleds. Unload the necessities and leave the rest for tomorrow. Time for a nap.
From the asylum at Silty Slough, stay safe and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for safe travels.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

The view from the outhouse
Sunday March 14
Good morning from Wolf Lake Alaska. My thermometer says -40 but it like the mainstream media it is just lying. The battery in the sensor has been dead most of the winter. I just don’t want to get up on a ladder to change it. Actually it is 15 degrees or so.
I haven’t seen one post or received a single comment about how President by cheating Biden is making your life better. Just saw gas is $3 a gallon in the area. Teddy is going to raise his price on the liberal pump at his Silty Slough gas station to $7 a gallon so he can keep the conservative pump at $2. You will need proof of cult membership to pump from the $2 hose. It’s ok Cooper and Teddy can spot the liberal Trump haters a mile away. All of the Biden supporters justify it in their small minds that demand is up. The other side of that equation is Biden policies are destroying the supply. Figure that out.
Friday 5
We cancelled the trip we planned to town today. It was going to be right back out tomorrow.
Now we need to go in on Tuesday.
Saturday 6
I completed my 69th lap around old Sol today. Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes, I tried to thank each personally, sorry if I missed anyone. One from a Captain I flew with in olden days said “You people are gluttons for punishment.” Some days I have to agree, more and more as I get older. I’m blessed to have a wife like Kari that helps me with most of the things I attempt. She is really tough and a very hard worker. Most of you snowflakes couldn’t even carry her lunch bucket, men or women.
Sunday 7
Today is party day. The first Iditarod musher should be coming through about 7. We are going a couple miles downriver to a bonfire at the neighbors. Kari has been cooking most of the day, chicken wings and macaroni salad. There should be about 10 people there so she made enough for 30. With all the other food there tonight we won’t go hungry. We loaded everything on our snow machines shortly after 6 and locked the boys up. I’m sure that if we had taken them they would have joined the race. We were just in time to see the first team pass. Then every few minutes we would see the headlamp of the next musher coming around the bend in the river maybe a half mile away. I think they are traveling 8-10 miles an hour so in a few minutes they are coming by the party. “Good luck…..safe travels…who are you” Cheering them on. Some want to know how far to Skwentna, some don’t say anything, I’m sure they are passing the time listening to music. The dogs are quiet unless they have to stop. They just glide silently by with the steam from their breath and body heat making a haze above them. They are doing what they love to do. It is warm out unlike some of the past years. Last year we froze out and didn’t see a single musher pass until we were back up inside the cabin. Another year it was so cold that the mustard froze while we were roasting our hot dogs over the fire. Kari made me a birthday cake, white cake white frosting which happens to be the same kind Cooper and Teddy like for their birthday’s. They told me to let Kari know. It’s warm enough to take my hat off but Kari cut my hair Friday and said maybe I should wear it for a couple weeks. I even wear it to bed so I don’t scare the boys at night. In the past she has done a sterling job, I don’t know what happened. I know the boys didn’t line up for a haircut behind me. We had a great time visiting with our neighbors and about midnight we had to give up and head back to the cabin.
Monday 8
We are planning to head into town tomorrow so the sleds are mostly loaded. About noon Kari showed me the latest weather. Storm warning starting tonight through tomorrow night. It’s a sunny day today so we hurriedly loaded the last totes and the boys on Kari’s sled and headed out. I had 4 empty fuel barrels and a 100# propane bottle. The trail was good on the Yentna until we turned onto the Susitna at Scary Tree. Still not bad with my new shocks. My machine was a totally different ride. We passed lots of spots where the mushers had put straw down where they stopped the night before. They cook up their dogs hot food and check there feet. The dogs wear cloth booties to protect their feet. Usually we find them along the trail. They are a consumable item and the mushers will go through several thousand during the race. After 4 hours we were at the landing with Kari’s sled unloaded and on the road to Wasilla. We’ll leave the barrels on my sled for another day. Good run today.
Tuesday 9
The weather reports from along the trail were not good. Cold wind howling, trail drifted over. We made a good decision coming in yesterday. Weather is ok here so we went to the store to get some food for our stay. Nothing exciting today. Just worked more on the addition plans. Even the big dogs are staying home today.
Wednesday 10
I have an appointment in Palmer at 4:30 so I need to pick up a few things. Corned beef is on sale at Fred Meyer so picked up 3. 1 for St. Patty’s Day and a couple to freeze. I also filled the propane bottle while I was in town. We had planned to head back out tomorrow but the weather and trails are still bad. We will just sit tight.
Thursday 11
Lost in space. I can’t account for myself today. I must have been in the hangar loft drawing. I remember now, got the email about our 51st class reunion. I guess the big topic there will be choosing a new high school mascot since the Bluejay is the bully at the bird feeders. Any suggestions?
This afternoon I finally got the clock in the hangar set to the right time. You know fall back.
Friday 12
Roger texted that he would be at the landing and heading back to the cabin at 1pm. I’m thinking about going with a load of fuel, but I just can’t get it together in time. I spent the afternoon blowing 8” of snow off the driveway and the apron in front of the hangar. Tried to move the trailer load of metal roofing out of the driveway but it was stuck. Kari came out to give the truck and trailer a pull with the Kubota but we can’t move it. Unhook the truck put a chain around the tongue and slide it sideways about 6 feet with the Kubota. The pickup without any weight in it won’t pull a sick Kamala off a pee pot. If you know what I really mean. Hooked the truck back up and pulled it right out. You can’t leave things sit around up here in the frozen north, they either get covered up or frozen down or both. You have to keep moving to the top of the pile. Tomorrow we will head up to the landing and load the metal on our sleds.
Saturday 13
To the landing today after a detour to the Sunrise Cafe in Palmer. We can’t get the trailer in the lot where our sleds and machines are at the landing so we are going to park in the big lot and make the transfer. I made the loop around the subdivision to get back out. The road is plowed single lane and the snow is way higher than the top of the truck. Kari dropped me off on the way out and I got my machine. I only saw one of our sleds. Oh no, someone took the other one by mistake. I get hooked up and my sled is stuck. I rode back to the truck to get Kari and told her one sled was gone. We pulled in the lot and she asked if that was our other sled with the barrels on it over by the fuel pump? Duh, emergency cancelled. We hooked both machines to the stuck sled and it came right out with a little jerk. Then we got lined up with the last of the lumber in our pile. We dug it out from under the snow 6-2x6s and 16-2x12s and loaded it on the sled. Some of the 2×12 were stuck together so I was down crawling in the snow to get them apart. It’s ok it is still a nice day sunny and about 20 degrees. We hauled both sleds over by the trailer and rearranged the lumber to have some under the metal and set the rest off to put on top of the stacks. It took quite a while for Kari and I to get the metal moved from the trailer onto the sleds. 21 bundles of 6 pieces a foot wide and about 17 feet long. I’m thinking about 125 pounds each at least. They got heavier as the stack on the trailer went down and our hands got colder.
The sun is going down and so is the temperature about 5 now, finally we are loaded and strapped down. Sometime in all this the propane made it to our stall and the 4 barrels jumped into the pickup. This is the first time in a long time that I can pick up a 167 pound propane bottle from the tailgate and carry it to my sled. Usually I have to drag them. Maybe I’m getting stronger in my old age.
Now all that is left is to get the sleds into the lot by our stall and get them turned around headed out toward the driveway. Kari hooked to my sled again and yanked me around the turn. We went back and got the other sled and repeated the process. She and I rode double back over to the truck. We can’t leave it running while we are away, the boys know how to use the power windows to get out. They also know about power door locks so we keep a key on one of us. She warmed it up a minute or two and came to pick me up after I put my sled away. My fingers are really cold. 8:30 pm I’m glad this chore is done. Maybe we are gluttons for punishment.
Leaving the landing we can see that the good Lord has turned on the Northern Lights for us tonight. Makes it all worth it. 44 miles and we are back home, tired and sore. I have made this drive a hundred times or more and never checked the mileage. I just checked it on Google maps.
That’s my story for the past week or so, some of the facts may have been changed to protect the guilty. I guess that’s the norm here in America anymore.
Stay safe and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for your beautiful creation.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

The view from the outhouse.
Friday March 5
Kari and I decided to pack the loose snow on the runway so it will freeze back up. I hooked Kari’s machine up to a tub sled load of old batteries and groomed around the yard and trails while she rode up and down the runway. Then I groomed the river trail beside the runway so that most of the traffic will stay on it. It is a nice sunny day with the temperature in the twenties. I’m riding with a sock cap on my head and staying warm. I decided to take a trip to Skwentna to groom the trail and make it a little better for the Iditarod traffic this weekend. I asked Kari if she wanted to go and she didn’t. Can’t blame her, I can only groom about 10 miles an hour so it would be a boring ride for her. I hadn’t eaten yet today so we went back to the cabin for a snack, the pistol, and Spot so I can message Kari in case I have trouble. Kari has bear meat cooking for bear and noodles with homemade bread for dinner. Smells really good. I see the ingredients out for a rhubarb pie. It was a good decision for her to stay home, I can taste the pie and ice cream now. Quarter tank of fuel. I should have enough. If the low fuel light winks at me I’m turning around and heading back home. I made the turn around by the Skwentna post office and headed back. The groomer is doing a good job. Another pass tomorrow and it will be great. It has been a little over an hour and I’m back at the slough. Might as well flirt with the low fuel light a little more and head down to the turnoff to Roger’s. She hasn’t winked at me yet. Back home after 15 miles of grooming, I can imagine how Roger feels after grooming for 100 plus miles in a day.
He listens to music to help pass the time. I just let my mind wander until I wander off the trail. The other day I was coming down the ice road thinking out here in flat light where you can’t tell up from down is like being out in deep space. Star Trek is on my mind. The real freighters pulling double sleds are like Captain Kirk. I’m just a little space junk hauler laying low around the guys that do it for a living. Soon I will encounter the giant Snow Federation convoy of snowcat freighters hauling to the mine where they are looking for dilithium crystals that will save the earth from petroleum energy.
Beam me up Scotty, I’m ready for bear and noodles, and rhubarb pie.

From Silty Slough and deep space, I wish you well my friends. Stay safe and healthy.

Thank you Lord for watching over those of us that really need it.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

http://www.siltyslough.wordpress.com

The view from the outhouse.
Thursday March 4
Good morning from Silty Slough. 8 degrees at 9:30 this morning. Sunrise was at 7:52 and is scheduled at 6:38 showing itself for 10 hours and 46 minutes today. Before you know it the days are going to be longer than the nights. They tie on the 21st, guess that’s why they call it the equinox.
I’ll back up to Saturday the 27th to keep things in order. We planed to make the trip to the cabin today. I woke up and was checking FB when a post came up that the wind was 30 gusting to 50 out at Shell Lake about an hours ride on past our cabin. I turned Kari’s alarm off and started texting with Roger. It is a stay home again day. I downloaded an AutoCAD book and retreated to the loft in the hangar to continue to try to learn to draw. Later, Kari and I finished the choices for the bathroom fixtures. Well mostly Kari I have very little choice in the matter. I know we are not quite ready for plumbing but everything we can haul out here for the construction saves 25 cents a pound freight for barging it up here in the summer. We will have to barge the windows and doors because they won’t be ready before the river trail breaks up.

Sunday 28
We are going to give the trail and the weather another day or two to straighten up. Roger has made a couple trips to check on the cabin heat and the cats. I continued to to work on the drawings. We went to dinner for Kari’s friend Jess’s birthday at Evangelo’s in Wasilla.
I always think of Lemonjello or Orangello, the Jello brothers when we eat there.

Monday 1
I have a 10% off coupon at Lowe’s good to use one time so I have everything I can think of on the list. The visit was pretty painless, we just handed them the list and they rounded everything up. A few items had to be ordered and will be here in time to haul on our sleds. The dogs are ready to get back to the cabin. They have their ways to let us know.

Tuesday 2
Today is the day. Roger is on the way in to the landing and is there when we arrive. We got the machines warmed up and fueled. It is a nice day sunny maybe 20 degrees. We loaded the totes, propane, and dogs on Kari’s sled. My sled is already loaded with sheet rock and the last of the plywood. Roger said the ice road is great but the 14 miles from the landing to it is terrible. He has to take the Su to Scary Tree and then up the Yenta to mile 26 where he will head for Alexander Lake to deliver his freight today. We stayed on the river trail for 28 more miles until we were in the Silty Slough. The trail to Scary Tree was pretty rough. My new shock absorbers are at the Skwentna post office not doing much good for my back and shoulders. When we turned up the Yentna the trail was very good. The good light in the sunshine made for a very pleasant trip. The sleds pulled hard today. I racked up a couple more miles than the normal distance due to the track spinning slightly along the way. The ramp had some drifts so I dropped my sled on the river and made a trip or two to the cabin. The outside light at the outhouse is still on so that is a good sign. Tom Bodet must be here. I went back down and hooked on to Kari’s sled since it was lighter. I picked up as much speed as I could and headed up the ramp. At the top I really bogged down and just made it. I tried to accelerate as much as I could while making the 210 degree turn to head up the hill at Al’s. It is steep at the top and I was pretty slow. One more big pull by the sawmill and I’m on top of the ridge. It’s downhill to the cabin from here. I would have never made it with my heavier sled. We have two trees down on the north side of the cabin from the wind. Firewood for the Iditarod party bonfire down on the river. Meanwhile back in the slough I hook back up to my sled and hook Kari up in front of me with a short strap. Here we go. Give it hell Kari. Up the ramp in good shape around the turn in good shape with out pulling me over. The reason for the short strap. On up to the top of the ridge and we stop and get Kari unhooked. We have about 6” of new snow in the yard so I hooked up to the tub sled loaded with propane and rode around the yard and trails for half an hour to pack things down. The snow that I moved will freeze up overnight. Tomorrow I will groom the yard and trails and run the groomer to Skwentna and back to get the mail. The boys sure are excited to be back at their cabin.

Wednesday 3
I talked to Roger this morning. He wondered if I was going to groom the trail 5 miles up to Skwentna. He said he was going to go up and pack the snow down around the checkpoint and make a spot down on the river for the Iditarod workers tents. Sure I will help. We rode round and round in circles packing down the almost 2 feet of snow that was on top of all the other snow that has fallen this winter. It will freeze up and be firm enough to walk on and groom. I had a good time. Didn’t get stuck but close a couple times. Another beautiful sunny day. I headed back for the slough while Roger picked up the mail. I only groom at 10 mph so he should catch up with me. The boys were happy to see me when I got home. It was like I’d been gone a week or so. Maybe they just wanted a chewbie. Always working me.

Thursday 4
Almost caught up on the timeline. We are planning to go into town tomorrow and need to do some cabin chores before we go. Kari wanted to do the hardest thing first so we unloaded the sheet rock and plywood. That wasn’t so bad. One of my least favorite things to do is transfer fuel from the barrels to the generator tank or the overhead storage. I remember when we did it with a hand pump, now we have an electric one. We dug the barrels out at the outhouse and transferred 39 gallons into the generator tank. That should take us until the solar panels produce most of our electricity by the end of March. There are 6 barrels over by the big tanks. The three barrels of gas transfer pretty quick. I have room for one more barrel for the stash. We will get another load hauled before the trail breaks up. This will get us through until next December when we can haul again. There are two almost empty barrels buried in the snow and frozen to the ground. I put a strap around the first one and Kari backed her machine up to it and hooked it up. Give it hell Kari!! I expect the barrel to crush but it popped out like a loose tooth. She drug it over by the cabin to load on the sled. Repeat for barrel number two. One barrel of diesel is left. It is on top of the snow and in the way. We might as well move it over by the generator tank. Hook up th strap. Kari pulled it over and it slid nicely on the snow. She said she wanted to make a another lap around to get closer. Up the hill behind the root cellar and here comes Kari down the trail pretty fast with the barrel gaining on her and the dogs close behind. Made it, then the barrel slid around and was in the same place she started. We were laughing too hard for her to make another lap so we just slid it on the snow and stood it up. I groomed the yard and the area in front of the fuel tanks. Gives you a good feeling like planting flowers in the spring.
Roger texted and said to come over and we would change the shocks that just came in the mail on my machine. One shock was doing nothing, one was leaking and doing about half what it should be, a part was broken and missing, so I had virtually no front suspension. No wonder I feel beat to death after a hundred mile round trip to the landing on the bucking bronco. I can’t wait to find some big bumps to try but the trail is too smooth right now. Never thought I would say that. We celebrated the repair with a couple Baileys. I haven’t been drinking for a few weeks to see if that is what is causing the gout in my big toe. It is already hurting again today so I figure what the heck, may ease the pain. One more and it will be hard to keep my machine between the white lines on the trail. We got ready to leave and when I put my right boot on it really hurt. No more drinking. When I got outside in the light I figured out that I had my boots on the wrong feet. I switched them and it feels better now. I guess it is still no more drinking for different reasons to keep my toe from hurting.
That’s about all I have to report on life at the asylum for now.

Stay safe and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for watching over us!!

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!

The picture is the loft in the hangar wher I’m trying to learn AutoCAD.

The view from the outhouse
Saturday February 27
Hello everyone from Wolf Lake. I’ll pick up with the adventure on Thursday February 18. The Feb. 27 date listed at the top of the view is the date that I get around to thinking up enough words to report on the adventure.
Thursday 18th
Kari, the boys, and I are going to join Myra and Roger for the trip to the landing and home. We are staying a few days to get as many of our Dr. appointments out out of the way. Nothing really wrong just checkups, ears, eyes, teeth. Well I did wake up with a sore toe again, but managed to get my boot on. Myra is going to stay a couple days and do some shopping to replenish their supplies. The run in was really pleasant, good light, smooth trail, and fairly warm. About 20 degrees. Roger is heading back home with two sleds of freight. I stopped at All Steel on the way home to let my color co-ordinator sign off on the choice before they started rolling the metal.
Since we don’t spend much time at the house, the cupboards are bare. My foot is hurting pretty good, but we decided to go to the Diner in Palmer to eat. I have an appointment with my regular Dr. on Wed. to get it checked. We passed an urgent care place and I told them to drop me off and go on and eat. The Doctor confirmed Kari and Dr. Bubba’s diagnosis from the internet. Good to have a second opinion. Gout again. He gave me a prescription for some pills and I was on my way.
Friday 19th
My foot is better, I can at least get my shoe on. Audiologist appointment first thing this morning, told me that I can’t hear. We had a good discussion about cochlear implants, but I’m not at the point that I need them yet. Many things I didn’t know about them. Once you do it you can’t go back. Your outer and middle ears basically don’t do anything anymore. They drill a hole in your skull and insert a wire with 22 transmitters in your cochlea. This replaces the tens of thousands of hairs that amplify the sounds and stimulate the nerve endings. It will sound tinny…22 frequencies compared to thousands. I asked about music, she said if it was a song that you had already heard it would sound ok because your brain would remember and fill in the gaps. If you hadn’t heard it before it wouldn’t sound good at all. She also said it was about a one year process to get acclimated to them. I’ll be better about wearing my earplugs and try to keep what I have left for as long as I can. Now every other ad on FB is about cochlear implants.
Back to All Steel to confirm and pay for the metal roofing. They will produce it in about 10 days. They are giving me some pallets to stack plywood on, in my wisdom I drove Kari’s car this morning so I need to come back before 4 with my truck. On to the DMV to get trailer plates for the trailer in Indiana after a low pass at Krispy Kreme. Now back to All Steel and on to the landing to get my sled loaded with plywood for a run to the cabin tomorrow. I feel like we are getting things done, I just don’t know what.
Saturday 20th
Roger is on the way in. It is cold so he is waiting a bit to depart. Myra and I are going to join him for an afternoon departure. On the way to the landing I spotted a hammer….pretty good earthquake going right now…I would give it a five. Shook pretty long. I could feel it start with a slow shake in the concrete floor then it built a bit and the walls started to shake before it settled back down. (As I am writing Sat 27th 10:00am. Facebook will come alive in a minute with all the shakes posts.) I can’t afford another damage assessment for our condo. 33 miles away 20 miles deep 5.3. Back to the story. It is a good looking hammer right in the middle of my lane. I’m thinking… I should go back and get it…no not worth it…someone could run over it and fly up and hit or kill somebody. Just what I want to read about on FB. So I turned around and went back to pick it up. Pretty good DeWalt hammer. Just a little road rash on the

handle. I made it to the landing abut 5 minutes after Roger arrived. He has 2 sleds of 2x6s today. Good run today it is colder and all the overflow has frozen back up. When we got to Roger’s place he dropped his sleds and went ahead of me to Silty Slough in case he needed to break a trail up the ramp and on to the cabin. He helped me unload the plywood. Thanks buddy, see you tomorrow for the run back to the landing. I have some cabin chores to do, swap some propane bottles, dry and wind up my ratchet steps from today, and find a bite to eat.
Sunday 21st
Roger and I planned to leave by 10:00. I woke up about 6. Stripped the bed to bring home for the laundry, cooked some breakfast, and did the dishes. I’m on a roll, outside I started my machine to warm it up, loaded my empty propane bottles, pumped generator fuel, and added fuel to the snow machine. Everything is ready so I shut the machine off to go in and suit up. Time to leave, hit the key to start my machine, just cranks, no start. I flipped the kill switch both ways to try, no start. I dumped in a can of Heat. Called Roger, he is on his way over. Drives up hits the key cranks right up. He said the kill switch was off, but I had already tried it both ways. I think it was the heat, or maybe I just wasn’t holding my mouth right. Now we are headed for the landing. Another good run, just a little over two hours. I volunteered to help him get loaded up. 27 rusty heavy steel grates that they put down to land airplanes on. They were in the back of his parking spot covered with a couple feet of snow. By the time I had my sled and machine put away he had a path dug to them about 40 feet from the sleds. We dug the matts out and started loading. A couple breaks and we were finished and the load strapped down. Roger asked if I wanted to load my sled for the next trip, about 1600 pounds of sheetrock and plywood. Are you kidding? I’m on my way to the ER now. Really it wasn’t that bad. Now back home, Kari wants to go to Lowe’s to pick out the bathroom fixtures.
Monday February 22
We both had eye exams at noon. Good news neither of us need new glasses. I’m moving closer to cataract surgery in my left eye. Back to Lowe’s to finalize our bathrooms. Got the propane tanks filled so we might as well go back to the landing and get the sleds loaded for our planned trip Wednesday. We need to get the propane out of the truck to make room for the load of supplies going up on Wed morning.
Tuesday 23
Its a dentist appointment at noon then to Costco to shop and get my hearing aids tweaked up a bit. We were just about halfway to Anchorage when All Steel called wondering if I had a trailer to put my metal on. I wasn’t planning on it this week, but a quick text to Jack Jones and I had one lined up. As usual we had the wrong vehicle just to stop by on the way home and pick it up. Guess we aren’t going to the cabin tomorrow.
Wednesday 24
Kari and I pretty much have the windows decided on so I went to Builders Choice first thing to get a quote. They actually came in under what I expected them to cost. Kari and I headed for Chugiak to pick up the trailer. I called All Steel and they were rolling our metal. I can pick it up by 3 o’clock. Good deal better sooner than later. I don’t know how long the trail is going to hold up for hauling this year. The only constant is that it is sure to be different every year.
I figured that I better get the plans for Spruce Manor out of my head and onto paper so other people can see them. I am a knee high at the Autodesk Fusion 360 program that I use to make 3D drawings for printing. I figure that some of the knowledge from that may transfer to AutoCAD LT to make the 2D drawings that I need. So far the only common thing is my sign in at Autodesk. This program has me down on the floor by the throat. After half a day I’m able to draw a rectangle the size I want and dimension it. I’ve done online tutorials and watched endless videos trying to comprehend, paper space, model space, layers. I just missed an old

style drafting table on marketplace for $50. I could have gotten a T-square, scale, pencils, and an architectural template and be finished by now.
Jack Jones texted about 10 o’clock. His boiler that I hauled up from Indiana and installed over ten years ago has a leak in the heat exchanger. I’ll have to find him one or a new boiler. I have a new boiler in the hangar that I planned to take to the cabin. We’ll see what happens in the morning when I call the distributor. Jack takes very good care of my vehicles and won’t take any money from me, so this is my chance to reciprocate. Maybe another day here at the hangar house.
Thursday 25
I woke up at o dark thirty. The people in the midwest are already open. There is a heat exchanger online for $2600 plus shipping. My distributor can get me one shipped direct from the factory for $1358. I’ll take it UPS overnight.
I went back to Builders Choice after Kari and I made a few changes and pulled the trigger on the window order. I think I’ll start using that term more now just to aggravate the liberal “President by cheating Biden” supporters. Pull the trigger. How does it feel when you pull the trigger at the gas pump? Wait until they get into your 401k you morons.
Friday 26
I had a visit with the dermatologist at 9:00 am. He froze some spots on my head. I think next time I’ll just ride to the cabin without my helmet and freeze them off myself. He said one more visit and I’ll be good to go. Today is the day to get back to the cabin. When I got home we loaded the truck with the supplies and the boys and headed for the landing. We pulled into the driveway and got stuck in the snow. I broke my rule about driving in 2 wheel drive until I get stuck then using 4 wheel drive to get out. This time I was in 4 wheel drive when I pulled in. I don’t have a 6 wheel drive setting to get me out, so a little shoveling and a pull with my snow machine did the trick. It is snowing harder now, not much traffic at the landing, light is flat, getting dark soon. The little man on my shoulder is saying bag it for today, so we headed back home.
I keep hearing music in my head. We got to get out of this place, if it’s the last thing we ever do. I need to turn it up a little so I can hear it over my ringing ears.
If you are ever up at mile 54 of the Yentna River stop in. Like Homer, Alaska’s Tom Bodett says for Motel 6. We’ll leave the outhouse light on for you.
Stay safe and healthy, my friends. Thank you Lord for keeping us safe. I’ll be in touch.
Blue skies!!!

The view from the outhouse
Tuesday February 23
Hello to everyone from Silty Slough. As always I’m behind on the adventure. The weather has been fairly good so we are trying to get the building material hauled out. The ice road is great hauling, smooth for the 18 miles we are on it. Actually it isn’t an ice road it is a snow road. The company that puts it in pumps water over the river and creek crossings to freeze into ice bridges. They are hauling equipment and supplies to Whiskey Bravo Mine way on up north and are nice enough to share the trail with us. I think I saw where the permit to cross the state lands continues until 2025. Hopefully I will have most of my hauling finished by then.

Saturday February 13
Just before noon I went down in the slough to watch the Iron doggers go by like a streak. About 65 miles down so far and about 2400 to go. The teams of 2 have been departing from Big Lake every 2 minutes since 11am. I’m not exactly sure of the time but it strikes me that the first team went by about 11:52. I stayed and watched about 6 go by, then I got cold just sitting there. I can’t imagine what the wind chill is for them going 80-100 mph. I know when I go over 35 or 40 when it is cold my winter gear starts feeling like it is made of chicken wire. The cold air just blows right through.
After lunch Kari and I unloaded the 1600 pounds of plywood and I fueled up my machine to be ready for the trip tomorrow. I don’t fill my machine all the way because I don’t want to take a lot of extra fuel back to the landing. Ideally I want to run out at the pump but that is cutting it a little too close. It is good to have about 3 or 4 gallons left over just in case.
Sunday February 14
As I recall it was cold Sunday morning about -20. We delayed our departure for the landing until the temp came up to -5 or so. I plugged the heater in on my machine so it would be sure to start. About 11 I left the cabin for my first trip to Roger’s. When I arrived Kari had already called, she had forgotten to pack my CPAP. I’m sure that I didn’t remember to forget it on my own. So it is back home. I hit 43 miles per hour on the smooth part of the trail with my freight sled following close behind. Soon I was back over the river and through the woods. Roger and I headed out the back way from his place for a good run to the landing. We got Roger’s sled loaded with propane bottles for delivery to his river customers. He headed back home and I headed to Wolf Lake for the evening.
Tomorrow I will get up early, have some breakfast and check on my lumber delivery.

Monday February 15
The cooling fans failed in my inverter for the electrical system at the cabin on Saturday. I called Renewable Energy Systems in Anchorage and had them hold 3 for me. I throttled back the charging rate so it wouldn’t overheat while I was gone. If it gets too hot it burns out a $700 circuit board. All because of a cheaply made $15 Chinese fan.
I was just turning in the driveway at Builders Choice to check on more material and see what time my 62 2×10-18s would be on the way to the landing when the driver called and said he was about ready to depart. Ok good early start. Hurry up, skip breakfast, make a quick stop for fuel. I want to meet him there so he can set the lumber on the sleds saving my almost 69 year old back. He already had them bundled to fit my one wide sled and another bundle just to fit my narrow sled. That makes it easy. I thanked him so much and gave him a generous 50 cent tip. I’ll bet he can’t wait until I order another load. Now to Anchorage to pick up my fans. On the way I stopped at All Steel to get a quote on metal roofing for the asylum. We are going with metal because the sound of rain on the roof calms the inmates nerves. I haven’t heard back from Magic Metals quote. On to the big city. I made a stop for a gourmet delight at Carl’s Jr. in Eagle River for some hand battered chicken strips, make it a combo with large iced tea. I don’t know how much it is in your area but mine was $12.50 and we don’t have sales tax. I hope Teddy and Cooper’s stimulus check comes pretty soon, but I’m thinking they made too much income from their student loans to qualify.

Tuesday February 16
I’m meeting Roger at the landing at 10:30 so I have time for some real breakfast at the Windbreak in Wasilla. Then at the landing I got yesterday’s delivery strapped down and ready for the ride while Roger waited for his lumber delivery. A while back I posted in the view that I was looking for an apprentice adventurer hoping to get some unsuspecting volunteer from the lower 48 that I could introduce Alaska to. Turns out a great guy Barry replied, he just lives a few miles from me at Wolf Lake. He said he would like to get out of the house and on the river. Sounds good to me. He does a lot of volunteer work so finally everything lined up and he had some free time. Today he is going to pull one sled and I the other, about 1600 pounds on each. Soon we were all ready to head up the river with Roger leading the charge. Out on the river in front of Rogers place I dropped my sled and hooked up to his sled. Then he hooked up to my machine with a short tow strap so that we could make it about a mile and a half to the delivery site with the heavy load of metal. It is a little intense, like being towed in a glider. Don’t get any slack in the strap, don’t get too fast, don’t jerk. It was far enough, wouldn’t want to do it all the way from the landing. At the site we helped Roger (video attached). Now on to Silty Slough. Kari had dinner ready by the time we arrived at the cabin got the sleds unloaded. Barry is spending the night, tomorrow we are going to Hewitt Lake so he can check out a cabin. After dinner he offered to help me change the fans. No time like the present. It wasn’t too difficult, really not bad, no sparks or smoke. I was happy to have Barry’s help to get that chore out of the way. Now it is time for nap.

Wednesday February 17
Roger is going back to the landing today and is going to wait for Barry and I to get back from Hewitt Lake so we can join the parade. We woke up at 7:30. Kari made French toast and bacon to get us a good start for the day. It was already daylight when we departed. Hewitt is up past the post office and the Skwentna Airport. The trail then goes out across a frozen swamp for a few miles. Barry is in the lead, the light is flat, and I can’t see anything. The snow is deep and powdery. The only way I know I’m on the trail is when the snow isn’t flying over the hood and windshield of my machine. I don’t get to ride this far without pulling a sled. When we got on the lake things settled down a bit and the trail was marked. Not too far from the south shore and about a snow machine length off to the right of the trail was the spot that the snow cat went through the ice and the driver drowned a couple weeks ago. So sad that this happened.
Barry and I went on to the north end of the lake to check out the cabin. When we headed back south the light was better so we could see. The trip back to Silty Slough to pick up our empty sleds went much faster. We hooked up with Roger at his house and headed for the landing. Nice ride in. At the landing we loaded up both sleds with plywood. I’ll take one back to the cabin today and leave the other one for the next trip. I can’t thank Barry enough for the help. Kari and I really enjoyed meeting and visiting with him. Hope we can do it again sometime soon.
Roger and I headed back, he split off at Fish Lakes Creek and I headed on up the river the last 4 miles for today. Not too bad for an old guy, 130 miles of riding, load two sleds, with a lot of help. Oh now I’m home, the weather is fairly warm. Kari and I unloaded the plywood so we can make the trip back to the landing tomorrow. I brought a couple more pallets back with me to start a new stack of material on. The first stack is as high as we can reach. Wait until the 2 feet of packed snow that we have been standing on melts this spring. I could have waited until tomorrow morning, but happy it is done. Time for some dinner and a nap. I’m a tired pup.

Stay safe and healthy, my friends.

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

All of the views are posted at
siltyslough.wordpress.com

The view from the outhouse
Saturday February 13
Thursday morning I woke up at Wolf Lake. Roger is on the way in from his cabin to meet his delivery at the landing and then he is going to spend the night. We are planning to go back out tomorrow after more traffic packs the trail. My plan for today is to get a quote on metal roofing for Spruce Manor, get some breakfast, and run a few more errands. I was at Magic Metals in Palmer talking about roofing when Roger called and said the trail was good and he was going to round trip it today and come in for another load tomorrow, giving me a heads up in case I wanted to go today. I decided to wait. When i got back into my truck I thought more about going back, I guess “Make hay while the sun shines” or haul freight while the trail is good. The sun is shining and it is warm probably 20 degrees Anyway I called Roger and told him I changing my mind. He said good get one that works this time. Now the pace for my slow day has suddenly accelerated. I ran back home and got suited up and grabbed the things that needed to go back with me into the truck. The plan had been to bring Pappa Murphy’s Pizza back on Friday, but no time for that now. The trail awaits. I need to eat. I went to the drive through at Wendy’s and just as I was ordering Kari texted “Are you still bringing pizza?” Ok, order online, I’ll pick it up. Only about 20 minutes extra time to keep the woman happy.
I arrived at the landing just as Roger was strapping his load down, 1200 pounds or so of metal roofing. Roger got my sled with the septic tank hooked up turned around. All I need to do is tie the tote with the pizzas down and fuel the machine. Soon we are underway, my load is fairly light about 1000 pounds but the tank is a little bit top heavy. Within the first mile or so there was a 3 or 4 foot drop off to go down and it was on an angle. With a normal load not a problem. Going straight up and down steep inclines is easy. On an angle or side hilling is a different story. Freight sleds aren’t known for their side hilling capability. I looked in my mirror coming down the first incline and saw the right front ski about a foot off the ground. Whoa baby!! I guess I’ll have to pay more attention. I was mostly worried what the woman would say about dumping the pizza. Oh shoot, I forgot to spray a red heart on the septic tank to make it more Valentiney. I just made up a new word. The new snow on the trail made for a little harder pull but not bad. The ice road was great. We had a couple long grades to go down. Start slow, don’t even think about the brake. The first one was fairly steep and long. Here I go picking up speed, jake brake on the Arctic Cat engine just cackling, echoing off the front of Kari’s new septic tank. Music to my ears. You’ve heard of the “Nashville sound”, well I’ll tell you folks this here is the “Skwentna sound”. I don’t need no stinking exercise to get my heart rate up. Now for the real story. I rode gently down the slopes while towing the septic tank behind me. Doesn’t sound as exciting does it. This is how fake news BS gets started. The front ski off the ground is true.
Soon we were back at Roger’s place pizza delivered and the septic tank in full view for Kari to see when she arrived for dinner. Today’s trip was quick and pleasant both ways. So good that I agreed to make a round trip tomorrow. One little chore left, Roger and I are going to deliver the metal to his customer a mile or so away on Otter Lake. It will only take a few minutes, I can taste the pizza now. Out of Rogers place a couple left turns and about then we ran into Murphy, not Papa Murphy the pizza guy but Murphy the lawyer that follows us around all the time. Roger was in the lead, he started up a fairly steep grade, not too long but long enough 20 yards from the top he started to spin the track in the new snow and forward progress stopped. I hung back and he tried to back the rig down the hill. All of you farm boys know about backing up a 4 wheel hay wagon. Well this rig has a difficulty factor 2 or 3 times that. The sled is off the trail in the deep soft snow. The plan is for me to get my machine turned around and tie a rope on the rear of the sled and drag it back. This worked for about half a sled length then the front of the sled was hung up. Roger unhooked got turned around, squeezed between the sled and a tree. We hooked both machines to the back of the sled and tried to pull it. No workey. We turned around again squeezed by the sled and I went up the slope to a flat spot. There were tracks off the trail where someone had turned around earlier. I started around the loop and soon I was stuck with my heavy machine in deep powdery snow. I was digging and tromping a path to get out. In the meantime Roger was able to get the front of his sled free. He came up and gave me a tug with a tow strap and I was out. Now somehow I ended up hooked up to the sled. Roger tied on to my machine and we pulled the sled to the top. We decided to just stay hooked together until we get to the site to unload because there are more steep grades that are even longer. Once at the site Murphy showed up for a few moments. We ironed that out and we’re ready to unload the crate of metal roofing. Words can’t describe it. Look at the attached video. Soon we were back to Myra and Roger’s place, Kari was there and loved the septic tank, and the pizza was cooked. Mission accomplished, well almost. After dinner we headed home and rolled the tank off the sled into the snow, fueled my machine for tomorrow’s trip, and called it a day.
Friday same drill except we have an accomplice, another guy from farther on up the river is going to run with us. I’m pulling my empty sled and one of Rogers sleds with empty drums. Roger has two sleds. We have us a convoy, good buddy. “This here is the Rubber Duck 10-4”. We headed out the back way, trail is good, sun is out, we are haulin. 10 or 11 miles on the river and our convoy took a side trail to avoid a steep drop from the sand bar to the river. The side trail has a drop with a pretty good side hill, more about this spot later. 13 miles on the river and we are turning on the ice road in record time. I’m seeing speeds of 25-30, a little slower in the turns. I know this doesn’t seem fast if you are an Iron Dogger but when you have two freight sleds it’s fast enough, although I’ve gone over 50 with a single sled in my younger days. I think this may void the warranty on your body if you hit a chuck hole in the ice. There were lots of beautiful pictures of the two rigs in front of me kicking up a mist of dry snow in the sun, I just couldn’t manage to take any on the fly. Roger usually stops to pee often. Today not, we are on a record run, he is either holding it or has dry clothes to change into at the landing. We stopped only twice. The second stop we have been traveling 2 hrs and are only 3 miles from the landing.
At the landing we sort out the sleds. Roger ended up with 2 sleds and 6 barrels of fuel. I had one sled with about 1600 pounds of plywood. I ran into a guy that I had met briefly last winter. He said you are Don aren’t you. I like your post of the view. First time. I guess I’ll have to think about trading in my snow machine helmet for a big white hat like Marty Rainey’s. I got my sled turned around with some help from our convoy companion. Note to self: 1.Turn sleds to head out of the yard before they are loaded. 2.Bring keys for snow machine from home to accomplish note1.
Bought 8.5 gallons of fuel and we are off. The first 10 miles are rough. My machine is beating me up on the moguls. Roger and I looked at it earlier and decided the suspension needs some adjustment and we found a front shock that needs to be rebuilt. After that we are on the Deshka and the Ice road. We are cruising good about 20 mph since we are loaded. Before we left the landing Calvin told us that they passed the snow cats and sleds from the mine on their way in this morning and we should be meeting them. We did, less than two miles left until the turn back onto the river trail. The rigs are huge and take up the full width of the trail. A big snow cat was in front, he just plowed an oval around the second rig that was towing a big sled. The snow was loose and powdery but we made it around ok. There wasn’t a snow cat in front of the second two machines. They can’t leave the groomed trail with their skids. The rig got over as far as he could but it was still tight. Roger made it through but it was very close. My load is wider. I headed through staying as far right as I could but the top of my plywood stack hooked the very last stake pocket on the back of the big sled. Roger unhooked came back and pushed the front of my sled over with his bumper. The big rig pulled ahead and we hooked the sleds back up and we were on our way again. The second rig was smaller and easy to pass. Back on the trusty river trail now. I think about mile marker 39 Roger took the side trail that I talked about earlier. I thought about the side hill and almost stayed on the marked trail. It is the steepest incline but you can hit it square for the climb. Kari and I took the side trail last week and just made it. We would have been in deep do do if we had dumped her sled with 600+ pound Bonnie on it. I was scolded for taking that route.
If Roger can make it with doubles, I can make it with a single sled. I hung back a bit when Roger hit the side hill. The first sled made it. I wish I had my phone out to make a training video. I would like to teach Cooper and Teddy to roll over and play dead, just like the second sled did. Roger has a winch on his machine and had it righted in no time with the 3 barrels of fuel still strapped on. He volunteered to ride my rig up and I agreed since he was already practiced up for today. I filmed this one. No problem. Only 20 minute or less delay. Soon we were where the trail splits to go to his ramp, he made the right and I kept going to Silty Slough. I dropped the sled of plywood in front of the stack so we could unload it tomorrow. Another good trip. After I had a bite to eat the boys wanted to go for a run. I hooked up the groomer and took them down to make a pass on the trail by the runway. I brought them back home and made a couple more passes. Time to sit and watch a movie.
Saturday
-10 when I woke the boys up to take me outside. Supposed to warm up to plus 10 by noon when the Iron Dog racers go by. The plywood has to be unloaded today because I’m planning to go back to the landing tomorrow morning with Roger and spend the night at home. I have more material to be delivered Monday and want the driver to set it right on the sleds with his forklift. 62 2”x 10”-18’.
3 loads of material now at Silty Slough for Spruce Manor. I don’t want to think how many more.
Stay safe and healthy my friends.

Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!