Tag: american-shepherd

Sunday January 7, 2024

Mayor Cooper with his booty to sniff.
Look at the amazing color and the view of Mt. McKinley.
Piles of snow block the view from the outhouse.

The View from the Outhouse

Good morning from Silty Slough. 27 degrees at 7 am when I went outside. About 2” of new snow. Sunrise is 10:20, we are gaining a couple of minutes a day.

Last Thursday Cory, Jess, and I headed down the trail to Deshka Landing. Jess has been here about two weeks and needs to get back to the uncivilized world. Cory was in the lead. I was next with a sled load of empty barrels, totes, and a dog kennel with Jess and Steve’s dog Artie in it. Artie is short for Artemus daughter of Zeus, she is the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, nature, childbirth, and the care of young children. A name befitting a black lab.

The run in was good, trail was fairly smooth. The light was flat in the middle of the trip and a few moguls appeared out of no where. I came off one sandbar headed down pretty steep to the river thinking “This is going to hurt.” Everything worked out for a really good trip. Cory gave us a ride to Wolf Lake since Jess and I came out to the cabin via helicopter.

Jess got her truck warming up while we broomed about 10” of snow off both the trucks. Then she and Artie headed home. I fired up the Kubota to snowblow the driveway. It is getting late and my big plans of shopping, buying fuel, and heading back to the landing to get the sled loaded for the trip back to the cabin tomorrow changed. Now it is Jersey Mike’s for a sub, Lowe’s for some bolts, and Carr’s for prescriptions and seltzer water. Last week I received a message from the bank that someone tried to charge $700+ dollars at Target and Best Buy on my card. I dismissed it as a scam. Guess it wasn’t, my debit card was declined at two stores and an ATM. I’ll fix it when I get back to the cabin.

Traffic is horrendous now. Wasn’t like that 28 years ago when we first got here. I’ve made a few observations about winter driving in Alaska. The posted speed limit is the minimum it takes to blast through the snow on the unplowed roads. It is best to draft off the vehicle in front of you to get through. You need to get right on their bumper and turn on all the brightest lights you have. This will blind you so you won’t be scared when the vehicle ahead of you has had enough and hits the brakes. If you come to an intersection and want to turn right on red after a stop. Don’t stop or you will be assessed a two stroke penalty and have to wait for traffic, let alone having the drivers behind you honking horns and flashing their lights. If you are driving a big lifted pickup with two snow machines on the tall rack in the bed all rules are suspended. You have the right to blast through red lights, pass on double yellow, and run little old ladies off the road just to get you to the trails quicker. There you rip up the groomed trails with your machine to make them miserable for civilized riders. I won’t get into the 80 mile per hour minimum speed limit for trucks pulling an enclosed snow machine trailer. If you happen to hit a moose you really need some momentum to knock it out of the road and not block traffic for the rest of the convoy to the trails. I’ll write about pickups with snow plows some other time.

I thought I woke up early enough Friday morning but time slipped away while I was packing up 16 eight packs of seltzer water the woman ordered, the mail, and a few other things in 3 coolers. I was planning on steak and eggs for breakfast but was running late so it is a hot dog and a root beer at Newmans in Willow for breakfast.

At the landing I loaded the coolers on the sled and filled the two 55 gallon barrels with gas, suited up and I’m ready to go. Cory and I had a good trip out, it was warm, the trail smooth, and the sun shining. When we got past Fish Lakes Creek and by Roger’s, Cory waved and split off for home. I have about a mile to Silty Slough. Kari has been out packing our trails, she and the dogs were happy to see me. I had stopped and picked up a few dog booties that had come off along the trail from the dog teams we passed. The boys like them and will add them to their arsenal of doggie toys. I’m hungry again. There is leftover prime rib for a sandwich on sourdough bread that Jess made. First we need to unload the sleds.

Saturday afternoon Kari and I went to the Phillips for a visit and to pick up Al’s Arctic Cat that Roger put a new track on. Then we went to Cory’s to pick up Dave Reed’s freight sled for our next trip to town. I managed to squeeze in a few minutes on the treadmill. Studying for the stress test the FAA requires for my medical exam in March.

Everyone stay safe and healthy!!

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

Thursday October 27, 2022

The dreaded non-expanding foam.
Cooper really likes the woodstove.
More heat to go upstairs. Proves heat rises.

The View from the Outhouse

Hello from Silty Slough. I woke up at 6am to put more wood in the stove. Still haven’t resorted to using the propane boiler. 25 degrees outside this morning. Can’t see the river yet to check on the ice. It will be daylight in several more hours.

The cell still isn’t working. This is the longest I can remember it being out. Maybe the cell tower repair man is in Florida helping those people out. If so I understand and I’m fine with that. I’m beginning to think it is my phone. Ever so often a stray roaming signal pops up, but it is too weak to do anything. Must be from the Willow or Anchorage area towers. I know you must be tired of me whining about it. If you are, just give me a call.

An airplane flew over yesterday and made a couple circles. Some is checking on me. Probably the guy that has been calling about my extended car warranty. At least he could see that there are no roads and no cars here. Still no chicken sandwiches or root beer floats falling from the sky.

I have managed to get some meaningful work done other than the necessary cabin chores to keep the heat and lights on and meals on the table. Yesterday I adjusted the shims around the front door to get it just right. I have learned a few things in my 70 trips around the sun on this big ball. Some being how to use a highlighter and how to tear long computer printer outputs into even sheets when I was flying at the airline. Now laser printers have made it another one of aviations lost arts. Another thing I learned, I think by watching an episode of “This Old House” is how to hang a door. I take the time to get it square and plumb, and the margins adjusted so it closes and seals just right. I also adjust the seal on the threshold so no air passes under the door. So what happens, the first person through steps on the threshold. After a while with people walking on it all the time you can throw a cat through the crack under the door. A major propane leak and at todays prices I can see dollar bills blowing out under the door into the wind. Besides it is unsightly to have a threshold that looks like a swayback horse. People get it right, you step over the threshold, not on the threshold. Google it. Everyone should know this. You carry a new bride over the threshold, not on the threshold, don’t you? Light airplanes have placards on places that you aren’t supposed to walk on. They say “No Step”. I’ll have to get some on order for my doorways.

When I got the door just right, I decided to seal all the gaps around the downstairs doors, windows, and anywhere the insulators couldn’t get to. Bring out the canned foam, the window and door, the non expanding kind. Truly a misnomer. It says somewhere in the fine print to fill the gaps to 50%. But this is the “non expanding” variety. I have seen the expanding foam used before and it consumed most of the wall and made the windows and doors so tight you couldn’t open them. Might be a good prank in a divorce, if any of the ceremonies performed at the Silty Slough Wedding Chapel should take a turn south. Anyway, I guess I could have filled the gaps a little more than 50%, maybe 90% to stop all that cold from getting in. More is better, right? I went upstairs to have a cup of tea with Cooper and Teddy since the pets are the only ones I have to talk to other than myself right now. At least I think they agree with most of my opinions. Oden the cat talks to me, but usually he is ordering me around. Piper the only female here has a soft quiet voice. She grew up around Moochie and begs for table food like a dog. They are all good company right now.

Back downstairs and holy moly, the foam has risen like loaves of bread around the windows. I guess like in some other cases, more is not better. About a third of the foam is where it needs to be sealing the gaps. One of my tasks today it to trim the other two thirds off before the woman comes home and sees how much expensive foam I’ve wasted. I’ll fill the upstairs gaps at 50% or less.

The last project for the day was to remove the temporary construction stairway to make room for the finished one. Not sure if Cooper and Teddy comprehend what the old guy was doing. Now we have this 4 foot wide gaping hole in the floor and no steps to bounce the ball down and retrieve it when dad is too busy to play.

Just waiting for the internet to be available so I can draw the details in AutoCAD to get the new stairs just right so the ball will bounce perfectly. I learned about stairs from Bob and Norm, no actually I bought a couple books and read them when I did the mahogany stairway at our old house in Chugiak.

8 am and still dark. I think I’ll take a short nap. Hope I don’t have a nightmare about expanding foam consuming the whole house. Maybe I’ll put some in one of Kari’s bread pans and let it rise into a nice looking loaf. I’ll start with 50%.

Just waist’in away in “No Service” land.

Wait’in for the helicopter to fly over.

From Silty Slough, I wish you well, my friends.

Thank you Lord for my pets.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

This and all previous posts are at www.siltyslough.com