The View from the Outhouse

From Silty Slough, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!

I woke up about 6:30 this morning to take Cooper out. Nothing doing for the little bear, Teddy is a sleepyhead. I was catching up on the fan mail from yesterday’s post, both replies. Shortly after 8 o’clock an unforecast earthquake started shaking the asylum here at Silty Slough. I say unforecast because the dogs and cat give usually me a 1 to 2 second warning when they hear it coming before I do. Earthquakes are pretty common here, so it is usually no big deal to jiggle around a little bit. Our cabin is on 19-6″ diameter steel pilings driven about 10′ into the ground, so it doesn’t shake often. The design comes from wanting to be a civil engineer before I caught the flying sickness. The earth started to move at 8:11, Cooper and Oden just started looking at me. The initial jolt was pretty firm, then continued as a slow rolling rumble. Normally they don’t last that long. I didn’t time it, but it lasted at least 40 seconds. It was long enough that I was starting to get concerned that another big shake was on the way. The cabin was shaking more than I have seen it shake before. What I really noticed was the Christmas Tree shaking. It isn’t decorated yet, but I spent 4 hours yesterday trying to get all the lights working. I had my whole arsenal of testers and tools and MacGyver still couldn’t get them to work. This pre-lit tree is now pre-booked on the next ride out of here to the MatSu Landfill. Did the earth move for you too?

Back up to yesterday morning, the boiler didn’t light off and posted an error code. Kari called the boiler repairman. Luckily, he was in the area, so she got him out of bed to change a temperature sensor. The Silty Slough Plumbing, Heating, and Hardware store happened to have one in stock. Mam that is going to cost you a coffee cake and a pumpkin roll for all the trouble. She made 2 pumpkin rolls but insisted the wood rack be filled. Three loads up the stairs and stacked in the rack, we don’t even need a fire it’s hot in here.

It’s coming up on 4 o’clock, I’ve been helping Kari rattle pans all day. My biggest chore was watching the dough rise for the rolls, with a short break for a snowmachine ride to assess any earthquake damage. The only thing I found was a roll of paper towels that fell off the shelf in the commissary. Time to eat a good meal of ham, garlic butter sweet potato stacks, honey butter corn, fruit salad, and the rolls that I helped watch the dough rise.

Everyone have a very Happy Thanksgiving and stay safe.

Thank you, Lord, for your many blessings whether we recognize them or not.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue Skies!!!

Don