I received word that one of my fellow pilots passed away. Early the next morning Heaven turned on the lights to welcome him home. Rest in peace Cornbread.Earthquakes close by since midnight.We are the blue dot.
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.
Hello from Silty Slough. Steve Butts and I installing an ADSB antenna and a Wi-Fi link to Steve’s cabin. That’s me on top of 5 stands of scaffolding. They say at 72 you are not supposed to go over 3 steps high on a ladder.Silty Slough compound.Illegal voter.Fox that tried to vote absentee. Nunavut has pretty license plates.Iqaluit is very expensive. Most everything is flown in.The city of Iqaluit, capitol of Nunavut Territory.
The View from the Outhouse
Hello friends, I looked back through my posts and realized that I hadn’t checked in for about a year. We are still kicking.
The cabin is still coming along. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The metal siding is up, the Trex is on the front porch, the new woodshed is stacked full of wood.
Last year I decided being retired is too much work so I took a part time job flying. It gets me out of the house and lets me see some places that I have only flown over at the airline. I’ve been to Valdez, Cordova, Sitka, King Salmon, and Kodiak in Alaska. Many trips to Boeing Field in Seattle. It was exciting to go to Yellowknife, NWT and Iqaluit, Nunavut Territory, ending up about 300 miles from Greenland. It’s a great job, beats working.
I had to work pretty hard doing cabin things for a few weeks to get a kitchen pass to escape on the helicopter to Wolf Lake. I’m going to be gone about a month so Kari and Thor are holding the fort down. The good news is when I fly back out in the helicopter I can bring fresh food for the holidays and presents. From the amount of stuff I’ve collected I may need two helicopters.
Life isn’t all skittles and beer. While in town I bit into a Hershey Kiss and broke a front tooth. It couldn’t be repaired and had to be pulled. Pretty good I got to be a jack o lantern for Halloween. I guess chocolate is bad for me after all.
The latest news is that we held the Silty Slough election yesterday to beat the rush. Mayor Cooper won once again. Teddy is making noise about term limits. Our population is 6. Kari, Thor, myself, Cooper, Teddy, and Oden the cat. Piper passed away earlier but was still somehow able to vote. We received about 5000 mail in ballots voting for Kamala but they were disqualified because the mail plane arrived too late. We had a wolf, a moose, several coyotes, two eagles, a fox, and a couple ravens come up from the southern border of the slough but were turned away since they didn’t have ID. So Mayor Cooper’s political machine once again won by a landslide. He is talking about appointing Kamala dog catcher but she may not be qualified. The garbage collector position will be open since we have a lot of garbage and deplorables residing here.
Watch for an announcement from Mayor Cooper. His website is going to be selling FEMA tee shirts with their motto “Too little, too late” on them.
It’s time to have a nap to be rested for the election results. I’m in Seattle, flying, better than being in Portland where they could burn the place down.
Vote early and often. Stay safe and stay out of Walmart.
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.
Good morning from Silty Slough, everyone. I slept in this morning, let the fire go out but there is little change in the indoor temperature, about 68. The outside temp changed big time overnight. I knew it would be good when I turned the porch light on and saw snow falling. It is 35 degrees warmer than last night. Plus 10 degrees now. I started a fire in the stove, turned on the burner for the coffee pot, and started this post. The women woke up had some coffee and Jess started breakfast. Bacon, scrambled eggs, home baked sourdough toast, with a glass of tomato juice for $13.75 plus tip.
Moose in the middle.Prime rib and shrimp turned out excellent.
After breakfast I made a swing by the outhouse in my pj bottoms, t shirt, and Crocks. Figured I might as well try the heater one more time since I’m out strolling around. I plugged it in and pressed the power button. No 33 error code yet, it should appear in a couple seconds. But heater lit off, no code. I guess it was too cold for the overheat sensor to operate properly yesterday. Cancel that parts order. I don’t need no stinking repair parts now.
Jess spotted a moose across the river. I took a picture. It is the tiny black dot in the center of the frame. I titled it “Moose in the middle”.
With the warmer weather I should cross some things off my to do list.
Check the generator diesel tank quantity
Replace the shock in the rear suspension on my snow go
Dig out my freight sled
Water solar batteries
Carry in wood
Treadmill
That’s all crossed off. I’ll get to them later today or tomorrow.
Maybe time to take a nap so I can stay awake until midnight New York time.
From the Silty Slough, I hope everyone has a Great New Year!!
Hello friends. I would say good morning but no telling when the cell tower will get repaired, so you may be reading this in the afternoon or the next day.
On thing I forgot to mention in the last post. A few weeks ago while Roger and Kari were milling logs, Cory and I finished up the drain field for the septic system. Now that the work is finished, we are complete from the bathrooms to the septic system. The next thing is to set a toilet and connect the water line to the existing cabin. The guys can’t get here now so it is yours truly. I set the toilet in the main bath downstairs and connected the cold water to the system. A few minor leaks to tighten up and we are good to go, if you know what I mean. I mentioned in an earlier post that once this happened, The View from the Outhouse should change to The View from the Septic Tank but I don’t think that will attract many readers. Never know, like the septic tank pumper told me one time, Buddy it may be poop to you but it’s bread and butter to me.
The wood stove. It was an after thought for Kari and I. First consideration was an outdoor wood boiler. Still not out of the question, but the glycol antifreeze to fill the system could be almost the cost of the boiler. So the only place for the stove was on the second floor. We went to the Vermont Castings stove store in Anchorage and ordered what we needed. The double wall pipe to run 20’ from the stove,through the roof to the top of chimney was almost the price of the stove. Kari and I had a fire going in the stove before she went to Michigan and it kept the upstairs plenty warm, but it was 30 degrees outside. I have had it going since I came back out on the 12th and it has kept both floors warm. It helped that Roger installed 2 ceiling fans to help push the heat down the stairwell to the lower level. I try to get things warmed up to 72 before I go to bed, then if I sleep too long and the fire goes out it still won’t be too cold before I wake up. So far 18 degrees outside and 64 in the morning.
Carrying wood to the second floor is part of my get in shape program. Every time I go downstairs for something I try to bring up an armload of wood. We don’t have good seasoned oak here just spruce and birch so it takes a lot. The best part is how good it feels to come up the stairs without an armload of wood.
32 degrees in the greenhouse yesterday morning with 18 outside. That foam insulation really works. Next year I will try to have a heat source to extend the season on both ends. Cory and I brought the tamaders into the great room the last day he was here. Hopefully a few more will ripen on the vine.
The other part of the get in shape program is the treadmill. Our neighbors at Wolf Lake gave it to us and it had been in the shed here at the cabin. I have it facing the windows upstairs looking at the river and Mt. McKinley. Makes the time pass quicker as I look at the mountain thinking about Marty Rainey of Homestead Rescue fame, telling me about carrying a guitar to the top so he could play a song he wrote, “Strum it from the Summit”. I knew him back when he wasn’t so famous. I also think and try to calculate in my head how many gallons of water goes past in a minute or 20 minutes while racking up steps on the mill. It would be like Joe thinking about”How many wheels would a canoe have if a duck lived in a doghouse?” Just the way he runs the administration. Stupidest man to ever enter the Oval Office, bar none.
Anyway current about 3.5 miles an hour, river maybe 100 yards wide, depth maybe average 4 feet. 3.5 miles per hour equals 308 feet a minute times 300 feet wide times 4 feet deep equals 369,600 cubic feet. At 7.48 gallons per cubic foot equals 2,764,608 gallons of water. That’s at low and slow water conditions. What does that weigh? Friends that is one heck of a bunch of water to strain with a fishing lure hunting for a salmon.
Well that occupied 20 minutes on the treadmill.
Another thing I do is to think about what to write in the view from the outhouse. I have ideas go through my mind while treadmilling that would split a normal man’s skull wide open. Luckily by the time I have finished my cool down I have forgotten most of them.
Now as I promised. How is Pete Butigeg qualified to be Secretary of Transportation? He has been rear ended numerous times.
From the treadmill high above Silty Slough, I hope you were entertained and or enlightened. I wish you well.
The foam insulation is being sprayed from the top. Then the last of the purlins will go on followed by the metal roofing.Porch is coming along nicely.
The View from the Outhouse
Hello all from Silty Slough. I know it has been a while. I post about as regular as I did my homework in high school over 50 years ago. I squeaked through with good test scores. Some things never change. Please don’t refer to my post as only “The View” when you are sharing it with your friends and family. I wouldn’t want to be mistaken for the program on the main stream media and my ratings go down. I copy most of the posts to my blog on WordPress at siltyslough.com. I have to get a pitch in because it is time to pay up to renew my domain, so I hope both of my readers will kick in a little bit. I also thought about paying for the app Grammarly to improve my grammar. Mr. Whitenack would have been happier, but the rest of you would have thought it wasn’t me doing the writing anymore, so I decided to save the money.
I’m not sure where the last post left off. I can’t go and check the archives at Mar-a-Lago because the FBI confiscated them in the raid. No, in all seriousness the one and only cell tower we get a signal from has been down since the 18th. It is on top of Shell Hill and they have to fly there by helicopter to service and fuel it. They fixed it, it worked about half a day then it ran out of fuel, then they flew fuel out, it worked for about an hour, then it failed, then the fog rolled in and they couldn’t fly. It finally cleared up Sunday. I guess they don’t fix cell towers on Sunday. I watched all day today Monday for the helicopter to fly by. Must be waiting for parts for the helicopter or the cell site. Maybe tomorrow. My Spot emergency locator is supposed to be able to send and receive text messages but so far no joy. So, it’s pretty lonely out here. BTW did I mention Kari went to Michigan for family stuff on the 12th. I have a couple more weeks before she gets back. So far I can’t find the onion soup mix so I can make dip with the sour cream that needs to be eaten before it spoils. I also cannot find the fingernail clips or my mini-iPad. Now I have to clip my nails with diagonal cutters from my toolbox. They are called dikes but I can’t say that. I also have to type this post with my index finger on my iPhone 7plus. We like to keep up with the latest technology here in the slough.
I’ll pick it up with the foam insulation. Statewide Foam came out and foamed the roof, walls, underside of the first floor, crawl space, septic tank, and greenhouse. I wanted to have the underside of the second floor foamed over the hydronic heating plates and also have the root cellar done, but that got screwed up. I talked them into leaving their equipment and having a guy come back the next weekend to do the underside of the floor for only a thousand bucks extra. The root cellar didn’t get any foam. I think I can get a couple foam packs from Lowe’s and do it for about another $800. Too many cooks usually spoil the broth. Anyway the foam is in, the metal is in place above it, completing the roof. In the dry, feels good. After about 3 months of dry weather the rains started the next day. I can’t remember how long it has rained, but trust me, a long time. The river stayed high enough all summer that there was only one time that we could not park our boat in the slough.
Roger took off 3 weeks to guide a fishing trip then another month to work on his honey do list. Kari and I were in town part of the time for FAA doctor stuff. We made a couple trips in the boat hauling more material. When we were at the cabin Cory, Kari, and I did a bunch of interior work while it rained. During the dry spots we finished the porch over the front door. Kari and I tiled the wall and floor in the great room to make a place for the wood stove. We all three hoisted the wood stove up the outside of the deck with a chain hoist, Amsterdam style. The front of the buildings in Amsterdam all lean out. I thought they were just slowly settling into the canals. But they were built that way because of the narrow stairways, the furniture is hoisted up and down the outside of the buildings. Each one has a beam and pulley sticking out. Cory also hoisted a treadmill upstairs for us. Wait till Kari brings the piano out.
A few days during the last couple weeks Roger worked on the electrical while Cory and I tied in the heating for the addition to the boiler and plumbed the rest of the drains that were stubbed through the foam in the crawl space to the septic tank. We also did some outside chores to get things ready for winter.
Late last week Roger’s boat had to come out of the river because the ice man is coming to get us. So no more crew until at least Thanksgiving depending when the river is solid enough to ride snow machines on.
It was 18 degrees this morning with ice chunks floating down the river. They thinned out a bit when the temperature got up to 37. I’m sure they will be back thick in the morning. I’m hoping the snow will hold off until Kari gets back out here so she can land in a plane on wheels. That’s a lot to wish for. Otherwise it’s a helicopter trip for her to get home.
That’s about enough, actually too much for now.
Next post I’ll talk about the wood stove, the treadmill, and why Pete Butegeig is qualified to be secretary of transportation.
ArrghIn floor heatTeddy working hard.Front porch is started.Nice skylight.
The View from the Outhouse
Happy “Independence Day” from Silty Slough. It’s been 3 months since my last post and a lot of water has gone down the river since then. We have been working a hard to get the Asylum ready for the foam insulation. We are headed to town today with three boats to pick up the equipment and crew. We brought the material out 10- 55 gallon barrels winter before last and have been “babysitting” it to be sure it didn’t freeze. It will be nice to have it out of the shop and in the walls and ceiling stopping the propane leaks this winter. We only need two boats but last trip out our boat started making an unfamiliar noise so Cory is going to come in with his boat along with Roger in his boat, and me in our boat, just in case. Quick trip, in today and back out at 8 tomorrow morning. The weather has been very dry, one small shower in the past 3 months. Pretty unusual for here, but we are happy since we had to open up the cabin roof for about a week while we tied in the roof to the addition. As soon as the roof is foamed from the top we can get the metal on and be in the dry.
Mayor Cooper and I are always looking for ways to make this place tax deductible. Last trip to town we came up with the ultimate scam, I mean plan. Everything will be in Cooper’s name. They don’t send dogs to prison do they? I guess not Hillary.
Anyway when we were in town last trip, Kari and I went to the courthouse to get me registered to be able to marry Jenny and Ben in August. Special thing in Alaska.
I thought you were only ably to perform the ceremony for only one couple once in your life. The court clerk printed out the paperwork and said it was good for a year and an unlimited number of marriages. The Silty Slough Wedding Chapel is born. Some people say the asylum looks like a church from the river anyway. We can have destination wedding packages. Transportation to the Slough, catering, maybe line up a fishing trip or bear hunt on the side. We can rent out the neighbors cabin on the sly to the newlyweds. I think I can design an inflatable steeple for the roof to be inflated on wedding days. We will deflate it while we are having wild parties on the deck. Wouldn’t want to tussle in a church. This makes everything deductible. The new suit I bought. The $25 to get registered. The trips to town. Cooper, I can see a new boat and maybe even a new airplane in our future. BobbyRay will be having Joe and the Ho sending us money on April 15th. This is just about the ultimate scam, almost as big as the Clinton Foundation. If any of you have friends that want to get married let Cooper or I know. We have been listening to Neil Diamond’s “Dr Love’s Traveling Salvation Show” just to get into the spirit.
I’ll do a quick overview of the happenings at the Slough.
February 24
Had cataract surgery on my left eye. Got the patch off the next day. Now my distant vision is 20/20. Near vision not so much. 3 different eye drops 3 times a day, no lifting or straining for a week or so. Same for right eye 2 weeks later.
As soon as I could drive and ride the snow machine Kari headed to Minnesota, Indiana, and Michigan for 3 weeks.
I started jumping through the hoops to get my FAA medical back. Cardiologist appointments, sleep doctor, hospital records. Got everything together and went for my medical exam. Squeaked through the eye test without my final near vision eyeglass prescription. Everything ok. Still waiting to hear from Oklahoma City on their review.
Cory kept the fire burning and took care of the cats while we were in town. Kari got back from Michigan mid March and we made the last trip on the snow machines for the year. Her one and only trip BTW.
April
Cory suggested that we harvest some more logs while we can drag them with the snow machine, so he and Roger came for a few days and now we have almost a hundred logs to mill.
Now we are just waiting for the river to thaw.
May
The river level is low so the breakup was very gentle. It is different every year. Kari and I started working in the addition now that it is about 40 degrees. We got the tubing in for the in floor heat on the second level and roughed in the plumbing drains and vents.
May 18
Kari and I were watching a movie. Cooper was outside. He came to the door and laid quietly on the step. We didn’t pay much attention and about 20 minutes later she let him in. He had a nose and mouth full of porcupine quills. What now, no boats in the river yet, no way to town except by helicopter. Call Roger. Take needle nose pliers and pull them out. Be careful and don’t break them off because they will migrate through the body over time and can get into the heart, lungs, or other organs. Kari held Cooper and I pulled. He didn’t make a sound. Got 32 out, one may have broken off. Pulled one out of his nose from between his nostrils and the blood squirted. Still Mayor Cooper didn’t make a sound. I know he is tougher than Joe Biden, smarter too.
Roger got his boat in on the 20th and ran us to town. Direct to the vet. They checked the Coop and didn’t find any more quills.
Gave him some medicine and said to watch him for a week.
3 weeks in town this trip.
The next day we met up with high school classmate Claudia Huddleston and her husband Dale for a short visit. Later in the week they returned to Anchorage and we met them and their traveling companions again. Very enjoyable.
While we were waiting on Cooper to be sure he was ok, we got the boat ready to launch. At some point I started coughing more than normal so I went to the doctor. Kari was coughing a bit also. I tested positive for Covid. Doctor prescribed some meds made by Pfizer, yea that’s the same people that make the vaccine that doesn’t work. No cost to me, all paid for by the government. Goes to Pfizer then back to Joe and the Ho to get there cut. Remember folks nothing is free. Where is the Ho anyway haven’t seen anything about her. Must be working nights.
Kari and I are healed Cooper is ok, although we pulled another quill out that was sticking pointed end out of his lip.
June
Back to the cabin. Fixed the slow fueling problem on the boat. Ran fine. Don’t get me started about fuel. Boat holds 96 gallons. Don’t see too many Biden supporters by the gas pump. If I did I would probably punch them in the face. I know I can’t do that. Cooper could bite their balls off, but they don’t have any, so I guess that’s out too.
The weather forecast still looks good. Still no rain. Can’t put it off any longer. Time to take the roof off the existing cabin and tie in the addition. It took Roger and Cory about a week to get everything done and ready for insulation.
Cory and I are working in the crawl space on the tubing for the heat and the water lines. Roger is doing electrical. He and his grandson Keith are milling beams and framing the front porch. We are quickly approaching the deadline to have everything in the walls and ceiling before Tuesday when the foaming starts.
It’s been pretty hectic for a while but the new deck is usable. Nice to sit and look at the mountain, watching the river while sipping on a Bloody Mary or margarita after work.
Other than that not much happening in the Slough.
From the Silty Slough Wedding Chapel, I wish you well my friends.
Thank you Lord for no rain. We could use some after Thursday.
The View from the Outhouse 