Saturday November 3, 2025

The hangar hasn’t been this empty in 15 or 20 years.

Jody delivered rafters for the fuel shed. They are unloaded and up on the bank. We will put them up when the rain stops.

Adam coming into the landing in the skinny water. He had made a trip to Skwentna and stopped at Silty Slough on his way back to pick up the rear side by side wheels so that I could get the tires mounted. I will ride upriver with him in a few more days.

The fuel shed framed up. Kari made a solo trip in the Sea Ark with the metal roofing for this side.

The View from the Outhouse

Hello from Silty Slough. It was about 30 degrees outside when I made it upstairs. Kari was already having her coffee and soaking up some heat from the woodstove.

When we bought the stove, they said it was a convertible. I didn’t think too much about it. I never owned a convertible before. When I was in town this fall, I went by Alaska Stove and Spa to get a couple spare glass panels for the door just in case someone gets wild with the poker. I inquired about the convertible option and ended up buying one for $300. That’s really not that much in a bankruptcy of this size. It laid around for a few months, a couple of weeks ago I decided to install our new Cadillac converter. I don’t want to say catalytic converter because they are hot items for thieves in town…no pun intended. I don’t understand why they can’t quickly solve this problem; the thieves have to sell them somewhere. Find those people buying them and lock them up, they are just as guilty as the thieves. Anyway, the Cadillac converter was simple to install. It really evens out the temperature, and the stove puts out more heat with longer burn times. The 13 plus full chords of wood that Kari and Thor have in the shed will last at least two winters with some left over for a third

My last view promised to continue accounting for past activities over the summer and fall. Here is the second installment. BTW I asked for suggestions for naming the new ballroom at the White House in the last post. Teddy came up with “The Michelle Obama Memorial Ball Room” What do you think?

In the Summer I decided to go to our 55th class reunion in Indiana,so I booked a ticket to Chicago, rented a car, and made hotel reservations. Everything set, I never book anything when I travel, just wing it, this is a first. Thor wanted to come along since he has never been anywhere except Alaska and Hawaii, so he talked me into it. A couple weeks before we were scheduled to leave I came down with a case of shingles, I’m not talking about a bundle of cedar shakes but a full-blown case of shingles. It was the weekend of course, Captain Kari hustled us into Palmer to the urgent care place and I got some medicine. It took several days for the pain to subside and a couple weeks for the sores to heal. I had gotten the vaccine 8-10 years ago, the single shot one that is only 51% effective. As soon as I get to town in January, I’m getting the two shot Shingrix vaccine. I wouldn’t wish shingles on anyone….except maybe a few liberal Trump hating Democrats.

Summer of 24 I traded for a boat, motor, and trailer. It sat around until this summer when Kari wanted Steve, Thor, and I to inspect it. We pulled the floorboards out and found a lot of bad welds and cracks in the tubing where it had been repaired. I took it to Greatland Welding and they said that I could save hundreds of dollars if I bought a die grinder and ground the bad welds out. After about $400 worth of die grinder and burs and a week’s time, Steve and Thor had the welds cleaned up. Now it is back at Great Land to be welded, along with a flat diamond plate aluminum floor, flotation pods, air ride seats, and a beefed-up transom. Should make it into a great boat to support the compound at Silty Slough. The boat trailer is another project.

Late this fall I got the wild idea to rent out most of our hangar. I called a friend, and he jumped at renting the space, one slight problem the space he wanted was occupied by treasures that I had been collecting and hauling up the Alcan over the past 25 or 30 years.

The river was dropping so Kari, Thor, and the boys headed out in the boat for Silty Slough. I stayed back and started selling my treasures out of the hangar and hauling things i really didn’t need, but had been keeping around for 20 years to the dump. Scrap lumber, old parts that I had replaced with new, you never know when I may need them, empty containers, pieces of wire….you know the drill. Hangar cleaned out.

We were assigned our permanent spot in the storage lot at Deshka Landing so I decided to clear it off and get Newman’s to haul in a couple loads of gravel. I took the hangar Kubota to the landing to level it out,

then decided to leave it there for the winter fuel hauling. I’m too old to move 55 gal full fuel barrels around, so as Tom Brion would say, “Trade oatmeal power for diesel power”

I made a final Costco run, found a couple rear tires that were take offs at AMDS for the side by side and had them mounted. 2 tires $50 each and $50 to mount both at Diversified Tire. The best deal I’ve had in a long time. They didn’t have any take offs to fit the front, so i think some agency in the government owes me 2 front tires. The very least they should subsidize the difference between $50 and the actual cost. What do you think?

On October 2nd I headed up the river with everything in the barge with Adam and Joe Gabrazak. “River Dan’s Boys” Iron Dog Team 23. Our neighbor Jody Peyton is also running on Team 34. Let’s support our Yentna River friends and cheer them on February 14th.

October 3rd we pulled the Sea Ark out of the river, maybe a bit early, but better early than late. Even with the strong river current, Captain Kari put it on the trailer the first try. Like the “Dreaded Side Wind” in aviation.

No pictures were taken, in case we are captured I wouldn’t want to have to eat my phone. I dont think the government would give me a new one. Now we are committed, here until it is possible to travel the winter trail, probably after Christmas.

I have some things to do outside and I don’t want to get fired from my job, so I better get going.

Thank you, Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue Skies!!

Don

Sunday October 30, 2022

The View from the Outhouse

Greetings from Silty Slough. 24 degrees this morning with a little less ice floating down the river. Clear and sunny but pretty windy. I think it may have gotten up to 36 degrees in the afternoon. Day 13 with the cell tower down. I have sent many messages to Kari with the Spot Emergency locator. Only a couple of her replies have made it to me.

Yesterday I took my ready heater apart to see why it wasn’t working. This mornings project is to finish checking it out. When I took it apart the motor would barely turn, I freed that up and fired it up on the bench. I could see that no fuel was getting up to the nozzle, since Cory and I had replaced all the hoses last year with clear ones. I pulled the air pump off and cleaned the filters. Fired it up again and the fuel started up the line but didn’t quite make it to the nozzle. Maybe the nozzle is plugged a bit or the pump is weak. I know, I’ll disconnect the line from the pump and blow in the line to the nozzle with the air compressor. I finally found the blow gun by looking for a tape measure I lost. You know that you can’t just look for the item you need and expect to find it. You have to be looking for something else and suddenly the other item you need appears. I still need to find the Milwaukee 16’ tape measure and my good pair of Knipex wire stripping pliers. I blew in the line with the compressor and a fine mist came out of the nozzle. Why don’t I flip the switch and fire it up using the air compressor. What could possibly go wrong. Well I did. The thing lit off and blew a flame out past the end of the heater about 3 feet. Looked like the Bat mobile. Pretty cool. I got it shut down right away so nothing got on fire. Guess I’ll get a new pump on order when the cell tower starts working again.

Now that it warmed up outside the next project is to get a wood splitter going. Worked out good just filled the tank with fresh gas and it started right up. Nothing like a Honda “Easy Start”

Back inside to use the canned foam around the upstairs windows and fill some gaps the insulators couldn’t. I did a little better this time.

I was just taking a break and having a tuna salad sandwich so I could use up another boiled egg. By the way I made deviled eggs last night, turned out good and used up 8 of my boiled eggs. Now it’s Don 35 eggs 15.

I heard this rumble and the boys started barking. Probably the guys from the Air Guard checking up on me with a C-130. I went out on the deck and waited, a Cessna that I didn’t recognize came by for another low pass. I waved and it circled again this time lining up on the cabin. Just as he went over, out the window came a small black package with bright green streamers. I’m thinking it sure is nice that someone is thinking of me. Brought tears to my eyes. Then I remembered the car warranty guy that can’t get in touch with me since the cell tower is still down. The wind blew the package over the bluff about 20 feet so I had to climb down to get it. It is pretty steep so it took me a while in the snow. I’m excited, can’t wait to see who it is from. I went back inside the cabin and finally got it open. It was really packed good for the drop. Inside was a Garmin Inreach Emergency Locator and an Icom aviation band radio from Jess Gahan and Cody Kreitel the pilot. There was a printed message from Kari letting me know that our Mother had a stroke Friday and everyone was just waiting and praying for her recovery. I sent Kari a message right away with the Inreach and asked for any updates about Mother. The dreaded message came back that Mother had passed away 30 minutes earlier. She has had a good long life of 92 years, we would have liked to have had her with us even longer, it is comforting to know that she is in heaven tonight.

Kari is in Michigan with her dad. Her stepmom had surgery on the 17th and is still in the hospital not doing well at all. So she can’t leave Michigan right now.

Tonight I really feel all alone, stranded here for now. I can’t call and talk to Kari or the rest of my family. The boys can tell I’m really sad and have been hanging very close to me. I really can’t thank Jess and Cody enough for getting the Inreach to me.

Well friends, a sad night at the slough, everyone stay safe and healthy.

Thank you Lord for watching over us and for saving a spot in heaven for our Mother for all these years.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

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

Thursday October 27, 2022

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

Wednesday October 26, 2022

The View from the Outhouse

Good morning friends, from Silty Slough. Amazing what no communication from the outside world is like. Now I know how Gilligan felt on the island. I’m a day ahead on writing my post. First time ever. I hope everyone is ok. A few airplanes flew by Sunday, so I figure the Russians haven’t attacked or anything. I think the airplanes may have been at the Skwentna Pumpkin Drop. On their way they, could have practiced here at Silty Slough by dropping a KFC chicken sandwich and a root beer float to me.

The indoor toilet is awesome. I don’t think the boys like it since I don’t go outside as much. I liked it so well and decided it was such a convenience that I installed the other one on the main floor in the half bath. Now it is really nice I don’t even have to go downstairs when nature calls. If anyone is thinking about coming for a visit you may want to pack a long raincoat in case you need to use the bathroom. The walls are just studs right now. When Kari gets home we are going to start the sheetrock and tile. For now it is just me and the dogs and cats, they don’t mind. I can’t wait to get the shower tiled. No more showering over the garage drain from a shower head that I plumbed into the ceiling.

We have all kinds of food out here. Kari’s trip to Michigan was unplanned and just popped up. We had already stocked up for both of us to make it through freeze up on a previous boat trip. Now it is just me so the menu choices are what is going to spoil first. I spent an extra week in town, so when I got here I had 6 dozen eggs, lettuce, celery, 3 pounds of carrots, 6 avocados, 2 pounds of cherries, and a container of blueberries that needed to be eaten post haste. Today I have 18 boiled eggs and 25 uncooked eggs left. The boys have been helping me by having their eggs for breakfast. I have polished off the cherries and the blueberries will be gone tomorrow. The celery is gone. A lot of carrots are gone. I grilled a ribeye the other night and had a Caesar salad with it to use some of the lettuce and have been eating the fresh tomatoes from the greenhouse. I had leftover steak so I had steak and eggs for breakfast the next morning. Two nights I had a bowl of vegetable curry with nan bread. One night I had a fillet of cod sandwich with lettuce and tartar sauce. I’ve been getting along pretty good with no chance of starving in the near future. Right now I have a surplus of sour cream so I froze two containers.

I’m still jumping through hoops to get my FAA medical back after my heart surgery. The surgeon that rebuilt my heart included in his post op report that I had been previously diagnosed with cancer, asthma, and arthritis. Never had any of these. He must have cut and pasted from someone else’s report. Would be an easy fix but he has retired and closed his practice. So I guess my heart warranty is no longer valid. He also reported that I had a couple episodes of A-fib when they were taking me off the pump and getting my heart cranking again. Must be like when you rebuild an engine and it misfires a couple times the first time you start it up until everything gets straightened out. Guess what, the FAA has me wearing a heart monitor for 30 days to make sure I’m not misfiring. This is all good but the monitor reports back to my doctor via a cell phone that they gave me. Well I guess they didn’t give it to me, I’m sure it is in the price of the test. They did mention that if I lost or damaged any of the equipment it would be $2400. Sounds good but when you live past the end of the road the wicket gets to be a bit sticky. The monitor is taped to a shaved patch on my chest and reports to their cell phone via blue tooth then sends the data via AT&T. Except AT&T doesn’t work out here. So I have to create a hot spot on my cell phone and WiFi the data from their phone to mine and then to the tower via Verizon. My Carhart bibs are full of phones, chargers, and monitors. So with the cell tower inop now, the folks monitoring aren’t getting a report of my heartbeats and they can’t contact me by phone. They probably think I died and they won’t get their money or the $2400 of equipment back. I expect a chopper to land in the slough at any time to check on their equipment. If they do I hope they bring the cell tower repair man along. It’s only another 15 miles to the site. At least I’ll have them carry a few dozen armloads of wood up the stairs like I have been doing, so I can check their hearts out. I wish I could contact them ahead of time so they could bring me my KFC chicken sandwich and root beer float.

It snowed about 5 inches last night and was warmer this morning about 25 degrees. The wood stove is keeping me and the boys warm without using any propane yet. I have been keeping a tea pot on it so I can have afternoon tea and crumpets while watching for the helicopter.

I have quite a slug of data to upload when the cell gets fixed. 3 Views from the Outhouse and over a weeks worth of heartbeats. Hope it doesn’t overload the system and break it again.

Standing by in Silty Slough waiting for “Verizon LTE” to pop up on my phone. I wish you well my friends.

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!

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