It’s almost Yukon Quest time.

http://yukonquest.com/

There are 24 mushers signed up for this year’s Toughest Race on Earth.  I think it is going to be another cold one.  Then again, it’s almost always brutally cold on the Quest.

I have been really looking forward to this.  Well, I look forward to it every year of course but it seems like this is the ONLY thing I have had to look forward to this winter.  That’s not correct really as March IS my favorite month and it is tiptoeing our way as I write.

Here is last year’s fine adventure, Yukon Quest 2011. 

Here is my Adventures in Handling from 2010, if you care to see the other side of the job.

Here is what the checkpoint looks like in the summer.  4th of July and Mile 101 Fun. It’s really beautiful.  I plan on going back packing up around Eagle Summit this summer.  Anyone want to go with me?

Being a cook at the checkpoint is a unique experience to say the least.  I try not to feel like “the lunch lady” as I really don’t fit the bill.  But I do like my job at 101.  Other then the awesome co-workers I get to hang out with, I think the main reason is that it puts me in a place to care for the cold, tired, hungry, and sometimes heartbroken mushers (and the occasional handler).  It feels good to do it, even if “it” is as simple as handing them a bacon and egg sandwich on their way back out into the cold.

The checkpoint is between the two main summits of the race, the formidable Eagle Summit and the devious Rosebud Summit.  Such a pretty name isn’t it?  Here is a story of the rescue that took place in 2006 where mushers had to be rescued by military helicopters.

http://www.newsminerextra.com/quest06/news/2006/02/15/seventh-musher-rescued-by-helicopter/

Being at Mile 101 gives one a unique vantage point.  The stories that we get to hear and see are as varied as the mushers who are living them.  Meeting the mushers when they are high and on top of the world with their success, down in the dumps with fatigue and frustration, frostbitten, or angry as a wet hornet’s nest certainly makes for an interesting work environment.  As I have said before though, these sometimes are a person’s private story, not to be callously shared with a blogging public.  That would be up to the individual, to share their own story.

I’ve bought a laptop from a friend.  He shipped it 10 days ago.  I just hope that it shows up on time.  If it does, please feel free to follow what happenings I am able to post on my Facebook page.

Georganne Hurt-Hampton

Anyways, that’s all for now dearies.

Living With Running Water

Sometimes living with running water is more than it’s cracked up to be.  I really have been missing our little waterless cabin in the woods.  It’s been an ongoing issue of freezing lines, freezing lift pumps (lifts sewage up into septic tank since the lines have to be buried so deeply) and frozen water softener here.  A water softener is required due to the high iron content of the water here on the river.  After the landlord has had the pumping and thawing company out for a second time, it seems like they finally have everything thawed out.  Heat traces are hot wires that go inside your pipes to keep them from freezing.  I have them.  We still had problems.  So now when it is this cold, I get up at 4 am to run the hot water down the bathtub drain to keep the septic lines from freezing.    I normally don’t mind these bouts of super cold.  If it were nice all the time, we would be called Florida.  -40 and colder means that the people who live here, do so for a reason.  They live here because it is worth it, because they love it.

 

But at least we are getting our sunlight back, slowly but surely.  There is no heat from it yet but the extra daylight is nice.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Thank you all for reading.  You life my spirits and make writing and sharing worth it.

Don’t Open Your Box of Wine With a Knife.

Seriously, I was just going to use the tiny little knife to get the cardboard opening started…  So, after I poked a hole in the bag, I could no longer put it in the refrigerator to keep cool.  No problem I think to myself.  My arctic entry is really cool so I just put it in there.  Unfortunately, it was a bit too cool and it froze into a wine slushy.  Once again I think, no problem.  But then it wouldn’t come out of the spout as the ice kept blocking the opening.  It’s frustrating when all you want is a crappy glass of boxed wine and it takes so much effort to get.

November has been a crazy busy month.  Halloween was warmer than normal so that was really nice.  We go into town to trick or treat.  We drive around until we find the police car handing out glow lights on lanyards.  It’s a fun tradition.

First on the list was the move.  Since the back window of the 4 Runner does not work when it’s cold, this means loading space is limited to what I can get in the back seats.  This makes for small loads only.  Thankfully I had friends who helped, mostly my friend Morgan and her big Excursion.  Luckily I was set up enough in the new place to invite friends and family over for Thanksgiving.  It was a good day.  Something about sharing food brings people to places they would not be without it.

Uncle Bob and my cousin Lee.

I have a real couch now and this click clack futon resides in Jordan’s bedroom.

Jim, Moe, Heidi, Sarah.  Notice how it is all my friends in the kitchen and not me?  Lol I’m pretty smart huh?

I made a turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, two pumpkin pies and two bowls of chocolate pudding.  They were going to be chocolate pies but the two graham cracker crusts I thought I had were apparently in my imagination.

Moe and Jim brought a ham and marshmellowed sweet potatoes made from scratch.

Lee brought some wonderful snack platters and sparkling wine.

Chris and Jordan just played which was fine.

Aunt Peggy brought a variety of paper products and all the makings for deviled eggs which the girls made.  She also brought a keyboard to loan us, officially making the “library” into a “music room”.

Feast of friends.

Heidi, Sarah, my cousin Lee, Jim, Moe, Olivia, Uncle Bob, Aunt Peggy.

I promised Heidi and Sarah that this did NOT constitute a kids table.

Post turkey coma.

Actually, Sarah had gotten up at 5 that morning and worked from 6-2.

Well, I tried to get  a picture of us fairly dressed up.

11-11-11

At 11:11 am on November 11, 2011, I was honored to officiate the ceremony for my best friend’s wedding to her newer best friend.  He’s a pretty good friend to me as well.

While not technically a full “bridal henna” it was all we had time for.

Jan and our good friends Kara and Trey.

Jan on each side, mine in the middle.  I tried to make them a bit matching but did mine the day after hers.  The stain hadn’t had much time to develop yet.

The marriage of a dog musher and snow machiner makes for a really interesting wedding.  These are dog booties filled with bird seed.

The guest book and wedding cake spent time on the freezer on the porch.

The really fun wedding cake.

Jan’s dad Carl, walking her down the aisle of Yukon Quest trail markers and pink flamingos that we had set up that morning.

Carl carried his shot-gun while Jan carried her phone with her sister in Chicago on speaker.

The wedding itself was a smallish, private affair.  I stood between one of Jan’s dog sleds and Eric’s snow machine which he had driven down to the trail to us, standing there in the dog yard.

The blushing bride wore a lovely pair of arctic Carhartts.

And a grin worth a thousand words.

Photo by Linda Pickel, used with permission.

Afterwards, we hooked up the dog sled to the snow machine and the best man drove them back up to the house, and the reception tent.  Let the party begin!

Dog harnesses were used for door handles.

SCORE!

Remember we are down to just a bit over 4 hours of daylight.  The temperatures were really good though as it got to around 20. Yes, that’s 20 above zero!

There was lots of food including a whole pig.

Bet you never had homemade pizza, cooked on a grill, in the snow.

Shrimp.  Photo by Linda Pickel, used with permission.

Chicken.  I think there were 6.

Groom’s cake.

Now that’s a fruit cake!

Stupid pole.  Sorry.

Music!

Oh how I wished I were far enough along in my lessons to have been able to play a fun little tune for them.

Mike Green on the bagpipes.

I’m proud to have all these people as friends!

Chris, Jim, Morgan.

Lori, Susan, and Stella, back of Bonnie’s head lol.

Eric and Marty Rogers, Bonnie Foster.  We handled for Eric a few years ago for the Yukon Quest 300.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyways, it was a fun day.  Bleh, I know I need to get this posted before I loose all my followers as they die off of old age.  I’ll try to post some more soon as I really do have lots to say.

Love,

Georganne

Moving out and moving on.

Well, I don’t feel I am moving on yet but at least sleep is coming back to some semblance of normal.  I’m sure some people are confused at why things have been so difficult for me.  After all, Justin and I had been separated.  I guess it is just the fact that even though we no longer wanted to live together, and it was best that we didn’t, we still had him in our lives.  He called several times a week to talk.   Sometimes I would talk to him but the majority of the times, it was to talk to the kids.  Especially in the last few weeks before the rupture, he would only have enough energy to talk to the kids.  It is just hard knowing that I wont have him to talk to ever again.

And in other news, we are moving.  We are leaving the little dry (waterless) cabin in the woods and moving a bit farther out.  From 400 sq. ft. to a 3 bedroom house with running water.  I feel like I am moving back to grown up land and there is a certain part of me that is resistant.  Not that living in a waterless cabin is in any way the realm of children.  It’s hard work.  It’s just very bittersweet.  For one, this is the last place that Justin lived with us.  It’s hard to relegate those experiences to just memory when memories are all we have left.  For another, living in a waterless cabin somehow made me feel more authentic.   But now I think I can still save enough for my own little cabin in the woods, some day.  I don’t think now is the best time to make major life decisions so I am allowing myself to put that off for now.  I’m going to enjoy the winter with my children living in the luxury of flushing toilets and washer and dryer land.  You can see where it got flooded 4 years ago.  It supposedly only floods there every 20 years.  Guess we’ll see.

It might not be a waterless cabin but it certainly is an “Alaskan” home as is the drive to get there.  When I changed to a high clearance, 4 wheel drive Toyota 4 Runner, it was because I knew I would be moving farther off the beaten path.  This is “farther off the beaten path”.  With the beginning of winter and snow, it was certainly a bit scary driving to it the first few times.  I still am very slow getting there but I think I should be able to get to work most days.  I just hope to God that we don’t have another Icepocolypse like we did last year in November.

Here are more pictures of it.  You don’t have to have a Facebook account to see them.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150888313020697.748116.656605696&type=1&l=bef1408ffa

Big ass hill, that’s what I am naming it.  You can’t really tell how steep it is from the video.  I wonder what grade it is.

Off the main road, down the side of the mountain to the river bottom.

In 10 minutes it will be my 45 birthday.  I am not looking forward to it.  I guess I’ll go to bed.

Good night all.

Georganne

Home

We finally made it home this afternoon after a long day of flights. Seems we just about missed fall. I hate that most of the birch trees have already lost their leaves.  But there are still some colored in gold.  That’s ok though, I know I’ll see them next year in all their glory.

The funeral was the 16th.    I am so thankful that the funeral director was able to trim him up as he had been too weak for the last several weeks to shave.   It was a nice ceremony as far as those things go.   I wish I would have looked behind me at the funeral but didn’t think of it at the time.  They tell me the little church was full with the exception of only a few people on the back two pews.  I did notice that the line of cars in the processional to the grave side was very long.  That made me feel good for some reason.  My parents drove me to the grave side service and my dad said that you can tell the measure of a man by how many show up at his funeral.  With the exception of the problems he had the last few years, Justin was loved by many.

So now, to get on with life.  The kids and I are used to living our day to day life without him physically here.  But we did talk several times a week and even when he was so sick the weeks before, he would still talk to the kids when he was able to.  I am mostly sad that my kids will have to settle for just me now.  My daughter wont have him to give his masculine opinion on boys she will be dating or to walk her down the aisle when the right one comes along.  My son wont have him to work on cars with and teach him how to build stuff.  I wont have him to tell me he is proud of me and that I am doing a good job with the children.  I don’t know all the stuff I need to know. Children are supposed to have two parents, whether they live together or not.  One parent can not know all the things they need to be taught or exposed to.   Anyways, I am tired and guess I am rambling.  I guess I’ll get it all figured out somehow.  Other women do it and raise wonderful children too, right?

Rest in Peace

Justin passed away on Sept. 12.  The kids got to see him.  I was holding his head in my arms when he took his last breaths.  That is a time that is currently keeping me awake at night but I’m sure it will ease in time.  Services are Friday, Sept 16, 2pm at the Road To Eternity Church in Duncan, OK. 

What a difference 10 years make.  Sept. 11 2001 I was a mere days from giving birth to our beautiful Olivia Marie.  I spent many long hours those last few days of pregnancy watching the horror on the news and contemplating the world I was bring my child into.  10 years later, Sept. 11 2011 had me sitting in a hospital room saying goodbye to her father who had been part of my life for 25 years.  We were married in September and said our final goodbyes in September.  I am thankful that the cancer he was full of, did not give a chance to make him linger in pain. 

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.  They give me strength.  Your donations allowed our children and myself to say goodbye and be with the rest of our family in a time when family is so very important.  We are able to lean on each other and are all just getting through this the best we can.

Since I am on a borrowed computer I am not able to update often.  Also, this takes an amount of energy that I no longer have in reserve.  I’ll post when I am able.  I’m sure you understand.  

Love,

Georganne

Update from Oklahoma.

We got here ok with no bumping of flights.  We stayed the night with my sister Char then her and my niece and nephew in law sent us up to Oklahoma with a lovingly packed ice chest of water and snacks and their nice little Ford Focus.  Now we are staying with my mother in law and brother in law in Duncan, OK. 

The first day we went up to the city, yesterday, brother in law Dave went up with us with the kids.  It’s a 90 mile drive.  They had put him on sedation to keep him in a medically induced coma to keep him from removing the intubation tube.  He had been in a coma from loosing so much blood.  Sat. they took him off sedation but he still had not waken up.  Since they had found several masses in his abdomen, they suspected were cancer and that it might have moved to his brain and that was why he was not waking up.  Yesterday they did a CT scan and it came back negative for brain cancer but they said they may  want to do an MRI at some time in the future. 

Today the kids stayed home with grandmother (Janet, my mother in law).  It was pretty hard on them seeing their dad in such a shape but they both did well.  Jordan chose not to go today so I kind of gently encouraged Olivia to stay as well.  So sister in law Kelly and I went up by ourselves.  Much to our surprise he opened his eyes and started moving around once we started to talk to him.  He was very agitated.  Even though his eyes were open, you could tell that he wasn’t  really able to focus or track, just kind of vacant.  So we just kept telling him it was ok, he was safe, not to thrash around so much, but do try to wake up, fight to wake up.  It was much more difficult to see him today in such a state then it was even yesterday.  He looked scared and not sure what was going on.  All that and not fully awake.  It broke my heart to see him like that.  I hope tomorrow will see even more improvement and hopefully once he is more aware, he will be able to be more calm. 

Then one of his doctors came in to talk to us.  I had told his nurse last night that I would be coming without the kids so would appriciate it if there was some one I could speak with.  He said they were just waiting on the test result from the last draining of his abdomen to confirm but he and the other doctors were pretty sure the masses they saw in his abdomen was cancer.  He couldn’t come right out and say it as they didn’t have the results yet, but he talked all the way around it in any manner possible.  If it is, he is not well enough to treat.  He is still very sick from the varicies bursting and the blood loss, etc. 

Thank you all for all the prayers and donations.  They mean the world to us and make it possible for us to stay here until things are resolved, one way or another.  I’ll update you when I can.  I don’t have a laptop so am at sister in laws house on her computer.  I also can’t use my phone here.  I can send text but not receive any so I send updates to Char with permission to post on my facebook to keep everyone as informed as possible. 

Blessings to you my friends,

Georganne

Just a quick update from this morning’s call.

They had to give him two more units of blood and some plasma.  They gave him two doses of clotting factor since he isn’t making his own.  I don’t know the units or method of deliver of that.  Since he was such a mess with the GI bleed, they are still seeing some evidence of blood in his stools but not seeing any active bleeding right now.  They did start feeding him through an IV.  There are no orders to try to wake him up at this time.

We are still gratefully accepting donations.  We have a bit left over from the tickets for gas between Duncan and OKC (90 miles one way) but we’ll still have to eat and deal with the aftermath of missed work.  Since I just started, I don’t have any paid vacation or sick leave built up yet.  I am trying to sell my car that needs some work so we’ll see how that goes.   Paypal, with my sister’s email address of charmarie1@att.net.  Thank you for any dollar you can spare.

Looks like we are going.

I can’t believe it.  We fly out Sunday at 1:15 am.  Fairbanks to Seattle, to DFW.  Well, I should say that Olivia will fly out, Jordan and I are on standby guest passes donated by my friend Tonia, so may get bumped.  If either of the kids have to go on either leg by themselves, I have to get them an escort ($50).  We are waiting for some other passes that are promised us to get Jordan and I our return flights.  I have faith they are coming but I can’t wait for them at the moment.  We just need to get there as soon as possible.   Thanks so much Tonia and Kara for the passes.  The one ticket I had to buy was over $1000 but it was round trip so not too bad.

I am humbled at the amount of love and support I have received.  No one likes to talk about money, it’s not polite.  But getting down there and on such short notice cost money of which I have very little.  I’m not one to take handouts by any means normally.  But you can bet your butt that if it means my kids seeing their dad before he passes, I’ll hold my pride in check.  Hell, it’s not the worst feeling in the world to know that people care so much and that those who can, help with the finances.  For those who can’t, you are just as important.  You all are holding me up and in turn holding up my children.

Tonight we talked about what daddy might look like with the tubes and machines and IVs, that they would have to wear caps and gowns so as not to accidentally bring in germs, that he’s lost a lot of weight and would look pretty bad and that it might be scary.  We talked about how it is ok if they didn’t think they wanted to go into the room.  I offered them both the opportunity to even just stand outside of the room and look in if they wanted to.  Both of them immediately squashed that idea.  They want to see him, in person, period.  Discussing this with his nurse, we decided that I would go in and see him first then decide if I wanted the kids to see him.  No, I do not want them to see their father like that, of course not.  But I think I have to let them.  I think they need it.  I’m thinking of the long term effects on their lives and the situation of the last time they saw them, and words like closure.

It feels like we are in a movie.  It’s so very surreal.  Yes, rambling again.  I guess it is just a condition of all that is going on.  I can’t focus, I feel scatterbrained.  It’s not a normal state of being, I promise.  It’s not a comfortable feeling either.

We SHOULD arrive in Dallas on Sunday afternoon.  If Jordan and/or I get bumped, there are other flights that we should be able to snag soon after.  My sister Char is picking us up and taking us to her house in Ft. Worth where we will probably stay the night.  Then she is loaning me her Jeep to drive up to OKC.  I’ll make a stop in Duncan as that is where our family is.   I am checking into the possibility of Ronald McDonald House but I would rather spend the extra time with family then sitting in some strange, sad place.  A hospital case worker was supposed to get back to me about it but hasn’t yet.  I don’t even know if they have one.

I sure hope we don’t burn up too bad.  I am nervous about the heat just like many of  you would be concerned about coming up here in winter.  I believe there has been something like 70 straight days of hitting 3 digit temps.  Yowsa!  I used to be a sun goddess but it’s been 8 years and things change.  Now, 80 feels mighty hot.

Ok I am closing now.  I’ll try to update again before we leave tomorrow night or you know, if anything changes drastically.

May all the blessing you need come your way.