Last year we had the spring that never sprung. It was cold and wet and nasty until finally, summer was here…then gone. Our warmth passes so quickly. I love winter, obviously, or I wouldn’t be able to live here. But when it starts to warm up, it’s such a time of excitement and expectation. It’s almost heartbreaking when it doesn’t happen as it is supposed to such as last year. This year, it seems like Mother Nature is apologizing for last year as we are already in breakup. The snow is melting, the sun is out, life is good!
I know it’s been a long while since I posted anything. Mostly I have been hibernating so there’s been little of interest to write about. I’ll try to catch you up with a few pictures.
Christmas came and went fairly quietly except for the kids got their first guns. They are just little .22s.
Of course, there was always nights of chasing the auroras.
One of my aurora photos was used on a Denver station news program. I was pretty excited.
We did a bit of entertaining and a lot of cooking.
Olivia’s very first home made cinnamon, raisin, yeast bread.
I also taught her how to make home made chicken noodle soup, with home made noodles.
Worked at Checkpoint Mile 101 for the Yukon Quest again. This was my 5th year working there. Needless to say, I love it. I ended up staying an extra night and day after everyone left, just putting wood in the stove and playing my fiddle. I’m going to plan on doing this every year as it was so peaceful and restful after all the commotion and lack of sleep that working there during the Quest brings. I didn’t write about it this year but you can look back over the years in this blog to see some stories if you care to.
I did take some video of the two passes I have to cross coming home from the checkpoint. The roads were actually very good even though in the videos, you can see they were icy. Last year three of our members got stuck or left the road while trying to get out to the checkpoint.
12 Mile Summit
Cleary Summit
Did a bit of henna here and there.
I love doing bellies the most!
Of course, winter is a time to go visit friends, hang out, have fun, drink some beer, etc.
Here’s my Solstice centerpiece, complete with Yule Log.
While Olivia was working on her roller derby skills.
I got to hang out with pretty mushers in tuxs for the Bunny Boots and Bids fundraiser and Wine Tasting.
And of course, practiced and played my fiddle.
I don’t think I posted this video yet. It’s how I have to unfreeze the drain. Living in a dry cabin, having to haul all our water, makes us really conserve. Of course, if you are only using tiny bits of water here and there through out the day, and it’s -40 outside, the water freezes before it clears the drain. We have a grey water system which means that the water just goes straight from the kitchen sink to the gravel pad that the cabin sits on. I have had to do this a couple of times each winter. It’s not really a big deal but yea, at that cold of temperatures, one’s lungs do not want to inhales so you end up breathing very noisily as you can hear in this video lol.
So, onto the upcoming summer! I have a camping, float trip down the Delta Clearwater planned for the kids and I. I have a trip up to visit my friend Susan in Kavik River Camp planned for later in the summer. I have a zipline adventure trip down near Talkeetna planned with my friend Lori. And I want to take my kids back packing in the back country for the first time. I have taken them camping lots of times but never into the back country. There be bears out there you know. Backpacking has almost always been my special solo adventures. I keep them for myself. But maybe my kids would like them for themselves as well. Of course, you can’t forget my annual Fowl Adventure. Chickenstock Music Festival then a visit to my friends’ Wayne and Scarlett who live off the Yukon River. Can’t wait to see them!
Until next time my dearies. I’ll be here.
Alaska, The Madness 