Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

I went up to Hatcher Pass about ten days ago. Jan and Autumn had gone to Anchorage to go shopping, and since the day was picture perfect, I decided to take a trip back up to Hatcher even though I had been there the week before. It was amazing how fast things had changed. When I was there the first time, I went up with Jan and her sister Jill. We drove all the way up to the Independence mine, and there was no sign of snow anywhere. As you can see, that all changed rapidly. I was actually hoping to get some more pictures of the mine. When I was there the first time, the battery on my camera died- go figure. This time the gravel road that goes over to Willow and passes by a lake that I was hoping to fish, was closed. There was also a sign warning of icy roads by the toll area before the mine, so I didn't bother going up. The last thing I need is to go sliding off the road and down a mountain. The bottom picture is of the Little Susitna River. It's clear as a bell and runs really f...

 Well, somehow we made it through another Christmas. I have to admit, this one wasn't too painful. The kids did a lot of the work as far as cooking and whatnot. My oldest daughter Jen and her youngest daughter Kaylahni came up. They were supposed to be arriving within a few hours of each other at the Anchorage airport, but Kaylahni,s plane was delayed due to weather, so she didn't come in until the next day. Fortunately we didn't have to make a second trip to the airport. When we were going there to pick up Jen, we were amazed at how poorly the streets were cleared of snow in Anchorage. Several times we were traveling in the far right lane of the three lane street when the lane just about disappeared because they didn't remove the snow. I was watching people walking on the sidewalks, but the sidewalks hadn't been shoveled, even at the crosswalks. It was pretty pathetic. I think though, that it's become indicative of what is happening in this country now. Too man...

 Those who know me know that winter isn't my favorite time of year. Cold air, snow, slush, frozen ground, frozen pipes, frozen hands, frozen equipment- not a big fan. I'm watching my friends' dog again while they're in sunny Mexico. Don't think I'd care to be there either- drug cartels, shootings, bad water. I pretty much manage to find something wrong with everywhere. Anyway, dogs need to be taken outside, for their sanity and yours, so I was taking my canine charge down to the park yesterday for a walk. We were having a good enough time; or at least he was. I'm not too interested in sniffing the deposits of my friends and colleagues, but he was in seventh heaven. As it was, another person showed up with their dog, and since Rabano doesn't get along well with any other dogs, and only a few people as far as I can tell, we took a hike down near the harbor. I was already having some difficulty walking since I woke up with an ...

It's November 2, and although it's election day, and that in itself is pretty scary given the condition of the country, I'm not referring to the political landscape; I'm speaking about the changes happening in the natural one. Winter is on the way and as much as I might like to deny it, I can't avoid it. As you can see the snow on Ears is much lower than it was just several days ago. Most of the plants in the garden have died or are in the process of dying, with the exception of the Rhododendron and the Dusty Miller. It poured buckets last night and most of today and when I took the dog out a little bit ago to do his thing I darn near froze. Of course he doesn't care about how I feel, he's too busy smelling pee and other gifts that the neighborhood dogs have left, to worry about me- the selfish little brat. Sometimes I feel like Rodney Dangerfield, I don't get no respect. Soon I'll be forced to go out and shovel little paths in the snow so the dog wo...

It's good to be home. For those of you who have never traveled in Southeast Alaska before, you don't know what you're missing. We had to be at the ferry terminal an hour before departure, which was supposed to be at 9:45 PM. We joined a whole slug of other cars, trucks, shipping vans and boats and waited. The ferry had to take on fuel, so that delayed the process by about an hour or so. When we finally got on board, we found a spot in the lounge and sat down. The chairs are supposed to recline, and they do up to a point. That point being the most uncomfortable position that you could ever hope to try and sleep in. Jan opted to try and sleep on the floor, which is just steel plates covered with a thin layer of carpet. I can only liken it to sleeping on the floor of a produce cooler. The upside is, there were no little kids running around and screaming as is usually the case on the smaller ferry. I could kick myself for not grabbing the four inch foam mattress that I had boug...