I watched as my husband, Bucky, navigated high above me around the wooden bracing of the cabin's loft. I had stood there myself the previous night and it was with sweaty hands that I transferred from ladder to loft to enjoy the view. It's times like this that we both forget about age and do what we've always done and for Bucky, it's building houses. This summer has been about new beginnings.
We arrived in Alaska in late June and Bucky left almost immediately to inspect the one acre lot we had purchased during the past winter, sight unseen. We were sent photos by the realtor of what appeared to be overgrown land with some mature birches. In the center of the acre was a conex box, so popular in AK for storage.
The cow parsnip towered above me.
Bucky weed whacked the parsnip which was an amazing improvement. However, he didn't avoid the blistering that it can cause and his hands and arms still show some scarring.
South Central Alaska has experienced the die off of Northern White Spruce due to the infestation of the Spruce Beetle. Most of the adult trees in our neighborhood have died and stand as brown sentinels in the forest. https://www.barkbeetles.org/spruce/sbfidl127.htm
Homeowners have cut their dead spruce in fear of them toppling onto structures and to prevent them from fueling fires that often occur during the summer. For these reasons, using spruce D logs to build a log cabin was a natural choice. The logs were milled nearby and delivered to the site in early August.
The flat side of the log becomes the inside wall of the cabin.
While Bucky waited for the logs to be milled, he busied himself burying cable for power and putting up the necessary power pedestal. To do this he rented an excavator which also allowed him to level the lot and dig the outhouse hole. The cabin will be a 12'x15' dry cabin, no running water or septic, but electricity.
Carlisle helped her Dad lay electric cable.
The sunshine in July allowed Bucky to dig holes for the posts on which the cabin floor would sit and to square up and build the cabin floor which includes a front porch.
piers on which the floor sits
tarp covered floor in preparation for AK August rain and out house in the background
August arrived turning our gravel roads to mud and mushrooms sprouted in numbers and size thought to only exist in fairy tales. Our week of moose hunting arrived at a time when construction would have been wet and uncomfortable, so the job sat idle. Bucky chomped at the bit to get back to work. By the end of August and into September, sunny skies and warm temperatures returned. With this high pressure predicted to remain for several weeks, we moved our RV from the cabin in Talkeetna to the building site.....which we now called Sunshine, a name used by locals when referring to this part of Talkeetna. Living on site made it easy for Bucky to extend his work day. It's odd for me to witness someone who flourishes with labor!
Pigs of all sizes and colors arrive morning and night to eat roots and my compost. They belong to the neighbor who lives about a mile away. The woods are criss crossed with their paths through the underbrush where they forage.
The conex yielded an ugly easy chair providing Bucky a comfy spot to take his breaks.
The work done by the spruce beetles made the logs easy to peel. As I worked on them, I was reminded of Bucky's Dad who could expertly remove the skin of an orange in one piece. By working his thumb under the orange skin and expertly rotating the orange, he was able to release the fruit leaving the skin as a single, long, curly spiral. He would then place the peel on the hot wood stove. Soon the aroma of warm orange oil and the subtle perfume of burning citrus would fill the room. With each pull of my draw knife, I lifted the spruce bark trying not to break it. It was difficult to avoid breaking the length of bark when I encountered a knot. It became a contest, with myself, as I worked my way down each 12 foot length of log, trying to better my previous attempt. Instead of orange, the air was filled with the fragrance of spruce oil and sap.
One of my days was spent painting the interior of the outhouse. Bucky knows that I detest painting, but his hours of labor were far exceeding mine, so I acquiesced when he asked if I would do it. He had purchased the paint in a bargain bin at the hardware store, clearly marked "mistake". I pried off the lid with my screwdriver and looked into a pinkish purple pool. Using my stir stick, I tried to find pigment at the bottom of the can in hope of adding volume to the loose mixture. After several minutes of stirring, the consistency remained runny, so I looked to the label......cement stain. It made me smile to think that a garage floor or any other cement surface would look good in this color. The label of "mistake" was not a mistake.
Perhaps with a door and the siding complete, it will appear more eggplant than pink peony!
Log upon log, the cabin has reached upward. It's satisfying to see the progress. Most days, the pigs wander by. We often hear their snorts and snuffling before we see them. Our dog, Fisher, looks at them with very little interest although a few days ago, she snapped at the wagging tail of one as it passed by.
The front entrance appears.
and now the front window
Carlisle carved the porch posts.
the back of the house
the front
Today is September 11th, a meaningful date. Many lives were lost on this date in 2001. On this date In 1952, my sister was born. In 2011, just days before her 59th birthday, she died. Today in Talkeetna, the sun continues to shine as the cabin ridge pole goes up.
Today is September 17. Soon all the windows will be in place. The metal roofing is on and as soon as the door is purchased it will be installed. Bucky will store his remaining materials in the conex and we will pack up the motorhome to head east. Next summer, Bucky will continue where he left off. Last I checked, there is still a full bottle of Aleve in the medicine cabinet!
September 25
Bucky has hung the exterior door, from our friend who bought it at a yard sale. It was an even trade as our door purchased from Lowe's had the wrong swing. My first reaction when seeing the door was, "oh, no!!, too much ....now it really looks like a saloon." That soon changed to, "it does add some color and sparks conversation". It'll either be, "honey, I love the door" or we'll definitely need to change that tacky door."
What do you think?
Remembering that my over-riding theme was "new beginnings", it seems I have only lightly touched upon this.......adventures of the past and airplanes keep getting in the way. I promised to enlighten you on Bucky's building project, and I will! But, let's look a while longer from above.
Follow the river, locate the railroad trestle and to the left.......there's the town of Talkeetna. Just beyond the trestle, the Talkeetna River meets the Susitna and Chulitna Rivers with their many braids. In the fall, when the glaciers feeding the Talkeetna once again freeze up, the water runs clear.
In the spring and summer, the Talkeetna River is filled with silt.
This fellow was moseying along near the Talkeetna River.
Always fun to see a herd from the air.
Talkeetna has an active modern state airport where private and commercial airplanes operate from. It's here that the flightsee companies are located. But, Talkeetna also has a landing strip in the center of town. It's exciting to watch airplanes land and takeoff from here.
Cozy
Talkeetna is surrounded by rivers. The glaciers, tundra and rugged terrain of the Talkeetna Mountains are to the east and the magnificent foreboding Alaska Range is to the west. The "great one", Denali, commands center stage.
At 20,310 feet, Denali is the highest peak in North America. Denali rises 3 and a half miles above its base at 2000 feet, making it a mile taller from base to summit than Mt Everest. The base of Everest being at 14.000 feet.
When the ceiling is low, the jagged Takoshas are sometimes mistaken for the Alaska Range until the clouds lift and the great peaks appear well above them.
broken tooth
I was feeling tiny and vulnerable as our fabric winged "moth" of an airplane skirted these hard granite walls.
By Fall, the grey, silty water of the Talkeetna River, becomes Caribbean blue. The salmon have spawned and are dying. Rainbow Trout and Arctic Char gorge on salmon eggs becoming fat and colorful.
Arctic Char caught on artificial egg
Rainbow caught on egg sucking leech. Leaches are after salmon eggs too!
Once a sleek silver torpedo, the Sockeye has now morphed into a sharp toothed, Christmas colored creature, baring little resemblance to its former self.
I spoke in my last post of flying in a 1943 Grumman Widgeon and hunting from a small island off Kodiak Island named Alf Island. Here, the ocean took on new meaning. Bears and fresh water were scarce, but each island day presented a new seascape.
Oysters, mussels and Oyster Catchers were plentiful. Although we gave Bucky every reason not to eat mussels, primary being the possibility of paralytic shellfish poisoning and our being on an island, that didn't prevent him from enjoying a few steamed mussels. After which we sat open mouthed carefully observing his every move from that point forward.
The sea waves crashed our island shores.
Home sweet home. Snow in April was an unexpected surprise!
Tanner crab for dinner!
Sea otters entertained us better than any DVD or TV show ever could.
Several eagles inhabited the island. I passed this nest everyday and could sense some irritation in both the male and female birds with our presence.
While on Alf Island, our days were spent walking the beaches or making our way through the swampy interior of the island to spots along the high cliffs. Here we would hunker down in the tall grass or find a comfortable spot among the rocks and "glass" the distant beaches and hillsides for bear. Whole days were spent in this manner. However, when the binoculars and spotting scope became too tiresome, naps were taken, stories told, birds identified and any number of interesting sights seen.
After days spent glassing, a bear was spotted. Hurriedly, the Zodiac was launched and the water crossed between our island and the opposite shore. Knowing the Zodiac came with a slow leak in one pontoon and no life preservers caused no hesitation .........a bear had been sighted!
I feel these candid shots captured the seriousness of the moment. Carlisle and Bucky intently scrutinize the bear to determine its size and look over the shoreline for the best approach to hunt the animal. Having never previously hunted Kodiak or for that matter any brown bear, determining sex and size of the animal from a distance had both hunters replaying in their minds the hunting videos on how to accurately determine size and recalling vital information given by our AK hunting guide friends. It was critical to identify if this was a sow and if so, were there cubs.
The Zodiac was left anchored but floating off shore. I stayed on the beach monitoring the boat moving it as the tide required and waiting for the anticipated rifle shot. It wasn't long before Bucky and Carlisle returned. They said that intercepting the bear without its knowledge of them being near had worked as planned. They had taken positions in the rocks, the bear walked unknowingly along the beach in their direction allowing ample time to look the animal over. The decision was made to allow this boar to continue growing. We once again launched the boat and I was given the opportunity to view the bear from the water and capture it on camera. It showed very little interest as we watched it eat mussels hooked to rocks along the shore. The loud crunch of breaking mussel shell could be heard with each closure of the bear's jaws confirming there's very little this animal cannot tear apart.
Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the US, the largest being the Big Island of Hawaii. Kodiak is 99 miles long and varies in width from 10 to 60 miles. Kodiak City is the main city and is home to the largest US Coastguard base. The island terrain varies from rugged seacoast to high snowy peaks. Commercial fishing is important to the island and small native communities can only be reached by boat or airplane.
When traveling north and west from our home in Talkeetna, particularly above the Arctic Circle, we have encountered Musk Ox. This unusual animal wrapped in swaying hair and an under layer of hair called, qiviut, can be seen grazing unafraid along the rivers and foraging on the tundra. The animals seen below were filmed near the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay not far from the Arctic Ocean.
These animals live outside the city of Nome.
The ever present ground squirrel. And, where there are squirrels, there are sure to be fox.
This ptarmigan is beginning to turn to its winter plumage of solid white.
When we travel north, it doesn't take many hundreds of miles before the trees disappear and the landscape becomes wide open. The trees, most always willow, live near the rivers. The tundra is covered with berries, crow berries, bear berries, blueberries and cranberries. It smells of Labrador tea.
Can you see Carlisle?
Leaving trees behind. The yellow seen from the airplane are poplars and the dark green are spruce.
Looking for caribou in the Talkeetna Mountains
Found a little one!
When we hunt close to home, we hunt out of a tent camp and are flown in by airplane. This is a very comfortable style of hunting. Everything can be set up and the tent becomes home. When we hunt in the northwest we usually float rivers and only camp at night. Setting up and tearing down a camp everyday often feels very unsettled. However, each of us has jobs so the process moves quickly and the kitchen, dry bags with clothes and personal items assume the same positions within the tent or outside that they had the previous night. By doing this, we all know where to find stuff.
Typical riverside camp tucked into willow along the riverbank.
Caribou camp in the Talkeetna Mountains where we landed by float plane on the lake and set up here. The float plane then leaves and returns when summoned by satellite phone or on a prearranged date.
This is also a camp from which we hunted caribou in the Talkeetna mountains. It was a fine camp, but surrounded by swamp. With very little dry ground, we walked on wet trails like the caribou along the lake edge.
Twice, Bucky and I have hunted the "haul road" which is the only road to the oil fields on the Arctic Ocean in Prudhoe Bay. It's an amazing place. During the day, huge trucks rumbled by sending dust into the air for miles, but at night camped by the Sag River, there was solitude. The moon appears like the sun in a land where darkness doesn't arrive. One trip I took a poor quality picture of a lone wolf standing on this ridge.
One must cross Atigun Pass over the Brooks Mountains to reach Prudhoe Bay and the city of Deadhorse. We were treated to sheep grazing at the top of the pass.
I'll conclude this post with what was undoubtedly our worst camping situation. Bucky and I were on the island of Kodiak fishing. At this point we hadn't yet purchased the green tent you've seen in most of the photos. We asked Carlisle for a tent to use and sight unseen we packed it with our gear and traveled by commercial airline to Kodiak. We arrived in the late afternoon and quickly found a campground near the airport. Typical of Kodiak, it had started to rain and we were anxious to settle into our tent and rest for the next day. When we "pitched" our tent it wasn't as expected!
Bucky only managed a few hours in this cocoon and we both were soon sleeping in the car. The following day we removed one seat from the back and turned the Expedition into a camper van. It worked out very well!
Coffee's ready......hope you're up!
Catching salmon in the rain. Once wet......it's hard to get more wet.
There's good reason Kodiak is called, the "emerald isle". Lots of moisture keeps things green.
