Musings of an old man

Today is the 37th anniversary of our move to Alaska. It was a big deal then as we had 4 kids and a lot of stuff when we lived in Georgia. We arrived in Alaska on the Easter after the Exxon Valdez disaster and flew over the oil spill on the way. First big impression was the mountains that were snow-covered. I have seen lots of mountains, and Alaska's are among the most beautiful as they rise up almost from sea level, not from a plateau. as most do. We arrived in a bush village later and took up residence there for three years. There were children everywhere and something was always going on . The kids and wife adored it there, which was something I did not quite expect. I liked it too, since the whole move was my idea, especially the river. We could be in total wilderness in five minutes if we hopped in the boat and headed upstream. My work schedule was grueling, however, and after three long years there, I called Anchorage and offered my services and was quickly hired. I moved in and rented a house while wife and kids stayed in the bush for another month getting stuff organized and waiting for the movers to pack stuff up. We had most of our household goods in storage in Georgia, so that had to be loaded on a truck, then a barge to be sent to the more "civilized" part of Alaska.

After about 6 months of house hunting, we found our little paradise here and have live here ever since. Who knows? I may die here. There are certainly worse places to pass on from.
 
Don Alaska said:
Today is the 37th anniversary of our move to Alaska. It was a big deal then as we had 4 kids and a lot of stuff when we lived in Georgia. We arrived in Alaska on the Easter after the Exxon Valdez disaster and flew over the oil spill on the way. First big impression was the mountains that were snow-covered. I have seen lots of mountains, and Alaska's are among the most beautiful as they rise up almost from sea level, not from a plateau. as most do. We arrived in a bush village later and took up residence there for three years. There were children everywhere and something was always going on . The kids and wife adored it there, which was something I did not quite expect. I liked it too, since the whole move was my idea, especially the river. We could be in total wilderness in five minutes if we hopped in the boat and headed upstream. My work schedule was grueling, however, and after three long years there, I called Anchorage and offered my services and was quickly hired. I moved in and rented a house while wife and kids stayed in the bush for another month getting stuff organized and waiting for the movers to pack stuff up. We had most of our household goods in storage in Georgia, so that had to be loaded on a truck, then a barge to be sent to the more "civilized" part of Alaska.

After about 6 months of house hunting, we found our little paradise here and have live here ever since. Who knows? I may die here. There are certainly worse places to pass on from.
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Wonderful story.
 
Congratulations to you and your family, Don! I am grateful that your story is still being written, and declare that the best is yet to come! "Home Sweet Home"!

Flag_of_Alaska.svg
 
I don't know that the best is yet to come, @Joe Riley. We had some fantastic times when the kids were here. We are cutting back the garden this year since we have been growing enough food for the old family of eight. This will be our last major garden year unless I just can't stand it. Next year, we will not plant the greenhouses and will only plant crops that can take care of themselves I think, unless something changes or we get someone to live here for the summer. I think that I will no longer buy seeds unless I just find something I can't resist. I think my life is winding down. Wife and I hope to spend most of next summer (2027) traveling around the country if it is still possible. We have old friends all over the country that are still alive, so we may try to visit old haunts. We'll see.
 
We set up the plant light shelves in the garage, and kicked the car out of the garage. Guess what? A dusting of snow fell the next day. The exact same thing happened on the same date last year with the same dusting of snow. I guess things are cyclical.

I watched a fascinating (to me) movie--The Reluctant Convert--the autobiography of C.S. Lewis. I don't know if there are any other Lewis fans here, but he is among my favorite authors, but I admit that some of his writings are beyond me. It is free on Amazon Prime if anyone is interested in one of the important Christian writers and thinkers of the 20th century.

It was a busy day today with shopping and daily goings-on, but tomorrow should be calmer. My wife uses Yahoo Mail as her primary email provider and has for years. Yesterday she received an email from an old friend who had just turned 70 and there was an invitation attached, or so it appeared. The mail was not from her friend and the invitation contained nothing. She thought something was wrong, so she kept trying to open it with other software. It turns out that her email was hijacked by this message. She had used it sometimes unwillingly to receive codes for various accounts. Usually she uses her phone to receive the codes, but at least one account provider attached to the church accounts switched to her email and refused to use her text account. Needless to say, I was very concerned that financial stuff from other areas and accounts had perhaps been breeched. She got in touch with Yahoo and they spent hours on the phone with her (after she got past the AI) and it appears that everything is back in order. I am sure that even with changed passwords and all that, there may be stuff at risk.

All I can say is for everyone to be very suspicious of any messages, especially those with attachments even if you think you know the sender.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
A few weeks ago I received an email from a former coworker. Nice to hear from her, but she died in 2017. Needless to say, I did not open the message.
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I've got the same thing going on. A guy I knew was in his 80s ten years ago when he left the area. He always sent joke emails you kinda just tolerated. A few years ago some of his Email content took a political slant that was the polar opposite of his worldview. He was married to a much younger woman. I think she's the one sending them out.
 
Transplanting and planting continue here, but the snow is slowing melting. There are bare spots in the sunnier regions and we can walk through the snow over much of the property. It snowed yesterday but little accumulated, so no big deal. The snow blower is still on the tractor, but I may get it off today or tomorrow as the drive is slushy and muddy, and it needs s little maintenance done. I got the mirrors for the tractor recommended by @Jake Smith and I have them on the machine. I will get them adjusted when I next take it out of the shed.

Wife and I went to a funeral "seminar" last night. It answered some of my questions about the process. They had religious representatives, funeral home reps, and cemetery "caretakers" to answer questions and take inquiries into services rendered. We have discussed the stuff between ourselves, but have not consulted our children as they don't want to consider the demise of mom and dad. Our youngest two kids want us to move to a warmer clime as they think it will extend our lives. They may be right on that.
 
Don Alaska said:
Transplanting and planting continue here, but the snow is slowing melting. There are bare spots in the sunnier regions and we can walk through the snow over much of the property. It snowed yesterday but little accumulated, so no big deal. The snow blower is still on the tractor, but I may get it off today or tomorrow as the drive is slushy and muddy, and it needs s little maintenance done. I got the mirrors for the tractor recommended by @Jake Smith and I have them on the machine. I will get them adjusted when I next take it out of the shed.

Wife and I went to a funeral "seminar" last night. It answered some of my questions about the process. They had religious representatives, funeral home reps, and cemetery "caretakers" to answer questions and take inquiries into services rendered. We have discussed the stuff between ourselves, but have not consulted our children as they don't want to consider the demise of mom and dad. Our youngest two kids want us to move to a warmer clime as they think it will extend our lives. They may be right on that.
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Do you and your wife want to move?
 
Don Alaska said:
We are torn. I love Alaska, but the winters dictate that much of our time is spent indoors. When we were younger, much of the winter was outdoors and active. That is no longer the case. There are also warmer areas of Alaska, but they are more like Seattle and that climate is depressing in winter as well.
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Is snowbirding an option for you?
 
Marie Miller said:
Is snowbirding an option for you?
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I suppose, but I don't think I want the issues of maintaining two properties. I don't think we would ever find another place as nice as the one we live on. It would just be the weather. Half our grandchildren are here, and the others are spread around the country. We couldn't find a place with a location close to all the others. Plus, I don't think my wife and I could agree on a place. We really don't agree on anything and only come to decisions by one of us giving in. It has been that way for 50 years. We are both pretty happy here though.
 
Spring seems to have arrived at last--the snow is gone. No trees budding yet, but the apple grafting is complete. most of our end of our small lake is open, but no kayakers or canoeists have passed by yet. I suspect the ice along the edge is still keeping them from putting the boats in. No power boats allowed as it is salmon spawning territory and it wouldn't be a practical thing anyway. It was interesting to hear the ice break up as the water warmed. When we lived in the bush, the river break up was a big thing, and the roar was hear for miles when the ice finally moved. The river was the lifeline there as there are no roads, so the time between when the ice was solid and when it was open for boats was not good for the residents.

The latest excitement here was the arrest of a human trafficking ring that was using "Day Spas" as a front for drugs, prostitution, and who knows what else. Everybody arrived and set up business during the Biden Administration's open borders. There was one 72-year old American male arrested and the remainder (7 males I think) were all of apparently Chinese origin. The victims names and nationalities were not made public, so I don't know how many there were or where they came from. There were 7 "spas" involved, two around here and 5 in Anchorage I think.

I heard Jillian Michaels mention the Alaska LNG Project in the video posted by @Jacob Petersheim. The Democrats here and the RINO Republicans are trying to block the project for no good reason. All of the scare tactics really went away with the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline that has been operating pretty flawlessly for over 50 years. Wildlife has actually increased along the pipeline route despite the alarmism of the environmental lobby in the early 1970s. It would bring in tremendous tax revenue to the state and the nation were it to go through, and the customers in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines are already lined up and on board. A previous governor tried to bring China in to build this and basically sell some of the State of Alaska as payment and it would be constructed using Chinese labor. This would be built with U.S. labor and materials. I guess that is why the Dems are against it...that and it is under Trump's watch, although I don't think he was involved in the planning.
 
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