WOW is it warm out today! 35 and climbing as I write this. it's like a tropical paradise out there! I might even have to take a hike later, even though it gets interesting when it's this warm and you're wearing snowshoes because they want to slip around a lot on you. Things are pretty quiet around here the last day or so. Not a lot going on, just been doing a lot of recuperating from that crud that knocked me out for a while. It was pretty nasty stuff. I'm ready for it to go away and never come back. I'm going to work on getting some pictures up on here, I figure maybe some of you will be interested to actually see how we move wood, what we wear when its crazy cold, etc. Ah, the warm breezes making my thoughts turn to Spring and al that it entails..Bear hunting anyone?

I got my first actual, honest to god piece of fan-mail today! A gentleman named Kent wrote from down in Florida to tell me how much he enjoyed the Backwoodsman article. Wow, what an amazing feeling it was to read that letter! I thought it was a rush to see my name in print, but it doesn't compare to realizing that people are actually READING the stuff you're writing and enjoying it. (And no, I'm not minimizing the fact that I have people that read this as well, I'm also very grateful to each and every one of my readers here, as well as humbled and a bit stunned that I'm actually developing a regular following..so thanks!) but there is just something way over the top about receiving an actual letter. Imaging this..still fighting the crud, woozy, tired, staggering into the post office to get my mail. Bill..bill..bill..junk mail..bill..and all of the sudden, a ray of light. A very nice letter thanking me for the article, sharing his experiences up in Alaska when he was traveling, and congratulating me for trying to make it up here. It was the coolest thing! Someone actually took time out of their day to contact Backwoodsman magazine, (For some reason emails to the address in the article aren't going through, not sure what's up with that..) get my mailing address from Charlie, print the letter he wrote, put it in an envelope, stamp it and mail it to me. It makes me want to immediately write another article..I'm definitely addicted to this writing stuff! I FINALLY feel like I'm doing what I've been meant to do my entire life. Now, maybe one of these days I can get someone to actually PAY me to do it! It's a beautiful, painfully bright Alaska day today, a balmy 15 above 0, this walking crud is finally starting to get better, Yeah, life isn't perfect yet, I still have lots of things to worry about, but sometimes you need to put them aside, look around and appreciate the moment.  I think that's what I'm going to do for a while. I suggest you do the same. Take a few minutes and just appreciate being. Talk to you all soon!

Well, winter is up to her old tricks again..It actually warmed up to above freezing the other day, gave us a chance to thaw out a bit. Of course, then we got another foot or so of snow and today the temperature decided to drop to 3 above again..Oh well, don't want to get TOO spoiled I guess. Not a whole lot of really exciting stuff going on today. In fact, I spent most of the day in bed. I was up most of the night coughing. My crud is getting better, I think this is just one of the unfortunate side effects of it. I'm sure you know the one, the unbearable tickle in the back of your throat. You try to avoid giving into it for as long as you can, just don't cough, it will get better..but you eventually do and then it doesn't seem like you can stop for an hour or so. Oh well, this too shall pass.  Getting ready to go out and cut more wood tonight. The woodbox is empty again and it needs refilled if it's going to be all stupid and cold again. On a good front the house cleaning is doing..okay. I've told the kids in no uncertain terms that as soon as I sell a movie the first thing we're doing is hiring a maid. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that I'm essentially useless when it comes to domestic engineering of any sort. Ah, Alice from the Brady bunch, where are you when I need you? Eh, until then I guess we'll muddle through. The house is semi clean anyway..Have a good one everybody!

hey there! Sorry about the rant yesterday, it was late and those people are REALLY infuriating to talk to. Imagine a cross between an evil clown, a librarian and a Pekingese. Anyway- Well, it appears winter came back for a visit. We've got about 5" of snow down on the ground now and if Anchorage is any indicator another 15" or so on the way. That's okay, though, when it's snowing it's typically above 0. I'll take the snow any day! Nick's snowshoes are repaired courtesy of Steve's shop and tools so we're ready to rock again. Got an invitation from a friend to go brown bear hunting up north this spring. He's got some property in a 'problem bear' area (Which means that Alaska Fish and Game has determined there are to many grizzlies in the area) and they need to be thinned out. We'd each be allowed 2 bears and since it's an extermination the bear parts could actually be sold which is a rare occasion indeed. In Japan Grizzly bear gallbladder goes for an INSANE amount of money. Apparently it works well as a Japanese aphrodisiac. Now, I've never actually shot a brown bear, but it looks like a LOT of fun. I tracked one once on an island in the sound. Followed him for about a mile up a steep draw before I looked around and realized that not only had my hunting partners abandoned me, but the walls of the draw were within 6' of me, WAY to steep to climb up, it was beginning to get dark and the tracks were getting REALLY fresh. I didn't have to ponder the logic of continuing the hunt long before I realized discretion might be the upper side of valor and I backed slowly down the draw, just waiting for that sucker to come charging down at me. It's somewhat sobering to see tracks as big around as a dinner plate with claw indentations you can fit your entire finger into and they have water slowly seeping back into them. (Which means he was scary close) and you've left yourself without an escape route. Ah well, Live to plan the hunt better another day! Anyway, Like I said, in a MUCH better mood today. I figure I've lived through just about the worst thing I possibly can, By far the worst year I EVER want to have to survive through, and so I'll make it through whatever is coming. Always remember, Better or worse, tomorrow is always a different day! Have a great weekend, Everyone!

Well, here we are again..Another day gone in the 'try to save the house marathon.' For anyone not already aware, my house is in active foreclosure at the moment, the sale date being in just a couple of weeks. I know there are a ton of other people out there in the same situation, but that doesn't make it suck any less. I spent most of the day today on the phone with Wells Fargo, trying to get the sale date delayed, find out what the exact payment was, see if I had any options, etc. In my opinion I think I'd rather sit down to high tea with Satan himself rather than deal with these people anymore. Oh, they're all pleasant enough, even wishing me the best of luck after they tell me they can't or won't help me, but it's just painful dealing with a huge beaurocratic machine that is entirely devoted to doing nothing more than swallowing as many home owners as possible whole so they can regurgitate their weekly tribute of ill gotten dollars to appease their dark masters. If I sound a little bitter, I am. The system does everything in it's power to literally steal people's very homes out from under them. For any of you who still have the faintest trace of belief in our current 'leader' and his stimulus plans- They DO exist..IF you happen to live in an urban environment or are a qualifying minority. (Urban being defined I believe it was explained to me as a population of over 375,000 which leaves Alaska completely out in the cold..as it were.) So, essentially, if you happen to be caucasian (Which I am) AND happen to live in a rural environment (Which I most definitely do) the government flips you the bird and tells you to have a nice day Oh, and keep a smile on your face as you pack up your shopping cart and hit the road, because things are getting better all the time! Sorry Charlie, next time buy a place in the projects and we'll be all over helping you.. Ah well, I'm not giving up yet, there are still a couple of glimmers of hope and I'll chase them down as long as I can. I'm not going to quit until it's over and after that, well, I figure something else out. It's the American way, Right? In the meantime- If there happens to be any multi-millionaires that stumble across this site I've got a house for sale if you're willing to rent it back to me. Or, hell..I'll even take a donation if you want to pay it off for me. I bet we could even figure out a tax write off for it. Maybe the fund for the Prevention of Dislocation of the Endangered American Writer..PDEAW for short..Hmm...That might bear looking into! Have a good day, everyone!

Hey, Guys! Thanks for responding to the question! I loved reading both of your answers and hearing your stories. I grew up in a small town in Illinois, but it was never NEARLY wild enough for me. (I think most of my readers already know that, but there may be an occasional stranger that trips over this site that doesn't.) I hunted, fished (I bet Allen remembers that!) and camped as much as I could, but I always knew there was definitely better out there so it always sort of felt like I was playing at being outdoorsy. Well, I've found the REAL outdoors now, and I love it! From hunting or fishing out of Prince WIlliam Sound, seeing the dolphins jumping in the wake of the boat as we go out, to bear hunting up in the mountains or walking out on my porch, this is the real deal. My friend Chuck, (Who I mentioned before.) told me one night as we were sitting by the campfire after a day of silver fishing that wherever I might go after Alaska I would always compare everything I saw to it. I completely understand what he was talking about now. I'm not saying there's not incredible, amazing places in the rest of the world, and someday I'd love to see them all, but Alaska is going to be the yardstick I use to measure them by now.
So, good news, I heard from my friend Bill the other day. Bill lives in a remote cabin up Talkeetna way and typically once the first snow hits I don't hear from him till breakup. It's an odd thing, having a good friend who may or may not still be alive. He lives up there alone with his dogs and, as you know if you've read much of this blog, lots of unexpected things can happen to you fast up here. Bill is the guy that I have do all my leather work. The things he crafts are amazing. In fact, when communication is a little easier I plan on putting a custom order in with him for a new holster for my .44 magnum. I have an idea about one that isn't on the market yet so I want to have him build me one and see how it works out. It's a design that will be easy to carry, but allow me to get the gun out fast if I need it, even with a heavy winter coat on.
I think I'm FINALLY on the sunny sign of this stupid bug, I'm feeling better today, hoping it keeps going! Of course, I may be fooled into thinking I'm feeling better because it's FINALLY frikkin warm out! As I write this it's 24 degrees! The water is thawed in the house, I can start cleaning the gawd-awful mess up and make it like a house again!
Oh, John, I'm really glad I decided to send that article to Charlie at Backwoodsman too. It's my first published work and I kind of have to admit, I'm fairly addicted to seeing my name in print so I will likely be sending him some more stuff as well as trying to get published a few other places. No matter what, though, if it allowed me to make a contact that becomes a friend it was absolutely worth it!
Well, it's almost 1:00 Am now, and I think it's time to go try to get some sleep since I'm still fighting the Crud..time to hang up the guns and watch a movie! I hope everyone has a great day today and a better one tomorrow! See ya!

Well, It's above 0 out and has been for 2 days now! 9 degrees feels like a heat wave. My water pipes decided to celebrate the great thaw. Nick and I were standing and talking and we heard a sound much like the popping of a champagne cork. Then the champagne flowing..and flowing some more..soon it sounded like a waterfall was happening under the stairs where my surge tank and water piping is located. I grabbed my headlamp and looked in there just in time to catch a face full of fresh from the well, Ice cold water. Ah yes, the pressure from the pipes thawing blew one of the valves apart and water was spraying out. I'm not sure how fast it was coming out, but when we killed the power to the well it took about 30 seconds to empty a 15 gallon surge tank if that's any indicator. You know, I wasn't even upset. Like the first robin of spring it was a little sign that the hellish cold was, for the moment at least, over with. We cleaned up the mess, I did some quick repairs, turned the pump back on and we celebrated the fact that the water was flowing again. At the moment I'm struggling with the fire in the stove. I just can't seem to get the magic combination of heat, oxygen and fuel correct right now. It's an amazing thing, it definitely puts you in your place when you think that ancient man could grab a couple of sticks or a piece of flint and get a fire going and today, here, in somewhat modern civilization I find myself completely incapable of sustaining the smallest ember. As a race we've advanced how?The thing is, I know I WILL get the fire going. It gives a person a lot of piece of mind when they are confident that if the whole world shuts down tomorrow, you'll be okay because you're used to living without conveniences. Speaking of that- It's group participation time! I want to hear input from anyone who is reading this because I'm actually really curious. The kids and I have been watching a show lately called the Colony. It's a fairly entertaining survival show where they stick ten people into a 'survival' situation for 50 days and see how they do. No, it's not terribly realistic, but it is fun to watch. Anyway- We've now watched 2 seasons of this show and I've been amazed both times about the CRAZY lengths these people go to trying to get electricity. I mean, I'm talking totally off the wall crazy lengths. In this last season they actually hauled a bunch of pig carcasses a half mile or so, cut them up so they could render the fat and run an old tractor that was in the compound to power an alternator to charge their batteries. When they are interviewed on the show they all, without fail, say that they HAVE to have electricity, it's essential to their survival, there is no way they can make it without it. So..Here's my question to you, and don't worry, I'm not judging or grading any of the answers, I'm just curious..Where do YOU stand on that theory? Do you think we've gotten so dependent on electricity that we can't survive without it? I'm just wondering if we really have. I knew we LIKE electricity, I'm the first one to say I love not having to manually pump water and, as I've mentioned before, I love a good video game..But has it actually gotten to the point it's mandatory for our survival? Tell me what you think. I'd really like to hear your opinions.Anyway, it's late and I'm heading to bed, hopefully this infectious crud goes away soon..Have a wonderful day and I'll talk to you all soon!