Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

The last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions for me. Several things have happened that make me sad, while other things have brought me joy. I suppose I’ll start with the sad first.

Yesterday, I learned that a dear friend died suddenly from a heart attack. Charles Sanderson was a gentle bear of a man, who spread love and warmth everywhere he went. He touched so many lives with his kindness and joyful spirit. He had a wonderful sense of humor and I found myself with a grin plastered to my face whenever I spent any time in his presence.

I “met” Charles through the Alaska Living Group after joining back in 2002. Not long after Steve and I arrived here in Alaska, members from the group gathered at Pioneer Park for a bbq/picnic. I took this photo of Charles on that day. Charles and his family arrived in AK only months before we did.

Charles worked as a locksmith, and when he handed Steve his card that day he told us to feel free to call on him whenever we needed his services. As “luck” would have it, Steve and I were locked out of his still-running truck while attending one of our first dogsled races. It was a Sunday in December and -40F.  Steve pulled Charles’ business card out of his wallet and we called him for assistance. He didn’t hesitate to drive all the way from his home in North Pole, taking time away from his family, and coming out on a frigid day, to get us back into our truck.

He refused payment, but we couldn’t let him go home without something. We asked him to follow us to our house on Fort Wainwright, where Steve pulled a moose roast and a couple of halibut steaks out of the freezer. Charles was happy to receive the meat/fish as payment. It was the least we could do after pulling him away from his family on a Sunday morning.

A few years later, while Steve was deployed to Iraq, I joined several members of the Alaska Living Group at the local Denny’s for breakfast. I was so lonely for my husband; he had been gone for about 4 months by then. Anyone who has ever gone through a long separation knows that “touch” quickly becomes the thing you miss the most - especially if you’re in a relationship in which hand-holding and hugs are a ‘many times a day’ occurrence.

At breakfast, Charles asked me how I was doing, and was very sympathetic to my fears and worries about Steve’s safety and well-being.  His expression of appreciation for the service our military members provide, was so heartfelt, that my eyes filled with tears. He gave me a big bear hug then - the first hug I’d had since sending my husband off to war.  I felt his care and concern for me, while in the shelter of his huge arms, and I knew that if I needed anything, Charles and his family would help in any way they could. That’s the kind of people they are.

When I think of Charles, I remember his voice. It could be very loud and booming when telling a joke or laughing deep belly laughs. But at the same time it could be gentle and loving when he spoke of his children and how proud of them he was. Or when he spoke of his love for Morgan (Moe), his beloved wife.  Everyone knew how much he adored his family - and they him. He was a fine example of a husband and father. My heart breaks for Moe and his children: Sarah (age 16), Heidi (age 15) and Christopher (age 11).  Charles, you will be sorely missed. Rest peacefully, my friend.

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More “not so good” news:

My dear friend Lisa, will not be staying in Alaska after all. For a time there, she was sure that the army was going to let them extend here, since her husband Charlie is close to retirement. We both looked forward to many more opportunities for ‘girl time’, and chick flicks, and scenic drives, and hanging out as a foursome.

Good friends are such a treasure, and I will always cherish the moments I got to spend with Lisa while Charlie was deployed. We had such a good time hanging out, grabbing a bite to eat, and driving off into the wilderness together.

Charlie and Steve get along well too, so we made wonderful plans to get together and go fishing, or camping, or hiking together - thinking we had several more years together. But it’s not to be, and my heart is hurting, yet again, to have to say goodbye to a dear friend.

Military life is such a double edged sword.  On one hand, with all the moving, you get to meet people you would have never met if not for the army.  You share the bond of being a military spouse, and in rarer cases, you meet someone with whom you share the bond of sisterhood.  But then, the army decides it’s time to move on, and you have to experience the sadness of saying goodbye. I don’t want to say goodbye to Lisa.

It hurt my heart to say goodbye to Rachael almost three years ago, and now I have to do it again with Lisa. But, despite my sadness, I am so blessed that Lisa came into my life, and the memories we made will always warm my heart.

Lisa and Charlie will be leaving AK on September 21st, so this gives us a few more weeks to spend time together. They bought a travel trailer so that they can drive out of AK, and make a vacation of their journey to Fort Eustis, VA. We’re hoping that the four of us can go camping in Valdez before they leave.  I need to get a photo of the two of us (and all of us) together, and Valdez would be a perfect Alaskan backdrop.

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And some more “not so good news” (I think this is the last of it for this blog entry):

Fires are raging all over the state, but the largest ones are burning here in the interior. So far, more than 2.5 MILLION acres have burned throughout the state.  It hasn’t rained in a long time, and the fires are spreading. While there aren’t any fires “dangerously” close to where we live (and hopefully they’ll be kept at bay), the smoke and ash fallout are affecting us adversely.  I’ve been using my inhaler on a daily basis.

The fires have gotten close to Circle - a village at the end of the Steese Hwy. (You may remember that Lisa and I drove to Circle a few weeks ago) An online friend’s mom lives in Circle and they have plans to evacuate to a tree-less area if the fire gets any closer. Last I heard, they can’t get out of there by road, as the fire had crossed the road. And those few who have boats could evacuate via the Yukon River, but there are fires on the other side of the river too. It’s a very dire situation.

And now another fire has sprung up near/on Murphy Dome. It picked up in intensity and spread overnight. The smoke is rolling heavily into Fairbanks and the vicinity, turning our skies an eerie orange-yellow-brown color. From time to time, the wind will shift and bring us some clarity, but not for long.  Trying to sleep at night is challenging because we can’t open the windows to let the cool overnight air in because of the smoke.  Last night and this morning, the skies glowed orange and yellow. I took a few photos before going to bed, and then again this morning when I woke up. You can see the smoke billowing overhead in the photos. It’s awful! Please pray for rain, or do a rain dance, or send rainy thoughts our way - we need it!

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DENALI ROAD LOTTERY

Every year, Denali National Park holds a drawing for passes to drive your personal vehicle into the park as far as the road goes (95 miles). It’s called the Denali Road Lottery, and in past years, you entered during the month of July and were notified if you won (or lost) in August. Only 400 passes are allotted per day, and the road lottery weekend lasts four days (Friday - Monday) after the tourist season ends in September.

This year, they changed the process and scheduled the application period for June, so they could notify winners in July. This would give folks from the Lower 48 and outside the US more time to make travel plans if they won.  (Thousands of people apply - from all over the world) They also have a new system where you can apply online (and pay the $10/pp fee), in addition to mailing in your entry.  I opted to do it that way, and entered for me and Steve. Lisa also entered for her and Charlie, and we agreed that if any of us won, the other couple would go too.

They released the names while we were traveling down on the Kenai Peninsula. I scanned each day’s list looking for our names. Again, Steve and I were not chosen.  My heart sank. I went back over the list, this time looking for Lisa or Charlie’s name. Charlie won a pass for Sunday the 20th!! I sent Lisa an email letting her know his name was chosen.

A few days later, Lisa emailed me back - telling me that they were leaving AK after all, and they needed to leave on the 21st - the day after the ticket.  She was going to give me the ticket to use! While I am thrilled that I will be able to drive into the park that weekend, I am also bummed out that she and Charlie can’t go too.

When I checked Steve’s schedule, I saw that he was working nights that entire weekend.  There was no way that he could go with me.  That really depressed me.  No matter what, though, I was not going to forfeit the opportunity to drive into the park. I planned to go anyway, going down and back in one day - despite the fact that it would be one long day of driving. (125 miles to the park, 190 miles in and out of the park, and 125 miles back to Fairbanks) I also considered asking a couple of friends if they wanted to go, but only on my terms: I’d drive, and they’d have to put up with me stopping frequently along the way! *grin*

On a whim, I asked Steve to see if he could get that weekend off from work. It’s tough to find someone to cover for him when he’s on night shift, so I knew the chances weren’t very good. Surprisingly, his boss said he didn’t think there’d be a problem with him taking off, as they will be training new employees, and there should be someone to cover for him by then.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that all goes as planned, and it works out. We’re also keeping our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates for us. The way our luck has been going this year, it wouldn’t surprise me if a freak blizzard blew in the first week of September - closing down the park road.

But I’ll concentrate on the good: We’ve got a Road Lottery Pass!!!! YAY!!!

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AROUND THE HOUSE

When we came home from vacation, I was happy to see that my wildflower garden was blooming, although there was also an abundance of weeds throughout.  I’m not really sure what kind of weed it is, as I’m not knowledgeable about the invasive plants here in Alaska. It looks like something of the ‘lambsquarters’ variety. It is easily pulled from the ground, but there are tiny seeds all over the top of the plants, so when I pull them up I see the seeds traveling on the wind. That’s not good.

I really over-seeded the wildflower garden, so there isn’t much breathing room. It’s a tangle of leaves and stems back there, with wildflowers throughout.  Next year, I’ll do things differently, and sow the seeds more sparingly.

The chickadees, redpolls, woodpeckers and a few juncos have returned to the bird feeders. This is a relief to me, as they disappeared while we were putting in the lawn and I was afraid we scared them away for good.  I look forward to their company this winter.

Last year, we had a good size red squirrel who came to the feeders all winter long. When spring arrived, and mating season was underway, we had several squirrels using our yard for their courtship. Then, in early summer, we saw “our” red squirrel several times, and she was sometimes accompanied by a younger squirrel (we assume it was younger, as it was much smaller).  I assumed that this smaller squirrel was one of her babies.  Then - again when we were putting in the lawn - we didn’t see any squirrels at all. About two weeks before we left for Homer, I noticed that only the smaller squirrel was hanging out in our yard.

Last week, when we got home, we were in the yard checking the grass and I walked over to the deck to look at the sunflowers growing beneath the feeders. I was within only two feet of the large blue feeder when I caught something move out of the corner of my eye. It was the little squirrel, sitting on the edge looking right at me. I called Steve over to see him, and the two of us spoke to him. He just sat there looking at us.

The next day, he was there again, and this time he let me walk right over to him with my camera and take his photo. The lens was only inches from him. I spoke softly to him and he just sat there listening to me.  Steve came outside and approached. He extended a hand and gently petted the squirrel’s back. We were both amazed that he wasn’t afraid of us.

The following day, he was there again. When I filled the other feeder with seeds, he sat there watching me.  I came back inside to get my camera and told Steve he was out there. This time, I took a few photos as Steve petted him. We named him “Red”.

Now - before anyone offers some advice and warnings about squirrel bites and rabies, etc. - I want you to know that we don’t plan to continue petting the little squirrel. We know that squirrels can give a nasty bite, and we also know that they can carry disease.  I just wanted to get a photo of Steve and the squirrel, because I think it’s pretty special that this small creature is not afraid of us.  And, unlike some of my friends who have had nothing but problems with squirrels getting into their attics and eating their insulation, we have never had an issue with squirrels as pests (yet). We’ve also only had one squirrel at a time spending time in our yard, as red squirrels are territorial.

I don’t know where the bigger mama squirrel is. Perhaps she moved on to another yard, or maybe the big owl I had in my yard last month made a meal out of her.  But this little guy seems happy to hang around, and I do hope he’ll stay.  I just hope he’s got a nice warm place to go for shelter when it starts to get really cold.

The zucchini plants that Gip gave us have been very productive! Steve’s already harvested nine nice size zucchini from it, and there are almost that many more growing on the plant.  His tomato plant produced three nice red tomatoes, and there are plenty more green tomatoes ripening.  I also was thrilled to find raspberry bushes growing in my yard.

	Wildflowers in my Garden

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FAIRBANKS SUMMER ARTS FESTIVAL

The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival is held annually on the University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus. The Festival was founded in 1980 with the one-week Jazz Festival ‘80. By 1982 the festival name had changed to the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and included various levels of art including music, dance, theatre, storytelling, creative writing, healing arts, opera theatre, figure skating, and visual arts. More than 60 volunteers contribute their time to produce the festival

My friends Carmen and Abby took the adult Middle Eastern dance class, and performed this past weekend with the other dance groups. I attended the performance and took a few photographs. All of the performances were fabulous,  and I really enjoyed watching the young people dance tap, jazz, and modern dance. A ballet couple brought tears to my eyes with the beauty of their dance.  It was truly a lovely afternoon performance.

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SENIOR PORTRAIT SHOOT

On Monday, there was a break in the smokey air, and the sun actually came out for a little while. This is good because I had a senior portrait shoot scheduled for that day with Jenna.

This is one of the easiest shoots I’ve ever done, only for the fact that Jenna is extremely photogenic and not one photo of her was a bad one.  I really enjoyed spending a few hours with her, and I think the settings where I took the photos were just perfect.

She’s a beautiful young woman and I wish her the best in her future college plans and travels. Thank you, Jenna, for choosing me to photograph you. It was a real pleasure to work with you!

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TRAVELING

Steve and I have another camping trip scheduled for later this month. This one will take us to territory we haven’t explored yet.  We’re hoping that the weather cooperates, so that we can claim that at least one of our getaways was sunny and warm - like summer should be - rather than cold and rainy, or worse: smokey. Or even worse - snow!

We’re going to be visiting Haines and Skagway, and to get to that part of AK, we have to drive through Canada. It sure would make things a lot easier if there was a road to Haines that didn’t go through a foreign country, but since there’s not, we have a lot more preparation that has to be done for this trip.  The furkids need health and rabies certificates, and there are some foods we can’t take across the border. We already renewed our passports - another requirement to cross the border. When we drove to AK, we only needed a driver’s license. Things have changed.

I created this map of our route, so you can get an idea of the places we’ll be visiting:

I inadvertently put a marker on the map for Whitehorse, as if we were stopping there, but we’re not. We’re making the long drive from Skagway to Dawson City and then spending a few days there. From Dawson City, we plan to take the Top of the World Highway back into Alaska, stop in Chicken, and then back to Fairbanks.  We’re not stopping in Whitehorse because we already checked it out on our way up to AK, and we’d rather spend an extra day in Dawson City.  It’s going to be a very long driving day for us.

One thing that’s different on this upcoming trip is that we have no reservations or plans to do anything. Our goal is to enjoy the scenery, maybe do some hiking, Steve wants to bank fish, and we just want to chill out. The only thing we would like to do - but which we haven’t made reservations for - is take the White Pass Summit Excursion out of Skagway. If there’s space available, so be it. If not - it wasn’t meant to be. That’s the attitude we’re adopting for this trip, so there is no disappointment.

We’re taking the ferry from Haines to Skagway - an hour ride - to save having to backtrack hundreds of miles on the road system to get there. It wasn’t cheap (more than $200 to take the truck and camper over), but the time and gas saved is worth it to us.

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Before I end this entry, I want to wish my dear friend John some relief from the pain he’s been having in his hands from arthritis.  John and his wife Shirley are very special folks, and have been following my journal for years. He’s been struggling to comment to my entries, despite the pain, and I appreciate that. But he needs to rest his hands, and allow the medication the doctor prescribes to do its job.

I would appreciate it if those of you who read me would send prayers or healing thoughts for John, that the pain in his hands diminishes and he is granted some relief.

I am thinking of you, John, and wishing you well. I know you are there reading. Feel better soon, my friend. {{Love and Hugs}}

Until next time…