Four inches of rain yesterday. They predict only two today, though.
The road out of town is closed from mile 12 to mile 79, with mudslides and “flooding events” and one bridge damaged. The other road, the little one that becomes our ski trails and is wonderful walking up the canyon, is now inaccessible because that bridge has slumped down.
Darn! I came back one day too early from the session! If I’d only waited, I would have a great excuse to stay and play.
Glad our house is on the ocean and not on a lake. We need knee boots to make it up and down the trail, but the new shed roof is keeping our wood dry. Tin roofs are great for rain. And as folks here say, at least we’re not shoveling it. But, gee, I’d like to see the sun again. It’s been a couple of months since we had a day without rain.
Goodness! How does your town get supplies? Do they normally come by truck? If the one road is closed, won’t that be pretty serious? You know, I think if someone had asked me I would have thought you guys would have been all snowed in by now. When do you normally get your first hard freeze? We have a chance of flurries tomorrow, which would be very early for here and we haven’t had a hard freeze yet. Be careful!
I just figured that one out… a friend went out at lunch to pick up groceries and said it was combat shopping. Wish I had gotten some eggs yesterday. Oh well. We still have salmon in our friend’s freezer. This is really small potatoes compared to Louisiana. Oh, gosh! And I still haven’t harvested my potatoes! We won’t starve, anyhow.
Usually it’s quite cold by now. Our running water (gravity feed from the creek) is usually frozen by early October. Now we have to watch to make sure the funnel filter isn’t washed down to the tide!
The latest report is that it will be at least a week before the bridge is repaired. We still have the ferry, and the planes fly when the visibility is good.
At least I got my music fix in Fairbanks last weekend.
Jennie
We only have running water from May through September, consistently. The rest of the year we take the axe up to the creek and chop through, then carry the buckets to the house. Nice to have the girls grow big enough to help!
I just looked at some pictures of the road through Keystone Canyon. It will have to be a month at least, seems to me, to make it safe. How long does it take to rebuild a bridge?
It will make the spring kayak runs interesting to have big chunks of the old bridge in the river! Time to name a new section of the rapids.
And time to get chickens and buy flour. The store is out of eggs and bread.
(Hugging her nice warm house with AC and nice warm heat and plenty of hot and cold running water, electricity, food etc etc etc, pioneer woman I am NOT!)
You know, reading that article that Flyingcursor posted, I didn’t see how all the repairs could be done in a week. Maybe they can somehow make it passable, but there was sure a lot of damage described.
Well, I also am finding it difficult to imagine chopping ice with an axe to get water. You chop through the ice to get to water and haul water? Or you haul ice to the house? How many trips a day do you have to make to the creek? Do you just heat the water on the stove or is there a bigger container you can store and heat it in? How do you bathe? Just like in the old days, in a tub in the kitchen I guess? Yes, I expect water-fetching will definitely be among the chores for any able-bodied child . I’d get some little tiny buckets and get 'em started right now!
I humbly bow in your direction, Jennie, and vow to never whine or complain about gravity feed well water or whether mud got in the holding tank again or the lousy water pressure or anything concerning the presence or absence of running water, ever.
Hope you were able to get restocked okay. Y’all stay safe, up there.
Thanks for the concern everybody. We’re all safe, and folks are coping more or less well here. Lots of people in surrounding communities are dealing with flooded houses, severely damaged roads, and an outlook of restricted access. For me and my family, it’ll just be missing fresh produce and dealing with higher grocery and fuel prices as supplies are barged in. That, and having to buy plane or ferry tickets when we would have preferred to drive.
I used to live in a remote village, with no road out. Guess I’ve become accustomed to the luxury of free road service! The hardest part for me is being cut off from my music friends. No more weekend trips to Fairbanks, or even to mile 91, for a session. That is going to be really rough.
By next month we’ll probably have a one-lane road out of town, I doubt there will be pavement until next summer.
Whenever I get a website together, I’ll have to post photos of our daily routines in our off-the-grid little cabin. We do bathe! (at least the girls and I do) but usually at the swimming pool, where we spend three or more days a week at synchro practice. And chopping through the ice is no big deal. I’m just thrilled to live someplace where I can drink unfiltered creek water. Folks in town where flooding has occurred now have to boil all their water.
Anyone want to fly or boat in and play some music this winter? Welcome!
. I’d get some little tiny buckets and get 'em started right now!