Our version of retirement: Living a childhood dream

I watch those Alaska shows and scratch my head how anyone can live in bitter cold and months of darkness in a cabin with a wood burning stove. I do admire their strength of conviction to that lifestyle but I wonder how they accept it when they are to old to do the physical chores and have to move to the town or city. It must kill their souls.

Yeah, I watched a few back when we were hooked up
A lot of those Alaskan shows are contrived
The folks are real, but the scripted scenes are sickeningly bogus

Anyway, if you wanna see the real deal, find the Natl Geo film called Braving Alaska

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Those folks are as real as it gets
And I, for one, wouldn’t wanna do it

My son did it a few years before he became a commercial fisherman
Then he did the Deadliest Catch thing, under Phil Harris (before he became famous)

My life long buddy is still living up there, for 30 yrs now, but he’s in SE Alaska, where the temps are bearable

A member here, by the name of Pete, did the real thing
Cool dude
Lot'sa good posts

Heh, I’m pretty much playing at it, even though we don’t see terra firma for months on end,
we can still get to town whenever we want, as we’re just a few miles off the hwy…providing things don’t ice up too much…

But, after getting too old?
I’m gonna move to small town on the coast, frequent the local taproom,
and bore the crap outa whoever comes within earshot with hugely embellished stories
 

On being organized

It saves time

Oh I have plenty of time, I just don’t care to spend it looking for things,
things I need to fix other things I have,
to keep the things on my person comfy

Thing is

My last twenty years or so in the work force, I learned a bit more on what being organized involved

After getting kicked upstairs, I had access to these people that seemed to get things in a hurry
Mostly data, or hard copy, and that’s what I needed
I’d ask for it, and there it’d be
I always marveled at this

(Permit me to expose my inner sexist self for a bit)

Most of these folks were of the fairer sex
Guess their finely tuned senses enabled them to just automatically put things where they could be at ready access

Except my lady
Bless her heart, tougher’n nails, can work circles around me, great cook, wonderful travelin’ partner, can dance up a storm, fun to be with, freaking gorgeous….can’t find nuthin’

Where wuz I

Ah, what I’ve done after a few lessons from those highly organized
Put everthing in a big box
(heh, kidding…sorta)
I used to put receipts in saved alphabetical order, in their own file
And manuals in saved alphabetical order, in their own file

I tightened that up
Not in the anal retentive way I so fastidiously did before (of which takes time, btw)
No
I just keep it all in what I’m gonna call my casual files

In my shop desk

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Like say I need a manual on a heater that just crapped out on me
There it is, under heaters

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And, if that manual isn’t detailed enough to help me fix the darn thing, and you tube ain’t no help, then I’ll need to find out where and when I got it
And there it is, stapled to the manual

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The warranty will also be there, but that’ll be after the fact, as I’ve already toyed with it

I'll be in the shop now

saving time....


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Gary, I do the same thing with all of my owner's manuals and receipts. It really helps when something needs fixin or replacin. And that last pic of confusion is me on Saturday mornings, twice on Sundays. My memory these days is horrendous compared to what it used to be. I could go food shopping for 10 or more items without any list, I'd just remember what we needed, but not anymore. Now I forget stuff even with a list. I keep telling my wife it's because my brain is full and every time something new goes in, something old has to go out.
 

OK, since this is my diary/journal thing, I’m gonna log some personal data
(for me, sorry for you)

Dec 28, 2018
@ 205 lbs

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Goal for next Dec;
190 lbs
And fitter

Aim;
To lose the little bulges around the waist
Tighten the pecs while they’re still there
Can’t do much about the hanging flesh under the upper arms, there’ll probably be more

The trick;
Getting thru winter without gaining

But, for this morn, gonna throw another dog in the fire and git back in bed ‘til it warms up…with my lady
It’s 1.4°F out there!
 
I had a much crazier New Years Eve in the Taproom than I did in real life. I don't remember much. :laugh:
 
Ever winter morn, early, break of day, I trudge, bleary eyed, in my bed shorts and boots, to the well house to see if the little heater quit on me.
Because, if it has, it’ll take a good part of the rest of the morn to thaw the pump and lines.
Hate that.
It’s only quit on me once.
And that ‘once’ was once too many.

But, during my 100 yard trudge, while half asleep, I’ll glance to the east, and see this;


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Then run back to the cabin to get the Nikon.
The rises are glorious.
But fleeting.

I used to take my sweet time to capture them.
And miss it all.

One would think, after seeing a thousand or so rises, it would get rather redundant.

That has yet to be.


These remarkable dawns put a smile on my mug and a song in my heart that never leaves the day


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More snow

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Pretty much have a belly full of it by March or April

Still, the quietude comforts even the coldest of days

The woods have a drawing power for me
Been that way since I can remember
Being alone in the woods has never been scary
Always calming

Whenever I see a thicket, it sends me back
Especially when there’s a bit of a recess, an alcove
There’s one behind my shop

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The snow defines the uniqueness of each thicket, each tree, each limb, each needle

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Caressing globes of frozen crystal

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Offering them

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The bluest of skies gives even greater definition

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My Catholic friends would appreciate this crucifix

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To me, trees are of the most magical life giving beings of this planet

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The only thing that’s not a mystery, is why I live among them

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Creating an abode here, for me and my mate, has taken much

But not near what I’ve been given in return

‘tis the season

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Saw the remains of this uprooted tree

And the sapling, that seemed to look on, maybe anxious to take up that room

Caused these prose

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