Our version of retirement: Living a childhood dream
- Thread starter Gary O'
- Start date
Pardner....yer the real deal
I'm just playin' here in the lower 48
My longtime buddy lives just outa Craig
Been there 30 some years now
Got other friends in se islands (loggers, float camps)
None further than Fairbanks, though
You write any books on yer 14 yr adventure?
I'm just playin' here in the lower 48
My longtime buddy lives just outa Craig
Been there 30 some years now
Got other friends in se islands (loggers, float camps)
None further than Fairbanks, though
You write any books on yer 14 yr adventure?
Gary...
i'm just an old man with no formal schooling so no never gave it a thought. I have been writing a blog for years mixing postings about God, family, Alaska and lately a lot about lack of common sense in politics among many other topics. I have a few who follow my postings and they have suggested i organize some of the better posts into a book but just never saw any reason for it. I hope you get a chance to visit it there are a number of postings about off-grid living and my thought about 'prepping' and who knows you may find something you like. The blogs address is.... https://kl1hbalaska.wordpress.com/
i'm just an old man with no formal schooling so no never gave it a thought. I have been writing a blog for years mixing postings about God, family, Alaska and lately a lot about lack of common sense in politics among many other topics. I have a few who follow my postings and they have suggested i organize some of the better posts into a book but just never saw any reason for it. I hope you get a chance to visit it there are a number of postings about off-grid living and my thought about 'prepping' and who knows you may find something you like. The blogs address is.... https://kl1hbalaska.wordpress.com/
Meanderer
Supreme Member
Hey Gary & Pete...you guys familiar with "alone in the wilderness Dick Proenneke"? I'm pretty sure you are. He had a few videos on youtube, and DVDs of his solitary life in the wilderness, are available online. He would film himself, and kept a daily journal. I don't think I could abide the loneliness. (1916-2003)
RadishRose
SF VIP
- Location
- Connecticut, USA
You look like you're dancing!
hearlady
Basic Member
- Location
- N Carolina
Thank you for sharing this! Looks like a lot of thought and care and love.
I have acquaintances that knew him
Seems he did spend time alone
But
Wasn’t alone during the filming
In any event
Mr Proenneke was a man before and after his time
You look like you're dancing!
In some cabin building circles, it’s a custom to do a jig on a newly completed floor
Shalimar
SF VIP
- Location
- Vancouver Island Canada
Please write the book.
Meanderer
Supreme Member
Gary, I think that he set up the camera and did the filming, himself.
Personally, it don't make no never mind to me, the man was a god.
However, the guy that told me was buying the beer....
Yes in reading books about him he did have visitors that helped film some of the footage. Another bushman named Heimo Korth, the only man and his family allowed to live in ANWR, is definitely worth a look see his video is on YouTube at.... https://youtu.be/Iq0rZn8HFmQ and after being feed up with the many 'fake' reality shows about Alaska I did find one that was a good representation of 'real' life in the bush is "Life below zero" found at.... http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/life-below-zero/ and lastly if your up for a good read the Alaskan I did my hunting apprenticeship with Les Cobb his wife has written a book about their moving to Alaska and settling one of the last homestead grants the US government issued, their book is called.... Arctic Homestead and a brief overview can be found at....https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200913.Arctic_Homestead
That said they are great books and shows but the one that I read over and over before I moved to Alaska and then many nights by the Coleman lantern in my cabin as the wind howled and the snow fell around me was... "Coming into the country" by John McPhee" and I focused on the third chapter inside the book called coming into the country.
Below I thought you might like to see a shot of a normal winter night sky over my cabin....
Saw Heimo and fam for the first time on a Natl Geo video called 'Braving Alaska'
Great vid
none 'a that fake crud
From back in the '80s I think, but worth the search to add to the library
Pete
Yer showin' off now
(thank you for that)
Yeah well maybe....
ah all right Gary you got me, I guess I am showing off a bit but some people pay literally thousands of dollars to travel to Alaska in the winter to see the Northern Lights when all i did is walk out my door and there they were. And I have a confession of sorts, (don't tell anyone) after 20 years of of Aurora almost every night when I would walk out to turn off the generator if the sky was not ablaze like the show they put on in the 1976 forth of July in NY harbor... I would barely glance up.
'after 20 years of of Aurora almost every night when I would walk out to turn off the generator if the sky was not ablaze like the show they put on in the 1976 forth of July in NY harbor... I would barely glance up'
...and that’s the way it is
I try real hard to keep from taking things for granted
It’s work to prep for winter
A goodly portion of summer,seems
Summer here is a snap
But
I’ve learned to not get lazy with it
We savor some moments
Surely do
Ol’ sol don’t wait too long of a morning
sometimes an unsettled sky will give you a show of it's own
But
There’s a niggling in the back of my mind
Always
The ice man cometh
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the good parts, pard
Keep a fire
...and that’s the way it is
I try real hard to keep from taking things for granted
It’s work to prep for winter
A goodly portion of summer,seems
Summer here is a snap
But
I’ve learned to not get lazy with it
We savor some moments
Surely do
Ol’ sol don’t wait too long of a morning
sometimes an unsettled sky will give you a show of it's own
But
There’s a niggling in the back of my mind
Always
The ice man cometh
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the good parts, pard
Keep a fire
Now you know Gary after seeing your wonderful 'unsettled cloud' photograph I would have to did out one that I love that was shot by my daughter.
No Gary not a competition
just some things spark a memory in my old brain and I loved this shot of the lake where my daughter fished every day before or after work.
But I bet you'd enjoy sitting by the shore more than viewing !
My fondest memories...treasures, really, are of fishing with each of my children
They remark, to this day, their feelings are the same
My eldest son, years before his schizophrenia was diagnosed, had one of his highest days with me on a little stream outa Vernonia Oregon, rock creek
We walked ten miles of that stream
My second son and I had many a trip there too
He became a commercial fisherman
But
My daughter was the most appreciative
Not long ago we helped each other remember
good times
the best of times
They are indeed treasures and I think you as I relive them wherever we think about them or see old photographs of them.
I know I recently found this one when going through some old photo albums
and though just another day on the water with the kids it brings back a flood of emotion.
Now my son occasionally goes out to the water
but when my daughter came for a visit to Alaska
she made it a point to go after some Salmon.
But the best times were when both joined me on a remote stream
sadly my son was taking the photograph because the bear we asked
to take the picture refused...
