Monday, June 13, 2011

Made it

Stayed up all night...drank 7 cups of coffee..I can finally check my bag and get through tsa in 28 minutes...longest night ever

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Day 16 - Last night in AK

Been at the airport since 5pm...its 10:46 as I write this from my cell phone.  Plane leaves at 6am. . So I'll be here a total of 13 hours.  There's nowhere to eat or sleep.  Im sitting in the waiting area with a few bucks for the vending machine.  There's coffee for $1.50...drank 4 cups already....gonna try to stay up all night then sleep the 6 hour flight to Minneapolis.  It never gets dark here so having no bed, dark, or quite means sleeping won't be possible.  Plus I  dont want to risk missing the plane..anyway gonna gget more coffee....gonna be a zombie tomorrow.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Day 15

June 11th, 2011.  My last night here...didn't do much today, got everything cleaned up.  Gonna be at the airport all night tomorrow and during most of the day.  My plane doesn't leave until 6:00am Monday morning.  Gotta wake up early tho tomorrow because Lee and some guy he has up here working for him are gonna be about making coffee and what not.  Otherwise I could sleep in, oh well, gonna finish packing then pass out.  Lee told me to be ready by noon to leave, which means a I'll be at the airport for a good 14 hours or so...kinda messed up.  Gnight

Friday, June 10, 2011

Days 13 & 14

June 9th, 2011. Boring day, just did a lot of pruning. Lee has a bunch of willow and birch trees around his farm. And around those trees are little sprouts, well some big, that grow too close to the tree for the mower to hit. So I have to cut them all down, as close as I can to the dirt, then throw them in the grass to be chopped up by Lee's big tractor-mower. It might not sound like hard work, but when you're hunched over for 8 hours it gets hard. I went to sleep early, and woke up feeling like I didn't sleep at all the next day…beat

June 10th, 2011. More of the same, except I stopped after half a day and watered the gardens. Kinda took it easy today. Tomorrow and Sunday I'll be sleeping in, so that’s nice. Feels like I've done 2 months worth of work in 2 weeks. After dinner tonight Lee and I had a good chat. Talkin philosophy and politics…or whatever came up. He likes my cooking. I made chicken, carrots, and rice tonight. But whenever I make burgers he says "You make the best damn burgers" lol. I don't even put anything on em…I wonder how he makes em. I gave one of the horses half an apple today, she ate it up then spit it all out lol. Then ran away like I poisoned her. Then I gave her a carrot, she picked it up then spit it out too. Oh well horses, just live off your grass then. I got really close to the elk today too. Just walked along the fence line pulling grass out of the ground pretending to be eating it like they are. They let me get about 10 feet away from them before a bee got in my face and I swung my arms causing them to run away. Lee's driving away right now, I can see him out the window, I wonder where he goes. He does this a lot and doesn't come back for like 4 hours. He doesn’t drink, and there's nothing to do out here, makes no sense..oh well…gonna drink a few beers and go try to see the elk again. Gnight from Delta Junction Alaska!!!!!!!!!!!!

Randoms

We planted some seeds on sunday...already sprouting...crazy fast.  Below is a barn swallow I beleive...or a juvenile cliff swallow...as you can see they aren't really scared much, I can get about 2 feet from em before they fly away...This one is doing the Gigi.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Day 11 & 12

June 7th, 2011. Had nothing to do today...started off slow. I woke up at my usual time, made coffee, and waited, as Lee appeared to be thinking of something for me to do. He said "Let's go for a ride in the 6x" I said all right (That's his big Vietnam truck)...we went across and through downtown Delta. Saw about 20 people in the whole town. On the other side was a place where we could buy gravel by the yard. We rolled in and he got out and talked to some inbred looking lady. He said "I don't like the way this outfit is ran, the old guy ran it better". So we left with no gravel. Lee is definitely not the type to settle for less. He acts as if his little town isn't rural enough. He notices all the "City folk" all the time, and makes sure to point them out. I kinda feel obligated to defend them because its not like he's in their neck of the woods ever. I don't think this guy's seen a skyscraper since the 60's. People up here are just kind of slow in general...everyone I've met says "I hear your from California"...I tell them "I'm from Oregon, just came from Cali"...they all like to remind me where I'm from lol. These people are very good at living without things, but living with things can be just as hard...they are very judgmental. We might call em hicks or whatever, but we don't think of them as being less...I get the feeling these hicks think of city people as less. Its all right though, we get 20mb/s down and 5 up while they rock the 24kb/s dial up internet lol. We just have more to juggle in the city, the rural communities have more self awareness. These people really are animal like in many ways. One thing I've noticed is they all look around like they have horse eyes (On he side of their heads). Lol, hard to explain what I mean, but instead of twisting their necks to look around they look down...everyone up here does that. And instead of saying "I" they say "A guy". Like instead of saying, "I need to dig up that dirt", they all say, "A guy needs dig up that dirt". Most of em have a dry sense of humor too. Anyway...after we didn't get the gravel we drove down to some town 150 miles south of here to pick up two mules for Lee's lady friend. We were there for about 5 minutes then turned right back around. We were on the road for about 7 hours…got some good pictures driving through the Alaskan Range, which I posted yesterday. We stopped for a burger somewhere in the middle…took a pic (Posted yesteday) of that place…that place defined the rural burger joint. We got back, BBQ'd up some chicken, then called it a night.


June 8th, 2011. Today I planted the flowers we got from the lady we saw yesterday. Forgot to mention that she gave us a bunch of flowers for picking up her mules yesterday. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, I had to space them out all perfectly so that it looked even. I just tended to the garden and flowerbeds today. After lunch I took a nap, you don't really realize how tired you are until you need to take a nap. I feel like I'm trying to catch up on sleep all the time. I can sit down and nap for 30 minutes now lol, like an old man, I've never been able to do that. Anyway tomorrows what…Thursday?…I'll be back in Cali in no time. If I was gonna be here a while longer the week would end a little quicker. But knowing there's no work to be done, and that I'm about to go, causes time to slow down. I planned on quitting smoking up here, but stopped drinking energy drinks instead. I'm strictly coffee now lol. I drank a Rockstar yesterday and CRASHED hard…WOW…it had been over a week since I've had one…the longest I've gone since high school probably. I'm done with those, they seem dirty now because of that crash. I think I'm not gonna eat any fast food either anymore. So we got fast food and energy drinks gone…I still need to kick the drinking and smoking. Its on my list…I'll get there…but I'd rather not do it while I'm waiting to head back to a jobless, homeless California. Its only been a week and a half since I've left, but it seems like months. Can't wait to get back, but I'm going to miss this place.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Driving Through The Mountains

Above is a nice pic I got somewhere we stopped through the 300 mile drive in the AK Mountains.  Below is the one place during that drive where you can stop to eat...I took a picture to warn travelers.  Its in the middle of the Alaskan Range for a reason, red fox hides hanging on the wall, signs out front reminding you to check your guns, hillbilly bar tender, and some creepy old men sitting in the corner drinking a beer at 11:00am just watching us and not talking.  Odd as all hell.


In The Alaskan Range

Lee and I were driving through the Alaskan Range today.  Below is a photo of a river and mountains near the highest point we reached.  Above is a photo of a moutain Lee called "Rainbow Mountain"...Driving by it there were many different colors on the side of it.  Here you can see a little green and red, but driving by we saw more as the sun hit different angles.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Day 10

June 6th, 2011. Did a lot of work today. Cut down a few old trees with a saw, trimmed down some more trees watered the garden and filled the horse trough. I have a feeling Lee is running out of things for me to do. He gives me a task and I get it done usually a lot faster than he says I should. Like today he said "Cut these dead trees down and load em into the trailer, that should take you a few hours". I got it done within 45 minutes. When I get things done too fast like that he usually has me trim plants with sheers or pull rocks out of dirt. I know I'm doing a good job, I always work hard. We got to talkin today and decided we should book a ticket for me to get back in advance so that its cheaper. We expected to find one a couple weeks out but the cheapest one (by 300 dollars) was a flight out the 13th of June. So looks like I'll only be here for another week. I'm sure my work will get real crappy towards the end of the week as I wrap up things. After dinner he said, "Tomorrow morning lets go to town and get some gravel, we can stop by the store too"…There's no point in me going, I'm sure he just doesn't have anything for me to do. I already told him that trimming 1-inch thick trees at the base all day could be kind of tedious. He knows it's not realistic to ask me to cut down plants for 10 hours a day, so he's probably spreading the job out some. I volunteer to cook and clean, it allows me to stay busy. If this was my ranch I wouldn't want people coming and just sitting around either, but if I'm not busy then I'm cutting down trees or pulling rocks out of the dirt. Oh well, if the jobs done then it's done. I'm beat though, going to sleep…its 8:30 here…gnight.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Day 9

June 5th, 2011. Had the day off today…needed some rest but it was super boring. I wanted to relax because I'm so sore, wish I woulda felt up to going on a hike. I slept for 11 hours last night, so I should be good and rested for work tomorrow. I met one of Lee's friends today, Laura, I think she is the lady he's going to get his flowers from for the flowerbeds I dug up. I forgot I brought my external hard drive, so I was able to watch The Town today on this computer…but I watched it sitting on a tiny little wood chair that looked like it was made for a 2nd grader. I BBQ'd up some chicken for dinner, left the bones outside for the foxes, they come around every night but I never see em (Only once). Every time I leave something out its gone in the AM. I'm becoming easily amused though, I do get pretty bored, but I never woulda thought I'd go walk around the barn just to watch the swallows fly around. I did that twice today. I want to find a book to read though. When there is absolutely nothing to do your mind finds things to do for you. I'm learning the birds and horses patterns. I see what they do all day, how often they go for food/water, how they warm up when its windy, or cool down when its hot and sunny. The horses like to stand behind the little barn in the shade when its hot (For about an hour then go straight for water), and they run around aimlessly when its cold. Everything out here just kinda takes a natural course because theirs really no type of entertainment. The wildlife seems to be doing the best with pretty much nothing to do, but I could see how people could end up being more animal like living out here. This is gonna be a good experience, but probably isn't something I could do for life. I appreciate it all, but I'm too much of a "city boy" as they call me out here. I still cut my hair weekly and keep my beard trimmed. That’s more of a comfort thing, but certain habits take more than a scenery change to alter. Just knowing I'll be back in Cali in a couple months causes me to cut corners here and there. I'm guessing there will still be some sort of a culture shock when I get back though just because I feel like I'm miles away from another "city person". I've always felt I was good at foreseeing my future by looking at the path I'm currently on. Habits are made and broken all the time, but you need to remember that they change for a reason. The most challenging part of living out here is the physical work, which I feel lucky to be able to handle pretty well. I doubt any of these country folk out here could handle the city life as well as I handle their country life. I wonder if I'm getting the most out of it, I mean, if the challenge isn't as extreme as possible then the lessons learned aren't as extreme. I should try WWOOFing in another country some time, I think that would be really hard. Life is all about learning, and we learn our best in hard times, so if we can put ourselves in harsh situations delicately then we can learn some pretty neat stuff safely. Some people mix up hard with bad, and easy with good…they may go hand in hand at times, but its not safe to assume they belong together. What I'm doing is a perfect example of an easy lesson learned by hard work. I have no choice but to learn fast and pick up on things quick. It can be dangerous out here if you aren't paying attention, so as long as I'm listening to what I hear the knowledge will come with ease. Thinking like that really makes you want to take advantage of your strengths. Doing the bare minimum sort of stops time, its important that everyone realizes that when you're not progressing your digressing…you can't tread water in life. I think the real challenge comes when you try to find your niche…but even if your not doing what you dreamed you'd once do doesn't mean your treading water. Progression takes time, and before progression comes preparation. The most important thing is to stay positive and open, because you never know when something great might hit you. The more open your mind is the bigger your net is for catching inspiration. Ok I could go on forever with this philosophical crap lol…its fun to write…but Good Night!!!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Two of the other 20 horses

Did you know they still allow smoking in restaraunts up here?  Kids and everything inside...I like this pic above...lol

North and South From the Hilltop


I took a moment to walk up a hill to look around today.  The above photo faces south...you can see a little bit of the Alaskan Range here.  The bottom photo faces north, my bunkhouse is behind those trees somehwere. 

Day 8

June 4th, 2011. Tedious work today…I basically just cut down mini willow trees that are sprouting up all around Lee's new how site. After that I dug out a bunch of big rocks around it where he wants to plant grass. My back was killing me, I spent all day hunched over. Bah so glad its over. But I get tomorrow off! After I got done working I went down to the bunkhouse and just passed out in the chair for about 2 hours. Lee came in and said, "You look disappointed". I told him, "No I'm just beat man". I literally work as hard as I can every day and just get burned out. Lee went on to tell me how good of a job I did, and that he was very pleased with my work. We BBQ'd up a couple steaks he said he was saving, so I had a really good dinner too. This morning I woke up and saw a bald eagle, red fox, moose, horse, and elk all outside my window. It is really neat to know that there's still a place like this. The work might be back breaking and bone chilling at times, but you get to experience stuff up here that seems to be no big deal from an outsiders standpoint. But when you see all this wildlife you start to think differently about other stuff. And being that Lee owns so much land we don’t throw out as much in the garbage as I've normally done in my life. Anything that is biodegradable can be recycled on the spot. The guys Lee has helping him with the masonry work on his new house told me about the last WWOOFer to come up here. I guess he just left about a month ago, Lee never told me. I can see how people can have a hard time getting along with Lee, but he's just a hard ass. When you're on his ranch you do things his way, but he and his ways are respectable. It just takes some understanding. His land is so big that I've never really got to see his other 20 horses, but today they all surprised me at the same time and said Hi! Lol, I went over and fed them some grass and petted them. I wish I could get closer to the elk, but they only let me get about 50 feet then they just bolt away like I was a mountain lion. I've only been here a week and it seems like much longer. I don’t mean that in a bad way, there's just so much I've learned and done. I'll admit that when I got here I thought it would be about 10% as difficult as it really is. But still I have to say that I'm happy to be here. Everything just seems so real here, its hard to explain how clear your mind gets when your this far away from home. It's like boot camp lol, or detention in high school. I'm here for a while, it's hard as hell, but I'm learning and I know much good will come from it. I keep thinking back to when I'd complain about work being too hard, or not being able to handle a simple task, and think, "wow really". Like I said, it has only been a week, but I can tell you its been the hardest working week of my life. When you get things done around here you get to see progress. The more work you do, the more you accomplish. And when I walk around the ranch and see improvements that I made it makes me feel good. Its not like workings in a warehouse where you load up 20,000 pounds of product in a truck and it drives away. This all stays here, I see it all grow and become something better. …. I thought horses liked apples??? I tried to give Clearwater (The white horse) an apple today and he didn’t want it…oh well, maybe he wants an orange lol. I did a load of laundry yesterday and accidentally dropped half a roll of toilet paper in their…all my clothes are covered in TP shreds!!! Good thing I'm not going out anywhere for the next couple months haha. Ahhh what to type what to type….I feel bad, today I had to knock down a swallow nest. Those little birds nest EVERYWHERE up here…But Lee doesn't want them nesting on the bunkhouse. Within about 3 or 4 hours of knocking it down they had already built about half of it back up though. They all work as a team, there's a gang of about 50 of them that just fly together. They make their nests out of mud, they look like little baskets up on beams or wherever they can stack it. Tiny little birds though, only .5 ounces, and they aren't dumb. They too have fun flying like the ravens do, I see them chase each other around all day. It's getting late, and its my only night to stay up late, think I'm gonna watch Fight Club then go to bed. Good Night from Delta Junction!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Day 7

June 3rd, 2011. Today was another good day. I told Lee I'd wake up at 6:30 and get the coffee going for us but he walked in at 6:31. I actually woke up at 6:20 and had it percolating by 6:30. We poured our cups at about 6:40. Lee turned on the radio for the first time and we got to listen to a little news while we woke up. Normally we get out and start the day at about 8:00, but since we ran out of coffee by 7:20 we started then. I took the above photo at about 7:40 when we got to the shop a mile up the pasture. Those are a few of the mountains, which make up the Alaskan Range. This picture doesn't show what I really saw, I wish I had a better camera. It actually looked unreal, like I was looking at a picture. I helped do a little here and there at the shop, took care of some laundry, and dug up another flowerbed today. I'm happy with the flowerbeds, they take a lot more work than it appears. I had to dig out all the rocks, grass, weeds, even roots to make sure the soil was 100%. The bottom picture is of a bird lol. It's nesting just outside my bunkhouse and didn't seem to be scared of me at all. I was able to get about 3 feet from the bird without it flying away. You can see the little bird head looking at the camera, and tail to the left. It was very windy today, not too cold though. Lee took me to this tavern type place and we got a burger and a beer for dinner. The guys he has helping him with his new house are coming tomorrow so I'll be up at the usual time trying to help. I'm pretty tired…its only 8:19 right now but I think I'm gonna go lay down.

Another Flower Bed I Dug Out Today

Before and After

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Day 6

June 2nd 2011. Today was a good day. Lee and I hadn't really had a set time to start our days yet so I had to guess on a time to wake up this morning. Lee was gone all day yesterday driving to Anchorage and back so I didn't see him. I set my alarm for 7:00am but woke up once again to Mud (Lee's dog) licking me in the face. Lee started the coffee and his normal grumpy morning right away lol. I guess he's just not a morning person. I skipped breakfast and just kind of kept away hoping he'd realize he was making me uncomfortable by acting grumpy. We talked about setting up a time to start the morning so that he doesn't have to wait so long for his coffee in the morning lol. It takes us about 30 minutes just to get a cup of coffee the way we make it. Well, now that we got that straightened out we'll see how tomorrow morning goes.
Hey I got that grass dug up today after lunch…it looks good, Lee was real happy about it. Although he never says "Good Job" or "Thank you", I can tell he was happy with it. Lee's kind of stereotypical in a way he almost intentionally tries to make you view him as. He's a tough cowboy who does things perfect and shows no sign of weakness. He kind of reminds me of my grandpa Jack, they share a lot of the same characteristics.

Well anyway below is the after shot of the flowerbed I prepared. After digging all the roots, rocks, and grasses out, I mixed in some compost soil to make it more nutritious for the flowers.


This work is very physical and difficult. I like it a lot and can appreciate what I'm doing so that makes it more rewarding. Not that the work lacks any reward already, this is just a very unique way to go about things. Although it was more common in the past to be more self sufficient, now a days we all rely too much on the system for things we are capable of creating ourselves. Back in the day this is how we all lived. We were more natural, capable, confident, and willing to live our lives. When you get caught up in the city life you tend to neglect yourself a lot. More than you can even probably notice. We counteract that neglecting with movies, smoking, drinking, and random ways of self-fulfillment. We just don’t take care of ourselves, and we know it. Why else do we do things to make us feel better even though we knew they were bad for us (Drugs Etc…)? It's not very complicated, we are trying to fill that mental void we left behind back in the old days with fake things. Its not working, people are going to the doctor for "depression", starving just to fit in a bathing suit, doing things just to be trendy…all just because we lack the self-awareness necessary to live organically. I even know people who do things just to oppose the organic way then say "This is how a man does it" or "This is how a lady does it". I'm not criticizing, just being observant. This is just my point of view, it may be extreme, but I know theirs truth in it. If you think about any time you were unhappy, for any reason, you can think, "In hindsight I could have done this a different way". And you think that that way would have prevented this unhappy feeling. I think a lot of this just has to do with getting what we earn, or receiving what we deserve. I can go to a pizza joint and most likely walk out thinking about how bad that was for me. But if I were to make the dough, grow the tomatoes, make the sauce, make cheese from my cows etc…I bet I'd just feel proud. I think my main goal is to get a taste of this innovative life out here in Alaska and learn how to be self-sufficient. I literally feel like I'm sweating out bad habits with all this hard work. I miss my family and friends, but right now, I wouldn't trade this for anything…Bloggings is fun too lol :D Goodnight From Delta Junction AK !!!!

Lunch Time Blog

As I do everyday I eat lunch at noon.  It was raining here for the first time since I arrived.  We decided that the bunkhouse needed to be cleaned up some, so I wiped everything down and mopped everywhere.  The place looks much better now, Lee is up the hill at his shop next to where he will be building his new house.  He has some guys up there helping him lay the blocks around the concrete pad up there.  He's spending his time up there because he wants to make sure they are using their time well.  Lee came down and told me he was gonna skip lunch so I just made a little snack and thought I'd post up here.

Below is the second half of the days project...I need to dig out all of the grass, rocks, and roots from the concrete pade to the edge of the bunkhouse (This is the back of it-Window facing East).  Lee wants to put some flowers here I guess so I'm going to do some weed pulling.  As you can see there really isn't much of a line there so I'll have to cut through the grass with a shovel...which sucks.  But I'm sure I'll get it looking good...I'll post a pic of the after...hopefully it gets done in the last few housrs of the day here lol.

Below is a picture of me I took last night at about 11:00. I walked through that long road with a wall of trees on either side of it again. I wanted to see if I could find those ravens flying around. I forgot to mention how huge they are…They must stand at least 2 to 3 feet tall. Well anyway…back to work, I need to get this garden dug out asap so I can have a before/after pic lol.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Hanging out with the locals

Day 5

June 1st 2011. I planned on sleeping in today but woke up at about 7:30 anyway. I started the day off with a few cups of coffee and breakfast. I made 2 eggs and a piece of toast. After that I went out to spread the soil Lee set for the garden and raked it smooth. Its tough raking compost style soil because there is a lot of roots, sticks, and rocks in it to pull out. It took me about 2 hours just to smooth over the 100sq ft area. The other day we roadatilled the soil. After that I went and filled up the horse trough with water. Lee says that they drink about 5 gallons a day when its this warm so we need to keep an eye on it. It appeared to have about 10 gallons missing. He has two horses for breeding, I think, in the front of the barn. The other 20 are roaming around the pasture in the back. I haven't been around a horse in 15 years so I wasn't too sure what to expect. I wanted to feed them or try to pet them. I saw both of them about 20 yards out eating their grass as they do almost all day long, so I bent down and pulled out some grass from the ground. They heard the grass rip from t he ground and came running to me. I fed both of the horses' grass and they let me pet them.
I can't remember any other day in my life where I didn't see another person. It's a nice feeling to not be rushed or bothered at all for any reason. The only words I spoke today were to the horses' lol. I thought about watching a movie on my phone (Only have 4; Fight Club, True Grit, The Mechanic, and Little Fockers) but I decided to just roam around and check out the land. There's no TV here and the internet is dial up so I'm gonna save my movies for a rainy day. I walked about a mile up the road to where Lee keeps his old vehicles (He calls the bone yard) and kinda checked em out (Picture Below). There was a ton of hornets around them so I didn’t get too close lol.

Out back that far I see a lot of moose droppings. I've seen a couple out here but both were over a 100 yards from me. I probably wouldn’t want to get much closer without some protection anyway. I decided to take the long way back and head towards the east end fence line. Down there is a road about 500 feet long that is just surrounded by trees which leads north straight to my bunkhouse. Walking through I saw a rabbit and a bunch of birds that looked like they were playing tag. When I got to the end of the road I saw two ravens flying over head. I read in a book once that raven couples fly together with the male over the female. They looked like they were having fun just flying around. I watched them for a good 5 minutes, they appeared to just be floating in the wind because they weren't flapping their wings. They weren't going anywhere either, just flying around in circles together. Today was an easy day though, usually the work is pretty hard. Its good work though and feels good to get done. I'm sure tomorrow I will be getting some good hard work in to write about.

Lunch Time

I ate lunch today at noon like I have the past few days.  Lee is probably on his way back from Anchorage right now.  So...I made myself a nice meal.  I had a BBQ'd pork chop, two baked potatoes, a slice of sourdough bread, and a pickle.  Washed it down with a cup of coffee, then went out and did what little work I could alone.

The Bunkhouse

Above is a picture taken from the back door of the bunk house.  The open wood door back there goes into the bathroom with a shower for me to use.  Around the corner in the back is a bunkbed, and to the right is a normal twin bed which Im using.  Everything in this bunkhouse was built by Lee himself...everything from the wood cabinets, soldering on the water heater, to the paint on the walls.

Below is a picture taken from the front doors angle.  We eat our meals on the island in the middle, and make our coffe with the can in the bottom left corner. 

A couple horses and a bright night picture

Above are two of Lee's 22 horses..below is a picture I took at 11:00pm the other night...to the north.
This is Lee's old International...its just sitting in the back of one of his barns.  Below is a picture of a couple buggys.  The one on the right (green and black) is an original made over 100 years ago, the other is a remake I guess.

Work Trucks

This is one of Lee's old trucks we use for work.  I think he said its a 51 Dodge, but it doesn't look like it.  It rides good in the back of the woods where the ground is really rough.

This is Lee's Vietnam truck he uses to haul big loads in.  He's driving this right now 350 miles to Anchorage to pick up some sand for a project.  Its 9:40 am here now he probably wont be back til late tonight.

This is the neighbors Elk.  He has a game ranch with Bison and Elk.  They have probably 500 acres or so to roam around, but they relally like the far corner over here which happens to be like 50 yards from my bunkhouse.



Day 3

I already posted a Day 3 but this Dial up crap musta lagged it out and deleted it.  On day 3 I woke up at about 8:00am, today Lee brought out the percolator for the coffee so that we weren't drinking grounds.  I got assigned a few simple tasks and learned to drive the tractors......zzz Its really day 4 now and I'm going to bed, tired, sick of typing...wish my Day 3 post didn't disappear on me...oh well...gnight

I'll try to get more pics up asap, they are taking too long right now to upload.  Gnight from Delta Junction AK!!!!

Day 4

May 31st 2011. Today I woke up at 6:40 (My alarm was set for 6:45) to Mud (Lee's Dog) licking my face. I guess I woke up late, he told me we had to be ready by 8. He got kind of grumpy so I got the same. He ate his usual bowl of cereal with nasty yogurt and left the bunkhouse without any coffee. By the way, he's got a house about a 1/4 of a mile up the way where he sleeps, and we share a kitchen in the bunkhouse because it's more energy efficient. I stayed behind as he drove to the shop a mile up the road to work. I made my coffee and walked the mile. Once I got there he was all happy and talkative again, you can tell he really likes working on his ranch. I swept one of his shops, spread about 100sq feet of dirt for a farm, helped him move some cinder blocks for his new house project, checked the horses water trough, drove the tractor up and down the mile long road moving wood 4 times, and cooked lunch and dinner for us. I made cheeseburgers for lunch, Lee liked them a lot and said "Your Hired" after eating them lol. After working for about 11 hours I BBQ'd up some pork chops and made a couple baked potatoes. I thought that would be a good dinner. Lee went to grab mustard, dill pickles, and hot sauce from the fridge. Lol had no idea what he could be eating those with. He again complimented me on the meal and mentioned that he needed to go to Anchorage tomorrow for some sand. Its like a 350-mile ride so he'll be gone all day. I helped him load up his gear for the long drive tomorrow and he told me he'd be back Wednesday night (tomorrow). So here I am now, creating this book/blog lol because I got a lot of free time ahead of me.  Im on a dial up computer by the way, this is so slow. 

I tried to upload more pics but it was taking forever so I gave up.  Even went outside to feed the horses an apple, smoked a cig, and still the photos wont load.  I'll get more up tomorrow.  Its 11:06 AK time here so Im gonna go hit the sack.