the animal's journal
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2Birds1Stone
- Posts: 1610
- Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 11:20 am
- Location: Earth
Re: the animal's journal
Agreed, you've got something really special going on up there that is very far removed from life down here in the urban jungles and densely populated suburbias. The idea of analog hobbies is something that definitely has all but disappeared here for most people. Thank you for the reminder and inspiration to make that a focus
Re: the animal's journal
Thanks guys! Just trying to avoid getting sucked into the vortex myself. It definitely is a weaker vortex up here than what I imagine is present in many urban areas today. It helps to have friends who are primarily interested in non digital things as well as a DF that hardly ever looks at her phone and almost never at her computer.
I find AxelHeyst's dropping of his cell phone plan inspiring and am considering doing the same thing myself. My hang up is not being able to call/text/look up info when needed in remote areas. Wi-Fi isn't as abundant here. So I'm leaning more towards keeping the phone plan and further scaling down my use. Maybe I'm making excuses and just need to strategize better so I don't need it in remote areas.
I think I could start with the number of time I pick up my phone. I average about 55 times a day...which is kind of embarrassing. And average about an hour and a half of screen time (on my phone). I do have all notifications turned off, with the phone always on silent. I don't receive many texts or emails as it is, but most of my pickups are quick checks for any new messages. Bad habit I guess.
I guess it's better than 2 of my sisters who only pickup their phone 3 times a day. But average 8.5 hrs of screen time.
My DF and I each offered to pay them $20 for each week they average under 2.5 hrs screen time/day each week. They have yet to get even close to getting any money from us 28 weeks in.
I find AxelHeyst's dropping of his cell phone plan inspiring and am considering doing the same thing myself. My hang up is not being able to call/text/look up info when needed in remote areas. Wi-Fi isn't as abundant here. So I'm leaning more towards keeping the phone plan and further scaling down my use. Maybe I'm making excuses and just need to strategize better so I don't need it in remote areas.
I think I could start with the number of time I pick up my phone. I average about 55 times a day...which is kind of embarrassing. And average about an hour and a half of screen time (on my phone). I do have all notifications turned off, with the phone always on silent. I don't receive many texts or emails as it is, but most of my pickups are quick checks for any new messages. Bad habit I guess.
I guess it's better than 2 of my sisters who only pickup their phone 3 times a day. But average 8.5 hrs of screen time.
My DF and I each offered to pay them $20 for each week they average under 2.5 hrs screen time/day each week. They have yet to get even close to getting any money from us 28 weeks in.Re: the animal's journal
Quick idea that helped me (more questionable in sketchy coverage areas); make it a habit to keep the phone on airplane mode. Then you will consciously know that you only interact when you want to (and turn it onto full coverage mode), instead of on the phone’s terms. It’s not too different from what you are doing now, so may not make a huge difference.theanimal wrote: ↑Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:54 pm
I find AxelHeyst's dropping of his cell phone plan inspiring and am considering doing the same thing myself. My hang up is not being able to call/text/look up info when needed in remote areas. Wi-Fi isn't as abundant here. So I'm leaning more towards keeping the phone plan and further scaling down my use. Maybe I'm making excuses and just need to strategize better so I don't need it in remote areas.
I think I could start with the number of time I pick up my phone. I average about 55 times a day...which is kind of embarrassing. And average about an hour and a half of screen time (on my phone). I do have all notifications turned off, with the phone always on silent. I don't receive many texts or emails as it is, but most of my pickups are quick checks for any new messages. Bad habit I guess.
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Western Red Cedar
- Posts: 1229
- Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:15 pm
Re: the animal's journal
Great update! It sounds like your DF has some excellent ideas for side hustles. My DW was pretty stoked when I told her about the chainsaw course geared towards other women.
What are your goals with the blog? Have you noticed your writing and photography improving as a result of maintaining it?
What are your goals with the blog? Have you noticed your writing and photography improving as a result of maintaining it?
Re: the animal's journal
Thanks, blackjack. I'll have to try that.
@WRC- I don't really have explicit goals with the blog. Initially, it served as a means to write about my NOLS experience and share with my family. From that, I found I like writing, especially about things pertaining to Alaska. I have an obsession with almost any writings on Alaska (recently surpassed reading my 100th book on the subject!) and this serves as a my own contribution, something that I'd like to read myself. If other people are interested, that is great and it makes it more fun. But I'm not doing anything to explicitly garner more readers and am arguably doing things that prohibit that (like publishing too many days in a row). I do think my writing has improved over time with more practice and perhaps my photography as well. The photography has likely stagnated though. It's hard for me to tell, I spent a little bit of time a few years ago learning about the basics for good composition. I think that and having an excellent landscape provide the bulk of the work. If I want to go further, I think I need to pay more attention to composition and increase emphasis on light.
@WRC- I don't really have explicit goals with the blog. Initially, it served as a means to write about my NOLS experience and share with my family. From that, I found I like writing, especially about things pertaining to Alaska. I have an obsession with almost any writings on Alaska (recently surpassed reading my 100th book on the subject!) and this serves as a my own contribution, something that I'd like to read myself. If other people are interested, that is great and it makes it more fun. But I'm not doing anything to explicitly garner more readers and am arguably doing things that prohibit that (like publishing too many days in a row). I do think my writing has improved over time with more practice and perhaps my photography as well. The photography has likely stagnated though. It's hard for me to tell, I spent a little bit of time a few years ago learning about the basics for good composition. I think that and having an excellent landscape provide the bulk of the work. If I want to go further, I think I need to pay more attention to composition and increase emphasis on light.
Re: the animal's journal
Over the past year DF and I have dwindled down the foods that we consume from afar, electing to eat close to as locally and seasonally as possible. As such, we do not end up buying or consuming tropical goods or even those really of a temperate climate beyond root vegetables, frozen crucifers/root vegetable blends, greens and mushrooms. Nothing has been produced locally for a couple months now. Temperatures have been steadily below 0F, there’s only 6 hrs of daylight and with a few inches of snow on the ground. I was recently at a friend’s house and saw half an avocado on their kitchen counter. I was in utter confusion for about two minutes, bewildered as to where they could have gotten this from. I came to realize how stupid I was minutes later, when it came to me that you could still buy these things at the grocery store. 
DF told me she had the same experience recently when one of her coworkers was eating a persimmon fruit. Perhaps this is a sign we’re on the right track.
One thing I feel that I am complacent about is transportation. When I first moved down from the Arctic, I had no car and biked everywhere. It was fun and forced me to think of how to do things like get water (I lived in a dry cabin). Now I have a car and just bike recreationally. DF has a car as well. It’s not an ideal setup as one car sits in the driveway unused probably 90% of the time. I’d like to change a couple things. The first being biking more for local travel. I only need to travel to the grocery store, library and occasionally a hardware store. All of those are within 10 miles of my home. There are a plethora of winter trails here that allow for good access, travel is slower by fatbike but the surrounding environment is enjoyable, it gives me a workout and it’s far more meaningful then sitting in a car and driving around. The second thing would be reducing to one car. DF drives to work 3-4 times a week 10+ miles away. A car is still ideal in terms of our current lifestyle for hunting/fishing/recreational trips around the state as well as things like getting firewood and ferrying building materials. The kicker is that DF is very attached to her car. No problem animal, just get rid of yours. I am tempted to do that and have suggested such, but numerically speaking, if we were to reduce down to the best car, mine would be it. DF’s car is a gas guzzler and has much, much higher mileage. With (and without) depreciation factored in, her car costs 1.7x that of mine. Meaning sharing the costs of her car is only slightly lower than that of mine. I would be inclined to share the costs of the car, even if the majority of my transportation needs could be achieved through biking, car rentals ~2 days/mo and carpooling with friends. Preliminary discussions have been had, I’m planning to leave things as they are for now to marinate and revisit at a later date.
DF told me she had the same experience recently when one of her coworkers was eating a persimmon fruit. Perhaps this is a sign we’re on the right track.One thing I feel that I am complacent about is transportation. When I first moved down from the Arctic, I had no car and biked everywhere. It was fun and forced me to think of how to do things like get water (I lived in a dry cabin). Now I have a car and just bike recreationally. DF has a car as well. It’s not an ideal setup as one car sits in the driveway unused probably 90% of the time. I’d like to change a couple things. The first being biking more for local travel. I only need to travel to the grocery store, library and occasionally a hardware store. All of those are within 10 miles of my home. There are a plethora of winter trails here that allow for good access, travel is slower by fatbike but the surrounding environment is enjoyable, it gives me a workout and it’s far more meaningful then sitting in a car and driving around. The second thing would be reducing to one car. DF drives to work 3-4 times a week 10+ miles away. A car is still ideal in terms of our current lifestyle for hunting/fishing/recreational trips around the state as well as things like getting firewood and ferrying building materials. The kicker is that DF is very attached to her car. No problem animal, just get rid of yours. I am tempted to do that and have suggested such, but numerically speaking, if we were to reduce down to the best car, mine would be it. DF’s car is a gas guzzler and has much, much higher mileage. With (and without) depreciation factored in, her car costs 1.7x that of mine. Meaning sharing the costs of her car is only slightly lower than that of mine. I would be inclined to share the costs of the car, even if the majority of my transportation needs could be achieved through biking, car rentals ~2 days/mo and carpooling with friends. Preliminary discussions have been had, I’m planning to leave things as they are for now to marinate and revisit at a later date.
Re: the animal's journal
Here I am wearing a coat inside for 60 degrees lol. 0F daily? Noooo way lol. The body does get accustomed to colder temperatures though. When I lived in Afghanistan for a few months near Mazar-i-Sharif, I was adapted well enough to walk around in shorts around 30F or so with barely a shiver. But I worked the night shift in the winter - coldest I've ever experienced. Not a an experience I want to relive.
Re: the animal's journal
0F is balmy 
it hasn’t been near 0 in over a week now. You’d get accustomed to it. Starting in about a week there won’t even be any respite during the day as the sun will be too low/far away to heat up the air. The coldest I’ve experienced is the winter of 2020. For 50 days in January and February the temperature didn’t get warmer than -10F and hovered close to -30F for the bulk of that stretch. Just a normal winter in Alaska..
it hasn’t been near 0 in over a week now. You’d get accustomed to it. Starting in about a week there won’t even be any respite during the day as the sun will be too low/far away to heat up the air. The coldest I’ve experienced is the winter of 2020. For 50 days in January and February the temperature didn’t get warmer than -10F and hovered close to -30F for the bulk of that stretch. Just a normal winter in Alaska..-
mountainFrugal
- Posts: 1139
- Joined: Fri May 07, 2021 2:26 pm
Re: the animal's journal
@theanimal stays true to his generalist beastly namesake. @lemur, your namesake is a tropical primate. Correlation or causation on cold tolerance? 
Lemurs have so many other skills!
Lemurs have so many other skills!Re: the animal's journal
DF and I visited my mom and family in Chicago for a week after Thanksgiving. She lives in the suburbs and traditionally I would become restless after a few days without much to do. Not so this time. We did a lot of things that I’d never done before, despite having lived there for 2 decades. We did a self-guided taco tour and visited the National Art Museum of Mexico in Pilsen (more or less the heart of the Mexican community in Chicago), visited a nearby prairie that is being restored and saw bison and walked around downtown showing DF the sights among other things like visiting friends and family. It was a very pleasurable experience and I was also reminded once more how pleasant and how much I enjoy travel by train. I look forward to returning next year and discovering some more new (to me) things.
My persistence in hunting finally paid off. I hadn’t had any luck since the first day of the season back on August 10. Since then, I have spent about 21 days, over the course of a few multi day trips and day trips, looking around the country. Last Monday I followed a group of cow caribou from the road down to the valley floor. Perched out of sight on the hill above, I maneuvered to a position about 100 yards away. I picked out which one appeared to be the largest and fired, dropping her. I completely missed my shot at a second and am extremely grateful that I did. The pack out proved to be my hardest yet. I had hoped to use my sled but that idea was quickly nipped in the bud once I tried to return uphill. The terrain was far too steep, 700 ft in elevation gain over 1/3 of a mile. I tossed a couple quarters and the hide into my pack and trudged up hill. It took me an hour to ascend what I would descend in 5 minutes. One more trip with the rest of the meat and I was done for the day. I wrapped the quarters in a tarp at home and buried them under a pile of snow to age. They are more than likely frozen now and I will process them this upcoming week, making dry meat (jerky), steaks, shanks, roasts and stew meat. This past Tuesday, I processed the ribs, tongue, neck, backstrap and liver. I cooked up the brisket immediately in a stew and fried pieces of the heart. Very thankful for the bounty and almost certainly. set for the rest of the winter in terms of meat. I may go once more, if temperatures warm again. But as it stands, I have been able to provide for about 45-50% of my dietary needs. With an improved garden next year, I hope to increase that closer to 80%.
This will be the first time I’ll spend my birthday and Christmas in Alaska. For the past 6 winters, I have returned to my mom’s house but DF has to work this year, so we made the trip earlier and will not be returning. I’m very much looking forward to the solstice. I’m writing this post at 10:30 AM and the sun has yet to rise (sunrise at 10:47 am, sunset at 2:41 PM). We have 3 hrs and 54 min of daylight now and that will dwindle another 13 minutes further until our shortest day on the 21st. Plenty of darkness and plenty of cold. A tight house, big woodstove and a big woodpile helps to make it more comfortable. It snowed nearly every day this past week and we now have ample snow for skiing and biking. I’m not sure what our Christmas celebrations will be but I’d like to host a bonfire for the solstice.
Some of the books that I've really enjoyed this past month:
-A Thousand Trails Home: Living with Caribou by Seth Kantner
-No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban and the War Through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal
-A Hunter Gatherer's Guide to the 21st century by Heather Heying
-The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Destruction by Dahr Jamail
-Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker
I need to pursue mending/sewing as a skillset immediately. I am notorious among my friends and family for being extremely rough with clothes. Suffice to say, I have a few jeans, pants and shirts to mend. There are some other small projects to keep me occupied, today or sometime in the next few days I will be building a tortilla press and a rifle shooting stand out of scrap. My first spoon just needs some sanding and a coat of mineral oil to be finished. Not much progress has happened on spoon number 2, I need to figure out how to make spoon blanks better.
My persistence in hunting finally paid off. I hadn’t had any luck since the first day of the season back on August 10. Since then, I have spent about 21 days, over the course of a few multi day trips and day trips, looking around the country. Last Monday I followed a group of cow caribou from the road down to the valley floor. Perched out of sight on the hill above, I maneuvered to a position about 100 yards away. I picked out which one appeared to be the largest and fired, dropping her. I completely missed my shot at a second and am extremely grateful that I did. The pack out proved to be my hardest yet. I had hoped to use my sled but that idea was quickly nipped in the bud once I tried to return uphill. The terrain was far too steep, 700 ft in elevation gain over 1/3 of a mile. I tossed a couple quarters and the hide into my pack and trudged up hill. It took me an hour to ascend what I would descend in 5 minutes. One more trip with the rest of the meat and I was done for the day. I wrapped the quarters in a tarp at home and buried them under a pile of snow to age. They are more than likely frozen now and I will process them this upcoming week, making dry meat (jerky), steaks, shanks, roasts and stew meat. This past Tuesday, I processed the ribs, tongue, neck, backstrap and liver. I cooked up the brisket immediately in a stew and fried pieces of the heart. Very thankful for the bounty and almost certainly. set for the rest of the winter in terms of meat. I may go once more, if temperatures warm again. But as it stands, I have been able to provide for about 45-50% of my dietary needs. With an improved garden next year, I hope to increase that closer to 80%.
This will be the first time I’ll spend my birthday and Christmas in Alaska. For the past 6 winters, I have returned to my mom’s house but DF has to work this year, so we made the trip earlier and will not be returning. I’m very much looking forward to the solstice. I’m writing this post at 10:30 AM and the sun has yet to rise (sunrise at 10:47 am, sunset at 2:41 PM). We have 3 hrs and 54 min of daylight now and that will dwindle another 13 minutes further until our shortest day on the 21st. Plenty of darkness and plenty of cold. A tight house, big woodstove and a big woodpile helps to make it more comfortable. It snowed nearly every day this past week and we now have ample snow for skiing and biking. I’m not sure what our Christmas celebrations will be but I’d like to host a bonfire for the solstice.
Some of the books that I've really enjoyed this past month:
-A Thousand Trails Home: Living with Caribou by Seth Kantner
-No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban and the War Through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal
-A Hunter Gatherer's Guide to the 21st century by Heather Heying
-The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Destruction by Dahr Jamail
-Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker
I need to pursue mending/sewing as a skillset immediately. I am notorious among my friends and family for being extremely rough with clothes. Suffice to say, I have a few jeans, pants and shirts to mend. There are some other small projects to keep me occupied, today or sometime in the next few days I will be building a tortilla press and a rifle shooting stand out of scrap. My first spoon just needs some sanding and a coat of mineral oil to be finished. Not much progress has happened on spoon number 2, I need to figure out how to make spoon blanks better.
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mountainFrugal
- Posts: 1139
- Joined: Fri May 07, 2021 2:26 pm
Re: the animal's journal
Endless inspiration from your journal. As always thank you for sharing your badass lifestyle.
Re: the animal's journal
MF- Thank you! I always appreciate your comments.
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I just took this photo from the deck at more or less solar noon, this is the highest the sun gets in the sky. We are at the point of the year where the sun no longer has any effect on temperature here. Nights can be warmer than days, as is the case today/last night. All depends on whether the sky is clear or not. I woke up at 3 AM last night to plug DF's car in to the generator for work and the temp was about -10F. It was about -16 F at sunrise and is -19F now. A happy Sunday!
I forgot to mention above that when DF and I were returning home from the airport after coming back from Chicago we witnessed a single vehicle accident, one elderly woman had gone off the road and rolled her car into the ditch. I was able to respond, making it the first time I've actually had to use any of my medical training. It went well and thankfully she sustained no serious injuries. It was very satisfying knowing what to do and being able to direct others to help.
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I just took this photo from the deck at more or less solar noon, this is the highest the sun gets in the sky. We are at the point of the year where the sun no longer has any effect on temperature here. Nights can be warmer than days, as is the case today/last night. All depends on whether the sky is clear or not. I woke up at 3 AM last night to plug DF's car in to the generator for work and the temp was about -10F. It was about -16 F at sunrise and is -19F now. A happy Sunday!
I forgot to mention above that when DF and I were returning home from the airport after coming back from Chicago we witnessed a single vehicle accident, one elderly woman had gone off the road and rolled her car into the ditch. I was able to respond, making it the first time I've actually had to use any of my medical training. It went well and thankfully she sustained no serious injuries. It was very satisfying knowing what to do and being able to direct others to help.
Re: the animal's journal
Absolutely beautiful! Any interesting takeaways from the Heying book? I reserved it at the library but it looks like I have a long wait.
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Western Red Cedar
- Posts: 1229
- Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:15 pm
Re: the animal's journal
Congratulations on the successful hunt! It sounds like your perseverance ultimately paid off. I'm currently reading Robert Moor's "On Trails" and it has me thinking about your hiking and hunting adventures. Right now it is focusing on herding, tracking, and animal trails. You'd probably enjoy it if you see a copy at your library. A nice combination of philosophy, anthropology, history, and nature writing:
https://www.robertmoor.com/
It looks really beautiful up there - stay warm and make sure you are getting plenty of vitamin D .
https://www.robertmoor.com/
It looks really beautiful up there - stay warm and make sure you are getting plenty of vitamin D
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@Ego- Thanks! Nothing really groundbreaking that I can remember, more affirming than anything. They didn't mention it in the book but one of the things that made me interested was a snippet from one of the podcasts where they were interviewed. They discussed the work of a doctor who contests that the reason those in the west have so many teeth and mouth deformities is a result of not chewing hard things when we were very young. The norm now is for soft foods that lack chewing, but these don't develop the jaw muscle, which ends up leading to all kinds of problems with breathing, teeth, jaw etc. Not sure if anything can be done with this later in life. I have heard of people who have some type of ball they chew on to strengthen the jaw muscles.
@WRC- Thanks! And thanks for the recommendation. It looks like they have the audiobook available at my library, I've checked it out.
@WRC- Thanks! And thanks for the recommendation. It looks like they have the audiobook available at my library, I've checked it out.
Re: the animal's journal
I enjoyed reading Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jared Lanier recently. He had some frameworks in there that I wanted to write here for myself for posterity.
He considers social media to be a BUMMER machine. Or rather a "Behavior of Users Modified and Made into an Empire for Rent."
All of the major social media sites fall under the BUMMER category (he makes the distinction that Linked In is separate, I have not used it so I can't comment). Things like podcasts are exempt for now because they fall outside the algorithim and don't fit into any of the pieces that make something a BUMMER machine. Those pieces are as follows:
A- Attention Acquisition leading to Asshole supremacy
B- Butting into everyone's lives
C- Cramming content down people's throats
D- Directing people's behaviors in the sneakiest way possible
E- Earning money from letting the worst assholes secretly screw over everyone else
F- Fake mobs and Faker society
It led me to thinking that other technologies could fall under the BUMMER category with the most obvious being smartphones.
Inspiration from this forum (h/t @AxelHeyst), this book and internal motivations have continued to drive down the usage of my phone and I have all but eliminated use of social media (outside of looking at rare thing for reference). Screen time is down to about 45 min/day on my phone and still dropping! I had a watch for a few years but the band broke, I ordered the wrong band to replace it and was too lazy to replace it from there. Well the laziness ended (2.5 years later...) and I am using the watch again. It eliminates all the incidental checks of the phone for time, that often lead to much more, as I now use a watch like a functional person. The phone also no longer accompanies me wherever I go, but in most cases, remains on my desk at home. Taking back control of one's life is fun.
He considers social media to be a BUMMER machine. Or rather a "Behavior of Users Modified and Made into an Empire for Rent."
All of the major social media sites fall under the BUMMER category (he makes the distinction that Linked In is separate, I have not used it so I can't comment). Things like podcasts are exempt for now because they fall outside the algorithim and don't fit into any of the pieces that make something a BUMMER machine. Those pieces are as follows:
A- Attention Acquisition leading to Asshole supremacy
B- Butting into everyone's lives
C- Cramming content down people's throats
D- Directing people's behaviors in the sneakiest way possible
E- Earning money from letting the worst assholes secretly screw over everyone else
F- Fake mobs and Faker society
It led me to thinking that other technologies could fall under the BUMMER category with the most obvious being smartphones.
Inspiration from this forum (h/t @AxelHeyst), this book and internal motivations have continued to drive down the usage of my phone and I have all but eliminated use of social media (outside of looking at rare thing for reference). Screen time is down to about 45 min/day on my phone and still dropping! I had a watch for a few years but the band broke, I ordered the wrong band to replace it and was too lazy to replace it from there. Well the laziness ended (2.5 years later...) and I am using the watch again. It eliminates all the incidental checks of the phone for time, that often lead to much more, as I now use a watch like a functional person. The phone also no longer accompanies me wherever I go, but in most cases, remains on my desk at home. Taking back control of one's life is fun.
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RoamingFrancis
- Posts: 593
- Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:43 am
Re: the animal's journal
Congrats! I was lucky not to get sucked into most social media, but still tend to lurk on forums like these more than I would like. I am excited for the day I can launch my own Satanic Digital Sabbath 
Thanks to @AH for being a pioneer for all us normal people!
Thanks to @AH for being a pioneer for all us normal people!Re: the animal's journal
I’ve been thinking about land a lot recently. There are some lots behind our current place that are about to go up for sale. DF and I are considering buying some of them. I’ve been trying to distinguish if it’s prudent, necessary, and something that I actually want to do. I read the following story recently and it’s something that I have no interest in doing. It applies not only to the pursuit of land, but money, material objects, status and everything else really. A tale of warning from Tolstoy.
https://www.ninalp.com/ART/Papers/How_M ... olstoy.pdf
So with that it makes me wonder if I really need more land when I already have about a couple acres and a house that is all paid off. Could I achieve what I want to do with what we already have? It seems like the answer is no. At least with our current desires. We’d ultimately like to have a root cellar and also be able to store a water tank down there. That’s not possible where we are at now because of possible permafrost. But the new spots are permafrost free, in addition to being slightly warmer in the winter and receive even more sunlight than we do at our current spot. The idea would be to buy something like a couple parcels, build a fire tower on one of the spots as well as a home for ourselves somewhere further back. There aren’t many trees on the property so I would like to plant some and propagate the wild raspberries that are over the property, along with some others. We would eventually move into the new place and rent our current house out. I’m going to keep thinking on it.
View of some of the land from this past fall
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I’ve got some new to me things that I’m looking to try out and develop.
Mending/Sewing- I have 2 pairs of jeans that are riddled with holes, one pair of Patagonia pants with a massive hole in the crotch that I bought a few years ago because of their warranty (that they do not honor), one wool shirt with a large hole near the base and I need to finish replacing a buckle on a pair of chainsaw chaps. Suffice to say, I have many projects that can keep me busy and further my mending skillset. I do need to find some material to be able to mend these things. Perhaps one of my friends/neighbors has some old jeans. After I fix these, I will be fleshing out our caribou skins. I’d like to make mukluks from the skins of the forelegs of my most recent caribou.
Archery-I took the Bowhunting Safety Course (similar to Basic Hunter’s Safety course) a couple months ago and am looking into getting into archery for the purposes of hunting. One of my friends has a recurve bow that he doesn’t use and says I can use it as long as I want. I understand that compound bows are easier but they do not interest me. I have a target that I got from another friend and once I get the bow I intend to practice daily.
Reloading- I think I’m going to start reloading my own ammo. Recently, I’ve been learning about the process and about ammunition itself. We’ll see if I can come across a press and some dies.
Woodworking- I am going through the Woodworking Basics book by Peter Korn. I am in the process of slowly acquiring hand tools as needed.
Ulu- The ulu is a traditional Alaskan knife that can be used for all aspects of the kitchen as well as things like fileting a fish, fleshing a hide etc. I’m going to make some of my own. I have a friend down the street who builds houses and has a bunch of old saw blades he has no use for. I’m planning on chiseling out the rough shape of the ulus with a cold chisel and hammer then filing them down and using wood for the handle. I’d like to use moose antler instead but those that I have are up in the Arctic.
Carving- DF got me some small chisels for my birthday for my spoons. Still working on the second one but am looking forward to making more.
Piano tuning- I’ve had a piano and been procrastinating looking into tuning it for over a year now. I bit the bullet and looked the other day and to my surprise was delighted to find out how simple the process is. I have a piano tuning hammer on the way and will be tuning mine initially with the free app panotune. After I get the hang of it this way, I’d like to progress from using an app to the classical way of using tuning forks.
I’ve still been playing by watching youtube videos. I’d like to get back to playing by reading sheet music. I played for 7 years in the past so at one point I knew it really well. I need to find some piano books.
Caribou-I’m going to dig out the quarters from beneath the snow and process them this week. I’m planning on making a lot of dry meat (jerky) and from that I am going to try making some pemmican. I’ll use ground up caribou mixed with the blueberries I picked and the pig lard. Depending on taste, I may add some honey from DF’s bees. If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears. This will be my first attempt.
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It’s been snowing a lot this month and I’ve been reaping the rewards of poor design. The flaw is having a long driveway which leads me to shoveling about 3-4 times a week ~1.5 hr each time. It’s kind of annoying since I use my car only about once a week (DF drives to work 3-4 times/week) and most of the driveway goes unused. I didn’t like long driveways before for this very reason and that’s only intensified now. It’s not all bad. I get to be outside, occasionally listen to podcasts/audiobooks, let my dogs run around and move around. But it is my hope our next place will have an extremely short driveway.
DF and I talked about the idea behind JAFI and the ecological cost per person number. She thought that was cool and something that we should pursue together. I also explained to her my increasing uncomfortableness with flying and that one of the major reasons I wanted to go down to one car household was due to climate change. She concurred and said even though she likes her car, she’d be up for selling it as she can likely get a lot of money for it right now. We shall see.
I am not yet to the point where I see dead people when I fly but it does make me uncomfortable. Part of the problem is of course due to where I’m located and if I desire to still see family (which I do), the easiest way is to fly. Other options are still available, I could take the ferry from AK to Seattle and then train from there, it just takes a little longer. The means of travel when you don’t use fossil fuels (or at least a lot of them at once) seems far more interesting to me. I like the HOWLI aesthetic and it’s something I aspire to. I’m inspired by people like Goran Kropp, who biked to Everest from Sweden, climbed the mountain nearly twice without oxygen, and then returned most of the way home by bike. If he can do that, why can’t I do something similar at a smaller scale? Put my money where my mouth is so to speak.
The people that I know up here that are most vocal about climate change and are active in the mountains are also some of the biggest offenders IMO. Many of these same people will charter private bush flights to get dropped off on remote gravel bars or high in some alpine valley far from the road. These same people will then protest the opening of oil fields in the Arctic Refuge. It’s always somebody else’s problem and the one protesting bears no responsibility. There’s some cognitive dissonance there that I want no part of. In that realm, I do have plans for this upcoming summer that I am very excited about. Thanks to geography, I realized I could float half the way both ways to the mountain range 100 mi away, biking the remaining portion. Utilizing a bike AND a packraft makes it so much more tantalizing to me. I can float 50 miles, bike the rest, do some short trips/hikes/floats/hang out in the mountains for a few days then float out of the mountains ~50 mi and bike the remaining section home. Never biking the same section twice. That’s pretty neat. I can go to the other side of the mountain range as well biking one way and floating back. That creates a lot of options.
In the hunting/fishing/gathering realm, I do have an idea on how I can hunt moose by bike and raft. Fishing and hunting other animals like caribou is possible but would be further (likely more than a day’s ride home) and I’m unsure if I’d be able to preserve my catch.
I’m still ok with my job for now. I get paid very handsomely for what I do and end up working about 20-25 hrs a week tops for full time pay. I got a small raise and a big bonus. I don’t get much joy out of it but have not found good alternatives and it allows me to do the things I want to do.
One of my friends from forestry asked DF and I to go in with him on a venture he is pursuing. It would be seasonal and it’s still in the early stages but it is something that I’ve wanted to do for a while, it could be fun.
Adjusting for capital expenditures, I was kinda surprised to see that I came in at ~1.4 JAFI expenses for the year. Looking back over my expenses for the year, there aren’t many I second guess, which is a good thing. The number of miscellaneous expenses is very small and amount to things like concerts, plane tickets, misc fees, ice park tickets and a usb stick, amounting to a total of roughly $800, of which nearly ¾ is airfare. Much higher than I’d like.
I am extremely intrigued in seeing if it is possible to see if I could cover a year’s expenses with the allocation of the Permanent Fund Dividend (money Alaskans get each year). They have messed with the allocation now because the state’s finances are in shambles but based on the original formula, the allocation for this year would have been about $3,300 (actual amt paid out was $1,114). Next year it is estimated around $3,800. I think it is achievable and can see the path there but I’m not sure actually achieving it in an absolute sense would be prudent. In my current circumstance, healthcare costs (nearly 2/3 of that number) would be the thing that prevent me from going below the PFD. If I stop working this job at some point though, I can get subsidized care through ACA. AK is an expanded medicare state but asset limits are extremely low at $2,000. So for now I think I’ll just see how low I can get without doing something silly like foregoing medical coverage to win my made up challenge.
Thanks for reading! Happy New Year to all!
https://www.ninalp.com/ART/Papers/How_M ... olstoy.pdf
So with that it makes me wonder if I really need more land when I already have about a couple acres and a house that is all paid off. Could I achieve what I want to do with what we already have? It seems like the answer is no. At least with our current desires. We’d ultimately like to have a root cellar and also be able to store a water tank down there. That’s not possible where we are at now because of possible permafrost. But the new spots are permafrost free, in addition to being slightly warmer in the winter and receive even more sunlight than we do at our current spot. The idea would be to buy something like a couple parcels, build a fire tower on one of the spots as well as a home for ourselves somewhere further back. There aren’t many trees on the property so I would like to plant some and propagate the wild raspberries that are over the property, along with some others. We would eventually move into the new place and rent our current house out. I’m going to keep thinking on it.
View of some of the land from this past fall
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I’ve got some new to me things that I’m looking to try out and develop.
Mending/Sewing- I have 2 pairs of jeans that are riddled with holes, one pair of Patagonia pants with a massive hole in the crotch that I bought a few years ago because of their warranty (that they do not honor), one wool shirt with a large hole near the base and I need to finish replacing a buckle on a pair of chainsaw chaps. Suffice to say, I have many projects that can keep me busy and further my mending skillset. I do need to find some material to be able to mend these things. Perhaps one of my friends/neighbors has some old jeans. After I fix these, I will be fleshing out our caribou skins. I’d like to make mukluks from the skins of the forelegs of my most recent caribou.
Archery-I took the Bowhunting Safety Course (similar to Basic Hunter’s Safety course) a couple months ago and am looking into getting into archery for the purposes of hunting. One of my friends has a recurve bow that he doesn’t use and says I can use it as long as I want. I understand that compound bows are easier but they do not interest me. I have a target that I got from another friend and once I get the bow I intend to practice daily.
Reloading- I think I’m going to start reloading my own ammo. Recently, I’ve been learning about the process and about ammunition itself. We’ll see if I can come across a press and some dies.
Woodworking- I am going through the Woodworking Basics book by Peter Korn. I am in the process of slowly acquiring hand tools as needed.
Ulu- The ulu is a traditional Alaskan knife that can be used for all aspects of the kitchen as well as things like fileting a fish, fleshing a hide etc. I’m going to make some of my own. I have a friend down the street who builds houses and has a bunch of old saw blades he has no use for. I’m planning on chiseling out the rough shape of the ulus with a cold chisel and hammer then filing them down and using wood for the handle. I’d like to use moose antler instead but those that I have are up in the Arctic.
Carving- DF got me some small chisels for my birthday for my spoons. Still working on the second one but am looking forward to making more.
Piano tuning- I’ve had a piano and been procrastinating looking into tuning it for over a year now. I bit the bullet and looked the other day and to my surprise was delighted to find out how simple the process is. I have a piano tuning hammer on the way and will be tuning mine initially with the free app panotune. After I get the hang of it this way, I’d like to progress from using an app to the classical way of using tuning forks.
I’ve still been playing by watching youtube videos. I’d like to get back to playing by reading sheet music. I played for 7 years in the past so at one point I knew it really well. I need to find some piano books.
Caribou-I’m going to dig out the quarters from beneath the snow and process them this week. I’m planning on making a lot of dry meat (jerky) and from that I am going to try making some pemmican. I’ll use ground up caribou mixed with the blueberries I picked and the pig lard. Depending on taste, I may add some honey from DF’s bees. If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears. This will be my first attempt.
-----
It’s been snowing a lot this month and I’ve been reaping the rewards of poor design. The flaw is having a long driveway which leads me to shoveling about 3-4 times a week ~1.5 hr each time. It’s kind of annoying since I use my car only about once a week (DF drives to work 3-4 times/week) and most of the driveway goes unused. I didn’t like long driveways before for this very reason and that’s only intensified now. It’s not all bad. I get to be outside, occasionally listen to podcasts/audiobooks, let my dogs run around and move around. But it is my hope our next place will have an extremely short driveway.
DF and I talked about the idea behind JAFI and the ecological cost per person number. She thought that was cool and something that we should pursue together. I also explained to her my increasing uncomfortableness with flying and that one of the major reasons I wanted to go down to one car household was due to climate change. She concurred and said even though she likes her car, she’d be up for selling it as she can likely get a lot of money for it right now. We shall see.
I am not yet to the point where I see dead people when I fly but it does make me uncomfortable. Part of the problem is of course due to where I’m located and if I desire to still see family (which I do), the easiest way is to fly. Other options are still available, I could take the ferry from AK to Seattle and then train from there, it just takes a little longer. The means of travel when you don’t use fossil fuels (or at least a lot of them at once) seems far more interesting to me. I like the HOWLI aesthetic and it’s something I aspire to. I’m inspired by people like Goran Kropp, who biked to Everest from Sweden, climbed the mountain nearly twice without oxygen, and then returned most of the way home by bike. If he can do that, why can’t I do something similar at a smaller scale? Put my money where my mouth is so to speak.
The people that I know up here that are most vocal about climate change and are active in the mountains are also some of the biggest offenders IMO. Many of these same people will charter private bush flights to get dropped off on remote gravel bars or high in some alpine valley far from the road. These same people will then protest the opening of oil fields in the Arctic Refuge. It’s always somebody else’s problem and the one protesting bears no responsibility. There’s some cognitive dissonance there that I want no part of. In that realm, I do have plans for this upcoming summer that I am very excited about. Thanks to geography, I realized I could float half the way both ways to the mountain range 100 mi away, biking the remaining portion. Utilizing a bike AND a packraft makes it so much more tantalizing to me. I can float 50 miles, bike the rest, do some short trips/hikes/floats/hang out in the mountains for a few days then float out of the mountains ~50 mi and bike the remaining section home. Never biking the same section twice. That’s pretty neat. I can go to the other side of the mountain range as well biking one way and floating back. That creates a lot of options.
In the hunting/fishing/gathering realm, I do have an idea on how I can hunt moose by bike and raft. Fishing and hunting other animals like caribou is possible but would be further (likely more than a day’s ride home) and I’m unsure if I’d be able to preserve my catch.
I’m still ok with my job for now. I get paid very handsomely for what I do and end up working about 20-25 hrs a week tops for full time pay. I got a small raise and a big bonus. I don’t get much joy out of it but have not found good alternatives and it allows me to do the things I want to do.
One of my friends from forestry asked DF and I to go in with him on a venture he is pursuing. It would be seasonal and it’s still in the early stages but it is something that I’ve wanted to do for a while, it could be fun.
Adjusting for capital expenditures, I was kinda surprised to see that I came in at ~1.4 JAFI expenses for the year. Looking back over my expenses for the year, there aren’t many I second guess, which is a good thing. The number of miscellaneous expenses is very small and amount to things like concerts, plane tickets, misc fees, ice park tickets and a usb stick, amounting to a total of roughly $800, of which nearly ¾ is airfare. Much higher than I’d like.
I am extremely intrigued in seeing if it is possible to see if I could cover a year’s expenses with the allocation of the Permanent Fund Dividend (money Alaskans get each year). They have messed with the allocation now because the state’s finances are in shambles but based on the original formula, the allocation for this year would have been about $3,300 (actual amt paid out was $1,114). Next year it is estimated around $3,800. I think it is achievable and can see the path there but I’m not sure actually achieving it in an absolute sense would be prudent. In my current circumstance, healthcare costs (nearly 2/3 of that number) would be the thing that prevent me from going below the PFD. If I stop working this job at some point though, I can get subsidized care through ACA. AK is an expanded medicare state but asset limits are extremely low at $2,000. So for now I think I’ll just see how low I can get without doing something silly like foregoing medical coverage to win my made up challenge.
Thanks for reading! Happy New Year to all!
Re: the animal's journal
Awesome update. I really like your thoughts in the direction of howlie decarbonization, and how that could lead to *more* of the things you want rather than less (adventure, challenge, novelty…). And how the ability to do so is unlocked by the greater autonomy of ERE lifestyle. Obviously it takes longer to get to family if you stay on the surface of the Earth, but it’s way more interesting than flying.
I’ve traveled for work a bunch, but I don’t remember a single flight. I do remember my 24hr train from Tahoe to Vancouver BC for a conference (which I showed up extra prepared for because I had great introspection time while staring out at the Cascades…).
The family land is 30miles from the grocery store. Step 1 is figure out how to only go once a month. Step two is build an expedition cart and turn “going to the grocery store” a four or five day adventure…
I’ve traveled for work a bunch, but I don’t remember a single flight. I do remember my 24hr train from Tahoe to Vancouver BC for a conference (which I showed up extra prepared for because I had great introspection time while staring out at the Cascades…).
The family land is 30miles from the grocery store. Step 1 is figure out how to only go once a month. Step two is build an expedition cart and turn “going to the grocery store” a four or five day adventure…