Wendy found some more interesting old pictures in some boxes. I scanned a few.
In 1994, Michelle (my wife, who died in 2000), Jeffrey (my stepson, who is now 31 and lives in Seattle) and I drove from Minnesota out to California, and stayed with my dad (Phil), Wendy (my stepmom), Andrew (my brother) and Eugene (an exchange student living with them at that time).
We spent Christmas in Temple City, California.
Here is Jeffrey (my stepson) at age 7.
Here is Jeffrey with his favorite present, an infamous air hockey table.
Here is a picture of me, Jeffrey and Michelle, looking pretty happy.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Category: My Photos
Caveat: Liquid Mechanics
I went to visit the craft brewery owned by my brother-in-law. It’s pretty interesting that he has this business. I tasted a few of the beers he makes there, and I bought a case of porter which I might give away as gifts or drink at some point.
Here is a picture of Wendy, me and Eric at the brewery, called Liquid Mechanics.
Later, I had dinner with my sister Brenda and her two kids (well one – Sarah wasn’t joining for dinner) at their house. It was nice talking to my sister.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Ancient Images
I have spent the day visiting with my stepmother Wendy. I met her current significant other, Larry, and we had a late lunch at a restaurant they like, where Brenda (my stepsister) also came.
One thing we did was spend some time going through some old photo collections. I scanned a few of them – so now I have digital versions of some old photos of my siblings and me.
Here is a rare and implausible “family portrait” from 1990, when I had just finished the training phase of my brief Army career.
Here is a picture of my father, looking rakish, and me, looking awkward. I was 13 years old, and we were taking a trip in Europe, in late 1978.
Here is a picture of me when I was 11 years old, at Phil and Wendy’s McKinleyville house. I think it might have been my birthday.
Here is a picture of my sister Brenda, age 5, pulling a go-cart that my father had made up the hill.
Here is a slightly damaged picture from my sister Samara’s wedding, in 1996: the four siblings.
Here is a picture of me with Lucy the Dog from a camping trip to northern Minnesota in 1993 – the dog belonged to my friend Kristen in that era.
Here is a picture of Samara, Wendy, me, and my father’s parents Alice and John, from around 1975.
Wendy and I took a short walk around her neighborhood and I took this panorama of Colorado’s Front Range looking west (you can “click to embiggen” this picture, you know).
My stepmother has artistic talent. She made this kokopelli that is in her back yard.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Wyoming? Why, indeed?
I drove easter (er…, farther east) than before.
I arrived at my intended destination: my stepmother’s home in Colorado. My stepsister and her family live here too. Despite the “step” I consider these very important members of my family: they came to visit me in Korea, which can be said for very few people.
Some pictures from the drive.
Dawn in Utah (where I stayed in a cheap motel).
I saw snow the entire day.
Wyoming is … a bit monotonous. I never saw so many broken down trucks by the side of the road, though. I guess some combination of cold and bad luck?
My goal.
[daily log: walking, 1km; driving 870km]
Caveat: go east
I went east. A lot.
Still working on that.
I’ll add some pictures later maybe.
[Update: Some pictures…]
[daily log: walking, 1km; driving, 1200km]
Caveat: Blueberry’s Bath
I think I’ve mentioned that I dubbed Arthur’s Chevy Tahoe SUV “the blueberry tank.” That’s the car I’m driving all over during the holidays, and tomorrow, I set out on my next leg. I’ll drive to just north of Denver, where my stepmother Wendy and stepsister Brenda lives with her family.
Today, Arthur and I had another VA appointment, and we ran some other errands and Arthur surprised me somewhat by deciding it was finally time to wash the car. So we took it to one of those fancy “hands on” carwash places and got it cleaned. It was quite dirty – the dust was caked so thickly that an ecosystem of moss was forming on the sides of the car.
Now it’s clean.
Tomorrow I drive.
[daily log: walking, 3km]
Caveat: Dead Guy
Today was a hard day. I was at the dentist in the morning. A horrible dentist experience, as they always are for me. Pain and discomfort and feeling of being complicit in my own torture, and then having the privilege of paying for it.
Sigh.
I had a frustrating time with trying to get my computer (HP laptop) serviced too. If I want it to be serviced, I have to send it to the manufacturer. Which means being without a computer during that time – plus, it’s a bit complicated since I’m currently traveling around. I’ll probably just not bother. And that means the manufacturer has “won” – they’ve made the issue of warranty service sufficiently difficult and complicated such that I simply don’t bother, which of course is their money-saving objective.
Sigh.
On a good side, I got my tax returns for 2012-2017. That’s a feeling of accomplishment.
I have a lot of pain in my mouth. They had to puncture and drain an abscess above my molar. Ow.
When I got back, I told Juli I felt dead.
She gave me some “Dead Guy Ale” to go with my dinner, which seemed super appropriate.
Life goes on. Tomorrow will be better.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: up the hill, down the river
I took a long walk with Juli, up the hill and down the river. Pictures.
We saw some turkeys in a field. These turkeys survived Thanksgiving. Juli said that they’re waiting for Christmas.
[daily log: walking, 6km]
Caveat: Thanksgiving (observed)
We observed Thanksgiving on Saturday, because for various reasons not everyone was able to make it on Thursday.
In the morning, Wayne and I took a long walk up through the tree farm – I went quite a ways farther up than I’d gone before. We took Walter, the dog, who posed for a picture, too.
Thanksgiving was a great feast in the tradition I’ve associated with the Brosing-Lecomte extended family since my own childhood in the early 1970s, when both families were based in rural San Mateo County south of San Francisco (which was truly rural at that time, and not the collection of high-tech-entrepreneurs’ mansions that it is these days).
Arthur did his small duty relative to the event, by roasting the turkey in the style he developed in Arcata in the 1970s too, using his self-designed rotisserie barbecuer.
There is no table at these gatherings – never has been one, because the number of people is too great. People stand or sit wherever, and eat.
Juli and Keith’s neighbor, who has horses, generously offered to let some the kids (and adults too) ride one of her horses. It was a first horse ride for some of the kids.
It was a good thanksgiving.
[daily log: walking, 5km]
Caveat: Low Key
Today was the official Thanksgiving holiday, but we didn’t really have a major celebration. Many of the people coming to this year’s annual Brosing-Lecomte get-together and thanksgiving feast were unable to make it here today due to travel or scheduling issues. So the great feast has been scheduled for Saturday instead of Thursday. That’s when we’ll roast the turkey (Arthur’s specialty) and do the other celebratory foods.
For today, we mostly relaxed. Juli and I took a long walk, in pouring rain, up to the tree farm and then down along the river, after seeing the Lee Falls up the Tualatin River a ways.
The house shortly after dawn, on a rainy, drizzly morning.
The horses at the neighbor’s house were deeply unimpressed by our decision to go walking in the rain. They stuck to the barn.
Walter the charismatic dog was unconcerned about the rain.
We saw the waterfall. In fact, despite the pouring rain, the water level in the river is quite low for this time of year. The summer and fall have been dry, here.
We saw a giant log blocking the Lee Falls Road. Good thing we were walking. This is Juli standing by the log.
We had barbecued chicken for dinner.
Tomorrow some people might go into town to do some shopping. I have no interest in the so-called Black Friday.
[daily log: walking, 6km]
Caveat: Driving south and more of the same
My ferry arrived at Prince Rupert at around 2 am. I was the first vehicle off the ferry, so there was no waiting at Canadian immigration/customs. I rolled down my window, and a dour, mustached Canadian asked me if I had any firearms or drugs or alcohol. No on all counts, and
he asked how long I would be staying. I said long enough to be driving through. And that was the end of the interview – the easiest Canadian border crossing I’ve ever experienced. I think crossing as an “Alaskan” helps a lot – the Canadians are used to the fact that Alaskans need to go back and forth across their country for various reasons.
I got some coffee at a Tim Hortons, I got some local currency cash at an ATM, and I drove to the first rest area east of Prince Rupert, where I slept in my car until dawn. Starting at dawn, I drove east.
First there was rain. Finally the rain cleared, and I was in the snowy British Columbian interior.
Some pictures.
I am now at a motel at Cache Creek, BC (the junction of route 97 and the Trans-Canada highway, AKA Route 1).
[daily log: walking, 0.5km; driving, 1200 km]
Caveat: Water Off
When Arthur goes down to the lower 48 for the holidays each year, he has a routine to “winterize” the house. One issue: since power is unreliable (and therefore heat), he has to anticipate the possibility that temperatures will be below freezing inside the house. That means the water system in the house has to be drained, and the water turned off. He puts antifreeze down all the drains.
It’s a pretty complicated process, starting with turning off the water supply up at the water tank, and draining the house, and then opening all the spigots, emptying the toilet tanks and bowls…
I remember doing this once by myself when I stayed here in 2009 and left in November. It was a bit simpler, then, because it was before he built the main part of the house, so it was only the two “sheds” – but these had fully functional toilets and plumbing, so the concept was the same.
We got this done today. And now it’s like camping, because we have no running water. Tomorrow we leave for Ketchikan.
Last night, we had dinner with Arthur’s friends / neighbors, Jeri and Karl. They live down the road, and came up here and Arthur prepared his famous chiles rellenos.
Here is a pretty good picture of the three of them, in the kitchen here.
[daily log: walking, 3km]
Caveat: preparing to drive
I may not have mentioned this yet. I am preparing to drive down to Portland for Thanksgiving. Yes: drive.
Arthur and I will take the ferry with the car to Ketchikan. There, he will get on an airplane, and meet Juli and Keith in Portland.
Meanwhile, I’ll put the car on another ferry from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert, BC. Then from there I can drive down to Portland for Thanksgiving.
Why are we doing this? Because that way, we’ll have the car down there. We evaluated the comparative cost of renting a car over the holidays down there, versus driving Arthur’s car down, and even accounting for the ferry tolls, the low gas mileage on his SUV, and the extra 1500 miles of driving, it’s still much cheaper.
And I used to do a lot of road trips. I think I’ll handle it fine. Once down in the lower 48 with Arthur’s car, we’ll be able to make use of it for our various intended visitings.
One thing I wanted to do to get ready to drive is make sure the car has snow chains and that I know how to attach them. That’s not because I expect to have to use them, but driving in the winter, some western states and Canada will sometimes require snow chains on vehicles for snowy weather, especially over mountain passes.
So I spent the morning practicing putting snow chains on Arthur’s car. It’s kind of unpleasant, in the rain on the gravel. But I got it done.
[daily log: walking, 4km]
Caveat: Mushroommates
In a rainforest, one’s roommates might be mushrooms.
Other pictures…
An autumnal imagistic inversion.
Walking into fog.
Greenery seen through clear water.
What I’m listening to right now.
Saint-Saëns, “Symphony No 3 in C minor, Op 78,” Orchestre de Paris with Paavo Järvi, conductor.
[daily log: walking, 4km]
Caveat: Poem #838 “Emergent phenomena”
ㅁ among the shadows nothing is necessary the gods just emerge
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Lot 73
One of my major on-going projects since coming here to Alaska has been to assist my uncle in taking the initial steps to “improve” (read “develop” and make buildable) the adjacent lot to the west, which he also owns.
Foremost was the need to build a driveway down the slope toward the water. This was, in fact, the project Arthur was working on when he had his accident – he was trying to survey the western property line so that Richard (the excavator operator) would have some guidance when he came in with his big machinery to cut the driveway.
So when Arthur and I first got up here, we finished that job.
Then Richard came out, starting in September, and cut the driveway. Arthur liked to grumble that Richard was destroying too many trees, but I think his complaints were with the understanding that in the given topography and the limitations of the plan and intention, there wasn’t much alternative in how he had to go forward.
The next step is to get approval for the septic system, since that would have to precede any house construction, obviously.
So I have been working on that. I completed a sketch-draft this morning, after thinking through the most reasonable place for where a house might go, talking it through (and through and through, ad infinitum) with Arthur and Richard.
Here are some pictures and my rough sketch plan. Hopefully we’ll get the engineer to begin the formal application process for the septic system if this passes muster.
Here is the lot plan. It’s very rough – it’s not a design drawing, but rather a suggestion to the engineer, to make clear our intentions.
I also prepared this photo with annotations, looking down the new driveway.
Here is a view toward Arthur’s water shed (on adjacent lot 74 to the east).
Here a view from the new parking area onto the expressway (Port Saint Nicholas Road).
Here is Arthur, supervising (observing) the excavator.
[daily log: walking, 4km]
Caveat: resist, at all costs
Despite evidence of the cruelest tortures, the gnarled old tool did not betray the close-held secrets of its prior loyalties.
[daily log: walking, 3km]
Caveat: trees and water
I’m not feeling particularly communicative with this here blog lately.
Here are some pictures. More trees and water, which is what there is around here.
[daily log: walking, 4km]
Caveat: Walking alone
Somewhat to my surprise, Arthur didn’t want to walk with me today. I think he enjoys walking in the rain less than I do. And I know I’m weird. Anyway, I went on my daily walk alone, in the rain.
[daily log: walking, 4.5km]
Caveat: A daily walk
One thing I try to do is take a daily walk. It’s important to get out of the house. I think it’s good for Arthur, too. It’s hard to get motivated when it rains for days on end. Interestingly, I don’t in any way make him take walks. I announce that I’m going for a walk, and he inevitably comes along, rain or shine. I’m certain he wouldn’t if it was just him alone, even though we are not at all social during our walks – he mostly listens to his “audiobooks” while I observe the world and sometimes take pictures.
I often end up far behind or ahead of him, depending on whether I’ve stopped to look at something or if I’m pacing myself relative to his progress. Here is a picture of Arthur far ahead down the road, during a continuous drizzle.
[daily log: walking, 3km]
Caveat: An Archeology of the Air
Nothing much to say. Arthur complains he’s not doing anything. I told him he’s retired. He said no, “just tired.”
Some pictures.
On a stormy, windy morning, the sky broke open and spilled out a rainbow…
A jagged snag…
The leaves are leaving…
An archeology of the air…
The river – just add water…
[daily log: walking, 4km]
Caveat: Various Trees
There are many trees here.
Young trees on rocks.
Dead trees in estuaries.
[daily log: walking, 2.5km]
Caveat: Poem #823 “So vain”
ㅁ The sun's vanity: to give illumination where the air resists...
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: High Stakes
I located the last of the southern platt stakes, today.
The context:
This was the last one that needed to be found. The three southern stakes were what needed to be located – they are the ones high up on the hillside. The northern stakes (by the water) are all easily located – just walk along the shore. Total: 6 stakes, for two rectangular lots with a shared border between them.
I feel this is a great accomplishment.
So why do we need to know where these stakes are? We need to properly locate the western properly line. So my next job is to clear a line between this last stake and the road through the trees and brush, on a bearing 4 degrees east of north. That is the western property line.
[daily log: walking, 4km; tromping, 300m]
Caveat: to the post office via rainbow
We went into town today – Thursday is shopping day.
We saw a rainbow leading to the post office.
Later, some difficult stuff happened. Arthur insisted it was time to clean the gutters. I’ll perhaps provide more information later.
[daily log: walking, 1km]
Caveat: Chance of rain…
This is the Craig I remember so fondly from my times here before.
Some pictures.
[daily log: walking, 4km]
Caveat: Just some pictures on a new blog-host
Here are some photos from yesterday and today. It’s been raining a lot. And I’ve been very busy building a new blog host – I’m self hosting it on my server. I’m not sure this is a permanent solution, but it will work for now. I need to make sure I’m doing backups.
[daily log: walking, 4.5km]
Caveat: river of text
I did more tromping up on the hillside today, looking for that southwest stake. Earlier, in the morning, I contemplated my destiny in the form of a screen full of text. I do this a lot.
Here is the river today.
[daily log: walking, 4km; tromping, 300m]
Caveat: The Mysterious Painted Rock
On our afternoon walk, I found a mysterious brightly painted piece of rock at the 8 mile bridge on the Port Saint Nicholas Expressway.
I wonder what it was?
[daily log: walking, 4km]
Caveat: Training to be an Alaskan
I think Richard has decided I need training to be an Alaskan. He asked for my help on his landing craft again today. So when Arthur and I went into town, Arthur hung out with Jan (Richard's wife and, coincidentally, Arthur's local VA advocate), I spent a few hours with him putting on the port side deck piece over the other engine, which he'd gotten dropped in place. It's a two-person job because one person has to be on each side of the deck (above and below), while the nuts and bolts go through and get attached.
Here is the landing craft. The engines are at the back, in the compartment under the cabin canopy at the stern of the boat.
It was raining the whole time we worked, and the tide came in, so that halfway through the work the boat began floating, lending a certain instability to the proceedings.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: nuts and bolts
I went into town early this morning, because I'd offered to help Richard (the guy who's doing the work clearing the adjacent lot, here, with his excavator) with his work on his landing craft. I mentioned his landing craft a few weeks ago when Juli and Keith and I visited it (previous blog post).
He got his starboard engine installed, and is putting on the deck over it. It's a two person job to be on both sides of the deck piece (above and below) while the bolts are all attached. So I got to climb around the engine compartment. A good morning's entertainment.
[daily log: walking, 4km]
Caveat: Furnished studio
I broke down the temporary tarp arrangement over all my stuff (meaning, the stuff he didn’t want in his house – about half of what I shipped here). It was time to free up Arthur’s driveway and start using my new storage unit. Which is a glorified tent.
So I moved it all in.
Classified Ad
Furnished Studio: premium plastic tarp construction, dock access, moss garden adjacent, slightly tilted, no electricity or plumbing – classic “Alaskan granny flat”.
[daily log: walking, 1km; boxes, a lot]
Caveat: Foggy morning
Today had a foggy morning.
I'm feeling overwhelmed by the tax paperwork I've been working on, but I genuinely feel it should be my priority.
I sense Arthur is frustrated, too – by his own struggles. He doesn't feel in control, but as time passes, he seems to be becoming more aware of not being in control. I can see the discomfort of it. One has to decode his remarks: "Full Ahead Slow" means things are going OK. "It is what it is" indicates extreme displeasure.
Life goes on. Winds cleared the sky in the afternoon.
[daily log: walking, 3km]