Friday, September 25, 2009
August 31st, 2009
One final day of the summer at my little home-site. Emily and I were planning to camp out there but arrived to Talkeetna at darkfall - around 10pm - and camped instead at my favorite little hostel by the airport. After a beautiful and rainy week in Denali NP, the hostel was a lot comfier and a lot easier than trying to clear out a campsite amongst all the beautiful and heavy brush on my land.
Also, the hostel is always full of interesting people and this time was no exception. We met two Lithuanians who inspired us to grab the mushroom ID pamphlet. And we met ???? who ended up not only giving us a lift but also accompanying us to Golden Pond Circle. And it was still
as beautiful as when I first saw it. This time, the scraggly bushes on the edges of my trail had sprouted with a million cranberries, and, lame botanist that I am, I can now add High Bush Cranberry to my Flora list. And blueberries! Yum! The watermelon berries were already gone. But a ton mushrooms had sprouted with all the summer rain - we found false chantrelles and some type of boulin? and a few non-edibles as well. After spending some time figuring out which was which, we traipsed to the pond. Quiet today - no ducks.
I didn't do any calculations today, since I had company, but we did chat about possible homesites and ???? gave me the name of a woman builder in Talkeetna who I might try to contact next year.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Day 4 - 23 June 2009
Raining all morning and I was tired so I hunkered in the tent til around 12:30pm. In the afternoon, I explored my home a bit more, with some measurements and a lot of pictures and ooohing and wowing and smiling. This place is so beautiful. Love the moss and the birch bark and the filtered light through the trees and the rain droplets on the leaves and th
e reflections on the pond.
Stalked little birdies, trying to get a photo. Saw a Pintail Duck take off from the pond's edge, listened to three or four different bird calls mixing into the prettiest little medley.
So happy was I, traipsing around, I didn't notice til later that my forehead was stinging and covered with around fifty mosquito bites and a bit swollen. I laid my wet T-shirt over it and that helped soothe it a bit. Made a funny photo at least!
In the early evening, I walked to the end of Comsat Road and took photos of the giant disc belonging to AT&T now. If only my cell phone had battery power, I'm sure I'd have great reception.
It rained off and on throughout the four days I was here. Mostly overcast skies although on Sunday it was sunny with blue skies for a good chunk of the day.
e reflections on the pond.Stalked little birdies, trying to get a photo. Saw a Pintail Duck take off from the pond's edge, listened to three or four different bird calls mixing into the prettiest little medley.
So happy was I, traipsing around, I didn't notice til later that my forehead was stinging and covered with around fifty mosquito bites and a bit swollen. I laid my wet T-shirt over it and that helped soothe it a bit. Made a funny photo at least!
In the early evening, I walked to the end of Comsat Road and took photos of the giant disc belonging to AT&T now. If only my cell phone had battery power, I'm sure I'd have great reception.
It rained off and on throughout the four days I was here. Mostly overcast skies although on Sunday it was sunny with blue skies for a good chunk of the day.
Day 3 - 22 June 2009
Woke up late - did I say how much I love! sleeping in! Yum.
Was reading over my coffee when suddenly the ground started shaking. Around 11:30am, there was a tremor that probably lasted under a minute. (Just looked it up - 5.41 on the Richter scale, 33 miles outside of Talkeetna.)
Went to town today. Hiked to town via a trail that goes from the Hidden Ponds development to the end of Christiansen Road, then down to Beaver Road and make a left into town - near the airport. I caught a ride in from Beaver Road (didn't even have to ask for it, she just pulled over and offered). I happily accepted since earlier, along the trail I was practically running to escape the mosquitoes.
In town, I didn't do much of anything. Ate at the West Rib, bought some veggies and peanut butter at Nagleys, got a new book at a hostel book exchange, read a bit by the river, filled up my coffee for the next two mornings.
Twinflower (Linnaea borealis)
Walked back home along the Spur, stopping first at the library, and then at Rob's house (no one was home) and then at the X-Y Lake to take a quick dip to rinse sweat and mosquito corpses off me. Finally got back home around 8:30pm, tired and a bit chilled as it had started raining and my hair was wet from the swim.
Was reading over my coffee when suddenly the ground started shaking. Around 11:30am, there was a tremor that probably lasted under a minute. (Just looked it up - 5.41 on the Richter scale, 33 miles outside of Talkeetna.)
Went to town today. Hiked to town via a trail that goes from the Hidden Ponds development to the end of Christiansen Road, then down to Beaver Road and make a left into town - near the airport. I caught a ride in from Beaver Road (didn't even have to ask for it, she just pulled over and offered). I happily accepted since earlier, along the trail I was practically running to escape the mosquitoes.
In town, I didn't do much of anything. Ate at the West Rib, bought some veggies and peanut butter at Nagleys, got a new book at a hostel book exchange, read a bit by the river, filled up my coffee for the next two mornings.
Twinflower (Linnaea borealis)
Walked back home along the Spur, stopping first at the library, and then at Rob's house (no one was home) and then at the X-Y Lake to take a quick dip to rinse sweat and mosquito corpses off me. Finally got back home around 8:30pm, tired and a bit chilled as it had started raining and my hair was wet from the swim.
Day 2... June 21, 2009
Ah... forgot... yesterday, sometime in the afternoon, I also explored the neighborhood a bit - my closest neighbors are Shirley and Gene, as seen on their signpost. They are here right now, but I haven't gone to visit them yet. across the other side of the cul-de-sac is another house, not sure if anyone was home. I then continued up a fairly steep 4WD road - just barely wide enough for a truck, better suited for a 4x4. It went up for less than 10 minutes walking and dead ended in another pretty little home. It looked fairly recently occupied but the road had vegetation all over it, so not much traffic, and no recent treads.
OK.. back to the 21st. Slept in - LOVE! sleeping in. Got up, had my cold coffee, and went to try out my water collection pier - it worked! Not super deep, but the water came out clear enough and my feet stayed dry - need to get the water tested.
Spent the late morning working on the trail some more. Cleared it out quiet nicely from the clearing, but re-routed the part near the road and decided not to completely clear that part because (a) I really needed garden shears to do it and (b) I'm not 100% certain of it's final layout. I'm trying to make it as straight as possible to facilitate getting the logs in.
In the afternoon, I set to measuring stuff. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to bring the survey of the land, with it's borders and measurements, but I found the cairn we made last year for the border on golden Pond circle, and used that. I made a sketch of the golden Pond edge, to the stop sign,
and measured out to the clearing, mas o menos, and the trail.
Next visit, I'll have to figure out how to measure the border with the neighbors...
Around 5pm, I went for a short walk exploring the development across the street - down Thoreau Drive and then along the 4x4 road a bit - reached a good sized lake and saw two people in a canoe, but at that point got turned around by the mosquitoes. They really are bad right now. Not sure if my mosquito "zen" is lowered and/or the bugs are just super bad, but I hope it's a bit of both. I really can't sit outside for more than a few minutes without getting swarmed. Usually working is ok - measuring, clearing trail, etc. Although I think clearing vegetation brings them up because afterwards, I see a black swarm hovering over the area. I'm wearing full rain pants and rain jacket, sometimes with the hood up, but no mosquito net (forgot it, and hate wearing it) and no chemicals. The rain gear is hot, so I'm wearing little shorts and a muscle tee under it and the outfit works pretty well.
Yellow Pond Lily (Nuphar lutea)
OK.. back to the 21st. Slept in - LOVE! sleeping in. Got up, had my cold coffee, and went to try out my water collection pier - it worked! Not super deep, but the water came out clear enough and my feet stayed dry - need to get the water tested.
Spent the late morning working on the trail some more. Cleared it out quiet nicely from the clearing, but re-routed the part near the road and decided not to completely clear that part because (a) I really needed garden shears to do it and (b) I'm not 100% certain of it's final layout. I'm trying to make it as straight as possible to facilitate getting the logs in.
In the afternoon, I set to measuring stuff. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to bring the survey of the land, with it's borders and measurements, but I found the cairn we made last year for the border on golden Pond circle, and used that. I made a sketch of the golden Pond edge, to the stop sign,
and measured out to the clearing, mas o menos, and the trail.
Next visit, I'll have to figure out how to measure the border with the neighbors...
Around 5pm, I went for a short walk exploring the development across the street - down Thoreau Drive and then along the 4x4 road a bit - reached a good sized lake and saw two people in a canoe, but at that point got turned around by the mosquitoes. They really are bad right now. Not sure if my mosquito "zen" is lowered and/or the bugs are just super bad, but I hope it's a bit of both. I really can't sit outside for more than a few minutes without getting swarmed. Usually working is ok - measuring, clearing trail, etc. Although I think clearing vegetation brings them up because afterwards, I see a black swarm hovering over the area. I'm wearing full rain pants and rain jacket, sometimes with the hood up, but no mosquito net (forgot it, and hate wearing it) and no chemicals. The rain gear is hot, so I'm wearing little shorts and a muscle tee under it and the outfit works pretty well.
Yellow Pond Lily (Nuphar lutea)Later that evening, I was longing to read with a bit of music, and lamenting my lack of music here right now. Played my harmonica a bit but playing isn't always the same as listening. Then, I heard DRUMS! A neighbor, somewhere, was playing drums - not a drum set, but some type you'd find in a drum circle. Being near the solstice, and being lonely, I decided to investigate. And I found them - Dennis and Becky - an older couple of "retired hippies" living on Twin Flower Circle. It's their summer place - they live more remotely in the winter, by snow machine. Super friendly, I hung out with them until 11pm, talking about music (need to look up Rocco John), Talkeetna, development, environment (Becky knew about the Rio Baker Project!), bears, etc. They live in a little cabin with mosquito netting and are currently building a larger timber frame house.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Day 1 - Getting to know my new home...
Spent 4 days camping out on my land in Talkeetna... more to follow...
20 June 2009
Finally made it up to my home in the woods. Took me 50 minutes to walk the Comsat Road portion, with a medium heavy backpack.
Decided I liked the idea of the path entering from the smaller road, Golden Pond circle, and worked my way inside looking for a reasonable place to pitch my tent.
I'd forgotten that there was a clearing in the upper middle portion of my land. After minimal clearing, I pitched my tent on some bumpy vegetation, guyed out the fly, and crawled inside. I'd woken up at 5:30am and wanted to sleep in, so at 11am I napped until around 3pm. Dreamy. (Dreamt about a grizzly, but that's a separate story.)
Once I was awake, I spent the afternoon semi-clearing a trail from my tent to the side road. I hadn't brought any tools, but at least I had my work gloves, and I cleared dead branches and tore out a lot of shrubs with viney roots - mostly rose and another one with slightly fuzzy, beautifully aromatic leaves.
.....................................................Photo at left: Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)
20 June 2009
Finally made it up to my home in the woods. Took me 50 minutes to walk the Comsat Road portion, with a medium heavy backpack.
Decided I liked the idea of the path entering from the smaller road, Golden Pond circle, and worked my way inside looking for a reasonable place to pitch my tent.
I'd forgotten that there was a clearing in the upper middle portion of my land. After minimal clearing, I pitched my tent on some bumpy vegetation, guyed out the fly, and crawled inside. I'd woken up at 5:30am and wanted to sleep in, so at 11am I napped until around 3pm. Dreamy. (Dreamt about a grizzly, but that's a separate story.)
Once I was awake, I spent the afternoon semi-clearing a trail from my tent to the side road. I hadn't brought any tools, but at least I had my work gloves, and I cleared dead branches and tore out a lot of shrubs with viney roots - mostly rose and another one with slightly fuzzy, beautifully aromatic leaves.
.....................................................Photo at left: Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata)
In a few hours, I had the beginnings of a trail, and I went to scope out the water situation. On my side, there was about 15 feet of swamp and mud before getting to water deep enough to collect. About the same on the opposite side, but there was a downed log that let me access water that 
I tried to sit outside to eat, but the mosquitoes are really bad, so I cowered in my tent. I hadn't even realized it was the solstice and was asleep by 9pm.
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