Inktrails from Alaska

I Need A New Heater

The Toyo heater that came with this house was old to begin with. Toyos are legendary for being great, not breaking down and so on. But this one has reached the end of its lifetime and of course it is in the middle of winter in Alaska. Figures.

Right now the temperatures are hovering around zero. We had about two or three weeks of -20 (and below for some folks). The electric heater I have can handle keeping us survival warm (in the 60s) but if the temperatures drop again, we will be in trouble.

I need a new heater. Cost: about $1600.

I have a wonderful violin for sale, a 1923 Neuner-Hornsteiner that was the first full-size I ever owned, the one I learned to play on. I'm selling it for the lowest that those go for: $2000. BUT no one is buying.

If you feel you can help me raise the money to buy a heater, I'm putting a PayPal button here for donations. I don't do this lightly. I simply don't have the ability to come up with the needed amount in time for us to be safe when temperatures fall. You can send money to my PayPal account by using my email address: jeanofiddler at gmail dot com.  (Which I spell out so that spammers won't go crazy on me.)

Thank you, bless you, please have a wonderful New Year!

 

Oddjobs of Alaskan Winter

9:15 temperature this morning: -15F

I'm not counting plugging in the car or scraping the windshield. I wish I had snow to push off the car, but sadly, we aren't getting enough snow. We've gotten exactly enough snow to help me see the moose near the side of the road or edge of the forest, but that's about it.

No, this list is about specific dopey things I plan to do, and have to do, in the next week.

For one thing, every winter the frost heaves my front porch up an an angle, a very, very slight angle. You wouldn't even know it had happened except the screen door knows. It starts to scrape at the out bottom edge, and now it will only open halfway. This is incredibly annoying and inconvenient and it pisses me off (!) when I'm trying to get in or out the door with two dogs, a messenger bag and grocery bags, or a violin or guitar. It's freaking annoying even if I'm not carrying a bunch of stuff. So I counted the screws holding the door onto the house. Four. Well, I could probably do that in one go if it doesn't go to -20. I'll have to stop and warm up my hands if it takes too long but that's par for the course. I have an electric drill, and I am planning to take that stupid screen door off and store it for the winter. If it wouldn't stick like that, it'd be nice to keep installed as another layer against the cold. But not if it's going to keep being in my way!

So I'll have to reorganize a bit of the storage shed so I can fit the screen door in there once it's out of the way. Once again, doing this all at subzero...

I have a window that won't close all the way unless I push it closed (using a broomstick to get both top and bottom). I thought I'd gotten it closed before winter but nope. I wondered why I was so cold in that room! I looked at the window and lordy, lordy, there's frost around the edges. Crap! So out into the night with a headlamp and a broomstick! Luckily I got it latched and it's much warmer in here now!

Normally I go around and teflon spray all the locks. I forgot this year so I still have to do that. Don't you hate it when you can't find that teeny tiny straw that goes in the sprayer?

I'm going to reorganize the house a little. I think I've moved furniture only once in ten years. It's time. My bed is next to an old, leaky window. Right now I've got a pillow pushed up against it to block the freezing airflow (and paper towel stuffed in every crevice of the sash and frame). Heck, my bed is four feet from the heater and even so, I'm still cold! So another project is to move my two giant bookcases and push my bed away from the window I'll call The Elbow Freezer.

Back in the dog yard, the cold is slowly but surely moving one of my fence posts away from the others. Unfortunately, it's the post the gate is hinged on. This means that probably by next week, my gate in the dog yard won't latch closed at all. Fixing this may entail dragging logs and/or giant fencing panels just to block it off. Okay, you know how men do those things. They just monster lift things and carry them across the yard (or five feet) and drop them. But I'm not a guy. I can move heavy things like frozen logs or fence panels, I can, but this is how I do it: grab it, lean back and use my center of gravity. Is it frozen to the ground? Yes. Okay, so I go get a pry bar and crack it off the ground. Grab said heavy thing, lean and pull. Move about six inches. Stop. Breathe. Lean and pull. repeat 26 or 48 times until it's where I want it.

Other step I forgot to mention: Go back inside and warm up your hands every fifteen minutes! Even with gloves! So sure, it might take an hour or more. Or I might get it half way and say, feck this, I'm cold and tired! I'll finish tomorrow! But it does get done!

With the bookcases same thing but instead, stand close and shove with hips and pull with arms and slide the furniture.

It takes a lot longer than the Hercules Superman Guy Way, but it still gets done!

Last, but not least at all, are the dogs. Ole needs to go to the poodle parlor to get The Works. He's got about four down jackets full of undercoat that can go. My house is a River of Fur that I can barely keep dammed. And I need to brush out all of Sofia's underfur too, which I can't do outside because it's too cold, but doing it inside is tricky if I don't want to drown in fur. I had her brushed out pretty well midsummer but dang it, fur is breaking out all over! So how will I do it? Verrrrry carefully!

Love Will Always Win

Here is an original coloring page I made because in times like these, we need things like this.

Enjoy, share, feel better.

Being Prepared is Smart Optimism

It's not being a pessimist to be realistic. We have the data on Trump. NOW: be prepared to survive!

DONATE: to Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, NAACP, and so on. All the organizations that protect rights and make our lives better. Volunteer!

CONNECT: Hug your friends and family. Offer shelter to those who are being persecuted by crazy Trump followers, those who are feeling crushed and who need nurturing.

CREATE: More community. If you don't know your neighbors, get to know them. Start a coffee klatsche, a monthly or weekly get together. Organize a creative protest.

DON'T BE A VICTIM: Get all your medical stuff done NOW if you have ACA insurance or Medicaid or Medicare. Sign up for the ACA healthcare NOW if you need medical insurance. It will be here for a few months.

Stick together, love, hug, sing, dance and be very aware of what's going on. It's not "pessimistic" to be prepared! Like I said before: it's the Blitz and we can have the strength and fortitude and creativity to get through this alive together!

Tiny Snow

Up until now, we haven't really had snow. Sure, we got a dusting about a month ago, but then it warmed up above freezing and most of it melted away.

It's been weird having nothing but a dab of snow in October, and none in September. I'm used to a medium to huge dump of snow in September, which then either melts over a few weeks, or perhaps some of it sticks around. The real snow usually arrives in October.

But not this year. The weather service kept forecasting snow and it kept not snowing. We had some tremendous northern lights! But no snow. Then yesterday it clouded up, and I woke up to persistent snowfall. Not big flakes, but tiny snow, the kind that glitters. It's powder that is deceptively intense. I've taken my dogs for walks several times today, and every time we are glistening and shining by the time we get back to the house.

It's still snowing as I'm typing this. It's been snowing since sometime last night, about 24 hours. I think there is about three inches accumulated out there, maybe more.

When it's tiny snow, you can see where you are going, while walking you can see into the trees to see if there is a moose, and when driving there is none of that hypnotizey-swirly-swirly going on in front of your windshield. The snow blows off the road, for the most part.

All in all, I love the tiny snow. When the temperature drops to around zero, you get the glitter snow, which is even prettier. And if the temps go lower, it stops snowing, because all the moisture has already been frozen out of the air. Snow is, for us, something that happens when the weather is what we call "warm."

Walking the dogs in the tiny snow today was so nice. We saw tracks, the dogs had new sniffing experiences (every change in weather is a new sniffing experience), and Ole had his first good snow angel roll.

I'm glad the snow is finally here.

Why The DAPL Protest At Standing Rock Is Important To All Americans

Every day brings new atrocities to the protestors at Standing Rock, North Dakota. Today the soldiers are chasing women and children into the river. Military and police are shooting rubber bullets and pepper spraying people of all ages, including children. All these Water Protectors are unarmed. They are praying and standing firm to protect the land that was stolen from them, to protect the water that serves everyone, not just the Standing Rock Tribe. I am not ashamed to say this is making me cry.

Why does this matter to you?

Because when you allow innocent people to be brutalized and possibly killed, you are losing your freedom, too. You are losing part of what makes you human. If you can turn away from this injustice on our own soil, and watch our own people be hurt, you are hurting yourself in ways that cut across your soul.

But what can I do? I'm not Indian!

Water isn't Indian, either. And a good heart is a good heart.

Those who would like to help out can buy items on their amazon wish list or the on their site supply list. If you would like to get involved then checkout the “#NoDAPL Solidarity” website to find an action near you. There is a legal fund to donate to at the “Red Warrior Camp Legal Fund.”

Call NBC, CBS, ABC, every news outlet, national and local. Can you go down there and help the Water Protectors? DO IT. Call the President, your Senators and Congressmen. DO IT.

My neighbor, a Native from Alaska, is down there now. She has a son who has a birthday soon. They impounded her rental car this weekend (plus many others cars, too). People were knocked down with batons when they tried to keep the police from taking their cars. Her ID and wallet, and medication are in the car and she isn't allowed anywhere near it to retrieve these items. She is more than willing to talk to any news outlet that wants the inside story. She is staying at the camp. I will send her phone number to people who are serious about helping.

Ignorant white people are still afraid of "Wild Indians." Soldiers are overzealous and brutal. Contrast that with the treatment of the ARMED white pseudo-military men who did serious damage to Malheur Wildlife Center (they started bulldozing!) who were set free, blameless after their ARMED stand-off!

Consider this: When I lived in Albuquerque, I had many Native friends. One afternoon, in a mixed white and Hispanic neighborhood, one afternoon we had a potluck and some drumming and singing. The white next door neighbor CALLED THE POLICE ON US because there were WILD INDIANS. And this is in a place where brown people used to be in the majority of the population, in a place where tribes and Native people are everywhere.

People are afraid of Indians. Native people are seen as dangerous and bloodthirsty, thanks to Hollywood (which didn't even bother to hire Indians to play Indians).

People at the protest are not armed. Alcohol is prohibited. No bows, no weapons. If we get a report of an armed protestor, you will know it was a plant.

We also have reports of police planting illegal items in protestors' cars. If they would pepper spray a child, you know they would plant items, too.

I was last involved in a land struggle on the Navajo Reservation in the eighties, when Peabody Coal Company, (yes, THAT coal company--see the song "Paradise") wanted to mine for coal on the Hopi and Navajo reservations. Peabody found a few Mormon converts in the Hopi hierarchy to champion their cause and managed to turn the tribes against each other. What should have united Hopi and Navajo divided them, due to the dirty tactics of Peabody Coal Company. The struggle was ignored by the media because it was seen as a petty "internal affair" between Natives. (I send peace and honor to Roberta Blackgoat, who, with other traditional Navajo women, worked so hard, and local AIM leader Larry Anderson.)

The DAPL people are severely afraid because they have not been able to turn the tribes against each other. Instead, tribes and indigenous people from all over the world, not to mention non-natives too, are UNITED against the pipeline and the injustice of destroying Native sacred ground. Our unity is our biggest strength! You know there are moles sent in by the company to try to cause problems.

Pipelines are dangerous and they ALWAYS leak. There are ALWAYS spills. Ask any Alaskan. We know. People have to monitor this stuff full time, and they still never get all the spills and leaks. How are they going to monitor a pipe under the river? This is NOT high tech. It's a time bomb, plain and simple. It will leak, and it will poison the water, I have not one doubt. Scientists agree, look it up.

Finally: it was originally planned to put the pipeline through Bismarck, ND. Why didn't they? They thought it too dangerous for the town, and that it might poison their water.

So when people say this isn't based on racism, think again. Racism is a huge part of this.

Stay together! Be strong! Do what you can!

Voting: A responsibility to be taken seriously

An election isn't about finding the perfect winter coat. It's not about getting what you want for your birthday. It's not about feeling good. It's not about consumption.

Candidates are not something you vote for to make yourself feel good.

Voting is a deep responsibility. You must consider what is best, overall, for our country. It's not about one issue. *Unless that issue is whether or not the person elected is capable, intelligent, and trustworthy enough to do a good job.*

You have to be able to trust the person to make good decisions. Not to make all the decisions YOU would make, or some fantasy perfect person would make. Hard decisions. Decisions that you will never have a chance to make, and can't truly understand. Complex, dire decisions.

I don't want to be President. It's not an easy job, it's a scary job.

You need a stable, smart, experienced person for this job. Don't fall into the me, me, me type of voting. "Protest vote?" "Vote your conscience?" Is that helping anyone but YOU feel satisfied? If it's not helping our country, you are not doing your job as a responsible voter. Step back. Consider, seriously, how each candidate is qualified for the office.

People died for your right to vote. Don't ever take it for granted.

Time To Man and Woman Up

Americans take our benefits for granted. We take our safety, roads, food supply, law and order, ambulances, fire departments and many other advantages for granted. So many advantages! While so much of the world lives under war or threat of war, of famine, disease, desertification of formerly fertile land, Americans have it so good. Most of us have a floor under our feet while lots and lots of the world have dirt. Even when we are very, very poor (and I am an American who has actually starved) there are still helpers here, and grocery stores and food banks. In some countries there isn't even any food. Period. No medical care, paid for or not, just no medical available (which is why I donate to Doctors Without Borders every month). Americans, in general, have it far easier than so many other people. (Please realize I am fully aware of the inequality of lives in our culture, the problems, too, with racism and intolerance. But compared to the rest of the world, Americans have it much better in general.)

Hillary Clinton has worked tirelessly for the health and well-being of all of us, and for women and children in those dirt-floored houses, too. She knows how to get things done. She has survived a decades long misogynistic propaganda attack by the Republican party and she's still here fighting. I don't think I could do that. I think she's one of the strongest women alive.

We need to make sure she is elected because Trump isn't an option. You all know what he is. He has no real policy. He has only "I'm gonna do this" and "I'm gonna do that" statements that in real life, cannot be done. His knowledge of how a bill becomes law, for instance, something every child learns in school, is nil. What do people get when they uplift people who are celebrities just for being celebrities? Trump is the culmination of the Paris Hilton/Kardashian phenomenon of adoring the famous for being famous. That's it. Most people wouldn't know who he was if he hadn't had a ridiculous "reality" show.

It's far past the time for a third-party "protest" vote. Young people, you need to get real. Trump is following the path to dictatorship. It's what he admires (Putin, Kim Jong Il and I bet if Mussolini were around he'd go out to dinner with him) and it's what he will try to achieve. This isn't to be pooh-poohed. You say, "Oh, he won't get elected anyway so I'm going to vote my conscience." But what you are doing is throwing away your vote. Your candidate, whomever he or she is, can't win. Can't make a statement, can't affect anything. But what happens is that it takes away a vote from sanity.It takes a vote away from community services, health departments inspectors, the FDA (which guards the food and medicines we take), the Environmental Protection Agency, which keeps Big Oil from drilling fucking everywhere and fracking your water into total, undrinkable poison. And so on.

Under Trump our road system would fall to bits. All the government safeties that keep your life livable would go away. No health insurance except for the rich. No food stamps, no public health departments to get vaccinations for your children. Possible martial law. Wars in multiple countries. Possible world war. Massive inflation, and food shortages as the road systems fall apart. Jobs going overseas just like that. Higher taxes to fund the wars and weapons and military. A draft to supply fodder for the wars. You may have to leave your family to fend for themselves and go to fight to protect the interests of Trump's beloved corporations.

If you are a person of color, LBGTQ, or any other marginalized group, voting for Trump is like signing your death warrant.

It's not time to get all "principled" and "show them how mad you are" that Bernie didn't get nominated, or that you think Hillary is a "crook," even though she's not. It's time to be a grown up and realize what is at stake here. Vote for the woman who is a real candidate, not for the crook who will destroy the country.

Is this what you want your children to live? Is this what you want for your family?

Go ahead and vote for Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, Daffy Duck. But remember you have been warned.

My Lucky Day

The dogs and I walk all the time. On the sunny side of the street there are thick patches of clover beloved of bees, and dogs. I don't know why, but I've always loved clover. As a child I remember lying in the clover and watching bees doing their busy work. I was good at relaxing and being perfectly still. Those clever little buzzers were so busy with the flowers that I was able  watch, close up, exactly what they did.

We don't have many honey bees in Alaska. Those few beekeepers we have provide all the honeybees there are up here. We do have some very nice bumblebees, though. Ole was making a habit of sniffing bumblebees as they worked the flowers. He never got stung, and I wonder if he just liked the way the wings went bzzt on his nose.

A few weeks ago I started glancing at the clover as the dogs and I walked, and I found a four-leaf clover. Great, I thought, I'll press that, laminate it into a card and send it to my granddaughter, Piper. So I pressed it into Sons and Lovers, a horrid book by DH Lawrence. (I actually threw this book across the room. Yes, the writing is good but the story is maddeningly awful. But it's thick, so it makes a great plant-pressing book.)

Today we were walking and the dogs were snurfling some clover and alder, and I thought, I'll just take this chance to look for another four-leaf clover so my other granddaughter, Piper's brand new sister Freyja, could have one, too. And then I found this! If I find a six-leaf clover I'll let you know.

It makes me wonder, if a five-leaf clover is luckier than one with four leaves, would a six-leafer be half again as lucky as a four-leaf? Would an eight-leaf clover be twice as lucky?

 

 

I Heart My Stalker

For the past two (or has it been three, or even four?) years, I've had a stalker.

No, there is no one standing in the yard, peeping in the windows, or going through my trash. I'm not receiving cryptic letters filled with threatening and garbled love, nor do I have to be careful not to go out alone.

As many of you may know, I'm a Doctor Who fan. I have four sonic screwdrivers, a fair number of T-shirts and other Who-themed clothing, and I won a cosplay contest with my Tom Baker outfit. And my license plate is TRDIS, because someone, most likely someone in Los Anchorage, has the license plate with the A that I need. There's a K-9 hanging from my rearview mirror, and for a couple winters my radiator cover was the classic TARDIS blue policebox lettering: Public Call Box POLICE. There are a few other clues on the car that tell those in the know that this car is owned by a Whovian.

So the first time someone left me a note under my windshield that said, simply, BAD WOLF, I laughed! Cool!

And then it happened again, and again. In fact, all around town, I never know when I'm going to come back to my car to find either a note on paper, or Bad Wolf written in the grime on the windows, or the side of the car (in Fairbanks all of us have dust on our cars, it's Alaska).

And I LOVE IT.

Who-ever you are, it always makes my day! Thanks!

PS: if you ever decide to reveal your identity, maybe we could have tea?

Until then, ALLONS-Y!