Days have opened up, lasting much longer and feeling a touch more realistic than twenty hours of dark. The clouds have cooperated with the setting sun day after day, clearing up at the right moment to show a small bit of color in my isolated world. There are times like these, when the evening falls, that where I am fades away from thought, the temperature is no longer a factor and for that moment there is no where else that I would like to be.
Snow is... enjoyable and dreadful. In the last two weeks, there have been approximately four feet of new snow and all powder. In the middle, there was a break in temperature that rose to about thirty three and snow showers became rain showers lasting a couple days. This morning was back at ten below and a nice crunch with each footstep. The volume of snow makes gathering wood harder in every aspect. Falling trees quickly vanish once on the ground and digging them back out is more work than its worth.
I do find myself sometimes shouting, other times a mumble under my breath the word "timber" as each tree crashes down. Slowly cracking and splitting at the trunk, these massive trees gain momentum as the destroy carelessly other tree's limbs, glancing off smaller trees or sometimes buckling them in half before the bushes below become as flat as a french pancake.
Fifteen more trees did fall at the mercy of my saw. Some twenty plus inches diameter at the base. I had a moment to cut a slice off of one, to count the rings and see how old it was. In the very center, the rings are too hard to see, so the estimation is between 145 and 155 years old. It would seem that about a hundred years before Alaska even became a state, this tree was just springing forth from the ground. Through the civil war, through the presidency and the death in 1885 of Ulysses S. Grant.... the first airplane by the Wright brothers, NASA and the moon landing.... war after war, my birth and up until the end just a few days ago, this tree lived a peaceful life. Just another angle to see from when woodcutting.
A while back, a month or two maybe I was sitting around bored and decided to carve a ring from a caribou antler that I pulled out of the forest. Passing the time away can be hard to do sometimes, when there isn't much around to work with. It always seems that men of old, be it in the woods or at sea, possessed the trait of carving, sculpting or other small artworks... so with my time at hand, I too thought of something.
The holes are representing stars in the constellations Leo and then the Big Dipper and Polaris.
There are two Eagles that watch from a perch along my trail for gathering wood. It seems that my passing by has no effect, but when I stop, they seem to mind. They too are looking for food, maybe setting their sights on a rather plump fox they've seen around. Mr. Fox still gets his daily fish sandwiches when he shows up, and now he knows that there is a bottom piece of bread so he takes the whole sandwich.... I like that.
Another moose encounter on the snow mobile.... running fast!
I've cracked open the last five pounds of my crab meat. Bread and water after this is gone.
Scenery
Hard believing that February is here, and soon the spring will unravel with the melting away of packed ice on the lake, mountains of snow and new life will emerge. I've seen the summer months and how wonderful they are. Now living up here for the winter months, they too are wonderful in their own way. Some said November would be the hardest, others thought January but I can't say until I've seen them all. I can most certainly pick out the highlights and low points of each month so far, but there is more to come so I will wait and see. I will miss the summer up here, when the bears come to feed on the salmon and the days are never dark. I will not miss the unrelenting mosquito's and gnats.
As I ponder things during the day, one of my biggest questions is how bad will I miss being up here when I'm gone. I have stopped thinking about other places mostly, trying not to give too much effort into the thought of a tropical setting, because I know once I'm there, I will wish I was back up here. No, for now the days are enjoyed, sunshine or grey, the feeling of the downward slope is upon me.
Bitter sweet.
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