B.E. says: "These big icicles we
got out front on the eaves could
slice somebody in two...if they
fell..." ))
-------------
Oh yes, it is true. me and B.E. have
thought of getting ourselves a little
place--you know, one of those warm,
cozy wonderful log cabins--you've
seen 'em, with all the interesting
stuff (coats and caps and traps) hanging
on nails all over the walls---up thar in
Alaska...where...as Robert Service so
aptly put it:
"There are strange things done
in the midnight sun
by the men who moil for gold."
We'd like to check out some new
"strange things" I reckon. We've had
a bellyful of those being done in our
own D.C. Tell me, you mean there are
more somewhere? And stranger?
A few "new" strange things might
spice up our retirement days.
We've thought of Coldfoot, Barrow,
Soldotna, Unalakleet--- even Kodiak.
Homer or Nome seem to be...fine
places. And can you beat Skilak Lake?!
Kodiak is a bit wild and Unalakleet has
bad mosquitos in the summer they say,
and you need to speak Esquimaux there.
Part of its appeal I suppose is the way
it rolls off your tongue when you say it
Una la kleet !!!!!Try it.
We've heard tell that The Farthest North
Pizza Co. delivers pizzas right to ice
floes during whale hunting season, to
the guys with harpoons, there at Barrow.
It'd be nice to get one's self some sled
dogs and enter the Iditarod but you
know, in my eighties I git stove-up a
bit in my joints...and maybe cutting
down trees and hauling in wood for
the woodstove at our new cabin
would be enough adventure. (Other-
wise, they say..."no wood and you
freeze to death.")
And I being nowadays (no long-handles)
somewhat cold natured, there'd
hafta be a lot of quilts for me on that
sled for the dogs to drag "all over
creation," as my dear mama was
fond of saying.
But have you ever looked at those
marvelous mountains in that Grand
Country up there---a miracle place
if there ever was one. Have you read
any books about it?
Have you watched old Marty the Trapper,
Heimo, and Bob who lived up there
43 years; have you seen the industrious
homesteaders--the Kilchers, or read
Bonnie Rose Ward's marvelous "Skilak"
books? Or watched "The Yukon Men,"
on TV?
Seward really deserves a place on
Rushmore, when you think about it.
He saw a bargain and took it. And
got criticized.
Anyway, here's something to think
about. It "turned off cold here," (as
they used to say in W. Texas around
hog killing time in December) and it
blew 50 mph and snowed 6 inches
and the temp stayed under freezing
for ten days and went to eight degrees
once't, early of a morning...
...and big icicles came, even on my
writing bush outside my writing window,
being fed every day by a slow thaw
dripping offen the roof---and the
driveway was slick and the mail
box hard to get to without sliding down
on the ice...and the city...
...put out word "People have gotta clean
ice off their front sidewalks or they will
be persecuted, after 15 days," and this
kind of stuff...so me and BE got to talking
and using some reason, an' we decided---
We have a friend down in S. Texas (and
what better state is there in the world,
if the Cals. moving in there don't ruin it)
and he lives on a place like Glocca
Mora, Beulah Land, eternal spring--
veggies all the time, and peaches
to be plucked year-round...jumping
catfish and crappies in his pond, and
you can't walk without stepping on
pecans---even little toddlers in diapers
git out for early morning walks...
What a Grand Place that must be!
I sez to B.E. as she poured us more
coffee. "Wal, ya know Honey, maybe
at our ages. and all, we should just head
South...instead of North."
And we looked fondly at each other,
and each took a sip. Thinking...
-------
COLD MIL
6 JANUARY 19
( "persecuted..." sic)
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