A hose with my name on it.

Alaska is the kind of a state that you can't be a one trick pony and expect to thrive. Challenges and tribulations are a constant factor and nothing ever really goes to plan. Plan A and B usually get thrown out and plan C usually prevails, if you have "da skillz" or a dash of common sense. Whichever works for ya.

I am part of the school of thought that if you don't have multiple vehicles you are asking for trouble. Not so much in the summertime, but in the winter especially. Lucky for me it is warm this time of year which is why I'm thankful my big truck crapped the bed now instead of 4 months from now.

The dirt work is pretty much done at my property and now I am hauling rocks from my local dirt pit (don't worry I have a permit -- only $3 a yard for residents in need of rocks / gravel for private use - Thanks Department of Natural Resources!) out to the land to shore up all of my open terrace slopes. Erosion control is in dire need.  A wrench got thrown into the mix when I was heading out the driveway two nights ago.
"POP!" is not the noise you want to hear when you are going down the road from your truck. I thought to myself, "I bet it is a fan belt" so I tried to slow down at the next convenient turn around spot only to discover it wasn't my fan belt. There was no power steering (which could still be a belt) or brakes (this is what puzzled me) and I was heading downhill. Lucky for me my emergency brake works and I got the rig, after some muscling of the steering wheel, back in my driveway.

Nice feature on these old K30 rigs by Chevy is that if you lose a power steering hose and there is no pressure in the system you lose power brakes at the same time. Safety first people and to think this truck is older than all the recalls that GM is issuing now. Ha! So what...I love this truck.  

After a good bit of cussing, a requirement for auto work, I finally got the hose off and into town. I have to tell ya there is nothing like some good old small town service. People aren't just numbers here. They even put my name on it and spelled ukulele correctly!!! I love you Fairbanks and a tip of the hat to you Alaska Rubber and Rigging!

Down to Seward with the Trio for the Yukon Bar this weekend. 9pm both Friday / Saturday nights. Also on Saturday I'm doing an originals performance at the Resurrect Coffeehouse at 7pm and teaching two classes earlier in the day for ukulele enthusiasts

Until then... back to the rock.

Solstice is coming!

This is the week people.  The last week of the year that we are gaining sunlight. After the solstice this weekend we will be officially losing sunlight and it seems like summer is just getting underway. Spring seemed to start early this year, but it did linger longer than usual. That is how it goes up here. Every year seems to be different than the last. Nothing is predictable up here except the sun.  We are over 21 1/2 hours of sun above the horizon now, but it doesn't get "dark". It is more like a few hours of bright twilight.  You never get used to it.

This will be my first solstice since I moved up to Alaska that I am taking easy. Just one gig with some good friends from Austin, Texas that will be rocking up here at Foodstock over at the Howling Dog Saloon. Mr. Derrel Gleason and his trio. Texans and Alaskans are quite similar however everything is not bigger in Texas. This is a lie. :)

Finally got the bulldozing done on my lot. Several terraces, a house pad, parking lot, circular driveway / dirt track, and the beginning of my amphitheater. Now all we need to do is get a big loader in there to finish building the berm for the backdrop. It is fairly high now, probably 15 ft, but I am looking for more like 30ft+. After I let it all dry out a bit and do what touching up I can it will be ready for the loader. There is still a bunch to do until then.

Now time to grab my rake, dirt tamper, and unforutnately my chainsaw. The work never ends. Hopefully there is enough summer so I can get things done.

The Ukulele Russ Memorial Amphitheater - The beginning

Over the past year it has finally come to this. Now with the trees gone and stumps cleared my vision of my amphitheater is coming alive...oh and the cabin I'm going to build for me and the lady, but most importantly the amphitheater.

I have spent a year cutting down all the trees and slowing hauling them out. This winter I was out there on snowshoes logging for hours. It was so cold outside that I was start sweating and once that moisture would reach the outside of my coat it would freeze and create a frozen crust on me. Three hours was about all I could take before I would start completely freezing.

It is wild to see how 12 hours on a small bulldozer can change everything. This was a field of stumps just hours ago. Now it is time to move all this over burden into the natural depression in my hill to form the backdrop for the amphitheater.

These pictures are of only a portion of the land I cleared and are not of the amphitheater location. It will be revealed over the next couple days.

Now that I am finally done running the chainsaw (I went through five tanks of gas in the last day of cutting) I can give my ukulele hands a break for a day before I have to play my gigs this week.

THURSDAY - Botanical Gardens - University of Alaska Fairbanks - 7pm

FRIDAY - Listen into 660am KFAR as I join Steve Floyd for Fairbanks's Problem Corner

http://rssplayer.crystalmedianetworks.com/player/radio/kfaram

Private party in Delta Junction - 8pm

SATURDAY - The Marlin - 10pm! - FAIRBANKS!

Winner winner salmon dinner!

There is something about the feeling of being able to feed yourself that is satisfying. I have been fishing this spot on and off for years and it is the kind of fishing hole that you either show up at and get yourself a fish in 15 minutes, or you fish for a whole day and get nothing. This was not one of the latter. My favorite part of this particular fishing experience is that I decided within hours that I needed to eat a 1/2 of one of the fillets raw. It was most excellent.


A few nights on the road and then the building of the Ukulele Russ amphitheater begins. It will be epic to say the least. I'm off to Anchorage for tomorrow night at the Blue Fox Cocktail Lounge at 10pm and a Sunday dinner show at the world famous Denali Salmon Bake.