Snowmobile vs Snowmachine -- Winter is here.

1000 feet of a 30 year old overgrown trail has now been reclaimed by me.  This guy.  Surveyors trails from the 1980s.  Winter is starting to set in and I decided it was time to clean up some old trails around my land to allow access this winter via snowmobile.... or should I say snow machine?  That seems to be what happens when you go west over the Mississippi river.  Once you cross that line snowmobiles turn into snow machines.  Back east in Maine I always thought that a snow machine was what they used at the ski mountains to make snow during low snow years.  Little did I know that when I moved to Alaska I would finally buy my first snow machines that don't make snow.  Go figure.  No one trusts you out here if you call them snowmobiles.  They just look at you funny and ask if you are from "away".  That is the nice way of asking if you live in the lower 48.  "Down there" is another term you hear being thrown around too.  

Things are starting to slow down for me (on purpose) and I am trying to get everything done before the snow flies.  I have a generous 4 cord of wood split stacked and stored in the shed.  Just a few more wheel barrels to go.  The fuel oil is in the tank.  Now the long wait begins.  "The long wait for what?" you might ask.  The long wait for winter to end.  Duh.  It snowed two days ago.  It is only a matter of time now.  We are past the fall equinox.  It is all down hill from here.  We are losing around 7 minutes of light a day.  Hibernation time will start soon.  

The wife and I both went out and bought extra cars.  There is nothing worse than your car breaking down when it is -40F (which is the same at -40C -- they meet up at -40) and not having an extra rig.  My first winter I moved here I was in the driveway doing ball joints and CV axles on the front end of my car at -40 with just over two hours of light.  I could only take about 20 minutes at a time being outside (I was a little green then) with a 6ft pry bar and a torch.  Needless to say it was a mess, but I got it done.  Three days later.  

This year we decided to have a ton of cars for the winter and a car sale in the spring.  My newest car I just bought today is a yellow 1987 Subaru Justy.  It is a like a 4X4 Geo Metro.  My friends from high school, from the time when I used to rock a Geo on the regular, would be proud.  It is beefier... and it is banana yellow.  I will post a pic soon.

One more night rocking the biker bar.  The world famous Howling Dog Saloon.  The world's most northern biker / rock and roll bar.  The Parks Highway Band will be rocking.  I will be posting a choice video from the gigs there this weekend soon.  Hope everyone enjoyed my video of the song I wrote from my wife.  Here is the youtube if you are interested!

A view was my reward.

I set out early this morning on a mission to get a head start on my day of cutting trees down and getting a few loads to my cabin from the property.  I got tired around 2:30pm running the saw.  I think I need to get some of those anti-vibe gloves or perhaps a smaller saw for marathon stretches of tree destruction.  It ran out of gas five times on me today.  Bone dry!  I'm making good progress now.  Probably another week of straight cutting and then I will deal with all the trees on the ground.  I have to find the perfect spot for my amphitheater.

After I put away the saw and had all ready gotten a load of wood back to my cabin something bad happened.  On round two when I was getting my second load of wood for the day I disturbed a ground bee hive.  Took a shot to the face and the arm (it got inside my two shirts somehow) and was beginning to get swarmed.   I thought quick and began flailing my arms in the air and sprinting down the hill, my driveway, and about 50 yards down my road.  Lucky for me I lost them, but I gave up on filling the rest of the truck.  3/4 load for the last one.  Even with that I have way more wood than I would ever need to last the winter.  Just got my heating oil delivered and we are ready to roll.  Bring it on winter... I mean... come back but play nice... Please?

After I got the truck ready to go it was about dusk.  I walked into the woods and climbed to the top of the clearing I had cut to get a look at what I had done for the day.  It dawned on me that I finally had a view.  A slowly growing view, but a view nonetheless!  Now you could see the hills on the other side of the valley from me.  it was only a matter of time.  My lot is about 1200' up.  It has to view something, right?  Also I discovered that I have line of sight to the cell towers.  Full signal in the middle of nowhere.  Technology at its finest.

One more day of logging and then it is back to the ukulele grind for four nights and then some hunting with a good friend in Cantwell, population 200 and something.

Are we in Spenard yet?

I am back in the big city getting ready for my evening on and in the area of the Anchorage metropolis known as Spenard.   The particular bar I am playing at tonight is actually painted like Eddie Van Halen.   Good times.

Went on the search for yard sales today.  Meet some nice people and found some awesome stuff.   Today I am the proud new owner of a hand crank grain mill along with a pasta crank. 

Cooking some fresh salmon I caught on the ride down to Anchorage on Thursday.  Rack another one up for the Roadside Angler.  That is also the the title of an awesome Alaskan fishing guide book. 

CAROUSEL LOUNGE TONIGHT!

One last week of gigs and then...MOOSE!

I am about to embark on my last week of gigs before the moose hunt begins.  Even though the sun is starting to set earlier and the temperature at night is slowly creeping towards freezing I am still happy, happy for moose season.  The 20 days of the year I work very little and am up before the crack of dawn every day until I bag my bull.  I spaced out the final frozen pieces of moose and am down to my last three.  I hope I get a moose this season so that number doesn't dwindle to nothing.  Wish me luck!

On my way to my gigs down in Anchorage and Seward this weekend I will be making the final push to fill some of the empty spaces in my freezer with silver (coho) salmon.  The wife and I bagged our limit at a secret roadside location in 20 minutes the Sunday before last and the fish had just gotten in.  I'm hoping to hit the tail end of them today on my way south and again on my way north on Monday.

Sunday night I get to fill in for an Alaskan Legend, Hobo Jim.  He needed the night off for some reason and the Yukon Bar was nice enough to offer me the slot to fill.  Hopefully people aren't disappointed that I'm not a 60+ year old dude with a cowboy hat and jeans.  They will have to settle for a 30 year old dude with Carharts and a strange smell.  What is that smell you ask?  It is the smell of ukulele excellence...and b.o.

THURSDAY - Humpys Great Alaskan Alehouse - ANCHORAGE - 9pm
SATURDAY - Carousel Lounge - ANCHORAGE - 10pm
SUNDAY - Yukon Bar - SEWARD - 9pm

Bill Maher and Primus

In the span of a few months I have had to pleasure of opening up for two major mainstream acts.  It is an honor to be the ukulele player here in Alaska that is waving the banner of ukulele world domination high in the sky.  It is the coming.  The ukulele revolution that is!

Things are finally starting to settle down.  The salmon are packed in the freezer.  The firewood is done. It must mean it is time to start prepping for the moose hunt.  The three wheeler is as good as it is gonna get for now.  I just need to adjust the tightness on the chain.  Finally got the brakes fixed back a month ago.  That was sketchy for a while.  September 1st here I come!

This seems to be the time of year when you actually want your vehicles to break down if they are going to.  It is still nice out and there is light most of the day.  In two months that would start to not be the case.  Working on front ends of vehicles (90% of the time this seems to be the problem) outside in the winter sucks.  There are number of things that the cold does that makes it difficult.  As long as you have a 6ft pipe, a torch, and a little know how you can usually get by.  It is a good feeling though when you actually fix it yourself and don't get charged the $100+/hr (it varies) shop rate in town.  Pride is a sin, but it sure is tasty.

My wife and I actually just fixed her car.  The clutch fan assembly busted off and took out the radiator.  After much running around trying to get the parts together we finally got it back together.  I have to admit, without her tiny little lady hands I would have never been able to finish the job.  Teamwork equals cost savings!

At the Marlin in Fairbanks at 10pm tonight with a SPECIAL GUEST!

Back to the grind

After a few weeks of gigs, getting married, and giving the sister-in-law a tour around a bunch of the great state of Alaska I'm finally back to the grind.

Yesterday I got to play my yearly stint at the Tanana Valley State Fair here in Fairbanks.  It is nice to have a bunch of gigs local to my house.  I put well over 1200 miles on my car last week with another 1100 mile work week coming up. 3.5 times the size of Texas.  Everything is not bigger in Texas... except belt buckles and cowboy hats.  That is about it.

The one thing that the fairs across the state here mean to me is the ending of the short summer season and the transition into moose hunting season.  Lindsey, my wife, and I depend on a moose to feed us non-store bought meat for the year.  Store bought slaughter house meats just don't do it for us.  We would rather not support those businesses with our hard earned dollars so we hunt.  Half of a full grown moose is enough for my wife and I to eat for a year (I'm just getting to the end of my stash now) so we like to donate the rest of the animal to someone who can't hunt for themselves.  Me and my hunting buddy last year gave a 1/3 of our moose to a local one legged man.  He was so happy he would have kicked himself in the ass for lack of a second leg.

This next week I'm heading down to the Kenai Peninsula for my last fair of the season, The Kenai Peninsula Fair, with night bar gigs each night.  Triple headers this upcoming weekend!  It is good to be in the last ukulele frontier!  Plus, my lady gets to come with me this trip!  Yay!  Silver salmon fishing, ukulele jams, and my lady... oh yeah... and the dog.  Good times!

TSA vs Border Crossings

I must say that I had a blast going to the Haines Fair in Haines, Alaska this past week.  It was more of all-weekend concert with vendors than a fair, which was super awesome.  I got to play alongside some great bands from all over the country, (Carrie Nation and Hill Stomp being two of them) and share my love of the ukulele with the people.  It was great to be able to give a ukulele clinic and a performance.  I can't wait to go back and do it again next year!

However, my main reason for this post is to thank the wonderful people working the border crossing on both sides.  You see to get to Haines, AK. via road I have to drive several hours into the Yukon Territory to get there.  That is right, leave Alaska for the Yukon only to drive back into Alaska.  Let me tell you what... they were so nice to me every time I passed through the crossings.  This is not the same treatment I get going through TSA.  I get my own personal public rubdown, get my luggage reorganized, and my ukulele put under a microscope every time I fly.  Border crossings?  I get the waved through.

Upon entering Canada they asked me if I was going to leave anything in their country.  I said, "I might use a bathroom or two".  They laughed, handed me back my passport (which I think is ridiculous I need one to enter Canada -- I thought we were special friends???) and told me to have a nice trip.  And other than getting sketched out by a black bear while "leaving" something in Canada in the woods off the Haines road I had a great time!  It was good to swing through Whitehorse and see some people I hadn't hung out with since my Gristlestick days.  Good times.

Friday night I'm playing at one of my favorite roadhouses in the world, The Fairview Inn in Talkeetna with the Parks Highway Band.... and then... on Saturday... on the beautiful banks on the Susitna River with Denali in the background I'm getting married to the love of my life.

Good times.