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THE
FRONTIER
JOURNAL 
By Chris Sharpe
|
INSIGHT
PASSAGE PRODUCTIONS
Presents Alaskan Life Portraits and Stories Preserving an Oral Tradition
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| Contents Home About us Stories From the Last Frontier Fishing Tales Scrapbook Journal What's New? Order Links |
THE
FRONTIER
JOURNAL By Chris Sharpe |
| Anyway, where
was I? Oh, yeah, that was Alaska...you'd see bearded faces, sometimes on the men too, frosted with snow and ice in the thick of it (the winter) here in the Southeast, which is relatively mild (the winter) compared to some interior locations such as Fairbanks, Delta Junction (home of our new missle defense system which is keeping America safe from the "terrorists" and other enemies of the pax Americana) and Anchorage where temperatures regularly reach forty below in the winter. Feet are shod in either the knee high rubber, water proof insulated brown boots with the yellow stripe around the top or the mid calf high thinsulated and more rugged "Ranger" style boot...both types go on the bare, socked foot though, not like my old "brogans", boots with buckles on them that go over a shod foot...black rubber and water proof but sparse, in fact NO insulation... People leave in the winter a lot, which is why I am housesitting now, an opportunity which spared me the cost of paying $750.00 for an efficiency apartment in this expensive capitol of Alaska, Juneau. i bought a load of (a chord) rounds (large trees with their limbs trimmed off sliced into neat plugs that weigh about 75-150 pounds each, good for chopping into firewood) which helps with the heating costs, well, would have helped had the rounds I bought not been made from a tree felled while still LIVING (green, moist wood that does not burn unless well seasoned, usually for a "season"...the wood isn't really green, it's cream colored with brown lines, knots and dark brown bark...Pine...and if you're lucky you can find some long burning "Birch") and sold to an unsuspecting tourist like me...I don't blame the guy...he was just making some dough Rey, Me, Fa, So, La, Te, DOUGH...I might as well have converted the $150.00 to dollar bills and burned those for all the good this wood will do me this winter...chopping it is fun and good excersize though! Get yourself a splitting maul and a sledgehammer and you're in business, just don't try to cut through a knot, it's too much work...generally they split easily enough once you get the round split in half. People, small communities. Used ta be a lot of logging here in the southeast, some still do, thought the jobs are sparse now...something about not replanting the trees (ah, foresight...not an American tradition); lots of crabbers and fisherpeople here too...though apparently the heyday of top price Salmon and Halibut is gone and now the new menace is "farm raised fish" such as Salmon, saturating the market and maiking it hard for honest fisherfolk to make a living so one can now see bumber stickers that say "Friends don't let friends eat farm raised fish" or whatever and you know what, I appreciate the need to make a living and have no judgement on the situation though people easily forget that in America if a thing can be done it usually will be. Politics rearing it's ugly head in a lot of things: Now I understand why many people leave for the winter: isolated communities along the Southeast Peninsula connected only by small planes that do not fly when the weather is bad, which is often, and incidentally when they don't fly the mail is not brought: the latest story I heard is of someone sending a two to three day package out during our last snow storm and it took 19 days for delivery...this would not happen if the ferry system ran on a consistent bvasis too, but...; Ferry service being cut off by the administrators because of "New American Nazi Party" (republican) tactics (I lost my job over a labor dispute which has resulted in a "lock out" by management in the dead of winter...no service for you, no job for me...just when we both need these things most...); and short days slowly getting longer. Of course politics don't control the length of the days I guess. I had to take a job at a Hotel because of recent developments in my Ferry System job which caused me to lose mine amid a labor disagreement that should have been agreed upon long before I was hired, the Baranof (echoes of our Russian heritage in AK) and this past weekend the Republican party held a number of conferences and functions so I apologize for the even mentioning of any political beliefs I have (I don't apologize really)...those guys are nuts, but they certainly claim Lincoln. Anyway, the days wear on...snow filled, white (on a lot of levels) days. I and the dog, Kenai, keep each other company; the dark green pine trees droop under the weight of the frozen snow on its limbs; the jagged mountains have grown old with white beards and hair coveirng their formerly brown and gray crags and furrows. The Brown Bear sleeps and the lone Eagle roams. The crows calls, and we sleep... Chris |
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Productions
HC 60 Box 2616 Haines, Alaska ~ 99827 Telephone: (907) 767-5433 Email: settlein@aptalaska.net |