​I think the tower I get my signal from is frozen over in this severe cold snap we're having so here's hoping this gets through. I'll keep it short with mostly just photos so there's less content to send--but, as my sister recently coined a saying: A photo is worth a thousand words.

Every year thousands of Alaskans are faced with whether or not they should stay the winter. Many make a yearly fact checking (to see if the sun still warms the earth) pilgrimage to Hawaii or Florida--some stay in the latter state permanently, as my sister did. And there's a reason why there are only seven people in my neck of the wilderness now who stay the year around. It's mostly summer folks these days.

The above picture explains why that is. That's freezing spray from northerly hurricane force winds pile-driving waves twenty to thirty feet into the air over the rocks at the entrance to our little bight.

While I was courting frostbite to take that photo, my sister was lying on a beach in Miami and smugly, with gloating aforethought, took this picture of her road bike.

Hmmm. What was that question again? To snowbird or not to snowbird...? ​

​Megan, I hope you have room for company.

​
The best part of this summer was the very last bit when my sister Megan came up to visit. We had a ton of adventures and wore ourselves out laughing. I'm planning to talk about some of that in upcoming blog posts, but at the moment we're bogged down with tons of "Prepping for Winter" projects that doesn't allow me much time online.

Once I get a breather I'll get more regular with my blog posts again, I hope!
The best part of this summer was the very last bit when my sister Megan came up to visit. We had a ton of adventures and wore ourselves out laughing. I'm planning to talk about some of that in upcoming blog posts, but at the moment we're bogged down with tons of "Prepping for Winter" projects that doesn't allow me much time online.

​Here's the link to my latest column, which goes into detail describing what the above photo is all about:  www.juneauempire.com/news/sweat-and-driftwood-building-from-scratch/

In addition, since this post is so short after not having put anything up for a while, I asked my sister to add a wonderful short video from her visit here. It was taken after a skiff ride to Meyers Chuck to pick up the mail. My dad and I were loading up the skiff down at the dock while Megan was in the post office picking up the last few packages.

Suddenly she heard me and my dad yelling at the top of our lungs: "MEGAN! MEGAN!"

She thought someone was having a heart attack and ran out onto upper part of the dock and looked at us. We pointed toward the middle of Meyers Chuck harbor and she started filming. Here is a link to the video.

​When we got to the dam, she asked if I'd allow her to start the pump. "Jamie taught me how to start the generator," she said, mentioning my oldest brother who she lives next door to in the nearby village of Meyers Chuck. "This looks like the same sort of thing."

It pretty much was, so I told her to go for it. She just needed to fill the tank with gas first, which she promptly did, looking quite fashionable in her wilderness-girl-chic style.

​Once she'd filled the pump she went about starting it. Happily, since it was summer it didn't have to be primed, like in the cold winter months. It also didn't need ether to kick it in the pants. A.C. pulled on the recoil a few times but the pump was positioned too high for her to be able to pull on it as strongly as needed.

I changed places with her and it started instantly. I told her, truthfully, that she'd warmed it up for me. It doesn't usually start that easily, even in the summer months.

We escaped the racket of the pump by going down on the beach and I suggested she reveal what she had inside her purse. I'm sure my readers would be fascinated to know what a wilderness girl thinks is essential, especially if she was to get lost in the woods and thrown back upon her own resources.

​A.C. obligingly pulled items out, noting them aloud as she perched them on a drift log: "...a pack of cards, a foil packet of Pop Tarts, assorted bracelets..." Then she held up two small bottles with an air of significance. "Two different shades of fingernail polish."

"A girl likes to look her best, even if she's lost in the wilderness," I suggested.

"That's very true," she agreed without smiling.

A.C. pulled out a large, roughly cut...black rock?

"And a large chunk of obsidian," she remarked.

"What's that for?"

"You never know when you might need to make a bunch of arrowheads." She pulled out a wad of napkins that had ink stains on them--I thought. She corrected this impression. "They're napkins with symbols written on them. In case I get lost in the woods I can leave them behind so that people can follow me and find me."

​"Smart," I said, wondering why I'd never thought of it.

The was more: jewelry, hair pieces, a gigantic play diamond ("A girl can never have too much diamond"), a solar-powered, hand-crank flashlight, a mirror ("To help people find me when the sun flashes off it") and so many other items that I lost track. I kept expecting her to pull a floor lamp and a potted palm out of it.

Finally, though, we had to shut off the pump and then head home before the tide came in and cut us off from the floathouses. Before we left, I took a final shot of A.C. with one of Megan's Florida Flamingos. If you'd like to know more about Megan's purses and/or art, check out these links: ​www.livinthemadlife.com - www.madartdesigns.com