Tag: Alaska

Alaska Adventures: It’s Cold

Alaska Adventures: It’s Cold

Whooooo! It’s been, what, a month since the last update? I don’t keep track of the days anymore. Alaska is still fun, it’s been pretty cold the last week so I’ve been huddled under blankets or in front of my fire when I’m not at work. The dogs are still a joy, a muddy joy, but a joy nonetheless. I won’t lie, I miss city supplied electricity. I’m off tomorrow and don’t have any tours planned so if it’s warm enough in the kitchen I should be able to knock out a couple of book reviews and some more chapters on my fanfictions.

Writing has been at a snail’s pace. I don’t mind writing long hand, but usually I only do it if I get stuck on something or if I’m temporarily away from my computer.

Regular showers are another thing I miss. Like, at this point I can’t definitively say when my last shower was. Maybe this week? Well, I know I’ll get a shower today since I’m at the main house, but after that? WHO KNOWS

We had some new puppies born yesterday morning. There are only three and their all black. I helped the musher this morning count them and make sure they were all right because the mama dog is pretty young and we want to make sure she doesn’t accidentally lay on one. They’re soooo cute, they’re about the size of hamsters right now. Mama is doing very well with them. So we have our set of ten week old puppies and a set of four week old puppies and now our two day old puppies.

This is such a great job.

While missing the feeling in my fingers, I’m still enjoying myself. This week has been r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s with the cold and wet. Even the mushers who live up here said it has been too cold this week. I think it’s been in the low forties and raining every day. I’m really hoping for that mid-sixties summer I read about online.

I went whale watching last week and got a cool video of a humpback female named Flame doing a dive. We also saw sea lions and bald eagles and it was a gorgeous day for being on a boat, too. There was no wind and the water was glassy smooth. It was a wonderful three hours. The captain turned off the engine for about half an hour since we were the only ship on the water and it was so peaceful I could understand why some people love boating and sailing so much.

We also went past Kodiak Island, the island with the largest concentration of brown bears in Alaska.

I hiked up to Mt. Gastineau, the lower portion of Mt. Roberts and got some great views of the channel and Juneau. Once you get up high enough the eagles glide maybe twenty feet above your head as they coast down to the channel looking for lunch. There was still some snow up top and there were a perilous few minutes where I had to cross a snow/ice patch along the trail with a steep drop on one side. But it was a good day and our company has tram passes so we can go up for free whenever we want. I want to take a notebook up there and hangout for an afternoon and see what my mind spins out. That rocky trail had my high fantasy mind in overdrive the whole time.

So, until next time I get to shower, have fun out there!

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Alaskan Adventures/Writing Updates

Alaskan Adventures/Writing Updates

Well, here we are, Day 6 of Alaska Adventures. I’m down in the main house sitting in the delightful heated kitchen with wifi and electricity and indoor plumbing only a room away. It’s been…a character building experience so far. The cabin I’m in is waaaaay more rustic than I originally thought. I’m actually in a dry cabin the generator powered electricity and water are in the common kitchen and bathroom. That’s fine and all, but the water pump is currently frozen so the camp does not have any running water. Good news, a quarter mile from the cabins are the outhouses guests use when tours start up.

Lemme tell you, walking a quarter mile through cold drizzle and old growth forest at 2am to pee is an experience. I have never in my life believed more in Bigfoot than I did during that long cold walk through the pitch black darkness with nothing but a headlamp.

The cabin is unfinished. There’s no insulation whatsoever and that tiny woodstove doesn’t do much. So lots of character building has happened the last 6 days.

But the dogs are cute. All 180 of them. I know about 30 of their names right now and routinely forget my 6 coworkers’ names. So I’m still on brand. We did some test runs yesterday with the teams and those dogs can haul. It was so much fun. Tours start Monday and Sunday is dedicated to more test runs and I’m really looking forward to that.

But, right now in the kitchen one of the dock managers and drivers are regaling us with some incredible tales of ship shenanigans. I’m loving being here. Also, these two are amazing cooks. They made scratch three cheese macaroni with ham a couple nights ago and tonight they’re doing a company dinner that is either going to be prime rib or roast.

So I’m having fun. Nights are a little rough still. I’ve bought three more blankets since I got here and the stove doesn’t hold enough wood to get through the night so unless you wake at 1am and toss three more logs on you’re going to wake up cold.

There’s also a pack of wolves somewhere on this island and there’s a bear that creeps around the main house down here. I’m looking forward to the tours starting because we get comp’d or do a straight switch with some companies. Most of my writing is going to be longhand because I’m not sure the generator will be able to efficiently charge my computer, but we’re going to see how it goes. I know at least once a week I’ll be able to get down here to the main house and do laundry and shower and get online.

Updates will be sporadic, but I’ll start getting pictures up on the next post.

oOo

As for writing! I haven’t done any of that in six days. But I have a plan sketched out for Constellations and plenty of jelly beans. If I get this chapter knocked out today then I should be able to get it posted next week after I get it proofed. By firelight no less. I’m really getting into method writing for this story. Here’s hoping I can avoid supernatural night monsters and life threatening dehydration.

Also!! Yes, this does call for double exclamation points, I have an idea for a Soundwave/Shockwave story. I’ll be writing that by firelight as well. But I’m sticking to my two WIP limit so until either Spark or Constellations is finished you won’t be seeing that one. But now you know it’s there.

I still want to post my Shiro angst but that can wait. I’m still trying to find my footing here so writing has been nonexistent. But hopefully once tours start and I have a better idea of routine and schedule it’ll be easier to get the words out. I need to make a writing nook in my cabin, preferably near the fire.

Things I’ve made headway on since the last update: Decepticon Ratchet story hesitantly titled One Sun in the Sky, a Prowl/Red Alert story with the working title of Midnight, a William Lennox story—gasp!—with the working title of Will because I’m practical like that, and a Blaster/Ratchet—fight me—story with the working title Blaster, because again, practical.

As far as writing goes, things are moving slow, but they’re still happening. So if I don’t get eaten by a bear or run over by a dog team, updates will be forthcoming in the next two weeks!