I was mainly working on setting up all the underground stuff, so foundation, wiring to the grid, that sort of stuff. All hard construction, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. My work involved a lot of shoveling, concrete mixing (we had a truck unlike those silly guys at titcomb who are doing it by hand), and jumping jacking (no not the exercise, instead using a compactor). When it wasn't windy the bugs came out like made, no skin could be exposed or else you were in trouble.
Here I am jumping jacking away...
Yeah not so much fun, though my forearms are much more ripped than before. Basically the thing bashes the ground at something like 13 times a second and I walk it around the dirt a couple times compacting it, then more dirt gets put on, then more compacting, it was pretty much an endless process. Luckily it wasn't as bad as our 17.5 hour day (we ended well after midnight) pouring concrete, all day, no lunch break. I barely had time to run to grab a snack out of my backpack. Luckily we only had two super long days like that.
Oh yeah did I mention it was beautiful?
Yeah seriously gorgeous. One day we got off early so I helped Paul (a local guy hired to help run the dump trucks and loaders and do general labor work) set his net out. There is basically very few ways for locals to make money, most rely on the PFD. You know that thing you make fun of Alice and I for, our free money. They get some food flown out (oh and gas is $7.25 a gallon, so you have to pay for that too). But a large portion of their food comes from subsistence fishing. So Paul and I set his net out and waited for the salmon to swim in...
I went to check the net the next day (another short day), but there were 4-6 foot seas off the lake so I risked losing the net all together. While we worked the next day, Paul's wife and son brought in 350 fish from just over a day and a half of fishing. Paul let me have as many as I wanted as it was more than enough for his family for the summer. He'll catch another 100 or so for the dogs.
I went over to his house to get some smoked fish before I took off to the big city. The first dry the fish for a few days outside (left), then throw it in a salt brine to
preserve it and give it the taste they want, then finally put it in the smoker for at least two weeks (right).
After that the fish is good for the entire winter. Paul likes to go around when they are smoking and take tastes of the tips as they finish smoking. So I got a healthy dose of freshly smoked salmon.
So besides flying in food, you can get some food at the local Wal-Mart... well not so much a Wal-Mart. The general store was not exactly the place to look for low prices. It was $7.50 for my thing of Oreos, almost $9 for some peanut butter, and over $3 for a thing of salt that's normally around a buck. We also had a bustling post office. Open only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for about an hour after the mail plane arrives.
And since everyone seems to be posting photos of their great living arrangements here's mine. I lived in a one bedroom apartment with someone already in the bedroom. So I slept on a cot in the kitchen/dining/living room. We had zero counter space, a microwave, fridge, sink, and stovetop oven. We made a toaster out of old copper wire to hold bread above the electric stove... classy. Anyway no pictures of the inside, but here's the outside with my car I drove to work every morning. It got really cold sometimes (also note the batman sticker).
But after 3 weeks, I got to leave, but not after a short trip up to Lake Gibraltar for some great views. Oh right did I mention it was beautiful?
So now I'm back in Anchorage, probably won't go back to the office, might try to find a more fun job, though doubt I can this late for that short of time. McCauley just showed up tonight and is living at my house for a bit until he finds an apartment or something (He's working for Alice's Dad). I've seen Chelsea a few times (she's up in Sarah Palin country up north of me), but we're planning on driving down the Alaska Highway sometime in August. She seems to be doing well leading kayak trips around the Wasilla area. And Elar if you read this, call me when you get back to cell range and we'll have a beer when you get back to Anchorage.
if anyone else is headed up my way let me know. I will also probably be road tripping around out west with Tom C. at some point in September so I might see some of you guys then!
-answoon
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