Wait a minute, we're shopping for roofing on Saturday afternoon. How'd peanuts end up in that cart?

August 18, 2019 - Sunday morning

59 degrees/foggy/breezy

Pentoga Road

It's dark, misty, and soupy outside my window this morning and I wouldn't be surprised if the Creature from the Black Lagoon might soon emerge from the pond. 

It ain't purty.

Carl the Weatherman says we're going to get some rain and thunderstorms today. God is sure making up for the lack of rain earlier this summer by giving us all we need and more now. Oh well, after drawing over 18,000 gallons of water from our shallow well to fill the pond, I'd rather the weather be too wet than too dry.

The six pieces of trim were finished Saturday morning. Once the pattern was made, cutting out the rest was simple.

The pieces will be attached once the outside covering is put on the garden house.

We made our way to Rhinelander late Saturday morning. There's not a lot to be said about the trip other than I left Rhinelander with a considerably lighter wallet than when I arrived.

We decided to purchase steel roofing for the garden house rather than the corrugated asphalt due to price, availability, and durability.  As I told Sargie, I don't want to be ninety years old and crawling up a ladder replacing the roof. The steel roofing is guaranteed for life. The other might last twenty years. 

Yep, we made a wise choice.

Once home, Sargie and I decided to go fishing. It was a beautiful evening and since tourist season has about wound down, we figured the lake would be our's alone.

We were wrong. Seems everyone in the world had congregated at our little lake to enjoy an end of the summer weekend. Camp owners were sitting on their docks. Others were in boats, kayaks, and canoes, around our favorite fishing holes while water and jet skiers zoomed past. 

We ended up doing a bit of trolling and some quick fishing. A couple of keepers were landed and turned back. In the end, we caught a lot of fresh air and beautiful scenery.

Now to shift the focus up north a mile or two; I'm delighted to share a few missives that a former student, Joanna, has been sending concerning their recent move to a very remote island community in Southeast Alaska. You'll find her a very accomplished writer and story teller.

Joanna was one of my charges many years ago, earning a masters degree while I taught for University of Alaska-Southeast. We were not only mentor/student, but also became good friends. Joanna and I once attended church together where my good buddy, Reverend Pat, was presiding and after, I treated both of us to ice cream cones. 

Attending church together was one thing, but the ice cream cones sealed the deal. Joanna became a surrogate daughter. We've kept in touch over the past decade and I've been proud of her teaching accomplishments, too many to list here. 

What I'm most proud of is her commitment to family, her parents and siblings, her husband, and son.

Have you ever met someone who was wise beyond her years? Though in her early twenties at the time, when we talked, I felt as if I was conversing with someone much older and wiser than I'll ever be in this lifetime. 

Though young in body, Jo can only be described as an old soul.

Joanna and Dave married several years ago and together, they have a toddler son, Dawson. 

My former student has been teaching in the Kenai (south central Alaska) for the past several years and has yearned to get back to the basics, a less hectic way of life. She's grown beautiful subsistence gardens, can cook, can and preserve meat and vegetables, butcher, and there's little doubt Joanna could skin a moose with a dull butter knife.

The girl's a master teacher and could have taught anywhere, but having been raised in an extremely remote community in Alaska, she yearned to return to her roots in some manner. 

Jo has done just that. She and Dave chose a very small, very remote, southeast Alaskan island community. There're three methods of travel to see Joanna and Dave:

float plane

inter island ferry/boat

swim

I highly recommend the ferry or float plane.

At one time, I supervised four interns who were full time teachers in Joanna's school district so I visited quite often.

Joanna's given me permission to reprint some of her correspondence. The name of her town isn't important, the characters, the lifestyle, and conditions are. All are fairly indicative of modern day bush Alaska and all have their unique character and personalities. 

I took this photo several years ago before arriving, via float plane, in Joanna's community

Here's the first of Joanna's correspondence:

Good morning, Professor T! I hope this email finds you both doing well.  How was your summer? If it was anything like ours has been, you must be buried under all the produce thriving in this warm weather! I've thought of you often, being in your former stomping grounds and all! We are enjoying ****** . It is beautiful, and a small, tight-knit community in which everything is within walking distance.

We have been in ***** 3 weeks today, and to celebrate this momentous milestone, we finally figured out how to get Internet!  

On the way to the dock to call the fabled, elusive Internet company to set us up (the dock is the only place we get reception), lo and behold, their company truck was parked on the side of the road! I keep telling Dave that ***** is a cross between a Wild West and Mayberry movie set, abounding with all the colorful and unique characters one would expect in such a setting. Theodore and Amos (of Apple Dumpling Gang fame) assured us they'd be by shortly and it'd be a "snap" to set us up since our home already had the satellite dishes installed. When 8 PM rolled by, we reasonably figured they'd be by some other time. Not so. In they rolled half past eight with Theodore's high school grandson and second grade daughter. First, Dave needed to move his truck closer so they could use the tail gate to hike up to the dish. He did so and had just come back in the house when they asked him to move it even closer. Apparently they still couldn't reach. Amos came in to plug in the modem, calling "Naukati, Naukati" (pronounced Knock-a-tee, a local town where he lives) and chuckling to himself over his joke. He proceeded to be confounded over the Apple iphone he had to use to install the Internet apparatus. Meanwhile, the 2nd grader started playing a musical workbench, singing along to "It's a Small World" at the top of her lungs with Amos joining in merrily. Did I mention that Dawson was down for the night in his crib? Theodore came in and it became apparent he thought himself the brains of the operation. He tried to take over, but finally allowed me to go through the setting up process as he began to dial a number. I tried in vain to tell him we don't have reception at our house. He confidently informed me, "When they can't hear you, you just have to speak "Alaskan" - softly and s l o w l y." 

A Chinese woman answered the phone. "Hewo? How can I diwect your call?" 

"Yes, this is Thoedore of Apple Dumpling Internet calling to set up Direct TV." My ears perk up....we're not getting Direct TV! 

"Sir, I lose you. You cwack up. Can't hear you." Whereupon Theodore mutters, shifting in his seat. 

"I need to set up Direct TV," he says more quietly and slowly. 

"Sir? You gone? Hear cwacking only." This goes on and on, punctuated with asides to me of tales of his 59 year-old recalcitrant sister who is trying to steal his captain's chair that his great grandfather willed him, and it soon becomes evident he is trying to set up Direct TV for someone named Sandra Johnson at 10 PM in our dining room. Ms. Chinese finally hears something of this and asks him Sandra's security question: Who was her childhood cartoon hero? He appeals to me to help him answer this question. Not knowing Sandra nor her interests, very little educated in the topic of all things cartoon, and dubious over trying to hack someone else's security question, I am of little help. He finally gives up in disgust, deciding to call it a night and try again later. As his party noisily exited our home, Dave simply shook his head in disbelief. 

All of this to say that phone connection here will continue to be an issue until we buy a booster from Amazon that will hopefully solve our problems.  I do not pretend to understand technology, but according to Dave, a booster will increase our cell signal strength at home to the point that we'll hopefully be able to call while safely ensconced in our own habitation vs. roaming to and fro across the earth seeking cell signal to devour.

We spent the first week and a half at least just cleaning our home - a double wide trailer. It was beyond dirty - filthy and grimy would be more apt. For a while, we didn't have hot water or heat.  Dave finally was able to get the hot water to work, but the furnace was something else entirely. He thought he knew the issue, but it's a rental and furnaces can cause fires (this was engraved in our memory by a story we were told about a district house going up in flames), a type of excitement we'd prefer not to endure. We finally got a hold of Branzon, aka Homer Simpson (I'm not familiar with this character myself, but am told he is categorically lazy and negligent towards his job.  The irony is that this Homer Simpson's father is Uncle Sam - i.e., a military dad) the district's head of maintenance to come over (that's another story within itself).  In the process, we met Gomer and Goober (Andy Griffith reference) and Pa (Little House on the Prairie reference, not due to his age, since he's probably in his 30's, but due to his caring, compassionate nature). Gomer and Pa were of upmost help in many ways. Pa ended up being the one who got the furnace working (notice I didn't say "fixed") and Gomer helped Dave move out all the district furniture that should have already been moved out prior to our arrival. As you may have guessed, Homer was in charge of that and though he had a month from the last tenant's move out to our move in to get the place in shape, he kept blaming the condition of the home on an accident which occurred the day before our arrival in which one of his workers was hurt. It is amazing all that he had planned to accomplish in that one day. Wink wink. Homer was supposed to come over today to look at the furnace's air intake, as according to Dave, that is why we feel like we are constantly sniffing some substance to get high. But guess what? Homer was a no show.  We do have a back up wood stove which would normally be what we'd use anyway....it's just that the woodshed is bare of any wood except what it was made with, and we haven't had time since arriving to get that together.

The living, dining, and kitchen are livable now, so I have started going to school since that is also a main priority. How many main priorities can one have? Dawson is acclimating well.  He is rediscovering former toys as though they are new. He took an airplane to bed last night. He continues to be a mischievous ray of sunshine to everyone he meets and especially loves terrorizing the therapy dog at school (school isn't in session yet, but the dog's owner is the front office secretary, who brings him to work with her). I met the principal yesterday. Isn't it funny how you can imagine how a person will look based on their voice, and get it all wrong? He seems like a very kindly person.  I still don't know anything about school yet - from the schedule to when I'm actually to begin formally working, etc. I have discovered there is the "professional" way to do business (refer back to the Internet story) and then there's the "Island way." It will be good for me to relax and let some control go!  I say "good for me" in the same way that liver or eggplant are supposedly good for me. 

Dave is doing well! The day after we arrived, the school called and wanted him to report ASAP for custodial work. They had 2 custodians who worked a combined 6 hours a day cleaning the school (K-12) and the district office and gym (an adjoining wing of the school). Apparently both custodians had medical emergencies of so grave a nature that neither are expected back to work. It looks as though Dave may have both positions, so he will be working 6 hours a day himself.  It's not a full time position, so there's no medical involved (and a way for the district to save money), but the cost of living here is such that anything is a blessing. 

Getting here was an adventure within itself! Our home in Kenai sold in record time, which was wonderful on one hand and stressful on the other....having to move so quickly. Basically, I had to wrap up Kenai's re-accreditation (another story in which the Kenai principal gifted me with an "opportunity for growth" which translated to, "I don't want this headache, so here it is!"), end school, pack up my classroom, pack up my home, fit in all last doctor visits from dental to vision, and leave by the first week of June. We were "homeless" for a month, living with my parents in Wasilla for the duration. I told them this was God's benison on them - helping them not miss us by being glad we were finally leaving them in peace!  However, during this time we were able to see the first grandchild get married, so lots of family flew in for that event, making it a quasi family reunion time. 

We drove back to Whittier, 20 foot trailer in tow (basically full of equal parts house plants and school books) to get on the ferry. So we were caught in the thick of all the striking.  That's another story in itself!  There are too many stories! Thankfully our ferry decided to strike in Ketchikan vs. Juneau, so we barely made it onto the Interisland Ferry to Hollis. We were supposed to have plenty of time between ferries, but due to all the striking, there was no place for our ferry to dock. We went round and round in circles for 4 hours until finally we could dock. The Interisland Ferry, that apparently waits for no man, kindly waited for us. I think I have several white hairs hiding out somewhere in my mane due to the peasantry striking on the ferries!

I hope all is well with you both!  Thank you again SO MUCH for your advice, encouragement, and emails written!  We're on quite the adventure, but we're enjoying it and thrilled to be here.  

Much love,

The Schneiders

I'll be publishing the occasional email from Joanna as time goes on. I already have some in reserve and no doubt, there'll be more as she and Dave navigate their way through island living.

Big storms are rumbling through the Upper Peninsula this morning. One just dumped almost half an inch of rain in less than ten minutes. Guess it'll be an inside day. Maybe I'll even get to sneak in a grandpa nap.


Sargie says she'd like some help cleaning the house and I've been designated Floor Boy, the one who vacuums and sweeps. Since I'm the only person who's been here full time this past week, Sargie's quick to point the finger and accuse me of tracking dirt and sawdust into our home.

The woman has no compassion, but as we all know, sometimes a guy has to take one for the team.

I don't know why Sargie would think I was the one who tracked in the sawdust.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road and southeast Alaska...

I was playing copilot in the float plane on my way to Joanna's community