At Least it was Free

Where did January go? I can't believe the month is almost over. The year is off to a flying start no question!

After two weeks at sub -40 temps we finally warmed up. It got up into the +40s, totally crazy. It melted a lot of snow and made a general mess of the roads. After almost a week the temp dropped back down to normal. We are in store for more sub -40temps this weekend tho.

My move is now almost 100% complete. I was able to get most things moved after work and on the weekend. All I had left is couch, tv table/stand, dresser and a few minor things. Last weekend Kirk and the girls helped get the rest of the big stuff. Well, Kirk drove and the girls tried to help between their fits of laughter. I'm glad they only helped with this stuff, it would have taken five times as long to move the rest of the stuff! :-) I do appreciate their help. I hated asking but I couldn't have done it without them.

Kirk just drove because he broke his hand. He was walking out the back of the Compound down a ramp he had for Duke and he slipped and fell, jamming his hand into the ground. This was on a Friday. He didn't go to the doctor until Monday to find out that it was broken. Thankfully Missy was able to talk him into going. The sad/funny thing is that on Saturday, he walked down the ramp again, and fell, AGAIN!! Does the boy not learn from his mistakes?! ;-) Luckily the second time he fell he did not further damage his hand or break anything else.

All I have left at the old cabin is my kayak and summer tires. I'm going to swing by after work to get the kayak (if I can remember where I put the tie down straps, ugh). Oh, that reminds me, I freaking finally have my car back!!!! Three weeks later...ugh. I'm so glad and thankful to have it back. It feels like a tank compared to the Focus that Ford gave me to drive. That car drove me nuts. It slid every time I stopped and spun every time I took off. My Escape actually accelerates when I want, doesn't spin and slide, stops when I want and has good traction. Novel idea! I so realized just how good of a car it is and how good it does in the snow and ice up here. I'm so happy/thankful/relieved to have it back. And I'm glad that I didn't have to pay for a rental the whole time. That would have been about $1600!! That is insane crazy! Luckily Ford had pity on me and even though the Focus drove me nuts, at least it was free.

So my car, at only 13k miles has a new transmission. They also noticed that the brake lines were cracking so they replaced them as well. Thank you for that!! Brakes would be a good thing to have! They also installed a transmission heater and a radiator cover. Those are the only things I had to pay for. Everything else was under warranty. Whew!!

Well last week I had my bankruptcy hearing. All went well. The guy actually had a sense of humor and that helped. He kind of drilled me about real estate and what I used to do in the mortgage industry. I think he thought I might have been a real estate tycoon but that is so not the case. I finally answered his questions good enough that he realized all was copacetic. So he said no further questions and I'm done. Well, I still need to wait for the official ruling and that should be a month or so but it should go through now. I'm so anxious to be moving on from that.

Not much else to report right now. I tried getting a video of what happens to boiling water in the sub -40 temps but it didn't turn out too well. I posted it on You Tube. I'm going to see if I can put a link here on my blog. It's not a great video, it's very dark but you can get an idea of what happens. When the temp drops again this weekend I'm going to try to get another video.

She's Too Dang Cute!!

It's still cold. Big shocker. :-) We are still around the -40 temps. Good news tho, we are supposed to be "warming" up by Sunday. It will "only" be in the negative teens! That will feel like we're in the Mojave Desert!

I can't remember what all I wrote about my car but Ford is not paying for a rental car. Kirk is on the slope working right now so I asked if he minded if I could use his truck. Thankfully he said yes. I was able to return the rental and pick up the truck. I really appreciate being able to use it.

I did talk to Ford today. The transmission went out in my car. Thankfully it is being covered by the warranty so I don't have to pay for anything. WHEW!! That is a huge relief. However, it's still going to be a week or so before I get my car back. Ugh. Kirk comes back on Wednesday so I need other means of transportation by then. Thankfully I got a really nice person at the dealership who said that even though a rental is not provided by the warranty (only the extended warranty) they were going to get me one. Problem is there is a long list of people needing them. At least I'm on the list and hopefully I'll get one before Kirk comes back.

I have doubly appreciated Kirk's truck. I'm also moving to the new cabin this week. Every day after work I've been taking a load of stuff over there. It's been nice doing a little at a time. I've got the bedroom moved except the nightstands. Tonight I'm going to focus on the living room and get all the stuff that's not furniture moved. I also want to try to put my bed together in the new cabin. It depends on how worn out I am by the time I get the stuff moved tho. I'm planning to stay in the new place tomorrow night. I've been in Danielle's condo but she should be back tomorrow so hopefully I'll be set to stay there. I'm going to take tomorrow night off from moving and go to an Ice Dogs hockey game. It's been way too long since I've been to a game, I'm going through withdrawals!! But I'll get the kitchen and the rest of the stuff moved Saturday. I may have to wait until Kirk gets back from the Slope to move the couch, tv stand and my dresser. I can survive without them until then. As long as my bed is in the new place I'll be good to go!

I took the picture of Clara the other night. We have a really bad static problem here. It's so dang dry. Danielle has microfiber couches and they are terrible with static. Clara was on the couch trying to lay down when I saw her beard standing up and just started laughing. I had to get a picture of it! She's too dang cute!!

Hope the new year is starting off good for everyone.

Just When You Think it Can't Get Any Colder...

Just when you think it can't get any colder it does. I thought life changed at -40. Well it's even more different (?) at -60. The ice fog is so crazy thick right now!! But only in the populated areas. Out by my cabin it's clear as a bell. Not enough people and animals around to put enough moisture in the air to create the fog. TMI alert. For those with a weak stomach you may want to skip to the next paragraph. Yes, even in the -60 temps, I went poo in the outhouse this morning! Thankfully I came out of it in tact with all my parts in working order. Nothing froze. ;-)

So yesterday was probably the toughest day I've had in AK. A friend asked a couple of weeks ago if he could stay the night at my cabin and if I could give him a ride to Delta Junction. It's about 100 miles from Fairbanks. He offered to pay for gas. I said sure why not. His flight ended up not getting in until 1am Saturday morning. Apparently the door on the plane froze shut and it took them a bit to get it open so it took forever to get the luggage.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I took Clara in to get groomed. She was looking very bad but I didn't want her to freeze so I let her hair grow out a bit and it got too much. Anyway after I dropped her off I went back out to the cabin to pick up my friend to head to Delta. As we started off to town, my transmission started acting funny. It was shifting weird. I thought it was the fluid being really cold or something. It dropped into second gear and would not shift up or down. As I got on the Parks Hwy and headed toward town the Overdrive light started flashing. I got off the Parks Hwy at Chena Pump Road and when I got to the stop light the transmission gave up. It would not engage. Not even in reverse. Nothing. Luckily I was on the far right, relatively out of the way. I put my hazard lights on and called Ford's Roadside Assistance. It's free while under warranty. My car is an 07 with only 13k miles on it so it is still very much under warranty.

So I call Roadside Assistance. After 10 minutes of going through their prompts (you think I'm exaggerating but I'm not) I finally get a person. I tell him right off I'm stuck in an intersection, it's -50 and I need help IMMEDIATELY!! He says he has to ask questions first...UGH!! Ten minutes later (again you think I"m exaggerating) he finally gets around to asking what the problem is, do I need a tow truck, do I need the police, etc. I'm biting my tongue as I try to calmly explain the situation. He puts me on hold.

Meanwhile a car pulls up behind me and sits through three cycles of the traffic light. Finally the woman gets out and walks up to me. She asks: "Is there a problem?" "Yes, my car broke down, the transmission won't work, I can't move." "You really should indicate that to others." "Um, that what my emergency hazard lights are doing!!!" "Oh, I just thought you had them on just because." She walked off in a huff. Could she have been more clueless?!

Roadside assistance comes back on the phone. He says that apparently we are having some extreme weather or something (DUH!! What doesn't he understand about it being -50??) and that it would be 4-6 HOURS before a tow truck could get there. He asks if I want to keep the call for the tow truck or cancel it. What kind of a freaking stupid ass question is that?!?! KEEP IT!!!

Then he asks: "Have you made an appointment with the Ford dealership? Are they expecting you?" To which I reply that well, I hadn't really scheduled my car to break down so I did not have the forethought to call them to set up and emergency appointment to fix my my car so, NO THEY AREN'T EXPECTING ME!!!!!!! He advised me that I needed to call them to let them know. Fine I can do that.

I called Ford. Their service dept is closed on weekends. Of course it is. I got their Quick Lane which does oil changes and such. I told the woman what was going on she said the tow company would know the drill that I just needed to give her my keys when it was dropped off. I asked her about a loaner car. She said they didn't have any but she'd put me on the list for when one was available. I asked what I could do until then and she said I should probably rent a car. Fine. Do any of the companies direct bill Ford? Not that she knew of. Would have to submit the bill and hope they reimbursed. WHAT?!?! I told her I would appreciate it if while I waited for the tow truck that she find out what I was supposed to do. She said well I just told you what you were supposed to do. We weren't getting anywhere. I'm in a freaking intersection, it's -50, and no one seems to really care. UGH I hung up with her.

I called Danielle and she said she'd come pick us up. She gave me a roadside assistance kit for my car for Christmas. I loved it. She thought I'd think it was cheesy or stupid but the geeky bus driver in me loved it. I knew it had the reflective triangles in it so I was going to put them up behind my car and just leave it there until the tow truck came. Danielle said she'd take me to a place to get a rental car so I could get around. And then I'd be able to meet the tow truck when they worked their way to me. I was #13 on their list.

While we wait for Danielle a truck stopped right next to me and it died. They had to wait for someone to come jump start their truck. I guess this was a bad corner. Several people did stop to make sure we were ok, that we had heat and weren't freezing. Thank goodness for nice people.

Danielle got there and I cracked open my roadside kit to get the flares and I saw that there was a tow strap in there!! I felt like I had hit the lottery!!! Danielle was able to tow me out of the intersection and into a parking lot. I called the tow company to let them know where my car was. They said it would probably be only an hour until they could pick it up. Sweet!!

I went and got the rental. No four wheel drives or all wheel drives available, just a front wheel drive. Whatever, I'll take it!! Only one company had cars, one wasn't renting due to the cold weather and the others were out. I was just thankful to have a car. When I drove out of the parking lot I realized just how wonderful my Escape is!!! The car spun and barely made it out of the parking lot!! I didn't realize the roads were slick. That may sound stupid but I never slid in my Escape. I think it's a combination of the awesome Blizzak tires on it and the car itself. It is amazing up here. Today I was able to actually exchange the car for one that is all wheel drive. What a difference!!

Ok, back to the story. I went and picked up Clara from the groomer. I was going to get her after I got back from Delta but it would be too late by then and she was ready. When I got there the girl was like, you went to Delta and back already?! I told her that no, my car had broken down. She felt bad and didn't want to charge me for the grooming! How awesome is that! I told her not to worry that it was under warranty so I should be ok.

After I got back in the car, the tow company called and said they were on their way. I drove over and met them and driver was super nice. He told me I didn't need to go with him to drop it off, that he knew the routine and he would hand deliver my keys to the Quick Lane at the dealership. That was cool. After he left I called the Quick Lane and apologized to the lady for being snotty earlier. She laughed and said not to worry, she completely understood. I let her know that the car was on the way.

So next I took Clara over to Missy's. I didn't want her to be with me in case I broke down. I would feel terrible if something happened to her because of that so I dropped her off.

Backstepping a little bit, remember my friend is with me. He's kind of freaking out because he needs to get to Delta to work Sunday night. I was trying several different things to help him out. I knew of a shuttle service. The owner and I drive for one of the tour companies so I called him. He said he'd do it for $200! Yikes!! I called a cab company and they said it would be $300!! Is everyone up here an opportunist? UGH!! Then I remembered that Danielle and Sonja would be driving through Delta today on their way out to CA. I asked Danielle and she said she'd be more than willing to give him a ride. Well, he wanted to get there on Saturday. he was tired, just wanted to be there. Well, I did commit to giving him a ride so whatever. At 1pm we headed out to Delta.

When we got there he topped off my tank and that's it. He didn't offer any cash for the trip back to Fairbanks. Nor did he offer to buy me a coffee, lunch, anything. He inconvenienced me and not that I was expecting anything, he didn't even offer. I was extremely hurt and felt very used. Had I have been in his position, I would have gone the next day is it would have inconvenienced everyone the least. I would have also offered more money for gas, bought lunch, etc. But with him, nothing. To his defense it did take him 24 hrs to get up to AK. He was very tired and out of it. I'll see if he does try to offer anything after he's rested up. But I'll tell you I will not do anything to help him again. My friends are extremely pissed at him and want to give him a piece of their mind. Whatever. It's done and over. I did see six moose on the drive and it was a pretty day. The second pic I took was on the drive. It's an overlook looking out over the frozen Tanana River and the Alaska Range in the distance. The sun was setting and it was absolutely gorgeous out. (BTW it was about 3pm or so, the sun is still setting pretty early here.)

So thus ended my most challenging day yet. Today is a much better day. I got the all wheel drive car and it makes a huge difference. I'm staying at Danielle's condo while she's gone so I have indoor plumbing. :-) No more pooping in the outhouse at -62. :-)

Happy 2009

Wow!! It's 2009!! How did that happen? This is the year I turn the big 4-0. I'm really looking forward to it actually. Things aren't exactly as I expected they were going to be when I turned 40 but you know what? This is going to be better than I imagined!!

I had a GREAT Christmas. I went to Arizona to visit my folks and my brother and his family. I love my family so much. Even though we are several thousand miles apart, they are the most important thing to me. I'm sooooo lucky that the are my family. Such amazing, loving, caring, supportive people. They say you can't choose your family but if I had the choice, I'd choose mine for sure. When I was younger I'm not sure I would say that but now, absolutely!!

They all live in Northern Arizona. Not the Arizona that people tend to imagine. It's cold and snowy there. Ok so not cold like AK but for AZ, it's cold. The temps were in the 20s/30s for the most part. They had over three feet of snow!! Crazy!! The thing is that snow will melt in a couple of weeks. The snow we get in AK stays all winter. It snowed almost every day I was there. We went to Laughlin the day after Christmas as is our tradition and the roads were terrible. Solid ice for about 80 miles. We weren't in a hurry and took our time. We did see several roll over accidents and jack-knifed semi's. Definitely turns your stomach when you see that but thankfully, we were fine. We had a good time. The temp was about 65, very nice! I thought it was summer!! None of us are big gamblers. I just save my change all year long and spend that. I did pretty good. The Wheel of Fortune slots were kind to me this year! ;-)

I got so see some friends from high school while there and that was fun to catch up. Their father is from Mexico and the tradition is to make tamales for Christmas. For the past several years I go to their house and make tamales with them on Christmas Eve. It is so much fun. I look forward to that every year.

Got to spend some great time with my three year old niece and four year old nephew. They are sooooooo cute!!!! OMG my niece just owns my heart. I'd do anything for her. My nephew rocks, too. They are good kids. They are loud kids, lol. When you are used to living in a cabin by yourself, being around two kids can be kinda loud. ;-) But I wouldn't have changed any of that for the world!

As it does every year the trip flew by way too fast. Before I knew it we were heading back to the airport so I could fly back. The trip down all my flights were late and I didn't get to AZ until 2 in the morning. UGH Coming back was much better and my flights were pretty much on time. I got to come back to -40 temps. YAY! LOL

Since I've been back it's just been flippin cold!! We've been down to -50. They are saying we could see -60 as well. Yikes!! Ok, I give, it's cold. But I still LOVE it here and can't imagine living anywhere else again! I had forgotten how different your car sounds in the extreme cold. It just sounds different. And it's sluggish until the things get warmed up a bit. Even running it for 25 minutes before you go anywhere doesn't really warm it up. The other joy about the extreme cold is the flat spots you get on your tires from being parked. The first several miles are bone jarring until the tires round out again. It's pretty funny as long as you don't have a full bladder. ;-) One thing I need to get in the habit of is unplugging my car before I leave the parking space...when I got in from the airport, I backed out and headed off to pick up Clara. About half-way there I realized I forgot to unplug my car Ugh I headed back looking for my extension cord along the way. I found it half in and half out of the parking space where my car was parked. Luckily I didn't damage the cord or the plug on my car. That would have been horrible if I had damaged he plug. It means I wouldn't have been able to plug it in and it absolutely would NOT start without that in this cold weather. Whew. I dodged that one. Needless to say I've been remembering to unplug my car since. ;-)

When I was in AZ before we went anywhere I kept thinking, oh, we need to warm up the car first and we don't an auto start. That sucks, Then it would dawn on me that um, well, it was 70 degrees warmer there than in AK and we don't need to warm up the car!! It's funny what you get used to. ;-)

So my big news is that I'm moving into a different cabin. I'm going to meet my new landlord today to sign the lease and put down my deposit. From November 15-December 15 I went through 85 gallons of heating oil. That's over 2.5 gallons a day. Typical usage for a small place like mine should be 1 gallon a day. I spent $200 on heating oil that month!!! Not good, especially when you consider I keep my thermostat at 60!!!!! That is ridiculous to pay that much to keep it at only 60! The cabin is very poorly insulated. I've been looking online for the past few weeks and I found a cabin that I really like. It is going to be a stretch financially to make it work but it's a place I can see myself living in for several years. I was rebuilt last summer and is all brand new inside. Are you ready for for this? It has INDOOR plumbing!!! And a washer/dryer!! OMG are you kidding me?! The walls have 4" of rigid foam insulation. It is very well built. It's kind of quirky inside and I really like that. I was worried that the cabin was going to be in a populated area and wouldn't be as private as where I live now. As much as I want a better cabin to live in I don't want to give up my privacy. The new cabin does not have anyone on either side and is on an acre of land. I really like it there. The pic is of the cabin. You can see from the front windows that it's a bit quirky.

The landlord is soooo sweet too. I was telling her of my current situation and she felt so bad for me. She kept telling me she wasn't a slum lord and would fix anything I wanted fixed. She's so sweet. She's this tiny little lady, all of five feet nothing. I think it's going to be a really good thing. I'm definitely gong to be on a budget to make it work but it's worth it. I will also be doing some driving on the weekends so that will help out.

The other pic I took from last night. Didn't really do anything too exciting for the new year. Hung out with the girls for a bit then they went to a party. Kirk and I went to dinner and then hung out and watched a couple of Kathy Griffith shows on TV. She's freaking hi-larious. Love her!! I left at 11:30 to head back to my cabin and stopped and took the pic along the way. I was in my cabin at midnight and brought the new year with Clara and it was perfect.

I hope everyone has the best year ever. I'm looking forward to '09. Been a tough couple of years but I feel like things are changing for the better. :-)