February rolled through the Middle Yukon River Valley this year, one blizzard after another following a chilling, but beautiful, January where temperatures, for the most part, hovered near or below minus 40. Sunshine, at least for the early part of the day yesterday, streamed in from the south/southwest over flat refuge lands and reminded us that March is on the way. Rays held a gentle heat, just enough to tease my senses and prod me to go down to the snow covered beach and fall asleep in the sun to soak up some sunshine with parka, snow pants and boots on. But, on a par with our February weather track, last night brought yet another blizzard. Cloudy skies from the Bering Sea came first, ghosts of the sky covering up the sun after a clear day, followed by whipping wind gusts and snow that would make any Middle Yukon traveler caught out in the storm search for shelter.    

        I know spring is not far away now and, yet, one storm after another (this one being no exception) blasting high winds, inches of sideways flying snow and drifts that, by now, are over my head in some places, all take a toll on the winter weary (especially when you’re trying to get to the outhouse in the middle of it all). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to complain (well, maybe I do, just a little)…all of this snow is amazing. I have lost track how much is actually in the woods. I do know that Sam jumped off the snow machine “out back” a week or so ago and went up to his armpits. Makes for difficult travel if you don’t have your snowshoes or a good hard trail to follow!

Reality wise, it is what it is. And although you might find me grumbling a little (or Sam smiling at all of this snow), what it really comes down to is that our blizzards, incessant snowfalls, high winds, frigid temps and the beauty and hardship that sneaks out around and between it all is just Alaska. Challenges here, especially during the dark, long winter months when hardship just seems harder than at other times of the year, are all part of why we live here and all part of why Alaska can “kick you in the butt” if you’re not careful (and she’ll kick hard if she wants to). For us, the toughness of it all forces challenge, challenge forces change and change creates the motivation to live life with fervor and the determination to keep doing it again and again, day after day. *It can make you really, really tired, increase hair loss and turn hair from blonde to grey fast too!

 

        As Alaskan “bush rats”, we have to continually strive to make everything work and keep things working. We have to be creative and flexible to embrace the challenges of life. On a day-to-day basis we have to come up with solutions to continuous problems and there never seems to be a shortage of them. In the end, we have to come face-to-face with making decisions, implementing changes and living with ourselves. And that is where we are intrinsically different than probably the vast majority of people in the United States in this day and age (although tough times right now are causing many to change). Out here, you can’t avoid the things about yourself, the decisions you make or the situations you find yourself in like you can on the road system (where you can focus on all of the places you go everyday and the fast pace, with lots of opportunities to avoid some of the more challenging complexities of life). Out here, every day, you have to learn to live with yourself, look deep within yourself and let all the extra stuff go that just gets in the way. You have to be able to forgive yourself for the mistakes you make in life and keep trying until you work it out and get it right. Out here, you have to embrace the quiet and space - and, with time, you begin to recognize that the silence of the woods is really not silence at all but, rather, a series of whispers, layer upon layer, that make up the wilderness…the energy of wood and wild, mountain, sky and sun reacting to each other as shadows of a greater beyond. Out here, the environment, the challenges and the hardships force you to deal with them, because if you don’t, they’ll grind you up and spit you out. You have to learn to claw your way through life, to get down on your hands and knees and crawl on the top of the trail to stay afloat if you don’t have your snowshoes with you, to keep going and look for new trails in the expansive wilderness of change and challenge and, not only see them, but be willing to follow them…be willing to take one well thought out risk after another to piece it together, to make it work and keep going.

 

        This blog was inspired by following recent economic events over the internet, my experiences job searching from the bush and communication with friends all around the world who are beginning to make difficult changes to their lives due to the global economic crisis, the changes we have and continue to make to our entrepreneurial plans at this time of global economic uncertainty, recent books I have read (see below) and listening to a few international short wave radio stations including Melbourne, Australia (where it is summer right now) and other English speaking shortwave stations. We also get stations from China, Japan and Russia but, unfortunately, for the most part they are not in English (except for the occasional Beetles obsession station) and contrary to popular opinion, (and I’ve looked) I can’t see Russia from my house. I even looked extra hard and long on a crystal clear flight from Ruby to Fairbanks in January with no success. I’ll know it when I see it, though, because it’s red. Right?

 

A few books I have read (and reread) that have influenced my thinking as of late have been: