stories1

My Treehouse Adventure

Way back so many years ago,I had a penchant
for living in the forest free from rent & leases
and the trappings of civilized society.

After all,I was young and wild,wore camo I
picked up at the surplus store and packed
a 12 gauge shotgun and 44 magnum pistol.

The police didnt appreciate me excesizing
my right to keep and bear arms or as I put
it,The right to keep and arm bears.

I didnt have an actual residential address
and the powers at be kept telling me its not
fair that they have to pay rent and i live
in the woods for free.

A church I was attending at the time had
the same ideas and unbeknownst to me
or so they thought were trying to figure
out where i was camping and would have
church goers tail the bus to report to the
Police where my trail was to get me busted.

As if its a crime to enjoy the peace and quiet
of forest living.

I had several trails that went nowhere and
i knew where city property ended and posted
rather unfriendly signs to warn the PD that
thats where city property ended and they are
now downrange.

I had those idiots on their tippy toes for sure.

Back in 2004 I found myself in Juneau again
as i was off to a small community to see a
young man graduate from High School.

Unfortunately he didnt even care about
studying or getting good grades but instead
enjoyed getting drunk on alcohol and trying
to smoke Jamaica under the table.

His mother begged the school not to flunk
him which he deserved as he had mostly
F's and a couple D's.

Some arrangements were made and hegot
a "C" average by some miracle and graduated
with his friends.

And what did he do withe the diploma he didnt
work for? Military? College? Trade School?
Nope not a damn thing at all.NOTHING.

He just didnt give a hoot about anything except
Partying Hard.Its a real dissappointment in my
eyes.

Upon arriving to the State Capitol, i made my way
to the grocery store a short walk from the
airport and bought some grub then called a cab
and went to North Douglas and was dropped
off at a certain mile marker.

The trail was about a quarter mile from where
the cab dropped me,security yanno?

Theres a culvert going under the road draining
a runoff stream and you step off the drain into
the runoff stream and go up about 50 feet into
the forest and theres the trail,this is why
the church goers could never find the real trail.

It was quite the walk all uphill and found that
the forest had grown so much.

Upon reaching the old treehouse i could see
it was undisturbed the entire time.

The old Briggs generator i had rescued from
the Harris Harbor dumpster with a siezed
piston i had gotten to work again was still
in the gennie box i built under the structure
and although the weather and salt air had
taken its toll it still worked as i had taken it
back home to Willow and used it a fair number
of years.

I had to ship it tothe Port of Anchorage of
course but it had a battery start on it.

I climbed the ladder and opened the hatch
and found everything intact and the roof
hadnt leaked a bit.

How did I get all that lumber up the mount,
I milled it with an old McCulloch chainsaw
i rescued from the same dumpster and it was
a lumber jack saw with a 6 ft bar.

It would cause your hands to turn white
as it was a beast.
The other things like roofing and sealant
and such i would haul in my backpack.

Upon entering the old girl,everything was
as time had frozen still.

The coffee cups were there and my cupbards
held what i had left.
The eating utensils and cookware all held in
place by some unseen force.

I opened the cupboard to find my can of coffee
still unopened and my double burner coleman
gas stove all there.
I had bought a 2 gallon gas can and some gas
to bring up to cook with.

I hauled the pack up the ladder with rope
still where i left it and unloaded my supplies.

My old weed pipe i made from brass parts
at the local hardware still there.

I had a bit of dusting off to do but not much.

I got the water pail and walked to the runoff
stream to fill it up,the water coming from
the mountains is icy cold and makes gold
prospecting a rigorous freezing endeavor.

I fired up the old stove and cracked the can
of coffee and poured myself a nice cup of Joe.
I brought some half n half with me and some
sugar cubes to add to my cup.

Next I fired up that old pipe and enjoyed a
modest bowl. Dinner went well and although
the cast iron pan had gotten a bit rusty over
years,a bit of sand from the stream and a lot
of scrubbing restored it.

I made an old favorite,Blue Cheese Burgers
and some fried taters.

The candles I had left were all still there
and provided the light i needed as the forest
gets dark at night.

The usual footsteps of amazingly Big Black
Bears were on the nights entertainment.

I spent a whole week there and enjoyed
my time as i once did when much younger
more wild with all the ideals of Alaska.

Its really quite a wonderous thing being in
the woods and although I live far north of
the old girl,I still have the woods around me
and have my very own log cabin and as the
police would say,a residential address.

Peace,BigT

Dumpster Diving

Many years ago when in my teens,
I was digging thru dumpsters to find
treasures and soon found out that the
grocery stores had fine digs.

One day when at the local grocery I
stumbled upon yogurt,cookies and ice
cream so i loaded up and put them in the
car but my mother told me its no good and i will
get sick if i eat it so i took her at her word being
she was MOM.

Some years later out on my own I had fallen
upon hard times and money was scarce being
summer was over and work had dried up til it
snows which i would then go out and shovel
driveways for cash.

I found myself resorting to dumpster diving
in which there was food aplenty.
I soon learned when the barge was coming down
the channel the grocers would toss everything
even if it was close to expiring.

The employees would box up meats and such and
put the boxes in the corner....I had misgivings about
eating food that was thrown out because of what
my mother had told me but discovered all sorts
of things i couldnt afford.

66 cases of mandarin oranges 32 cases of bananas
10 cases of mushrooms and it was all good not rotten.
Then i found a dozen cases of haagen das ice cream,
peaches,nectarines,grapes and doritos and potato chips.
I had a car and i would load it with food then run over
to low income housing and give it away.

There was a charity in the valley that would take whatever
i brought them and although i did state how I aquired
it they would take it anyway.

I wasnt just the King of Dumpster Diving,I became
a God of Dumpster Diving.

Often times I would meet families out doing it and
we would compare notes and do some trading.

I helped many people with food and got a van to make
huge runs,Our Capitol City was tossing food to go to
waste all the while writing it off as a loss.

The shelter would get all the rotten or half rotten
food from the stores as a gesture of good will while
i was pulling out fruit and goodies without blemish
from the same stores dumpsters.

The huge amount of food all good is wasted without
care that it could be given away.

I have to stop here because this story only gets worse.
I was a God of Dumpster Diving for 5 years til I
came to Los Anchorage.

Seems the Powers of our illustrious Capitol City
put an end to a good thing permanantly.

Peace, BigT

Stevens 12 Gauge Shotgun

Many many moons ago when I was just 18,
I purchased my first shotgun and it was a Stevens.

It was already an antique but i couldnt have
gotten a better deal. The price was $100
and i didnt personally purchase it as
I traded labor for it at $10 an hour from
a guy named Bart.

I thought it was a smashing deal til
I began to realized what labor was really
worth.

I had to tear up old linoleum tiles from a
large kitchen and dining area.

So i had worked for it and it served me well
as i would pack it everywhere.

I lived in the forest and the PD didnt take too
kindly I was carrying major firepower...

The right to keep and bear arms only works
if all involved play by the same rules.

The PD wanted me to leave it at camp so they
could go and take it but I live in the Tongass
which they couldnt go,another of their
suggestions was to leave it in the bushes
by the road so they could take it.

I was careful not to reveal i had a 44 mag
in my coat as I was not unarmed when they
thought I was.

That old gun saved me a bunch of times
but not from bears as you might guess,
Them pesky 2 legged critters.

I packed the shotgun on my hunting trips
which since I lived in the forest it was hunting
season anytime.

Have you ever had Porcupine? Darn Tootin Tasty.

Although they are easy to catch with an old
sleeping bag,I would have quills to sell to
a lady for $50 a tub,the old Gold n Soft tub.

It was real easy to make that and would only
take an hour. See $50 an hour ...

The shotgun was there for my protection and
it came in handy so many times but in all the
years of packing it Ive never had to pop a bear.

I did pop a few two legged critters with rubber
buckshot and one critter with bird shot,I told
him to say it was a hunting accident.

That old Stevens went the distance til it
malfunctioned and a trip to a gunsmith
revealed the part was unavailabe and therefore
all done being closer to me than my mother.

The new love of my life is a Remington
Wingmaster model 870 from an old friend
as a trade and a good one too.

Although there are 2 legged critters in the
neighborhood i just pay them no mind.

Willow has grown so much and so now
theres less A-Holes out here,perhaps
one will stand out and again but who knows.

Farewell Stevens.

BigT

My Windows 11 Experience Redux 2X

I was told I was the Most Manic Person
in the known universe and rightfully so.

Stuff happens and i tore my entire
system completely apart hosing
the whole thing and it went to hell in
a handbasket but that didnt stop me
so i install an upgrade to windows 11
and the whole process was a complete
nightmare only because i didnt understand
what I was doing and spent 3 days trying
to figure it out.I mustve lost it real good.

I did everything wrong and was freaking
out really bad then for some reason
I went back to Windows 10 only to find
i had 2 win 10 partitions,each with
half my 1 TB M.2 NVME drive.

Yeah I really screwed that up,
im my own tech so i shouldve known this.

So all these months later I am calm
and thinking happy thoughts.
So a couple weeks before PFD day
i went window shopping over at
Newegg, read the reviews for
Other peoples insight and tips.

Check out their specs sheet too for
technical data.

I set my eyes on an X570 Unify.
Back when it came out it was a really
expensive board but i got it for
a song and dance. Cost on sale $229
2nd day UPS is 5 days where
I live way out in the woods.

The board came out in 2020
Meg X570 Ace $369
Meg X570 Unify $550
Meg X570 Creation $700
Meg X570 Godlike $900
I bought it on a Fire Sale

I bought the bleeding edge tech
for this rig.
WD Black SN850X Gen 4 Lightning
M.2 NVME @7300 mbs or 7.3 gbps...

I gathered the parts and finally
pulling my victim out of its cubby
hole.Then a horrific experience
kinda sorta,I had to deep clean
the whole computer really good.
Always remember the back panel
as dustbunnies will get in back
there.....whistling innocently

Im using A Corsair RMX 850w
Power supply i bought 6 years ago.
Corsair comes with a 10 year
warranty and so far i am pleased.

This makes the 3rd computer
this power supply has serviced.

Once it was all clean i read in the
Reviews section the back IO on the
board didnt quite fit in place as it
would cause janky placement
for the board holes.

I had that problem myself
and it was a real bugger getting
my board mounted....

Now Ive completed the build and
Im doing a clean install of
windows 11 from a usb stick
and it took about 20 seconds
to install and went on its merry
way to complete the setup,
you create an outlook
email as a new email account.
It wouldnt accept my Gmail
claing it was already a MS account.

The entire process was so painless
and done correctly and I was
amazed that i mustve completely
lost my mind for something
this simple could go oh so wrong.

To get to the other directory when
you right click is "show more options"

Programs You Need To Install.

Avast Antivirus Basic Free
Spyware Blaster
Crystal Disk Info (gives tech data for SSD)
VLC Media Player

Finally I will say that although you
are dead set on windows 10 it
all ends January 2025 so dont
be a holdout and just go transition
to windows 11 and to keep from
ending up with 2 partions,do
a clean install instead.

Overall Ive had a delightful
experience and reccommend you
take the plunge now vs later on
down the line.

One more thing,I used
my Win 10 product key to
activate my clean install.
Well Schucks,Thanks Microsoft.

BigT-Editor

Video Editing

Way back in 2010 I was introduced to You Tube and I began making videos.
I found MS Movie Maker and downloaded it.
There was a tiny learning curve but it wasnt really a problem.
The program was easy to learn and after a while i became proficient with it.
And as we all know MS deemed it end of life a few years back.
I searched the internet for a free video editor and found a bunch but most turned out to be lame except for one.
It is a free to download open source editor called OpenShot.
Its actually a simple program with effects,transitions and titles.
So i downloaded it and installed.
Back then I had an AMD 8350 FX computer with M.2 drive and 16gb DDR3 1866 mhz memory.
As it turned out I had minimum system requirememnts.
As i found out the fancier i wanted my video,the more memory I needed as video editing is memory intensive.
I now have a better computer with 32gb DDR4 3600 mhz and what a difference that made.
My previous setup struggled while editing and previewing.
OpenShot is actually very easy to use and I installed it and used it last night.
I do have a Pinnacle editor which is quite involved with limited free tutorials but is aiming for your wallet with paid tutorials.
It hard crashed last night and will not work.
Im guessing a fresh install will hopefully fix it and yes I paid $90 bucks for it a couple years back.
I dont see the point of Paid Tutorials,its aggravating and apparently has stability issues which compounds my grief.
Ive crashed that program a half dozen times.
This time I will try the fresh install but will continue to use OpenShot for the foreseeable future.
https://www.openshot.org

Remember its FREEWARE and wont charge you a penny to use or update it.

The reccommended system requirements is a 64 bit Operating System with 16gb memory.
however with only 16gb youll find the preview a little stuttery which doesnt show itself in the video file or upload.
Im advising you to use at least 32gb of DDR4 memory.
I have an M.2 NVME SSD which really helps a lot but a regular SSD will do.
In conclusion, I reccomend this program cuz I use it and it works well,pretty basic.
One last note,the scissor icon when pressed give you a cutting tool placed over the clip,left click to cut where you want then press the icon again to put away the scissor,otherwise you will drive yourself crazy trying to figure out why it wont go away.

BigT.

Computer Gaming 1997 to Now

It all started in 97 when I bought my first PC.
It was an Acer,2mb onboard video with 16mb of PC 66 sdram.
It also had a 1 gb Hard Drive.
I began to figure out it needed lots more memory (128mb PC 133 sdram) and a 3D video card namely a pair of 6mb 3dfx Voodoo 2 cards for a whopping 12mb of 3D video.
I got into Janes games.
Janes made a bunch of military type games and laid my hands on Carmageddon,Wargasm and some 2D games like Atari,Asteroids and such.
I began spending oodles of time playing and was forgetting I needed to do housework.
When I built my win98 se gaming computer I got into IGI,Freelancer and F15 strike eagle then came IL2 Sturmovik and I fell madly in love.
Sturmovik was as real as it get.
Realistic takeoffs and landings,crash landings and mid air collisions.
I spent so much time flying that i simply neglected every chore i had and when it got chilly I would fire up the woodstove from scratch so I put the computer downstairs near the Blaze King so I could keep an eye on it.
Back then 3dfx was king and I began upgrading each computer to get its full potential.
There were faster Hard drives like 7200 rpm better video and faster memory.
Just before DDR came out there was RDram which came in pairs.
512 mb each or 1 gb each.
It was crazy expensive,required a compatable main board and was paired with an Intel CPU.
I had an extreme single core 3.2 ghz Pentium 4 i believe.
But since it was so expensive it didnt catch on the DDR1 came out and wasnt as costly and it won out.
Back in the day my command centre consisted of 4 computers.
One was ripping CDs and digitizing cassette tapes to preserve my music collection.Another was a gaming computer with a AMD thunderbird 1.4 ghz single core processor.
Another a win98 machine and one for playing movies and music.
Yeah i know right?
It was madness!!
I got a board i believe in the win xp days and it had dual sata 150 ports and i became introduced to RAID 0.
shoot it was so new the motherboard came with a converter to plug into your IDE drive to run on SATA.
My games kept getting fancier.
Battlefield 1942 and the Desert Combat mod plus all the add ons.
Ive spent so much time immersed in Battlefield that I killed more Nazis than actually died in WW2.
a couple years back I decided to build a win7 Retro PC for my 2008 games collection.
Its not worth anything now but to me it is.
Fallout3,Grid,Prey1,Unreal tournament 3,Call Of Duty World At War and Battlefield Bad Company 2 that has a single player offline mode.
I mainly have that rig because no internet is required to install,activate the serial or play.
I was and still am planning a move to a place where Internet is spotty so i can still have a gamer but now due to health concerns it may not happen.
When i die my concience will be absorbed into the Battlefield 1942 server,ya think?
Im now an occaissional gamer,theres more to life than spending all day immersed into an artificial world but it sure was fun.

BigT

My AliExpress Experience

It all started in July when I was looking for a quad core for my 2008 offline gamer.
Well A****n had one for 70 but it was 15.99 with free rickshaw delivery from AliExpress so i went that route,the seller did get my name and address right but then it said,Willow,USA.00688
Then theres the finger pointing.

The parcel was coming from Shenzen,China
delivery time 20 days/
It has been 3 months and according to tracking it visits Florida and Puerto Rico reqularley.
I requested a replacement and was told no so I asked for a refund and got the same answer so then i opened a dispute with AliExpress but was denied because it landed in Sabanos Hoya,Puerto Rico 00688
AliExpress sent me notice that my package is waiting at my local Post Office for pick up so they considered the parcel delivered and the matter settled,i did dispute the charge at the credit union but ill have to wait and see.

I opened a dispute at my local credit union and AliExpress gave me a prompt refund.
So those guys are fine to order from,just check your address and contact details.

On a brighter note I recently ordered the same cpu from Amazon for 29.99 plus 4.99 for shipping and got it in 4 days
Here it is.
AMD Phenom X4 9750 2.4 ghz Quad Core 95w CPU. Socket AM2+

The quad made all the difference in the world,It used to take a minute to post then a minute to boot but now the whole process takes about 25 seconds.
I am just completely stoked
This offline gamer sports Windows 7 Pro 64 bit...

I even put an SSD in it and man its doing great.

Now comes the W H Y ?

I had the grande idea to go offline one of these days.
Sure Internet is handy but at what cost?
The whole planet is getting plugged in.
I cant escape it.

Games I like are:
Unreal Tournament 3
Dethkarz
Free Lancer
IL-2 Sturmovik 1946

My offline gamer is a great little rig and Im very happy with it.

BigT

Never Judge A Book

Way back in 1985,when I was 18 yrs old I was fresh on my own working various labor jobs to make money to save for the house i wanted among other things.
I remember being at the Federal building standing under cover with some other guys smoking cigarettes and then this guy comes walking down the street.
He obviously was born with birth defects and developmental disabilities so the guys would make fun of him and call him a retard.
That didnt sit well with me,,I mean he was out for a walk.
One day I got a light labor job clipping some ladys grass around all of her flower beds.
She gave me the hand clippers and a pouch for the grass clippings,she was meticulous with her instruction and that I would be on my hands and knees all day so I got started.
At some point earlty afternoon I had to use the bathroom both number 1 and number 2.
I knocked on the door and asked to use the bathroom and she let me in and when I was done she asked if I would like a glass of fresh lemonade which i accepted.
As I was drinking this and quenching my thirst as it was sunny and warm outside I was looking on a chest with photographs and saw the guy everyone called a retard.
I asked the nice woman if this is a picture of her brother?
No she replied,and what she said next put me in a humble mood.
This is my husband and these are our children!
I was taken aback so she told me the story,She was a young woman and knew him and he surely back in those days would have ended up in an Asylum for his entire life,so she realized that if she gave him a chance at a better life he would have opportunities to better himself.
So she married him and became his wife and fathered quite a few children that turned out normal.
I was having an AHAH moment.
Here I was using his toilet in his bathroom,drinking his lemonade out of his glass and standing in his beautiful house working diligently on my hands and knees clipping his grass.
It was a humbling moment for me and when I was finished with my work she inspected the job and paid me what we had agreed on and i went on my way.
As I was walking down the street an old saying came to mind,Never Judge A Book By Its Cover.

Peace,BigT

Alaska My Home

Ever since 1985 when i arrived in Alaska with 52 dollars in my pocket and being told I wasnt going to make it,well fast forward,I still am here,37 yrs, and I have my own home and land,Ive come so far.
Ive enjoyed the splendor of SE Ak and South Central and the Interior.
Back in 93 I spent a month in Fairbanks to check it out and see if its a good fit until i learned of the air quality issues..41 ppm, Tok 14 ppm.
So i didnt move there but i had a good time.
I learned that food at the grocery stores up there are a bit spendy but not Bush prices.
I did a little prospecting and found the mosquitoes are big as birds and taking a crap in the bush is deadly,those critters will suck all your blood out before you can pull your britches up and yes they attack your privies.
But that aside i drove the hwy system up here plenty of times and finally settled on Willow.
My requirements were an hour from the hospital and grocery store.
Turns out Wasilla back in the day there was very little and only had one stop light.
Carrs was of course the only choice and their prices were a bit spendy so id drive to Costco to grocery shop but thats all the way into Anchorage so id bite the bullet and hit Carrs and if you watch for it you can get meat on sale.
Back then it was 20 below by Halloween so I would store my freezer goods in my truck cab.
Right now its 20 degrees and threatening to snow.
We are all in the thick of Climate change and its so obvious,I havent seen 40 below zero in so long too.
I used to love fishing and small game hunting.
When I first moved to Willow,there was so much game around I rarely had to go off the property.
Thats all changed now and those critters have been hunted out years ago in my neck of the woods.
Yanno I love my log cabin and the life that I have.
Ive lived in the Last Frontier since I was 18,I was such a dumb kid back then.
Smaller communities on the road system are worth visiting.
I like going to Sunshine to Cubbys, and visiting Talkeetna in winter....its a Tourist hotspot so i avoid going there except to stop into the cafe...
To Sum it all up Im really happy i didnt hitch hike to Chicago when Mom tossed me out. I feel fortunate.

Peace, BigT

My First Recharchables

Wayyy back in my late teens about 19 yrs old I had a pocket cassette with radio and batteries only lasted about 4 hours so i discovered rechargeable batteries at the hardware store for 40 bucks for 4 so i bought 2 sets and the charger so no more throwing money away.
They were GE batteries and AA
My life revolved around recharging them about an hour.
I was set for the day,Id go to Marine Park and go sit out on the dock,wind blowing and lots of time getting rained on.
The batteries would get me to where i was going plus at camp i would drown out the night sounds with radio.
Yes there were a bunch of bears checkin out the forest but as long as I couldnt hear it I was fine.
I would pull the ladder up when I got in.
It was a tree house about 10 ft off the ground.
The ladder was 12 ft so i would pull it up and hang it on nails so the bears wouldnt get me.
It was small,6'x8' and was inbetween 3 trees.
I lived there for 6 months till some berry pickers told on me to the police dept.
They didnt appreciate I wanted something better than the shelter so back i went .
There was a guy outside saying hes from a cannery and wanted to know if I wanted a job.
That day I and another guy Kent flew into Excursion Inlet Cannery and made 3k in a months time.
Hows that for a stroke of good luck.
Peace BigT

Friends

Over the years ive had many friends,a few good and some bad,you live and learn.
Back in the early days of my adulthood i had some interesting friendships.
Gary was one of them.
My second day out on my own i awoke to the wakeup call at the shelter.
I was outside,$52 in my pocket and going to City Cafe for coffee.
Gary being a Vietnam Veteran and looking like a wildman,told me how to find work at the day labor office.
You sign the book,give your expected wage and draw a number,I got hired and worked for a moving company for 2 weeks moving offices from the old Alaska Office Building to the Mendenhall Valley.
$10 an hour.
My next job was transporting sheetrock to jobsites and stocking rooms by way of hauling by hand up the stairs,a grueling workout.
I did that for 2 weeks then took myself to the mountaineering store across from the Baranoff Hotel and bought a 30 below sleeping bag,off to Fred Meyers to get a 2 man tent and tarps then set off down Thane Road to find a suitable campsite.
My friends,Gary and Taku were always welcome.
Being homeless in the beginning afforded me to have a lot of friends and im certain most of them have been long dead for quite some time.
After liberating myself from S.E. Alaska and finally settling down to a permanent spot of land ive noticed friends getting married and having families,i seem to stay the same and have grown apart from most of them.
Sure we stay in touch but im an Eternal Bachelor and watch from afar as their children get older.
My friend Les got married to Beverly,i toasted them,quite exciting,now Mckinley is a Freshman,my how time flies.
Today a close friend Scott is coming out with burgers,yummy.
My old friend Miss Bobbie died a few years back,i miss her dearly,i miss all my deceased friends.
As i grow older i understand the impact my friends have made upon me and i to them.

Peace,BigT

XIP,1986

So myself and Kent landed at the remote cannery in the morning,$5.50 an hour free rom and board and coed bunkhouses.
the two of us shared a room as we were both on the same shift,18 hours a day.
The cafeteria was staffed round the clock
breakfast,lunch,dinner and midnite meal.
We ate like kings and worked like dogs.
We got in on the last month of work,I made about $3200 take home,pretty good.
Theres lots to do,see it takes about 2 weeks to fly everyone out and i chose to leave on the last plane.
There was a general company store that stocked junkfood and cigarettes.
There were a couple party cabins and an old movie theater that now has wild dancing with lots of Everclear.
The road to the lake is a couple miles and passes the dump which is rife with innumerable bears.
You see this was out in the Wilderness of SE Alaska,the cannery is on an old German POW camp and a base was at the end of the inlet with 5000 men strong but that was in WW2.
There are so many bears its downright scary.
There was a guy with a Federal Firearms License with a catalog and you can get anything you want,I got a 12 gauge shotgun with a 50 round bandoleer and a 5 round sidesaddle .$120
The bunkhouse was coed even the bathrooms and showers,i soon discovered what a cougar was.......
Anyhow it was an amazing adventure in the Wilds of Alaska and not my only one.
You see,Ive run into too many women that think theyre gonna snag a wild person,drag em to Seattle and civilize the poor thing.
Alaska has afforded me adventure,small fortune and a life i cant live in the lower 48.
This Great Land is where you can be as wild as you want.
Take Seattle,first thing is you and your dog are walkin down the street with a shotgun and 60 rounds of double buck,what do you think the police will do?
Alaska is only for real Men and Women especially out where i live.

Peace, BigT

Possibles Bag

Back when I was 18 I learned of something the miners and prospectors did which was a possibles bag.
In That bag,mine was a small tote with zipper,Would contain all things possible.
Back before my time everyone packed what they needed and if your poke was big enough you could have a mule train.
Anyhoo, My bag had silverware from moms kitchen...fork spoon knife.
I had some seining twine to tie down tarps and a plastic cup for drinking the icy cold water coming from the mountain.
I also had a couple stacks of Chic Tracts which i gave out eagerly not realizing the craziness of it all.
Im a free thinker now.
There are no two bags alike and everyone has their own fancy.
Once in a while i would stash smokes,treats from MREs,a hand saw for camping which came in handy for the 2 weeks i was in Skagway.
I always hauled that bag around while hitch hiking down the West Coast or just moving camp to a new secret location.
Yup Youre right,any situation that would arise I would find my answer in my Possibles Bag.

Peace, BigT

My First Snowmachine

One fine day in 1999 I drove to Big Lake where i went to the Arctic Cat dealership and walked in only to find a woman stretched out on a trail machine.
It was a Panther 440 trail machine plus it had twin cylinder and carbs....it was good enough for trails....And the rig cost 5500.00
I bought it and 4 hours later they had it assembled and running with heavy duty springs and ski skins for better floatation in the snow.
I transported it in my van.
So that evening I went for a cruise...theres actually a lot to learn about riding one.
I started riding trails and it was pure bliss....i learned to stay out of deep snow plus every time i went out I would get stuck once a day never fail.
created a track on my property and would ride it on that plus around the neighborhood...I did find out early on about how unpowerfull it was on hills and i would have to make a fast run at them....
I even rode out onto the various lakes and even attended the Iditarod,as a spectator....
Many adventures was had on that machine.

BigT