SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: THE FIRST WINTER

OCTOBER 1986

Mark finally had time to introduce me to his favorite word processing program, Word Star. I had done a little work on it before but hadn't had much time to become proficient. Mark also introduced me to Champion Accounting so I could start helping him with some testing. Up to this point I hadn't done much work with the computer. My experience was limited to the word processor that I'd used before marriage. I've always considered computers as necessary evils. I still don't care for them but consider them necessary in today's society. I've even been known to advise people that they really need a computer.

In addition to computers, Mark also introduced me to the "art of fire-making." On Oct. 1, 1986, I wrote, "I lit a fire today. It isn't all that cold out (low 40s) but after several days of not haveing either a fire or sun, it is pretty chilly ;in the house. I'm really proud of myself because every time I have made a fire, it has taken right off and gotten hot. Mark says I just haven't had wet wood to cope with. We do put the wet wood on top but we have plenty of dry wood to use for kindling so the wet still starts well." Mark designated me as chief fire-maker. Not because he wanted to get out of that job, but because he knew I should know how to make a fire.

I'd never been around fires. Daddy always started fires in our fireplace on the rare occasions we used it. Mark started off gently by teaching me how to put new logs in the stove. Once I got where I could do that without crying from fright, he patiently demonstrated and watched me numerous times to see that I could do it right. I didn't appreciate having to get out of a nice warm bed to start the fire when he could have done it so much more easily. However, over the next two years, I had to start the fire many times.

Alaska has the reputation for being a costly place to live. My first impression wasn't a good one. "It's terrible the price they charge for `day old' vegetables. They want 49 cents/lb. for bananas that are totally brouwn and are supposedly reduced." I had been finding out what it was like to shop with Mark. "We went to get milk and green peppers which would have been approx. $4.39 and spent $16.98. Not that we didn't buy good and usable things like $3.10 for apples and he insisted on the largest stalk of celery which cost over $2. At least he supplemented my grocery money."

Before we moved from Alaska, I decided this impression wasn't totally correct. Like anywhere else, one has to know the prices. Alaska potatoes and lettuce were cheaper than I've seen in other states. Mostly, it's the heavy or fragile things like flour, sugar, soft drinks, milk, etc. that are expensive. These things are more costly to ship. Whenever anyone asks us about the high prices in Alaska, we strongly dispute that Alaska is so much higher than anywhere else. Actually, prices are higher in the outlying areas where items have to be flown in. But the prices in Anchorage are quite reasonable.

October 7the was the date of the book discussion club which met at the Loussac Library. I'd attended the meeting in September during the Grand Opening of the Library. This time I had read the book which was a short story book by James Joyce. I wondered if this book was a fair sample of his writings. Most of the stories are supposed to be his commentary on life as seen through whatever incidents are being related. I felt really depressed. The stories were so grim, leaving the reader hanging with a feeling that "you hope those poor people work things out somehow." The ladies said they would relate to alot of the book whereas it left me cold. I guess I had the perspective of a young person who had been "independent" and was currently enjoying married life. The person in the book was suffering the empty next and freedom for the first time. So naturally I wouldn't have a middle-age perspective.

Our dinner invitations had begun to slack off by autumn. We had a surprise on at church one day. The minister's wife walked up and said something about seeing us for dinner that evening. We said `Huh?' Evidently Mr. Roemer had forgotten to ask us. Good thing she bumped into us. Our plans for the evening were minimal; we needed to stop briefly to see a friend and we'd planned to have another lady come spend the night with us.

We had a scare that evening. While at the Roemer's, Mark wanted to make a long distance phone call and charge it to our GCI card. He discovered that he didn't have his wallet. That through us into a panic because we knew he'd had it earlier in the day. After much searching, we found found it under the seat of the car. The blue of the wallet fabric blended in with the blue carpet in the car.

About this same time, I "had the opportunity" to try my hand at logging. In other words, we couldn't afford to buy already cut wood. I wasn't too thrilled about having to help but Mark couldn't do the job by himself. He dressesd me up warmly in one of the old coats that were hanging in the "closet." There were several dead trees on the land around our house. We picked out a nice tall one and started to work. It was pretty hard work and slow going. After cutting down the tree (between ax and chain saw, he got it done), Mark started cutting it into lengths. These were to be about the same length as the wood stove. Later he would use the ax to split them into pieces. It was my job to carry the little logs to the truck. I wasn't a very satisfactory wood hauler because I wasn't very strong. I did get stronger, the longer I lived in Alaska. Thereafter (for the rest of the winter,) Mark and I would to take a day off about once a month to cut down a tree and haul the log pieces back to the house.

We had our annual church convention in mid-October. Just before we were to leave, I decided to wash one last load of wash. When I went to check on the clothes, I found the water had turned silty and everything was a dirty gray. I panicked. However, Mark said we would take everything into the cleaners on our way into town. That way the clothes would get washed and I wouldn't have to do the work. I was devastated when I later unpacked everything to find that I had accidently thrown a wool suit into the wash. It still looked nice but had shrunk so badly I was never able to wear it again.

Other than the laundry, our week at the convention went smoothly. Several friends of mine from the lower 48 were there. I was excited to see them. We invited everyone out to a dinner at Noel's so they could see what the real Alaska was like. We took them on a field trip to our house.

Mark and I were asked to participate in a "skit" during the entertainment at the barbecue. It was a wedding scene. I pulled out my white graduation dress to use as a pretend wedding dress and made a veil from the leftoever veiling. My veil had been left with my parents after the wedding. The scene went fairly well although I wished we'd had time to practice beforehand.

Mark and I went to Copper Center on October 29th. The Copper River Native Association was one of his clients. He'd been putting them off until he had some time to go. It took an entire day to travel there, do work, and then get home. Copper Center is approximately 200 miles from Anchorage. I felt like a superfluous person, although everyone was really nice to me. There just wasn't a good place for me to sit that would be out of the way. I spent the day reading a book. We got finished about 4:30 p.m. and went over to the Copper Center Lodge wich was run by Mrs. George Ashby. Mark usually liked to eat dinner. The Copper Center Lodge is a roadhouse that has been there for many years. There is a museum in a cabin next to the Lodge.

We found that dinner was not to be served for another two hours so we decided not to stay. We got back to Peter's Creek about 8 p.m. and ate at the Pilot's Grill which is a cafe on the corner of the Birchwood exit. The Pilot's Grill is kind of a bar/restaurant. The food is pretty good, I was pleasantly surprised.

NOVEMBER 1986

With the beginning of November, my thoughts turned to Thanksgiving. I was feeling loanly because Thanksgiving was a big deal in my family. Mark agreed for us to host a big dinner and invited some of our friends who were from the South.

We had quite a bit of work to do on the house before having so much company. Mark was anxious to get the water line buried for the onset of winter. To date we'd had no real snow. It had been rainy/icy. Winter was definitely coming. A friend came out to help Mark do the job, which turned out to last all week. It took quite a while just to get the road done enough to get the back hoe in. We expected gravel in the roadbed that we were cutting. It was pretty mucky. Mark says this area used to have miners and the military had people in this area. Apparently what we'd been hoping to use as a roadbed had been a ravine that was later filled in. The Case 450 really wasn't big enough to do the job that was needed.

Mark told me these stories while were were cutting down trees to make room for the road. Guess who got to load all the wood he cut (into stove size pieces).

I was so exhausted! Mostly because it took so long, Mark loaded the biggest pieces and left me with the rest. I was really proud of myself when it was done. It became a challenge to get them all done. When the sun got low, Noel turned the path lights on so I could see. It was quite an achievement when I got the last piece loaded onto the green truck; it was totally full.

On the fourth day the men were ready to do the last stuff and fill in the hole. I hadn't had any water for two days. I did go to the creek to get some to do the dishes that had piled up.

It was a relief when all the work on the well finally got done. While we had the "cat" in to the house, we had the depression over the cess pool filled in. It was nice to have no hill to stumble around when going to the outhouse. We still didn't have real smooth ground but it was better than it had been. Mark laughed at me when I decided to do some "decorating." I collected big rocks and outlined a path from our house to the outhouse. It was kind of duncy but at least I felt better about it.

One advantage of having the well line beuried was that Mark no longer had to worry about the possibility of frozen pipes from the well. However, one day we did have a problem of a different sort. We woke up and discovered that although water was coming out of the well, the drain from the sink was clogged. At first we figured it was something like grease. However, Drano had no effect on the clog. Mark killed two "snakes" trying to get the drain open.

We finally decided it had to be ice. The sink always dripped. Apparently it was cold enough in the drain that the ice slowly built up until it choked the pipe. The question was how to thaw the pipe. Mark built a roaring fire in the wood stove and filled the reservoir at the back with water. He ran a hose from the water reservoir into the shower drainpipe. The boiling steam from the stove soon thawed the pipe.

At least the drains worked again but once again we had problem with silt in the water. It had messed up in October but then seemed to be clear when we got home from the convention. We started collecting water for the purposes of drinking in jars. After they would settle, then we would use them. We found that the silt problem worsened whenever the pump kicked in.

Once we got the well finished, we had to catch up on all the work Mark hadn't done the previous week. We made a quick trip to Homer, one of those non-paying trips so do a Champion update. Homer is the town renowned for being the home of Tom Bodett who does the commercials for Motel 6.

Jim Neeley had spent lots of time doing an analysis for MICA. The original understanding was that once the analysis was done, we would then be able to negotiate on what was to be done. However, it turned into a bid situation competing against other companies. Apparently, one of the partners had a friend to whom he wanted to give a job. This other company underbid us by $20,000 which a Pick system. We were disgusted at the way things turned out after all the work we did. However, it was no longer our problem. It was disappointing to lose one of our major clients.

Another hassle we had was with a credit agency collector. Mark had decided to try one of those promotions one gets called about or letters promising gifts for a small order. They didn't do what they said so he stopped payment on the check. They said we still owed the bill (naturally) but no one at the company with any authority would talk to us to try to straighten out the problem. We didn't want to pay for the merchandize which we never received. The salesperson "was away on leave." So we were stuck with them threatening to kill Mark's credit (ha, Ha). Mark responded they he if they did, he would file a defamation of character suit because the company wouldn't talk to him and his check was good if the company would send the items he was paying for. We never heard from them again;.

We splurged with some of the last of our wedding gift money. I had been wanting a touch lamp. Penney's wanted $160. However, we finally found one at Pay and Save for $59. At first I put it in the living room so we could play with it. It was only 60 watts so wasn't really light enough to work by. So we moved it into the bedroom which is where I wanted it; we could reach out while still in bed.

I had my first opportunity to try cooking some moose meat which the Roemers gave us. I didn't care for the ground meet. But the steaks were pretty good. I broiled one piece; it was okay. The next day I got out the meat tenderizer mallet and bashed it up and pan fried it. Mark really liked it that way. Wild Game meat can be very good if it was properly butchered. Also, meat tastes differently depending on the food the animal had eaten.

A lowpoint of the month was when the belt on the clothes dryer broke. Probably because the dryer hadn't been used in so long. I made do by hanging out my underwear. I found a use for the band music stand. I hung the hangers on it by the stove. Mark got a kick out of that but thought it was a resourceful idea.

By this time I discoverd that Cat liked peole who wore Jeans. I'd been wearing them alot with all the outside work we'd been doing. Cat had grown up around boys; Mrs. Bolzern often wore slacks in the country, also. I was a city girl who usually wore dresses. That gave Cat fits because they would slide when she'd climb onto my lap. She finally did begin to accept me. I think now that she likes me because I'm home most of the time. However, Mark is still her first love.

The Drowns gave us a double bed. Up to this time we'd still been sleeping in the twin bunk. It was a relief to be able to turn over without both of us having to turn over. I was able to pull out all the bedding I'd brought from Big Sandy.

We made our first trip to the dentist in November. I had one small cavity but Mark had several. We scheduled to go back in December. The teeth cleaning ($55 each) was all our budget could stand for that day. Mark said he thought that was pretty reasonable for Alaska. All the equipment we rented plus buying a pump had cleaned us out. And I still had a buy a turkey for Thanksgiving!

The snows of winter were late in coming that year. Ordinarily I would have appreciated that. But instead of having snow, we had cold temperatures and rain. The rain drizzled down and turned to ice. Nearly every time I set foot outside, I would slip and fall. I was a basket case in just a short time. Both knees were twisted and both wrists hurt. Mark spread some ashes from our house down the trail and Noel put some at his end. The worst spot on the path was near the Brusses house where the trees overhung the path. I not very nicely asked the Brusses to put some sand or ashes on the path. I later felt lousy that I wasn't nicer. After Trisha went to all the work to get the ice covered, then it finally snowed a few days later.

Thanksgiving came up fast. It was our first attempt at major entertaining. We asked a number of people, deciding to stop at 17 people. We asked the Mark Mercers (4), Lisa and Carole Willard (2), Kathy _____ (1), the Ralph Nixes (4), Rod Henson (1), and us (2). I think I missed someone because I'm sure we ended up with a total of 22 people.

On Tuesday, Trisha called to ask if the invitation was still open. They had turned down our invitation because of a previous commitment. However, their plans had fallen through at the last minute. Of course, I was happy for them to join us. Trisha offered to help me make preparations and supply extra tables and chairs.

As it turned out, I really needed her help. It takes time to prepare for 22 guest, even with them supplying some of the food. Mark needed me to type a long document. While I was doing that, Trisha came over and cut up all the ingredients for my cornbread dressing. Then it was a simple matter for me to stir it together. With Trisha's help, we had things fairly well organized for the next day.

I had a brainstorm. The stained kitchen sink had been bugging me. I always kept it sanitized but even elbow grease didn't make it white. I decided to pour bleach on it like I'd always heard but didn't believe it would help much. I was converted--instant white!! I felt as if a load had been lifted off my shoulders every time I looked at the sink. That made my Thanksgiving much better because I'd been afraid the ladies would be offended by and/or afraid of my dirty looking sink.

We awoke to a beautiful 10 degree day. But it didn't feel cold because the sun was shining brightly. My intentions to jump up ready for a big day were forestalled by a terrible sinus attack. I felt horrible. It was a good thing we had everything organized. Mark helped me get the turkey ready for the oven. About mid-morning, Trisha and her daughters came over to set the tables. As I had not yet learned how to make gravy, Trisha did that for me. We were ready by the time the first guests arrived.

With Trisha's help to take dishes from the newcomers, I was able to stand there in my misery and talk instead of having to work hard. The women stayed in the kitchen to talk to us. The men alternated between the kitchen and downstairs where wood-splitting contests were going on. Since it was such a beautiful day, the children spent most of their time outside. There was sledding on the hill and ice skating on the creek.

Our meal was a success. We managed to get all 22 people inside. The adults sat at a large square table. The children had a smaller table on the staircase landing. We ate until we bulged. Rod Henson brought juice, the Mercer's brought sweet pototoes, the Willard's green beans, and the Nix's brought dessert. The Brusses brought additional turkey as well as providing extra chairs, utensils, etc. Several people left about 7 p.m. Mark and the hold-outs began playing cards. My headache made me feel too ill to join in. Mrs. Willard nicely sat out to talk to me. Then I got a call from my parents. The O'Dells were in Lubbock. I enjoyed getting to talk to the girls.

I spent most of Friday catching up of sleep. Fortunately there wasn't alot of work. We had bought special heavy-duty paper plates so I didn't have a lot of dishes to wash. Of course, our guests had helped us do most of the cleaning. Mark took me for a walk in the snow. I had been crying that we'd had snow for almost a week and I hadn't had a chance to go out.

Mark treated me to dinner at Josephines on the Saturday evening after Thanksgiving. Mark had first proposed to me on the Saturday night after Thanksgiving so we thought it would be a kind of anniversary. Josephine's had messed up Mark's steak when we had been there in June. We decided to take the dessert coupon and treat ourselves. We'd been invited to lunch at the Marson's house so weren't hungry for a big dinner. We split a Caesar Salad. Mark let me have a cup of hot tea with our dessert.

Noel gave us a window he and the "kids" had taken out of their house. They gave it to us. On Sunday, Nov. 30, we finally arranged for Mark's friend Graydon to come help Mark install it. Mark is a good assistant but he hasn't had professional carpentry experience. The weather seemed to be reasonable so we figured it would be warm enough to do the work. But we awakened snow. The fellows opted to continue with putting the window in as planned. They came for lunch (I served Chinese), then they put in the window. It was a major production without all the proper equipment. Because of the width of the window, they had to move the stove over. I had to rearrange the way I stored things because there wasn't as much room as before.

After finishing with the window, they also did some wiring so the hot water heater was no longer on the same breaker as the toaster oven or the pump. I'd been having trouble with overloading the circuits.

Graydon's wife Robin and I took their baby for a walk during the noisy part of the production. We walked down to the abandoned property across from Noel's house. I had never been there; it was fun to explore. Upon our return, we could see that the men still were not finished with the window. By this time we were getting pretty cold. So we went to visit the Brusses. They served us Sarsaparilla tea. I had never had it before.

When the hammering stopped, we decided it was time to go back home. The fellows were finishing up. After they put the kitchen back, I began preparing dinner. I had planned a chicken dish that would not take much work. It was a very pleasant evening to top the feeling of accomplishment.

DECEMBER 1986

Cherie Ruesch asked Trish, Bronica and me to lunch on Dec. 3rd. I arrived a little late becuase I had to go to Wasilla. Unfortunately, I had to make two trips. Mark needed some information from Randy Whited. I didn't realize there was something to take me so I had to make a second trip. The roads weren't too bad until I got to Wasilla where less cars had traveled. Once I slid on some ice and turned around in the road. Fortunately the guy behind me was able to stop. After all that trauma, I really enjoyed relaxing with Cherie and Trisha. Cherie made a nice chicken puffed pastry dish. I took an apple pie.

I'd always wanted to learn how to paint. A friend from church, Brenda Bauer, offered to have a a Beginning Acrylics class on Sunday, Dec. 14th. It was 10 to 3 p.m. which took the whole day when I had to leave the house by 8:30. I picked up Denise Schmidt on the way. It was so much nicer having a friend to go with. My mother likes to paint so I wrote her a detailed letter about the class. "Brenda was an interesting teacher. Because nobody spoke up, I said I'd rather we all do the same thing. (With two children and 2 teens we'd never get anything done doing individual work). Mark was pleased with my painting. She didn't insist that ours be carbon copies of hers. And mine didn't. One mistake she made was not to tell us to make the painting be tall instead of wide. We'd all drawn our mountain outlines on before discovering she was doing it the other way. I made distant misty mountains so my bottom part wasn't spacious enough to hve the proper foreground. I didn't get the water in the right place and my spruce trees look like they are dying. Definitely an amateur painting but everybody liked by mountains. I do think I'd like acrylics. As you've said, they are simpler because all you need is the paint and water; they dry so fast. I had some paints and brushes thrown in a box but I don't think I have them here. The colors she had us user were Thallo blue, Ultramarine, White, Black, Raw Sienna, a dark brown, a true red, and Hookers green."

I wish I could say I turned into a budding artist after that one lesson. Mark did buy me a beginning acrylics set. I hope one day I will get Mark's money's worth.

I didn't get home until almost 5 p.m. One of the Clucas boys came over to help Mark cut firewood. John and Clyde Clucas had moved up from the peninsula to go to school during the winter. Their car was misbehaving so they took us up on our offer to give "Doug's car" to anyone who would drive it away. We'd been trying to give it away for months.

On December 17th, Mark called that we can pick up the used copier we decided to buy. He'd been wanting one so we could mail out flyers advertizing computer parts. Several days later, I wrote "We got home with the copier but haven't tried it to see if it survived being bounced around. We had some experinece. Mark decided he would try driving the car over the railroad tracks because the snow and ice is heaped up so the rails aren't as high above the ground as during summer. The only bad part was from Noel's house to the Brusses. Mr. Markley had made a trail with the 3-wheeled ATV but the car is a little wider than that so Mark made multiple passes to get through. Sunday he'd been through the part from the Brusses to our house with the truck several times so the car did that okay."

"I checked some eary Alaska `history' books out. It was interesting seeing old photographs. I don't know how people managed back then. It's hard enough being a pioneer in the boonies now without modern conveniences like cars and grocery stores, electricity and telephones.

Mark brought home a VCR on Dec. 18th; he traded some labor for a Multi-Tech VCR? The big screen TV had conked out about Thanksgiving. We used my 12 inch black and white TV since there wasn't an alternative. We were able to attach the TV antenna to the VCR and the TV to the VCR. I was really excited to get the VCR. I started a tape so I could record shows while I was gone during or when I didn't want to have the TV on while Mark is home or something. The first think we taped was "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart. I really enjoyed it.

"They've installed the new 1987 officers for AKLA. Next year the local chapter will meet in the mornings at 8:30. I kind of like that idea (unless roads are icy) so I can get out and back before Mark leaves and I wouldn't have to be out after dark. The only disadvantages is that the Municipal libraries don't open until noon so I couldn't go when I'm in town that day. Next Tuesday afternoon there's a work party stuffing the conference registration envelopes."

"Mark got cat food yesterday. The cheapest he could get in the huge bag. Cat was getting hungry by the time he got home. I noticed this mroning she'd fished out and eaten the few remaining pieces of Meow Mix which is her favorite."

Ron's and Noelle's wedding was scheduled for January 4th. We really wanted to go. We looked for cheap tickets to England but $678.00 seemed to be the going rate. Nobody had any spcial packages or would admit to having standby rates. I did find my passport in my important papers envelope. I never did find my car title I was looking for. I had to order a duplicate from the state of Texas so I could register my car in Alaska and get my new license plates. "We talked to Ron on Monday telling him it looks like we won't be able to get tickets to go next week. But at least we found out about the others travel plans (sort of). Mrs. B and Grandma leave Germany Thurs. for England and will meet up with Chris when his plane gets to Gatwick on Friday about 1 p.m. Then they'll go on to Liverpool. We told them we'd be sending their gift. It'll cost a fortu ne to send first class. I think I was told a 3 lb. package costs about $11. Ron siad he'd like us to come and Noelle sure wants to meet us but he suggested waiting until summer when we'd be able to stay longer and hopefully have more money to enjoy the trip." I appreciated his thoughtfulness. Mark really hated to miss the wedding since it is one of the big events in a person's life.

Various friends had been nice about letting me do laundry at their houses. It was nice to be able to go visit with friends while doing something constructive.

The last weekend in December we went to a church social. It was a Russian food tasting party. Different people were designated to make certain dishes. I signed up for the spinach did. "Someone told me they had mine (name on bowl) and it was good. We have a small portion left so I'm anxious to taste it to see how it differs from the bowl at our table. Mark wasn't real crazy about any of the food. They were so worried about not having enought but there was ample, of course.

The first course was a cabbage/sauerkraut/meat soup. Souded terrible but was good. Then came the spinach dish and the meat pie. The only criticism I had on the entre was instead of cutting the meat in cubes, it would have been better pulled apart and cut up (tender roast falling apart). Every time I cut a bite, a big cube of meat would spirt out of the piece. I found out Mark doesn't care for pot pies so he didn't enjoy that even though it had a good flavor. He ended up wrapping his chunks of meat in the onion bread (like a tortilla). Then for dessert was something that was a sponge cake jelly roll filled with a prune chocolate filling with a strange fluffy sweet icing. Before the dessert was a slide show by the two teens who went to the Y.O.U. trip to Russia. Afterwards Mr. Summers led a "sing along" of Russian songs. I had an enjoyable evening, especially since it didn't go real late."

That same weekend (Sunday the 28th), after I picked up the Sunday paper at the Circle S, I went over to the elementary school hockey rink (outside). The snow wasn't cleared off so it was bumpy. But at least I got out and did a little. More exercise than not going at all. I enjoyed being out by myslef.

Champion finally called that they were mailing the check we'd been expecting. To celebrate, Mark took me on Dec. 31st for a Costco and PriceSavers shopping trip. I was really excited. We spent about $350.00 but then proceeded to eat on the staples we purchased for the next year and a half.

My parents worried about my driving around in the winter time. They didn't want me to freeze. They'd heard Ada's stories about how cold the Wyoming winter's were and how one had to take survival gear when going on even short trips. I responded "We keep the extra sleeping bags that zip together in my car all the time or move them if we go off on business. Mark says major emergency supplies aren't necessary unless you go farther than Palmer. We usually have the tow rope adn I carry a flashlight most of the time anyway becuase I don't like stumbling on the path after dark. Sometimes it is light enough. We got lots of relections with the moon and snow. Rarely is it so dark that you literally can't see, even without street lights which we don't have out here.

JANUARY 1987

My first project for January was to real Great Expectations for the book club on Jan. 6th. The Tuesday evening group had decided to read it. We wanted to find out what it was we should have gotten out of it when we were in school. "I like it alot better now than when I was 14. However, you keep expecting something more to happen than ever comes to pass."

"We talked to Chris briefly to ask about his plans for going to England for the wedding. He leaves on the 1st, getting to England on the 2nd and then retu rning from Germany on the 11th. Ron wrote us a letter and then they sent a wedding invitation. She looks blond and i would guess freckly. I feel so ancient when young people get married. And I hate beig bugged about having children. We're not interested in doing so in the near future--barring accidents. But it's bad enough weighing 10 lbs. too much, no wonder pregnant women feel like blimps.

Mark and I were in the habit of attending meetings of the Alaska Computer Society. The group had started out life as the IBM PC and Compatibles Users Group. Mark had founded it in 1981. Meetings are usually on teh third Thursday evening of the month. Even though many of the topics were above my head, I enjoyed the opportunity to attend with Mark. I was really thrilled when my ticket was drawn for the January doorprize. It was a box of diskettes. I was happy to get it instead of having to raid Mark's room for a diskette and never knowing if I was touching something I shouldn't.

I didn't mind it but Mark wasn't excited about watching color movies that were only two color. We survived for a few weeks until Mark couldn't stand it any longer. One day we decided we wanted to go to a movie. The other option was to get a video tape. After looking at the movie listings in the newspapers, Mark decided on a video. However, getting a video tape also involved buying a color TV on which to watch it. We went to the pawn shop in Eagle River and found a nice TV for $100. Mark's mother insisted on giving me the money to pay for it. I really appreciated that and enjoyed having a color television.

FEBRUARY 1987

The groundhog rarely sees its shadow in Alaska. At least it's one way of giving residents hope that Spring is on it's way. We had a warm spell in February. As the snow melted, we found that several places in the roof needed patching. Unfortunately, Mark didn't have time for that. As the snow melted, the drips next to and over the sink increased their pace. I wrote my mother "Good thing the Chinese water torture doen't bother me. Enough TV and things to make it bearable."

February is Fur Rondevous time in Alaska. It's a time for dog sled races and parties. People come in from all over Alaska to participate. One of the activities is the ice sculpturing contest. Mark and I stopped one evening after church before going to someone's house for dinner. I wished we had had my young nieces with us to see the ice sculptures. They apparently had differnt catagories like Fantasy, Wildlife, etc. Some of the animals were very realistic. I like the dinosaur. Somebody did a volkswagon bug on huge tractor wheels. We assumed the sculptures were judged but they didn't have ribbons on them."

I wrote the Swiss Consulate in San Francisco asking for information on how we should go about registering our marriage so I could become a Swiss citizen. They sent the necessary forms and request for documents. I needed a photocopy of my birth certificate and a certified copy of our marriage certificate. I was glad I kept the envelope in which we received our original marriage certificate so I knew where to write.

MARCH 1987

The annual conference of the Alaska Library Association met March 8-ll in Valdez. Mark agreed to take me since he'd never been ther either. We had a lovely trip to Valdez even though it was short, only one night. We drove over on Sunday and returned Monday evening. We took food with us so we didn't have to buy anything but gas. That is, we didn't have to buy anything. We stopped at a local version of the Dairy Queen. They offered something called Salmon Nuggets. When we saw that on the menu, we couldn't resist! It was different from the average fare and quite good. Since then, I have made them several times.

SALMON NUGGETS A LA VIRGINIA

Cut a COOKED salmon fillet into 1 inch square chunks. Dip into salted and peppered flour. Then dip into a milk and egg mixture. Re-dip into the flour mixture. Fry in hot oil.

Mark's mother flew in early on March 17th. She decided to go directly to a motel since that was included in her moving expenses. She called to say she made it and said she needed time recover from the 20 hr. flight before seeing every. I certainly didn't blame her. She wanted to get her hair done in an American style haircut. I prepared a meal for that evening just in case she made it out to the house. I'm partial to chinese because it is something one can prepare ahead of time and cook quickly.

Mom's coming wasn't the only surprise. The mail contained an unexpected something. Mrs. Bolzern sent us a cukoo clock. I'd told her I always wanted one. We hung it over the staircase. It's ticking away. the bird comes out every 30 min. just like the regular chime clocks. On the hour after the bird gives the time, doors open and men playing musical instruments come out and a tune plays. I just love it."

Mom fell in with Mark's suggestion that she purchase the Chevrolet from us (the car Mark had bought in Denver on January 1, 1986). We got the car ready for her. It needed an oil change. Even without the emissions gear, it passed the test. We also got the horn to working. Somebody forgot to put the spring back in. Brainy me came up with an ink pen spring that worked. Mark put 2 new tires. Mark's mother paid us for what we had in the car.

Mom was happy to see the cat; she thought she had gotten big. Mark says she may have gotten larger because before there was nother cat her, too, who kept her hopping and she had to compete for the food. Since we keep the cat door blocked, she couldn't get as much exercise. Mom said she didn't know it then, but she could have taken a pet with her to Germany. I told her I'm glad she didn't because it helped me to have the cat for companionship.

The big news for March was that Susan Butcher won the 1987 Iditarod with a time of 11 days 2 hrs 5 min 13 sec. Rick Swanson who had won 4 times is 2nd place. Susan was also the winner in 1986. The poor men in Alaska took a beating with having lost the Iditarod to a woman 3 yrs in a row.

I had a couple of rounds with the library at the end of March. They claimed I hadn't turned in a book. I knew I didn't have it, considering I was doing a major housecleaning at the time and checked my car. Because the house was cluttered, I was always careful about where I kept my books so I wouldn't lose them. They billed me for $20. The book was old and falling apart. I didn't want to pay that much when I knew they would replace it with a paperback if they even bothered to replace it. My insistance paid off; I was told they'd put the matter on hold. A few weeks later, I received a call that the book had been located.

APRIL 1987

We were invited to a Progressive Dinner in late March. I've wanted to attend one ever since reading Madye Lee Chastain's series about the Fripsey family. We were late for the soup/salad course at the Roger Lewis's house. Fortunately an house was allotted for each course so we had plenty of time. They served a broccoli soup which was good and a marinated vegetable salas. The main course was at the George Elledge home. Since our house was far away, we didn't offer our services as host. Mrs. Elledge served Beef Wellington; such a special entree.

Two weeks later, we had dinner with Mr and Mrs. Sam Butler and family. They had invited Mary Harding and her son and Mrs. Leona Huffman as well as Mark, his mother and myself. I made a salad and took three kinds of dressing. Mrs. Butler made chicken with a stuffing and asparagus. Mary made the sweet potatoes and Mrs. Huffman made apple and pumpkin pies. Before the meal hors d'oeurves were served with wine. It was a congenial group which made for a relaxing evening.

Tuesday evening, April 6th, I attended an Acrylics lecture at the Z.J. Loussac library. It was inspiring and worthwhile. The artist just talked about technique and didn't get technical so I knew what was going on. The next day, Mark took me to Blaine's so we could buy an acrylic set. Maybe one of these day's....

While I was at the lecture, Mom Bolzern was to move in with us temporarily. She stayed several weeks at the Big Timber while deciding what to do for housing. We encouraged her to come stay with us instead of being pressured to do something quickly. Besides, it was a good excuse for me to clean the guest room. I had basically ignored it since we married. We stored the extra blankets there. I rearranged the boxes. Some of them were things she had left behind when she moved to Germany in 1984. I discovered a box (apparently from the time Chris lived with some bachelors). It was in innocent looking box. All packaged up nicely was the dirtiest toaster I had ever seen. Glad I investigated that box--and even gladder we didn't have ants.

After Mom moved out, we decided to turn guest-room into a "walk-in closet." I needed more storage space. I think I have too many clothes. I wrote my mother, "I've been real fortunate with clothes here even though limited through fat. people have asked if proper clothing was a problem. But I had sweaters. And Mark has clothes sitting around from himself, his brothers and past roommates. So I can always find something to wear if I don't like my own for some reason. It's convenient the Bolzern boys are close to my size." It was also convenient that both Mark and I had lots of clothing. We only did laundry once a month, except for an underwear load in between. With the silt in the well, we didn't want to wash very often because it got the water silty when the pump was used. And it wasn't easy to go out to the laundromat as the other option. However, I was careful to keep a variety of clean clothes.

I wrote, "Mark's had some kind of change of attitude. He's been dressing up more. Several times he has worn suits to business appointments and today he put on a sweater vest. This is doing good for someone who didn't own a tie until 6 years ago. When he started working at IBM, they had a dress code and he and his mother went shopping. I'm sure it helps that I keep clean clothes available."

We involved ourselves with a major Spring cleaning. I hadn't felt lively enough to do much cleaning. But with Mom's coming, I was inspired, encouraged, and had help. We cleaned a lot of the trash from downstairs. Mark removed the bags of garbage. I burned boxes and then we got rid of the miscellaneous trash that had never been hauled off. We piled all the trash in the back of the green truck, threw an aged couch on top and drove to the Peter's Creek landfill.

At the landfill, we received what I considered a blesing. We stuffed our winters' accumulation of garbage plus other misc. trash into the Datsun pickup and went to the dump. Our blue plastic sled had been stolen in January; by that time the stores had already taken them off the shelves. It was frustrating having to carry things to and from the car instead of being able to haul them on the sled. What a pain! At the dump, we found two plastic ones, although smaller, which weIe in better shape than the one we had. Unfortunately, break up usually comes in April so I wasn't able to use the sleds very often.

Now that the snow was melting off, Mark proposed that we go get the wood that was stored at the top of the hill above our house. We were down to the last few logs. On our way out with the truck, we decided to accost the homeowner across the way. The power company had cut down a bunch of trees and the people were letting them sit. The woman at the house said we could have the wood. So we spent several hours picking it up and then started cutting it up and stacking it in the house. I was really tired. We never did get around to the wood on the hill that day.

I'd been complaining to Mark that I had been afraid to walk on the frozen creek and I had never been to the other side of the creek. So Mark took me around the perimeters of our property. It really is true that all the land is lost to the creek. There's an island that is fairly good sized but mark is afraid it will wash away some day so wouldn't want to build there. Besides, a bridge would be necessary.

April 23, 1987 "I'm still tired after having company all weekend. Not that they were a big problem or a lot of work, but it was mental stress to me. We had to move out of our room, etc. The kids behaved well for which I was grateful. But it was still nerve racking. We only ate a couple of real meals. I served omelets for breakfast with bacon and potatoes. And then for Sunday dinner we had Chinese."

"We went to a pawn shop this afternoon and bought a color television. Ours died in Dec. and we've been watching my black and white. This is a 13" screen. But we don't really need anything bigger unless showing movies to a group."

"Mr. Bruss is a little better. I don't know that he can walk yet."

"The snow is melted except for in the shade. I may try planting a few things Sunday. I don't know how waarm it has to get for seeds to germinate."