Fake springtime in Alaska, it's 40 above!

summer gertee 2009
ceiling and windows made from scraps

It's our early spring and we're loving it. Last year it warmed up and all the snow melted in January, but this year the big teaser is later and a bit milder. Good thing too, can't get too much warmer or the trails will turn to mush. Fred and I are finding ways to get outside, and this weekend Copper Center is hosting sprint dog musher races, but there's no link to it online. Tim's been busy helping drag their trail, and rumor has it a few more old time Redingtons might be at Camp Redington this weekend, with their kennels. Go Team Redington!

Decided to take a position up in Talkeetna for the summer. I can manage a coffee van there and set up a gertee model as a screened-covered sitting area for the customers. I'll finish the gertee book by April and then no matter how the sales go I can be secure in knowing I have a "real" job lined up that is a proven moneymaker. It was a good experience to see what all can be done with very little cash and my reader's support, but now that I've proven to myself and shown my level of commitment to ACL research, I don't feel such a strong compulsion to keep doing it the same hard way. I'd like to start moving gertee up just a tad and with a good summer I can put in hardwood, heated floors and fully plumb the 20 footer. The trick will be installing it so that it can all still be moved. I'm ready for a propane stove top too. And cupboards that close, or even plastic slides to keep the dust out.

It's been a trip seeing all the places that linked to the tinyhouseblog article, I did a google search for it and there's probably a 100 different sites. It's kind of a shame that some people assume it will always look like it does when you start with scraps. Some don't understand that's the emergency version. Gertees can be made out of any materials... why limit the possibilities? Rich people could make them unbelievably beautiful, even if they only use the leftovers from their curtains and couch coverings. ") All those long scraps I bought from the dollmaker on ebay are very nice pieces... the word "garbage" doesn't quite describe them correctly.

How to cook 2 eggs, 6 slices of bacon and 2 slices of toast
on top of a 12x14" wood stove cook space

new shower stool out of a box of scrap wood and rope

winter shower in plastic tub now
waste water dumps into metal pan behind stove

Fred training himself how to "hong on!"

My job this summer! Starting on June 1! Thanks sister!
http://fishtaxi.blogspot.com/2008/06/chitina-candy-van.html

For my family :)

Here's a cute little yurt a lady made for $35 Canadian, in a response to a post on gertee! I knew there had to be more people making their own! http://www.maryostler.com/2009/06/thoughts-on-a-35-yurt/

Camp Redington

Alaskan Webwriters is building a new website for Tim Redington. I did a lot of the research for this project last winter when I was a tent guest in his RV park. He's the one who started calling me the Tent Lady out here, after I told him Kathy, John's niece, an American history teacher in Hannsville, WA dubbed me the "tent woman." (http://nord.twu.net/acl/headquarters/html)
I became Tim's dog handler and wood stoker by default, during the Tonsina River flood when he had to go flag at Tonsina River bridge for 12 hrs a day, during a whole lot of 40 below weather. I had to soak the feed and used his computer to study while I was waiting for it to be ready. (Yes he still does it the "old-fashioned" way.) I'm happy to be able to put all that work to good use.Nordica is creating a gorgeous rotating template using Tim's family photos, many which were taken when he grew up on their family homesteads. These are amazing photos of a lifestyle that today, as Tim says, would mean the social services would have come and taken the kids away from the parents, every day. The goal at his new website is to honor the authentic Alaskan adventure ALL the old Alaskans lived, to advertise his RV park and campground, sell his woodworks, and share the momentos in his new museum.
We'll start running Tim's Iditarod auctions again next week. Not a lot of snow yet so we can get a bunch of inside work done before it's time to get out there and learn to mush! Gee! Haa!