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mooseoutfront

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Everything posted by mooseoutfront

  1. We do. What else is there to do at 30 below with 3 hours of daylight. I will try and find some pics of the cabin to post. I'd take some tonight when I get home, but it's dark all the time.
  2. Where we live gets hardly any wind, so a wind turbine is just not worth it. We've toyed with installing a battery system with an inverter, but stuff like that is probably around twice the price up here as you would pay for it in the lower 48. The biggest drawback to a battery system for us is the space it would occupy in the cabin. We realistically only have about 350 sq ft of living space when you take out the footprint of the woodstove and the clearance it needs around it. We utilize basically every inch of it already. That leaves solar panels, which are great in the summer when it's light all the time. But right now we get less than 5 hours of daylight a day. We're gaining light now, but 24 hours of daylight is still a ways away. We'd have to run the genny to charge the battery bank up any way. We've got 5 battery packs that I take to work and charge on a rotation. That usually gets her iPad and blue tooth speaker charged for the week. On the weekends we have to run the genny to charge things up. We run the genny every morning because we are insufferable coffee snobs and I have to have my Nespresso before I head to work. We get our drinking water from a local restaurant/bar. They have a coin op dispenser that dishes out 5 gallons for a quarter. We haul it in those blue Coleman water cubes. We have 7 of those, so when everything is full we have 35 gallons. We melt snow on the woodstove for humidity and dishwashing water. We usually only have to fill drinking water once a week in the winter.
  3. Less than a year after we moved out to our cabin they built a cell tower about 4 miles from us. We don't have electricity or plumbing, but we can stream and browse what ever we want. The generator keeps devices charged.
  4. I replied to Brisket, but it didn't show up for some reason. 1--It's usually around 75 or so in the cabin. As Cooter mentioned, wood stoves put out a lot of heat. Even at 40 to 50 below we have a window cracked to let in some cold air. It's pretty easy to keep 400 sq ft warm. 2--Those are called honey pots. Neither of us has had to use one due to sickness or age. You just get bundled up and head to the outhouse. You get used to it. As for pissing, we have a designated piss spot away from the cabin. I hang my wang out and she squats no matter the temperature.
  5. I am a chemist for the energy industry. Degreed professionals are rare in these parts. They are extremely sought after and compensated appropriately.
  6. As you can probably tell, I don't have the typical wife. She was a teacher. It was her job that got us up here. We lived modern for the first 2 years, but then we got the off the grid bug and went feral as my friends back home in Texas call it. Living in 400 sq ft has taught us a lot about each other. We strive for peace in our relationship above all else. She is my best friend and my partner. We hunt together. She won't pull the trigger, but she's my skinner (because of her unlimited patience) and she's not afraid to get bloody when it comes to helping me gut the critters we live off of. She is a demon with a chainsaw. In fact, she cuts the majority of wood we burn. We are a very good team. She was the typical Texas girl. She wouldn't leave the house without lipstick on, but she has embraced this life and probably digs it more than I do. She is the cabin bitch now, a nick name she loves and wears with pride. As for why, I'm living my Grandfather's dream. He used to take me elk hunting when I was young. He would always wax poetic about Alaska around the campfire. How he always regretted not seeing it and living off the grid in the woods. It stuck with me and I found a woman who was willing to give it a try.
  7. Let me continue to increase the distance... My wife and me and the dog live in a 400 square foot one room log cabin with no electricity either. Old School we call it. Oil lamps for light. No battery system or other off the grid shit they sell these days. Our only heat source is a wood stove. We burn about 8 cords of wood during a typical winter. We try to cut, split, and stack 10 cords of wood during the spring/summer because you can never have enough fire wood. My wife grows a plentiful garden during the summer that we live off of in the winter by canning. We hunt moose and caribou and grouse for the vast majority of our protein. The only meat we buy regularly is bacon and the occasional beef rib eye. She likes to go fishing for salmon and halibut. Our main expenses are gasoline for the generator and propane for the cook stove. Simple and so fucking cheap. The plan is to stay up here for another 10 years or so and bank as much as we can then find something on the Pacific coast of Mexico and spend the golden years in shorts and sandals as ex-pats.
  8. Winters are rough, but they are not that rough
  9. I live in Denali, Alaska. I live here mainly because of the natural beauty of this place. It also affords one a lot of freedoms not readily available in the lower 48 anymore. I know you won't believe me, but when properly dressed 60 below isn't as bad as you think it would be. I'm not saying that it's not fucking cold, because it most definitely is, but you acclimate to it pretty quickly. Extreme cold is just part of life here. Businesses stay open, schools don't close, people get up and go to work, outdoor chores must be done. The worst part of the cold is water pipes and septic systems freezing up for most people. My wife and I live dry (no indoor plumbing) so the worst part for us is taking a shit at 60 below in the outhouse. Let's just say you don't dilly dally.
  10. My go to move for the horns down crowd is to flip them an upside down bird. Their reaction to that is very entertaining for me.
  11. Got into the Jeep game this past summer. 1976 CJ5 with a 258 inline six. Looking for gear head tips for modernizing the 258 engine and suspension. Not looking to build a rock crawler or to go fast. Just want a reliable ride that can get down the highway and navigate the trails up here in Denali. I’m not a mechanic, I’m just learning as I go. Any advice is appreciated.
  12. And I've never had a vegetarian accost me in the street shouting "Sky Daddy will smite your heathen ass." So I guess we're even.
  13. To be fair, that temp was from New Years weekend. It has warmed up to a tropical 35 below zero. Christmas weekend we received 28 inches of snow. I'd honestly rather have the deep cold. Deep cold means no snow. We had 47 inches of snow in December. I have 3.5 miles of road to plow to get to the highway from our cabin. There is absolutely no where to put any more snow. Going to have to rent a front end loader when it warms to make some room for the Spring snows. This Winter has been a challenge.
  14. Proselytizing Christians are worse in my opinion. Both irritate the shit out of me.
  15. Yeah, evil Texas at it again. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so I will always cut OSU posters slack. But I went to the game in Ames this year. Never been treated more poorly as a visitor by a fan base in my life. They can all die in combine and/or silo accidents as far as I'm concerned going forward. Fuck them and their cow college.
  16. His dick tasted like shit?
  17. If squirrels didn't have fuzzy tails we'd call them rats. Think about it this way, that squirrel's sacrifice will feed some birds. Then they can shit him out on your windshield. Circle of life and shit.
  18. The Aurora forecast is moderate tonight. Maybe you'll see them in Anchorage. I live about 5 hours North in the Denali Borough. The Lights have been incredible so far this year. The best time to see them is when it is dark and cold. We'll hit 30 below tonight easy. it's already 25 below and the sky is clear. If you get a wild hair and want to drive up, let me know. Hotels are available in Healy. It's the Winter, so no worries about getting a room. There is no one here. The only restaurant open in Healy is the Totem. Very mediocre. About 30 miles North is the Clear Sky Lodge, also very mediocre. My wife and I live old school...log cabin, no electricity, no indoor plumbing. If shit like that interests you, we can show you how to survive the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Enjoy your stay.
  19. I've always wanted to see Krampusnacht and the Krampulaufs. It's December 5th. Don't know if you'll be in country.
  20. mooseoutfront

    Taxi

  21. If they don't portal, then don't renew their scholarships for next year. The staff knows who needs to go. Fuck em.
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