August 2, 1999
Some things we’re going to miss by not being here in the coming months...
- Last April, former North Pole Moose Lodge treasurer Dennis Small got himself appointed to the North Pole City Council, and in October he’s running to keep the seat. We gave him a bunch of our leftover yard sign stakes to use in his campaign. [Update, 6 Oct 1999: He was unsuccessful.] [Further update: Dennis won a seat on the council in the Oct. 2001 election.]
- The old College Road entrance to UAF is being reopened, and from what I saw today going past the construction site it’s going to be quite a major intersection.
- The courthouse project at First Avenue and Lacey Street in Fairbanks is well underway and looks to be a handsome building when they finish. Between that, the Tanana Chiefs building a few blocks east, and the Doyon building across the river, the riverfront is going to be revitalized over the next year or so. Too bad none of it is real capitalist construction, but at least Sadlers will be reversing the usual trend by moving from the edge of town to the abandoned J.C. Penney store at Seventh and Cushman.
- North Pole city buildings are going to be painted red and white to hammer home the theme city concept. City Hall especially should be interesting to see once the painting is done.
Farther down the line are such projects as the Airport Way / Washington Avenue intersection in Fairbanks, extending the Johansen Expressway (or is that, upgrading Geist Road?) from University Avenue out to the Parks Highway, and putting in that much-needed interchange where the west end of Badger Road meets the Richardson Highway. I honestly do not expect ground to be broken on that last until Tony Knowles is out of office.
[Update, 19 Oct 2002: Not only was work begun on this intersection while Knowles was still governor, it was finished ahead of schedule. Credit where it’s due, Tony—but you still don’t deserve to be in the U.S. Senate]
And then there’s the new energy that’s getting into the effort to finally complete the Alaska Railroad by connecting it at last to the Lower 48. That could actually happen this time around, and be a damn sight better thing to focus on than that idiotic, socialistic gas pipeline idea.
Still, if we can get back up here for a visit in five to ten years, things ought to look a lot different.
Some things we’re looking forward to enjoying when we get there:
- Wal-Mart! Arby’s! IHOP! The Olive Garden! Shopping locally for large-size men’s wear! Much lower gasoline prices!
- Fox News Channel (I wouldn’t have thought cable systems in Red Ted’s own backyard would do it, but they are!), and local weather forecasts on The Weather Channel!
- Holidays with Chris’ folks in Chattanooga, and more frequent visits to my own in Sacramento!
- Warm, starry summer nights — and winter days that last longer than eight hours. Summers that last longer than the winters. Fewer mosquitoes, and more of the kinds of bugs that go ZZZAPP! in the bug light!
- NFL football in the afternoon instead of the early morning!
- Fall color with some red to it!
August 11, 1999
Since my last note, we’ve cleared a lot of stuff out of the family room and bedroom, sending much of it to storage, but also simply getting rid of a lot of it.
We found a buyer for the paddleboat, which Chris had dubbed the HMS Flotsam, and although they’ve put down a 50% deposit they haven’t come to pay the rest and collect the boat. We also sold the snowthrower and both pairs of snowshoes. We have had no interest whatsoever in the freezer, and no one has followed through on inquiries about the Sardine Can. I revised our Moving Sale ad in Top Class today and ordered a Garage Sale ad for the following week. We’re going to need Garage Sale signs to lead people in, but they’re available at Sentry Hardware here in North Pole.
I’ve painted the outside trim around the front door, and yesterday I painted the deck of the front porch. Chris and I collaborated on the railing around the back porch, and maybe if the weather holds a little longer and it dries out from this morning’s brief rain, I can take a crack at doing the deck of the back porch.
I’ve also done touch-ups in the living room and downstairs — using custom-matched paint from OK Lumber in Fairbanks — that have been a rousing success.
Some of our plans may have changed. Instead of backtracking all the way back to Montana on the same route Chris used to get up here in 1994, we might be leaving that route at Edmonton and following the Yellowhead Highway across Saskatchewan and Manitoba, re-entering the U.S. in North Dakota. AAA’s Trip-Tik tries to route us through Chicago, but I put my foot down — instead we’ll avoid the Windy City by detouring due south through middle Illinois and rejoining the originally planned route at Mount Vernon. I’d still rather get out of Canada earlier than later, but Elmer Fed decides how many miles he’s going to reimburse us, and if he decides it’s only 4000 miles instead of 4500 miles, we’re out some money.
Also, we’re going to try to leave two days earlier than previously planned, and we’ll have the movers take most of our stuff just a couple of weeks from now. That should simplify the cleaning that will make the house easier to sell.
Today is the five-year anniversary of my arrival in Alaska.
August 12, 1999
Well, maybe we won’t have to go by way of Saskatoon and Winnipeg after all. The government figures it’s 4,173 from Fairbanks to Peachtree City, and they’ll cover up to 10% over, or 4,590 miles. Chris and I will discuss this further.
August 27, 1999
The furniture is gone (along with most of the big items we wanted to sell — the people buying the paddleboat came and picked it up last week). My computer desk was destroyed Tuesday as the movers were carrying it down the steps from the back deck. We’ll be filing a claim. They also left some stuff behind that was tagged to go — and I only recovered enough by Wednesday night to notice them. They came yesterday and got them, along with a few other items we wanted taken but they had missed. And this morning I singlehandedly moved the entertainment center (which they initially refused to move because it was too “rickety") out onto the deck, where it now stands, intact. It will undoubtedly either go to the dump or to the Salvation Army.
The cats were duly traumatized on Monday, cowering in various places while the movers were here. On Tuesday I crammed Taz and Furrari into their respective carriers first thing, and kept them in the back of the Bronco until the movers left. The Bronco was parked in the backyard, nicely distant from the hubbub, and gradually the cats settled in. Taz was never happy with the confinement, but Furry was relaxed and suitably blasé. She’s an old paw at being hauled around in a carrier, and almost never needs to be wrestled in the way Taz does.
Part of why the cats were so upset Monday is that they had a veterinary appointment at 4:00. Taz had wisely gone into an inaccessible hiding place, but Furry was curled up behind dresses in the closet in the guest room. I dragged her out of there and put her in the carrier even as one of the men was packing in that room. She didn’t want to go into the carrier on that occasion, but she eventually settled down. But we had to lure Taz out of his spot to collect him — fortunately the movers left for the day shortly before four. I had to grab him and, well, they say you can’t get the toothpaste back into the tube once it’s out. “They,” whoever they are, are insufficiently determined. Toothpaste doesn’t actively want not to be put in, but Taz does. But he didn’t enjoy going to the vet at all.
I think we’re about recovered now from the whole business. I’d hate to have had to start driving down the road too soon after all that. Even last night I was noticing that my nerves are still a bit frayed.
Today we’re having a cleaning lady in, a nice Hawaiian lady named Billie who seems willing to tackle the whole job — she called it “a challenge” when she looked it over yesterday. I think she’s a sensible woman, even if only because she did think to come over and have a look at it before committing to do the job in the first place.
At noon a realtor will be showing the house. The realtor was here yesterday — the only one to come by during the biweekly North Pole “brokers’ open.” It would be nice if her buyer turned out to be serious and qualified to meet our asking price.
We still haven’t managed to sell the Escort. God has been good enough to give us some part in His plan but of course we can’t grasp the whole plan. We’re stuck trying to guess how our part will go, and asking Him to pad our roles and direct them a certain way — but if it doesn’t please Him to do so, we have to make do with the lot He gives us. We need to do something to sell this car, but we have yet to figure out what. Well, today as soon as I can reasonably get away, I’m going to be papering the town with signs telling about the car. And I think I’ll lobby Chris to plan on getting up early enough to attend the 9:30 service on Sunday. It couldn’t hurt.
August 31, 1999
We finally sold the Escort. Someone saw it on campus where Chris parked it when she was driving it to work, and called us last Sunday (he had called the previous day but because our answering machine chose that day to die, we didn’t get that message), and yesterday he met Chris on campus to listen to the engine, offered us $2,500 for the car, and last evening we met in downtown North Pole and did the deed.
Tonight I attended the 1999 ITA candidates’ forum, leaving just before the school board candidates were to be grilled. It looks good for the conservatives this time around — although it’s looked good for the conservatives before. Still, we’re certain to pick up at least one seat on the assembly, and I’d say it’s better than even we’ll pick up two. And the only way Donna Gilbert can lose for the city council is if people who support her take it for granted that she’s a shoo-in. And judging from her opponent’s performance tonight, I’d say that’s a very real danger.
[Update, 6 Oct 1999: Donna lost to her opponent, thanks to low voter turnout. However, two of three liberal incumbents on the borough assembly lost in their bids for re-election, and an open seat previously held by a liberal was won by a relatively conservative candidate. That makes the assembly more conservative than I ever saw it.]
[Further update: Donna won a seat on the Fairbanks City Council in the October 2001 election.]
