Up

Hello to everyone that’s tried to keep up with us over the years. We really appreciate it and are touched by all of the folks that genuinely care about our well being. My apologies for not touching base and catching folks up a bit over the summer. Life is very full for us right now. We’re doing well!

Last winter was good to us. We all stayed happy and healthy. The kids and I worked through our school work and got out with Tyler as much as we could. The fall of 25 was warm and we got on the river fishing for grayling and catching a few beaver in October. Once winter set in, the weather reversed and we had extremely cold temperatures. It was -40 F or colder from December 5^th to January 3rd Nearly a month of extreme cold. Tyler set new standards for himself on what was acceptable to go out and work in. That’s the beauty of running a dog team with nice thick coats. A machine is risky to rely on in those temperatures but our dogs are more than happy to go out for a hunt and a run. The kids kept up a rabbit line and got to go on a few dog sled rides with Tyler. I got my skis out and my harness and did some skijoring for the first time in years.

I did sewing to fill some custom orders and build a stock up for town sales. I have been vending my stuff at the end of April at the local outdoor show. I just don’t have time to keep the website shop going anymore. I keep pretty busy just supplying local demand. There is rarely a day that I’m not working a needle and thread in the spare moments of everyday life. Sometimes I sew over coffee or waiting for water to boil when I cook dinner. I’m always trying to squeeze the juice out of every day. I welcome orders via email though if anyone has something on their wish list. I just can’t offer a whole stock of things online. That’s too much to maintain. alaskaseldens@mail.c

I worked quite a bit on my recipe repertoire for a cookbook last winter. I’ve been working on my skills for nearly 2 decades cooking out here. Since 2008. This is our 19^th winter in the wilderness. The cooking has changed over the years but there are still some original recipes I use from the beginning. I’ve always been an eyeball cook. I never wrote anything down or measured carefully so it took some time to comb through and test each recipe I wanted to include. In the end it will be an explanation of how I run my kitchen, little bit about how I preserve our food for the winter, about 40-50 original recipes and include a seasons journal entries from the trap line. I found an editor that is going to get my book published. I’ve sent him the files I have prepared and he is starting to work on the formatting. After years of kicking around this idea its finally in motion to happen.

I started getting emails from folks that were concerned I hadn’t written any updates. Thanks for your concern. Its unbelievably busy sometimes living this lifestyle and homeschooling 2 kids.  Kids have their way of keeping people busy with their personal friendship’s that must be nurtured, time consuming education and various enrichment activities. Last summer we got to go on a trip to float the Porcupine river with Tyler’s brother and our friend Carolyn. It was an amazing 10 day float on the wild river. Memories with our children to last a lifetime. Our friend Charlie put us in on floats at the Canadian border.

Last winter while we were out in the woods, a neighbor of ours froze his feet! He’s a serious hermit type that lives at the end of the road and he’s getting older amongst many other issues. He ran out of firewood during the extreme cold snap and one day decided to just crawl into bed and go into eternal sleep…but he woke up and realized he wasn’t ready yet and it was too late for his feet. He managed to get out of his cabin in the bog and get help. The troopers brought him to the hospital where they had to amputate his feet at the arches. He can get around now with special boots but he decided to move to California to live with his brother in a more hospitable climate. He sold most of his property in our neighborhood before he left and we purchased the property that butts up to ours on the other side of our garden. We’ve always hoped to keep our privacy by purchasing that square of land. At the far end of it Tyler began to build another rental cabin last summer. The way we live doesn’t come with a smooth retirement package, we’ve started making some investments for our future. We live simply and what we have is paid off. Income from a few rentals would tide us over if things got rough.

We lost Ray Lewis to cancer last winter. I think we’re all still shocked by it. Ray was the type of man that if you ever met, you’d never forget. When I got back to Fairbanks the winter I was pregnant with Sidney, Ray brought his pickup plow over to get me dug out only it wasn’t up for the amount of snow we had had that winter. Ray told me he’d be back and when he returned he had brought with him a skid steer that he “borrowed” from work. He was my hero that day. Women all around town have memories of spotting Ray in the summertime working on the roads without a shirt on. He loved to get a tan. The girls are all doing fine. His memorial was in July. I lost my dear friend Nancy Becker in September. She is the Author of Trapline Chatter. I cry even to write that down. I’m still grieving. She was a really special friend to me. Again, cancer. Cancer is an awful thief. Her kids are both coping well and I check in with them often. Nancy was a really fun person to hang out with. She always wanted to do something fun or play a game. She had a really positive personality. She radiated light and beauty. She was the best mother and grandmother a person could ask for.  Her Granddaughter is the same age as our Sidney and they are good friends. We’ll always stay close to Nancy in that way.

People often tell me they wish that The Last Alaskans would be brought back. Thank You! I’ve had plenty of years to think about it and my feelings have evolved since it was canceled nearly a decade ago now. Time flies. At first I was sad because it was financially supportive. Then, I became grateful that our name became know well enough that my sewing business took sprout. Now that the kids are getting bigger I don’t know if I could involve them in something like that without major hesitation. Exposing yourself on media is not my cup of tea anymore. People make quick and easy judgements about you and your life. I have thick enough skin for that now but I don’t want my kids to hear it. I’m on facebook. I only friend people that I actually know personally for the most part. Whenever I post something online I almost always have regret that I shared. I’d  rather mind my own business and keep quiet these days. Life is more peaceful that way. I like peaceful. I like this page because I don’t have to be subject to the free running commentary of judgement. I can just focus on it’s purpose; keeping people that care about us in touch.

PS…I have no Idea Why I can’t edit the title. I’m locked out of it. It was supposed to be Update 2026. …but I don’t claim to be a professional so I quit and now my post is titled up. Could be worse.