It's time to begin sharing a new adventure from my favorite place, Alaska. Again I want to give some background for the stories and adventures to follow.
Alaska is known for its mosquitoes. In fact there is a tee-shirt that proclaims the mosquito as the state bird of Alaska. We have had our share of mosquito challenges over the years. I thought I'd share some our experiences.
In the very beginning just shortly after my arrival in the Great Land, I was told the mosquito problem was one of the things that deterred many city dwellers, like myself, from going into the bush of Alaska. Almost immediately after moving out of Anchorage, where they spray for mosquitoes, we noticed the problem.
When we lived at Meadows Lake, outside of Wasilla, we decide after one really wet break-up, that we would investigate mosquito protection other than Deet or some mosquito repellent. Anchorage and every large city in Alaska, has many outdoor stores that sell many useful items to help people survive in this element.
One of these useful tools is a mosquito mask.
Every hunter, hiker or explorer in the wilderness of Alaska has their mask handy. We had one for each family member in our house, once we moved out to the homestead in the '80's.
These mask, at least in my opinion, were a nuisance. They bothered my nose and caused my neck to itch, but I wore mine when walking on the trail or picking berries near our cabin for self-preservation. These Alaskan mosquitoes would travel in swarms. Even on the ATV we would encounter swarms that swept past our face if we weren't wearing a mask. We have had a mouth full of those nasty things several times on the four-wheeler.
On our forty acres we had a few acres of low-bush blue berries. At least once a day all of us would peruse the area for the tasty morsels. The kids loved it when their mom made blue berry cobbler or bread, so at times they were eager to pick. When the mosquitoes were swarming they hated picking berries. They wore the mask but they hated them. The teenagers couldn't eat as many as they picked with the mask on.
One summer our biggest task was to re-brush the boundaries of the forty acre parcel before the surveyors could come out from Fairbanks to survey the land. Mosquitoes were everywhere. Each one of us had to be completely covered with clothes, even though it was rather warm, and wear our mask to protect our head. We had machetes and a couple of chainsaws and began our chore. What a task this was.
The only other time this boundary was brushed was the original time, and that was done by hand seven years earlier. The brush was so thick we could barely walk through it. We had a procedure which began with my heading out with the chainsaw and get the bigger brush and trees out of the way. Then the others came behind with the hand tools and they would knock the brush closer to the ground. One day, the team leader, me, was very anxious to get this one portion completed. I was in a real hurry, and I tried to cut my own leg off right through my insulated pants. I have a one inch scare as a reward for my stupidity. I blamed this accident on my mosquito mask. I couldn't see very well.
One of my favorite remembrance was when the boys and sometimes the girls, kept track of how many mosquitoes they killed inside the cabin. In fact they killed some of them with rubber band guns they had fashioned with close-pins. Of course, we didn't want the mosquitoes in the house so before dinner they went hunting. Scott was happy when he became an ace, five kills. He then kept track of all his kills that summer which amounted to somewhere in the hundreds.
Another time we had gnat problem when we were working on our short trail to the spring. Every time we stirred up the tundra with our chainsaw and awls the gnats swarmed worse than the mosquitoes so the mask went back on. What fun!!
Jan and I got on a kick of riding our bicycles the three miles up to the cabin and back. We really started the bike riding because the four-wheeler was being repaired in Fairbanks. We enjoyed it while we had the chance that summer. One late afternoon with our mosquito mask dawned, we started from the river to the cabin. I had the forty-four on my hip and a back pack with Jan's Bible and some note pads in it.
The trail was very rough but we learned which way to steer the bike to miss the bad grooves. There was a very steep hill that I talked about in another "Musing", near the railroad tracks. Everyday we attempted to see if we could get all the way to the top of the hill without stopping and pushing the cycle. This day was no acceptation. I think one of us made it but I don't think it was me.
Later in the trail near our neighbor's homestead, there is a small valley where a small creek crosses. We had to go down a steep hill which was fun to go down but then we had to slowdown quickly. A very uneven trail was in our path then a small log bridge and a sharp left turn into the forest. The bridge, since it was made with logs it was very rough. I led the way and Jan was following me about a hundred feet back. I hit the first log on the bridge and the bike abruptly stopped. I went flying off the bike and into an ice cold creek which took my breath away. Jan's backpack was filled with water and her Bible was basically ruined. Jan caught up with me and started laughing. I'm not sure it was that funny at the time, but it is now.
Stay tune for more Musings soon.
