The Human Connection

Gustavus is known for Glacier Bay, a pristine fresh environment, world class fishing, and abundant wildlife. So most everyone tends to post pictures of bald eagles, whopper fish, moose, whales, or glaciers. Those features are indeed awesome, but not the whole picture. Here is a look at the personal charm of the place. Have fun studying the faces.

Strawberry Point

I googled for pictures of Gus and for some reason that palm tree pix came up. So I posted it last week as a joke. Back to reality: Originally the area was called "Strawberry Point" because of the abundance of wild strawberries that grow there. The city seal is a strawberry. I actually like the name Strawberry Point better than the present name, which was assigned because of an error interpreting an early map.

Trivia: The State of Alaska is as large as the combined area of all the States east of the Mississippi River.

Pseudo Names

The town is often called the "Banana Belt of Alaska" or "Baja Alaska" due to the warm ocean currents that make the weather much more mild than one would expect. That fact is a pretty closely guarded secret by the locals. The town has at least one other name too. I'll cover that one next week.

I thought I'd change the day to day monotony of the header photo.
This picture is an aerial view of the Salmon River in Gus. The property is about an inch in from the left edge about 1/3 of the way down from the top in the picture. (Hope I'm not boring you with too much of this stuff.)

Repairs

After ten days the flood repairs are about finished. The new carpet is installed. Looks very nice. Makes the recital room look completely different. About all I need to do yet is clean the carpet in part of downstairs. At least the store is presentable enough to show again.

The news/weather people said we were suppose to get 1-4 inches of rain between last night and this evening. They billed the storm as the largest October storm in 4 decades. I made elaborate preparations at the store and house. In our rain gauge we got.... zero, zip, none, nada. Reminds me of the boy who cried wolf.

Flood progress

I filed an insurance claim for the flood damage figuring I'd let the insurance company take care of dealing with the city for reimbursment. The adjuster came up with way more damage than I envisioned. Us getting in there early with a wet-vac and fans saved the floor and prevented mildew or this would have been much worse. The particle board cabinets are history. The water causes the glue to fall apart. The water only wicked to about 1/4 of the carpet, but the carpet can't be saved requiring the whole room to be re-carpeted. Drywall and paint damage down below caused him to authorize the whole ceiling be painted even though less than ¼ of it got damaged. All that without any prodding by me. I mentioned I need the building presentable in case someone wants to look at it so the adjuster gave me a voucher and told me to get a contractor and get going. I asked if it was ok to do the work myself since I built the building and am essentially unemployed. He said yes to that. Doing it myself I get contractor wages to fix the damage. So the adversity has turned into a blessing; our mourning into dancing. Doesn't that sound like the Lord?

What a Difference a Day Makes

I painted on the exterior of the store this morning. When I arrived back home the store neighbor called and said he saw water coming through the back wall of the store. I asked the neighbor to turn off the water to our building. Last week the City broke our water line and hooked us up temporarily, but bypassed the pressure regulator to do so. That meant excess pressure went direct into the store. I figured a line had ruptured due to the pressure. When I arrived I feared I would see water running out the front door. Nothing showed as I pulled into the parking lot. We went inside. So far so good. I walked toward the bathrooms. The ceiling in the back room was wet and dripping in a few places. Upstairs about 200 sq feet of carpet was saturated in the vicinity of the cabinets in the recital room. If the neighbor had not called who knows how much damage would have been done. Mom and I quickly bought a wet/dry vac and picked up our floor fans and headed back to the store, vac'd up what we could, pulled back saturated carpet, and turned on our portable fans. I'm just glad the neighbor called when he did!

Trying to make progress

The cabin plans arrived. The blueprints actually call them "cottage" plans. Simple dwelling, approximately 800 square feet on the ground floor with a large loft, great room, and lots of openness. The design is a structurally sound shell and then you put windows, walls, and rooms where you desire. My pencil played with a lot with layouts over the weekend. I think we have one that we both like.

The lot is 480 feet deep, so I had this wild idea about a zip line for the grandkids. Mom recalled that the RV park where our family stayed in Montana years ago had one, and it was a blast. I bet all the girls remember. My imagination can see the older grandkids on it already. Ok, I'm dreaming.

Gustavus is the gateway to Glacier Bay National Park. While googling for ferry schedule in 2010 I chanced upon the following link for a guide service in Gustavus. The pictures are all of the vicinity. Gustavus actually has a beach, rare in Alaska, so the rocky shore scenes are a few miles away. There are more pix of Whales or People in the overhead menu if you are interested.
Gustavus and Glacier bay Pix
Here is a "reflective" sample.

We are in Escrow

We are finally in escrow on the Alaska property. I've started accumulating a few things we will need to build. Nothing too much, just stuff I can find at a dutch price. Escrow should close around Nov 1 if all goes according to plan. Again, there are ways it could fall out. But at this point I am cautiously optimistic.

Thank you for your concern here and in emails about whether I will be able to follow through building a cabin. Truth is I don't know. Without help it will be rough indeed. I can cut down trees and clear land given time, but without help I doubt I can lift a 12 foot wall by myself. I have expressed to Mom that the folks who seemed interested could backtrack when decision time arrives. I ordered a set of plans off the internet this morning for a simple 1½ story cabin.

On the foot front I find one shoe is most comfortable so I have taken to wearing it all day. Usually I take shoes off when I come in the house, but until this is healed I have Mom's permission to wear shoes in our domicile.