February 28, 2020

Left Fritz Creek headed up to Kenai. The roads were very good all the way north to Kenai. There were only a couple of places where there was snow or ice on the road. Those places were heavily shaded so that the sun didn’t hit them at full strength. Previous traffic had cut dry/no ice ruts through so they weren’t really a problem. I took ‘The Beast’ (Dodge Ram 3500 Double Cab Dually) out of 4 wheel drive for the first time in a couple of months. When I arrived in Kenai I had to go back in to 4WD to navigate the parking lots (3-6 inches of ice) of the various stores I visited.

The primary goal of the Kenai trip was to buy a snowblower. All of the snow we’ve gotten recently has caused a run on snow blowers. There isn’t a new snow blower between Homer and Anchorage. I know that to be the case, because I was in virtually every large store that might sell snow blowers south of Anchorage. The secondary goal was Walmart for dog food and a few staples. That goal was achieved. Also made a quick stop at Home Depot for lights for Summer’s plant starts and some batteries for my RYOBI tools.

As I was driving to and from Kenai and all around Kenai and Soldotna and all the time listening to the radio. All I heard all day was “Virus! Virus! Virus!” What aggravates me about all of this hoopla is that this thing is little more than the common cold. Why the media is pumping this story is beyond my comprehension. Anyway, this seems to be much ado about nothing. Like the common cold or flu it kills people that are already one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. It is likely the a few hundred times more people have the flu right now than are likely to ever have the Corona Virus 19. We have no cases in Alaska. ‘Nuff said.

Finally, got home at about 6:30 PM after having left at about 9:30 AM. Carried in all of the supplies. I was so tired from all of the days driving and walking through stores that I really wanted to leave them in the truck. The problem, however, was that the stuff would freeze and likely burst some containers and be unfit for either human or canine consumption. I was correct in my assumption that the stuff would freeze as the temp went down to 11.2F later in the evening. Decided that I needed to check on the ducks and geese. Found they were out of water but had plenty of food, Hauled two 5 gallon buckets of snow melt water out to the greenhouse where they are currently residing. By the time I finished these small chores it was dusk, the sun had set. I returned to the house after filling the two empty buckets with snow to find that the temp had dropped from 27 to 17F. I went out again. This time to the woodshed for additional firewood as there wasn’t enough to get through the evening. With a fire roaring in the stove, I cleaned up the few things from last evening that needed to be in the dishwasher. I looked at the clock and it was nearly 8:PM. and that answered the question of why I was so damned hungry.

Good night, Kiddies. Go to bed it’s later than you think. AND quit worrying about this silly virus thing. It will either kill you or it won’t. Just be careful and don’t panic like a bunch of rats leaving a sinking ship. This ship, the U.S. of A, ain’t sinking. Anyway. it’s all in the hands of the Almighty in whatever form you believe in Him/Her.

Tomorrow, I will get back to, after many interruptions, leveling the house.