A HUNTING STORY...BY TOM GEYER

Our resident published author Thomas Geyer shared one of his hunting stories with us. Here it is:

Heavens to Betsy

          I met her in Fairbanks in 1989. There were so many others there when I first saw her, many of whom were beautiful and elegant, but she stood out amongst them like an eagle in a flock ofRhode Island reds. She was tall and slender, yet well proportioned if you know what I mean. She didn’t say a word to me, yet seemed to call my name. It was love at first sight.

          She was of old Monte Carlo stock, this much was obvious. I didn’t know her age, didn’t ask and didn’t care. She was the one for me and my heart skipped a beat the first time I held her close.

          She had traveled around Alaska and had some “experience”, something that I sadly lacked. I was just a pup then, still wet behind the ears and unsure of myself. She, on the other hand was solid and steady, confident, with nerves of steel, always the straight shooter.

          Betsy was the little pet name I gave her. Other names and old flames and experiences of the past now meant nothing. We were an inseparable pair. Nothing could ever come between us, or so I thought.

          We fished together, hunted together and hiked in the mountains. When I went a field she was right there with me, except once when I forgot and left her back at Fish Lake hunters camp. I felt a little naked when I arrived at Flat Top, in the middle of grizzly country without her by my side. I know she was deeply wounded by my thoughtlessness, but true to her character she never mentioned it.

          Years have gone by and taken their toll on the both of us. Tragedy struck in the summer of 1996. Betsy lost her sight. But I loved her even more for it. After Betsy lost her sight I had to carry her on our trips. Sometimes I would carry her on my back and at times I would cradle her in my arms like a baby as I hiked up and down the Seven Hills of Death on the way to Fish Lake. Occasionally I would even throw her over my shoulder and carry her like a sack of potatoes. But even after losing her sight, Betsy was always there for me to lean on.

          There was a dark side to Betsy, something even I could not have imagined when I first fell for her. Yes,  the little hints were there from the beginning, the possibility of a violent and bloody past, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt. Yet she was so powerful and explosive, I could not help but suspect what I later discovered to be reality. My Betsy was a cold-blooded killer.

          Our first few years together were uneventful years of bliss, but in the fall of 1992 I witnessed  firsthand what I suspected all along. Betsy killed a big fuzzy. I remember it like it was yesterday. I never would have believed it of her, but the gruesome spectacle unfolded before my very eyes. I think she did it to protect me, more than anything, as she knew that I generally got a case of the shakes when I encountered big fuzzies.

          I thought what occurred there might be a one-time thing, an isolated incident that Betsy and I might just sweep under the caribou moss but it happened again and again. Killing seemed to be second nature to her.

          I knew I had to lock Betsy up. She was an accident waiting to happen, too powerful for her own good. She was like a rabid wolf waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting, a lethal weapon gone rogue.

          Betsy’s in prison now for life, locked away with a dozen other hoodlums of low caliber. I visit her daily and gaze longingly through the glass, remembering the good times we had together and wishing I could hold her close once more.

...Thanks Tommy, you always surprise us with your wit and wisdom..

NOTE ON NEW CALENDARS...

Many of the photos are actually from our own home place here in Dry Creek, others from around Delta, Fairbanks and the Alaska Highway.

And that's my girl Alexandra May hanging on to the back of the sleigh...

Thanks Sarah for a lovely collection AGAIN!

IS IT COLD YET?

Wow, I didn’t realize that the temperature was dropping last night as I was running around doing errands.  It’s -40 degrees and dropping, this morning. I was supposed to take the girls into Delta, but Pat said NO!

Many of you have asked about Jason Underhill who fell from a manhaul about 20ft. while working in the Kenai.  I do know that he was able to get on a flight home to Anchorage where he saw a spine specialist.  I haven’t heard much other than he did crack three ribs and fracture those two vertebras (one lower; one upper).  He is in extreme pain and has a hard time staying in one position for long. 

Jarred and Jennifer had all the kids down last night for a game night.  They came home late and happy.

Carolyn had the sixth and seventh graders busy all afternoon yesterday making decorations for our Thanksgiving meal next week.  They were having a jolly time with that! (and eating way more candy than their mom’s would probably like  J  which is soooo much fun)

Andy, Sarah Jane, and Rachel have braved the cold temperatures to do the Thanksgiving shopping run.  I don’t envy them! Everybody is looking forward to our yearly Thanksgiving feast...wish Loui Chavez would come and make us his signature Mexican "asado"...I think he just had carpal tunnel surgery on one of his hands.

My BIL Ben Mehaffey did pretty good at his show last weekend.  He has been able to rent a little credit card machine from the bank by the month for these shows.  That has been most helpful as many people like to pay with their credit cards.  Brad and Ben have been tossing around this idea about people having an app on their ipads that allows customers to pay you when they scan their card over your ipad.  I guess it is a real and useful and secure app????  The loggers just might need to invest in an ipad for their business dealings. 

I have since gotten better details on the hunters’ breakfast biggest rack derby – Mikey Koehler was the actual winner.  Mikey is 12 or 13 yrs old.  What a cool thing.  And, it’s like the third or fourth moose that he has shot in his short lifetime!

Our 2012 calendars are hot on the griddle and will be coming out pretty soon. Our resident photographer Sarah Jepsen always does a swell job and they are so nice to send out to family and friends. If you want one get in touch with her via phone, email  (jepsensarah@gmail.com) or her website (http://www.bysarahj.com/). I think that the calendars should be $12 each. 

Saturday chores and cooking are calling.  You all have a great and safe weekend. 

The Land Nov. 2011

Good morning.  We were promised terrible weather by the forecast people due to the storm blowing in from Siberia.  It has been a little bad, but nothing like was predicted.  Fairbanks folks have been having steady -30* for several days now while we been not quite reaching -20*.  Maybe the weather is heading our way? 

Tuesday afternoon, we received a message that Jason Underhill, while in Karluck, AK working, fell 20 feet from a man lift.  It was discovered that he fractured a lower and upper vertebra.  After a lot of severe pain and some other symptoms that I’ll leave out and after he had been released from the hospital, someone re-looked at his x-rays and observed extremely bruised kidneys and several cracked ribs.  After the first diagnosis, the hospital had released Jason.  Alex and Jason went to friend’s place in Kodiak to rest.  Now, the hospital wants Jason back but he’s in too fragile a condition to move.  Lura can’t make it out there due to 50 mph winds; Alex is taking care of his dad on his own. 

Instead of church on Sunday and again last night (Wednesday), we butchered and packaged several cows and pigs. 

Hunters’ breakfast at the Trotzkes was a huge hit, AGAIN.  Kevin won the prize for giving the best moose call.  We had him demonstrate at supper for us. Koehler's did win the biggest horn derby.  Seth made a slide show that if he ever you tubes, I’ll pass along a link.  I think my favorite part of the slide show is at the end, there is a movie clip of Kevin right after he shot his first moose.  Talk about excited!  Tommy wrote a story that is really cute.  Maybe I can get a digital copy for you all. 

Pat has been rather busy with piano work all over Alaska, it seems. He gets home from one trip and then goes out on another. The last one was his Copper River, Glennallen one where he stops at SAPA and tunes their pianos and then moves on to the rest of the community at large. When home he is still wood processing firewood for the community at home and it was his week for FIREWATCH, which means stoking all the big boilers (4) to keep the public buildings going. Both schools, tack shop, blacksmithing and mechanic shops, etc. This is a job that is meant for younger men, but he still does it as do others in his age group...keeps them in shape. Pat tries to go out on his ski trail for a few miles everyday...

The AGSD has provided Rob with some awesome school equipment. Bsides his treadmill from last year now he has a nice pair of red  REDFEATHER SNOWSHOES, a new Mac running SnowLeopard  with cutting edge technology (I love you Mr. Jobs,. RIP !)…and some awesome software for MATH, READING AND TYPING. Some of it is online so I have to stay home some of the time to do that and then go to school for the rest. He continues to get therapists come to Dry Creek a few times a year. Speech Path, OT, PT, and his beloved Sped teacher Paula….(she's the one with the 75 dogs Rob visited this summer).

I continue to take the younger generation out on the snowshoeing trails. Ages range from 6 to 14 (Rob). I do try and go out on my own with Annie on a longer trail which gives me an adequate workout then return and do some of my new found love for Yoga….can't do all the moves but am trying…does make a difference.

Since I teach high school Spanish using the Rosetta Stone software, Rob joins my class for 45' every day. He has his own laptop and his own Rosetta Stone, kindly procured by the AGSD Correspondence REACH Academy (Resources for Educating Alaska's Children at Home). He likes it and actually does very well on it, speaking Spanish into the microphone! haha...next thing I'll take him to Spain for TOTAL IMMERSION, huh?

My sis. Karenza Hanson spent 3 weeks in BA, Argentina. Looking into my stepmum's situation as well as visiting friends and family.

 my sister Marina, Karenza and cuz Cecilia

So nothing new on the home front. We are slowly being enveloped into a world of winter wonderland. Our cabins are warm and cozy, we have food on the table, kids and friends who love and complete us and we are never alone. What's not to like?

God is good.

Have a great day! and rest of the week. KEEP WARM!

Rob got invited to a youth gathering at one of the homes. He enjoys that!

WINTER NOOS UPDATE

Hello All,

Yesterday, by the time I got my emails completed, the temperature had risen to 3*; throughout the day, it came up even higher, but by nightfall, we were seeing -12* on the thermometer.  That is what the current temperature is still this morning.  I know many of you have heard about the severe weather which Alaska has predicted.  We have felt nothing here out of the ordinary, but I read in the news that up by the coast where Nome is situated (Norton Sound area) there was some extreme wind and flooding.  Places were being evacuated, debris was being washed into the streets, etc.

The moon has been simply beautiful all night and still is this morning.

On Tuesday, Kylin, Andrew, and Landin Casey arrived at noon time and stayed to visit the Casey parents for the day.  Joey arrived after supper for a few hours.  Crazy boy.  He’d worked that day and had school the next day.  I guess he was just missing home!

Meat cutting work night was great.  Uh huh!  Kevin, Tommy, and Kim worked all afternoon in the root cellar breaking the cows into workable pieces.  Then in the evening we all got together to clean the bones and package the meat.  We were done with everything including clean up by 7:30 pm.

Hunters’ breakfast is being held at Trotzke’s home this Saturday at 9 am.  A prize will go to the shooter of the largest set of antlers – so far, the speculation is that the prize will go to the Koehlers for shooting a 54”.  There also will be a prize for the person who can give the best moose call.  Now that would be a fun contest to watch/hear. Rob went with his big sis. and had a good time.

Steve, Rus, and Garth went to town the other day and brought home a new car for the farm vehicle situation.  I’m not big on car names, but I think they said it was a town and country Chrysler?  It has to be winterized before we can use it. 

Come Thursday Rob and I will be attending an adventure day in Tok with the Wildlife Refuge, for correspondence students. Should be fun, hope it is not too cold though, cause we're going to be outside mainly. Will post photos soon.

Pat's back from Copper River and now off to Fairbanks again.

We opened the ski/snowshoe trail, so now will be going to the end of the trail...if the weather holds and it doesn't get too cold too fast...lol

Have a great day!!!! 

Hi all,

Last night our temperature plummeted to -22*, but this morning it has warmed up to -9*.  The moon is two nights away from being full, so I’m expecting more cool weather.

Jon came home from his remote work place.  I talked to him briefly and found out that he was working as a paramedic/EMT at a copper mine somewhere near Lake Illiamma.  There is a lot of controversy about this particular mine, Pebble mine, since it is near the Bristol Bay and the mines’ waters could be spilling out into the ocean and hurting the nearby salmon spawning area. In the meantime, they still need paramedics, so Jon was there for awhile.  But… I found out from Jon that this Illiamma Lake is the 8^thlargest lake in North America.  I’ve never heard of it; now, I have.

The loggers have been erecting a shed for their waste chips.  They received a contract to supply the Delta school with semi loads of chips for their heating system.  

Seth Fouse is still working in Fbks.  He came home for the weekend.  Adrielle, Seth’s sister, who has spent any of her off time here since last March, moved into Delta and is living with Joel and Joanna Wiggins.  

Tonight (instead of church) we are cutting up some beef that Tommy and Kevin butchered a couple of weekends ago. 

This past Sunday Prins and Linda came to service here.  They just came; they didn’t preach.  Then, for the day, we had Mark Coy and Kelsey with her boyfriend, Brandon.  The preachers were Wenda, Andy, and Margaret – I won’t sum up their words since I better get going this morning.  I felt like all three of them were speaking of keeping ourselves clean so we can be useful vessels for the Lord.  (Or maybe that is my summary of a couple of weeks ago??? L )

Ben has a Christmas show in Fairbanks this weekend.  Also, concerning his back injury, he has been going to therapy about once every ten days.  The therapist said that he needs to strengthen his right side so all his exercises are geared for that.  He has been cleared to do more and more bending and lifting.  He just can’t pick up super heavy things from low places still.

Patrick B is traveling in the GlenAllen area for his many piano tuning jobs.  He will be gone for nearly a week.

I think the hunter’s breakfast at Trotzke’s home is this weekend.  The guys are all pretty excited because it’s a time for good food and swapping their never ending hunting stories.

I’m going to send out a pic that I snapped on my computer.  The other morning I was up early working and Pat Lou came on skype and wanted to chat.  I told him that my hair wasn’t combed, etc.  He didn’t care about what I looked like, he just wanted to show me his babies.  Of course, I couldn’t resist that.  The babies just melted my heart!  They are cooing already, and they looked adorable.  Pat says that he and Beth go to bed around 7 pm since they spend a lot of each night feeding and changing diapers!

Have been taking small groups of the younger students with me on the snow shoe trails. We need more snow for most of the trails since the rocks are still noticeable. Kids had a good time and I always enjoy it.

i have been trying to get into Yoga. Not in the spiritual sense, but more for balance, coordination and stamina. Pat Lou has been doing it for over a year at the fire camps. Many of the firefighters were suffering from lower back pains and other ailments which come from a wilderness fireman;s life. They brought in a certified yoga instructor and Pat says it has made a world of difference. He cam into the school one day and showed us some of the moves.

I figured it couldn;t hurt so ordered a beginners DVD. It is hard¡ but am slowly learning the sequences. Amazing how one can actually do the exercises, I need allot of practice but feel better already.

I better get ready for school.  You all have a great day! I really better get…..