Given a home in Central,AK planning on moving there (Kenai: credit, tornado)

[Tressa]

Megensmom, I've read through several of these posts and I wish you the best of luck. I manage a camp off the grid here in south Central Alaska just 60 air miles from Anchorage to the west, I stay there every now and then and I can tell you that you difinitely will not find me living off the grid in Alaska. Not sure if anybody mentioned the mosquitos in the interior just be very prepared for them they are no fun but can be dealt with. I've lived in Alaska for only the post 33 years and I absoluetly love it up here, but I'm very much looking forward to my move to the lower 48's for the winter months.

Be cautious of the cabin fever, can cause major depression.

Are your kids ok with this move?

I really don't mean to be a poop on this but this is a HUGE step for young kids to live off the grid and be happy with it.

[Metlakatla]

Well--my son was lucky enough to have the best of both worlds, as far as Alaska goes.

Tressa, I gotta say I had some doubts too when this lady first started to post but the research and the planning that she's done have been amazing. Something tells me she's going to do just fine--it's good to see someone moving up here with some real dedication and with her wits about her.

[megensmom]

Tressa,no problem at all with you sharing your feelings. If you look back towards the start of my thread you will find that we have lived off the grid before with our boys from the time they were in kindergarten to my oldest was in 5th grade and my youngest was in 4th. Now granted it was no where as cold or as remote as where we will be when we move but we were the odd people out,no one lived without power or got their water from a spring in the area or at least not that we could find. So we had to learn how to do things without having anyone to ask and no computer to look things up on the internet.My boys are now 16,14 and I have a little girl that is 6 and we aren't planning on any more kids.
I haven't really given mosquitos any thought and kind of take it like we people here in the south do with fire ants. Except that the fire ants can kill you.
Cabin fever is a valid fear of mine. But I am going to try and do what was reccommend to me a while back. Get out when ever it is safe to do so and try and do actives. And to make the most of it instead of looking at it as a neg. try and find some interesting things to do.

[megensmom]

We are experiencing severe weather here. My husband and I are on the phone as I type,he is in a tunnel at the rock quarry because the wind is severe,there is lightening,and he says there is a strange hum that he can hear in the air. And some of the transformers have blew. They say on the news the wind is up to 60 miles per hour.He says that it is in a calm right now,and the feel in the air makes the hair on your body stand up.

[warptman]

If you start feeling the hair on your head start standing, duck, you're about to get hit by lightning.

[megensmom]

They are inside the tunnel and he says it is just a strange feeling he had come over him. The storm seems to be moving off so they are going to run and grab their stuff and get out of that area.

[Barkingowl]

We were at Outback Steakhouse in Pineville earlier & it started hailing, as heavy as I've ever seen it. No tornadoes though.

[megensmom]

Haven't been any reports of actual tornadoes in my area. Spartanburg is saying the winds were so bad cars have been flipped. He just said that they are going to leave the tunnel and grab their belongs and leave to head home.

He called back they are heading out right now,shew that really bothered me. My husband is Mr. Calm and it bothered me to hear the panic in his voice as he was yelling for the guys that work for him to get into the tunnel and take cover.

[Barkingowl]

Well I hope he makes it home safely. There were some limbs down here but nothing else. The rain has stopped for the moment too.

[icarian]

Well, I did fly over Central and Circle Hot Springs (10 to 15 miles south) today. Quite honestly, a lot more people/houses up there than I would have thought. I don't know, perhaps I was thinking it would be like Minto (or New Minto as some call it), but the place seemed more substantial than I would have thought. Without being able to see what businesses they had down there, they looked like smaller versions of Healy for those that have visited that town down around Denali. The subalpine Eagle Summit on the Steese was particularly pretty--looked like the Haines/Haines Junction drive on a smaller scale.

Did happen to take quite a few pics of Central, itself. But the five o'clock steamroller / train wreck hit and I pretty much left everything at work when I finally got out of there. If any of the pics are worthwhile (point and shoots in a helicopter at 500 ft sometimes leave a lot to be desired), I'll post them up Thursday morning when I come home from standby.