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We can hear things occasionally as well. Usually it's someone's chainsaw or generator, but sometimes it's firearms (esp. during hunting season) or their dogs (a lot of mushers up here). If it's really quiet we can hear some of the louder vehicles out at the road or a bush plane headed for the airstrip. Otherwise it's pretty quiet except the sounds of nature. That might change a little once we're not the only ones living in this section, but by then we won't be living in a tent with only canvas blocking the sound... and making it's own flapping noise in the wind
My uncle has a 100 acres and you better call before showing up because you just may find him cutting his fields on his tractor buck ass naked.
He can't stand clothes and the only time he wears them is when leaves his property.
I had to LMAO when I went to help him work on his shed and all he had on were tennis shoes and a nail bag.
busta
I can't tell you how many times I've busted out of the tent with my shotgun wearing nothing but muck boots because the dog's going crazy
Well, at least in the summer... but in the winter we don't have the same wildlife concerns since the bears are usually sleeping. I'm sure one of these days it's going to be a person out there and not a critter, they'll sure be in for an eyefull
I know I couldn't handle rural. City for me. I teach in a rural town and I know I could not live there. I don't mind working there, but it's a 55 minute drive each way to get to and from work.
I see a lot of kids moving in from bigger cities and it is culture shock completely. I think many move there due to the lower pricing, but from my experience many of the families end up staying, at least for the years leading to graduation.
I'll bet many of the discouraged wives that pine for the city life are stuck to most of the household chores without a convenient place to get the needed tools and supplies. Moving to the boonies makes housekeeping much harder. Perhaps women are taught to socialize more than men. I don’t really know.
My wife and I are contemplating moving to the southwest when we retire. Actually I am contemplating it more than she because she does not want to lose her social network and have to build another. I am not as concerned with the social graces as she mostly because of my PTSD emotional attitude. Sometimes I do not want to see anybody at all.
In any case after we retire we would prefer to be a reasonably short ambulance ride to a good hospital and a med flight to a great hospital. The body does not get stronger when you pass 60 or so.
That might change a little once we're not the only ones living in this section, but by then we won't be living in a tent with only canvas blocking the sound... and making it's own flapping noise in the wind
Do I understand correctly that you have already been through one winter in Alaska in your tent? If this is correct, can you give us more details on how you accomplished this? (Such as, exactly how far north are you? How do you "heat" the tent? Do you sleep in seriously cold-rated sleeping bags? Well, the last one was dumb - you would have to! How do you insulate yourselves from the cold ground? How short are the hours of daylight about the time of the winter solstice where you are? Do you wear kapaline (sp.?) long johns, or perhaps some other high-tech material?) I would imagine the canvas that the tent is made out of must be very heavy duty stuff. Etc.
Do I understand correctly that you have already been through one winter in Alaska in your tent? If this is correct, can you give us more details on how you accomplished this? (Such as, exactly how far north are you? How do you "heat" the tent? Do you sleep in seriously cold-rated sleeping bags? Well, the last one was dumb - you would have to! How do you insulate yourselves from the cold ground? How short are the hours of daylight about the time of the winter solstice where you are? Do you wear kapaline (sp.?) long johns, or perhaps some other high-tech material?) I would imagine the canvas that the tent is made out of must be very heavy duty stuff. Etc.
Yes, we spent last winter in our 16x20 canvas wall tent at just a smidge south of 65 deg north (the Arctic Circle). The tent is made of 12lb treated canvas, has a heavy-duty poly weather fly, and a steel & aluminum frame. We used zip-ties to attach 3" foamboard to the inside of the frame (about R-12) once it started staying below freezing (Oct I think).
We heated and cooked with a welded steel "4-Dog" tent stove and primarily spruce firewood; we used a propane heater head or the kerosene spaceheater for back-up heat when we had to let the stove go cold to sweep the chimney. Between the stove and the insulation, we could keep the inside between 68 & 72 without burning through the stove... the only time we had any difficulty keeping it above 60 inside was the couple weeks it was below -50 outside and windy.
We slept in a regular queen-sized bed (off the floor!) with blankets and down comforters (and a big dog LOL). We built an elevated tent platform with 6" of batt insulation in the floor so we aren't on the ground. We do have military-spec extreme cold weather sleeping bag systems (light bag, heavy bag, and weatherproof bivy), and 2" foam sleep mats, that would at least keep us alive down to -40/-50 if we were outside "camping" in our little nylon tent even without supplemental heat.
At winter solstice, we saw the sun barely peak over the horizon for about 2 hours around midday with just shy of 4 hours visible daylight... basically just twilight between darkness. At summer solstice, the sun just barely slides along the horizon for 2 hours and we have 24 hours of visible daylight without any noticeable dawn or dusk.
Clothing is more about layers than fabrics. With the exception of cotton -- we don't wear cotton in the winter because once it gets wet (snow or sweat) it completely loses all insulation ability, actually robs you of heat, and takes forever to dry. The first layer is long johns, mine are a poly-pro silk blend and DH's are typical army poly-pros. Then there are multiple combinations of fleece and wool for the middle layer, and weatherproof nylon shell for the outer layer. If we're going to be out for extended periods at or below -30, we also have high-loft down snow pants and parkas.
Always more than one pair of socks, at least liners and one thick wool, and snow boots with gators... we have two pairs: one rated to -40 for short periods outside or during the warmer part of winter, the other rated to -100 for longer periods outside or during the colder part of winter. Same thing with gloves - poly-wool liners and insulated outers, plus high-loft down mittens for when it's really cold and gloves are not enough to save your fingers. My sister sent me battery-operated gloves and socks that really helped when we were out cutting firewood at -40 (or below!) -- they didn't keep me warm per se, but they kept my hands and feet from being as painfully cold. Depending on how cold it was, we would have some combination of poly-pro skull-cap, fleece balaclava, wool watch cap, and fur & leather "woodman's" cap. Basically, you just don't ever go outside with any of your skin exposed once it gets down below -30. Even inside, we rarely stripped down to bare skin... only on bath night when we got the stove glowing cherry-red and the temp up over 80 (at least right by the stove).
To MissingAll4Seasons: Thanks for the fascinating information about the winter in your tent. You were able to keep temps inside the tent warmer than I would have imagined possible, but now I think I understand how. I'll bet the 3" foamboard had a lot to do with it. How many times per night did you have to get up to stoke the fire in the stove on the coldest nights?
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