Forever Alaskan

I'm a sixty five year old fiscal conservative albeit philosophical Libertarian long time lower 48'er finally living his dream of semi-rural Alaskan living and loving it. Sharing a small house on 2.3 acres of boreal forest just off East Barge Drive at Mile 7.1 of the Talkeetna Spur with a male German Shepherd Dog (Qanuk) and a newly added female 'Russian Bear Dog' mix - more properly known as a 'Caucasian Shepherd Dog' - named Delilah. I'm still grieving the loss of my 'little' angel, Anana! She was my Alaskan malamute companion for eight and a half years and the embodiment of unconditional love, joy, mischievousness and gentleness. At 125 pounds she was a big girl but in reality she was a huge Teddy Bear who never met anything on two legs she didn't love. I miss her so much!! But back to my 'profile'; given my previous experience has been entirely lower 48 suburban living the paradigm shift has been huge but I both expected and desired this change. I have a brand new world to experience and I'm learning more and more each day about my new home and about myself. At the start of 2017 I ceased volunteering at Talkeetna's own KTNA (88.9 FM and on-line streaming at KTNA.org) where I hosted two Wednesday afternoon music shows ("Take A Little Trip Back..." and "Light Winds") as well as handling the Sunday announcements at noon. I've also stepped down from my seat as vice president on the Upper Susitna Food Pantry which supports the nutritional needs of over 170 families and people in this area. I had a number of upcoming events which required much more of my time so I decided to forgo any current volunteering. This lasted until the end of August 2017 when I interviewed for a seat on the Sunshine Community Health Center's (SCHC) board of directors; I was seated on this board as of early September. I continue to work at healing myself based upon recent diagnoses of hypertension and late onset Type 2 diabetes; the latter I've managed to successful control through diet and exercise. I returned in late September of 2017 from Montana with my R-pod travel trailer in tow; this was a monumental 5,324 mile adventure with 2,550 of said miles driving The Alaska Highway! Once back in Alaska I want to spend time on The Dalton Highway (AK 11) come next fall and re-visit Nome Creek and Ophir campground just south of The White Mountains with my canine companions. In July of 2018 I began to foster large rescue canines for 'AK Cat & Dog Rescue'; this has become a passion of mine and something I truly love although the effort can sometimes be pretty immense. In March of 2019 I 'graduated' the CERT 'basic training' course and am now the team lead for the newly formed 'Talkeetna CERT' effort. Our team is growing and developing and we are working with the local community to make safety and disaster assistance even more available. Without question I'm living my dream and experiencing the adventure of a lifetime. Along with learning to not just survive but thrive in semi-rural south central Alaska I enjoy life with my canine companions, Nature photography, meteorology, hiking, sky watching and cold, snowy winters. I love all the wildlife around me especially the large mammals like grizzlies, moose and caribou. The longer I'm here the less I can envision returning to the lower 48; I already know I'll never live any way but semi-rural. Surrounded by the majesty that's Alaska every day is something extraordinarily special so let the adventure continue..!