Woo hoo - we are down to the last week in this hotel

Right now it is almost 8:30 PM that is - this is how light it is outside (would be lighter but the clouds are pretty heavy and it is kind of drizzly at the moment).  The sun is going down a little after 11 pm now but it really doesn't get totally dark at all.  It is just kind of twilight through the night.

The railing is on our balcony.  We have a huge balcony unfortunately no furniture out there to sit and relax so we just  go out there once in a while to walk around a bit with Tinkerbell.  The building in the distance is the Pedro building of the hotel.  Every Thursday, I lug my laundry over there to do it.  In a way it's kind of nice cause I know it takes me about 7 minutes to walk over there and put all my clothes in the washer.  It takes 25 minutes for the wash cycle - during which time I come back over here.  I then go back, move my clothes to the dryer (except for jeans which I absolutely never dry in the dryer).  I bring them back and hang them around the apartment then after 45 minutes go back and get the rest of the clothes.  All laundry done in just a little over an hour.

The hotel is turning into a beehive of activity.  Everyone is gearing up for the beginning of the tourist season which starts Memorial weekend.  It's good that we'll be out of here by then as I cannot imagine how chaotic it can get.

I have been on call this week so haven't got to get out and about much to look around.  The hills are really turning green now with all the birch trees leafing out.  Here are a few pictures I've taken but haven't shared yet so since I don't have a lot to say will share them now.

As we've driven around looking for for sale signs on houses we've come across some really strange abodes.  There are planes everywhere but this one looks like it is set up for someone to live in.  Inside the door are a couple of chest of drawers.  Pretty cool security system huh - when you leave home, you just drive the stairs away from the door and no one can get in.

On our drive to  Livengood, we came across this property.  The big sign says: 

Insured by Smith and Wesson.  Additional coverage provided by John Deere and Allis Chalmers

(not sure exactly what farm equipment is going to do to protect him).  Then one of the little signs says

"Private Target Range. Hello Target"

Just wishing we had stopped long enough to get a picture of one of the places around here that is filled with junk.  I believe some of these people have everything they've ever had in their whole lives.   It is totally unbelievable how much junk there is around. 

However in the defense of some people we have recently learned that other than for businesses, there is no garbage service in the area.  In MT I could pay them to stop by every Friday and pick up my garbage but not up here.  We are responsible for taking our own garbage to one of the many transfer stations around town.  Now I understand why in every house we looked at there is a dishwasher on one side of the kitchen sink and a garbage compacter on the other.  The good part about this is that we will be burning a lot of our garbage to help heat our house - yep, i'll be sorting my trash - recycling what I can and reusing a lot of it.

This thing behind our house is a wood burning boiler.  You throw wood, coal  or garbage in it and it heats up the water for the radiant heat flooring.  Not exactly sure how it works but Monday night, we'll be going over to talk to the current owners to find out exactly how:  the heating system works, the hrv system works (this is a thing to move fresh air into the house in the winter since it's so well sealed), the central vac, how to fill the under house water tanks and all the other things that we are totally clueless about when it comes to surviving an Alaskan winter.  Lots to learn this year that's for sure - especially since they are predicting the coming winter is going to be colder than it's been in a long long time..............