It's white out there in the woods...

Had no idea that you spent a lot of time in Finland danrok. Was there over Easter in Oulu, many moons ago, that's located at 65 degrees North Latitude. There was still four feet of snow on the ground. I sincerely hope that Daniel's mountain retreat loses its thick snow cover well before Easter!

Wait a minute, the sea is frozen around the Channel Islands??!

Holy crud banana men, our forecast still says ten below freezing nights to come. I'm glad that you're a group of hardy pioneers up thar in the mountains!
 
I can't believe I wrote this line. Every now and again I do something that really pleases me,


"No one told me of the quite winter. The silence that lays upon the land like a language no longer spoken.
rich and full of meanings to deep to grasp and beyond our utterances."
 
it's far more just hard work than dangerous.
We are only 50 feet at the nearest point from a hwy. that's scrupulously maintained and kept clear..
Just 40 miles past us is Crystal mountain ski resort, the end of the Rd. The road doesn't go though.

So Like our selves Crystal depends upon that rd. being open in the worst (best ) weather for skiing,
To run their very multi million dollar business.
I sleep late so never see them, but am told that at 6am there's a line of continuous cars heading up the mountain.

So fresh pure and white white white.
But then we start to dig out and from beneath the turned and tossed snow moldy leaves, dirt and small assorted objects start to blimpish.

Soon the snow lays spotted like an aging face. no longer smoothly covering all. but clumping clinging and unsightly. When the snow gets dirty we turn our backs upon it and simply wish it gone,":O}

We are fickle here in the mountains, we soon tire of what pleased us when it was young.

Really it's the little things that turn us against the snow. Frozen water pipes, frozen black water tanks, frozen grey water tanks. Our trailers can go no more than a week without emptying.

About 2/3rds of us have direct sewer connections. The rest of us use sewage tote boxes on wheels to move our shit from trailer to sewer.a few of us have to tote water as well.

We are not on the cutting edge of full time trailer life. Very few of us want to be.
Snow is a welcome guest for the first week it's all fun and games.

But life goes on and people need to work , not slave keeping trailers whole (One roof caved a bit and their is much discussion of what if anything we can do to prop it up until snow clears and repairs can be effected.

About half of us shelter in our trailers beneath tarps. The weight of snow opens seams that warmed by internal heat allows melted snow to pour in.. So we scrap the roof of snow and tarp it.

How good a fix is it?

We have one trailer we call the dog house and is used for unwanted husbands to shelter in from wife abuse.
It was tarp topped 5 years ago and still remains dry.

with snow on the ground we look a bit Gypsy/American and tarps are a big part of that. Some feel tarps an eye sore, but as they are soon snow covered, and very much needed it's not discussed a lot.

We don't have anyone with a ham radio. I personally feel one needs a ham radio to feel really isolated...but I suppose phones work a bit better.":O}
 
porporme said:
If they are like any other "civilized" nation I Imagine they ship there prisoners up there to!
Click to expand...

Oulu, Finland is just ~1.3 degrees South of the Arctic Circle. Who knew I ever got that close to it? Oulu was a small city when I was lucky enough to visit there. My school chum (don't think I've ever written "chum" before) drove like a maniac (yet in complete control) on all of that compacted snow. You should see what studded tires look like there. The "studs" are like bottle caps with four raised corners, not the tiny "nails" they are here at 47 degrees North.

Finnish is one hell of a strange language and it's not related to any other west European tongue. Watch "Borderland" on Netflix if you care to hear it. "Kiitos" means "thank you." That's how much I know.
 
Daniel~ said:
it's far more just hard work than dangerous.
We are only 50 feet at the nearest point from a hwy. that's scrupulously maintained and kept clear..
Just 40 miles past us is Crystal mountain ski resort, the end of the Rd. The road doesn't go though.

So Like our selves Crystal depends upon that rd. being open in the worst (best ) weather for skiing,
To run their very multi million dollar business.
I sleep late so never see them, but am told that at 6am there's a line of continuous cars heading up the mountain.

So fresh pure and white white white.
But then we start to dig out and from beneath the turned and tossed snow moldy leaves, dirt and small assorted objects start to blimpish.

Soon the snow lays spotted like an aging face. no longer smoothly covering all. but clumping clinging and unsightly. When the snow gets dirty we turn our backs upon it and simply wish it gone,":O}

We are fickle here in the mountains, we soon tire of what pleased us when it was young.

Really it's the little things that turn us against the snow. Frozen water pipes, frozen black water tanks, frozen grey water tanks. Our trailers can go no more than a week without emptying.

About 2/3rds of us have direct sewer connections. The rest of us use sewage tote boxes on wheels to move our shit from trailer to sewer.a few of us have to tote water as well.

We are not on the cutting edge of full time trailer life. Very few of us want to be.
Snow is a welcome guest for the first week it's all fun and games.

But life goes on and people need to work , not slave keeping trailers whole (One roof caved a bit and their is much discussion of what if anything we can do to prop it up until snow clears and repairs can be effected.

About half of us shelter in our trailers beneath tarps. The weight of snow opens seams that warmed by internal heat allows melted snow to pour in.. So we scrap the roof of snow and tarp it.

How good a fix is it?

We have one trailer we call the dog house and is used for unwanted husbands to shelter in from wife abuse.
It was tarp topped 5 years ago and still remains dry.

with snow on the ground we look a bit Gypsy/American and tarps are a big part of that. Some feel tarps an eye sore, but as they are soon snow covered, and very much needed it's not discussed a lot.

We don't have anyone with a ham radio. I personally feel one needs a ham radio to feel really isolated...but I suppose phones work a bit better.":O}
Click to expand...


I LOVE those blue tarps. Their singular color sticks out like a sore thumb everywhere. I never thought about the roofs of trailers, it bites that they are so weak. What apita it is to keep snow off of that flimsy overhead protection!

The "Dog House," oh it must be hard to banish oneself to that thing. Had an old, long lived restaurant named The Dog House in slightly Up-town Seattle before ""progress"" demanded that it live on on memory only. It had artwork on its interior walls that said "all roads lead to the Dog House" and pictured dogs in a hundred ways getting in trouble with their better halves. The food wasn't bad--what more could we ask for?
 
Daniel~ said:
I can't believe I wrote this line. Every now and again I do something that really pleases me,


"No one told me of the quite winter. The silence that lays upon the land like a language no longer spoken.
rich and full of meanings to deep to grasp and beyond our utterances."
Click to expand...

Here in the big city (New York is 12 times bigger) all I noticed sound wise is that the snow attenuates noises extremely well.
It's wonderful to "move to the country" so easily!
 
cloasters said:
Oulu, Finland is just ~1.3 degrees South of the Arctic Circle. Who knew I ever got that close to it? Oulu was a small city when I was lucky enough to visit there. My school chum (don't think I've ever written "chum" before) drove like a maniac (yet in complete control) on all of that compacted snow. You should see what studded tires look like there. The "studs" are like bottle caps with four raised corners, not the tiny "nails" they are here at 47 degrees North.

Finnish is one hell of a strange language and it's not related to any other west European tongue. Watch "Borderland" on Netflix if you care to hear it. "Kiitos" means "thank you." That's how much I know.
Click to expand...

I know Oulu but never been that far up north. It's a long way from Helsinki. I've seen people heading up there putting the cars on the train because it just takes so long to drive up there, probably 2 or 3 days of driving.

Spent a lot of time in Estonia as well. Estonian is the only other major Finnic language. Sounds much the same as Finnish, but a lot of words have a completely different meaning. Very confusing if you're trying to understand friends who are speaking Finnish and Estonian.
 
cloasters said:
I LOVE those blue tarps. Their singular color sticks out like a sore thumb everywhere. I never thought about the roofs of trailers, it bites that they are so weak. What apita it is to keep snow off of that flimsy overhead protection!

The "Dog House," oh it must be hard to banish oneself to that thing. Had an old, long lived restaurant named The Dog House in slightly Up-town Seattle before ""progress"" demanded that it live on on memory only. It had artwork on its interior walls that said "all roads lead to the Dog House" and pictured dogs in a hundred ways getting in trouble with their better halves. The food wasn't bad--what more could we ask for?
Click to expand...
Ya got me/us, all our tarps are blue. LOL
 
danrok said:
You can see what I mean by the sea freezing in someone's photo here:
https://scontent.fgci1-1.fna.fbcdn....=302a9d7ea4e8abba997e8297d4c1d60a&oe=5CF22408

That was the neighborhood where I lived for a year, but that marina is quite new.
Click to expand...

Hey big guy I just noticed your twitch access button in your signature.
A few questions:
Your name is spelled Danrokk on you twitch page, is that intentional?
What is twitch and how are you using it?
Can you use it to take over the world, or at lest the good parts?

Can we help you in any way at all. You gave/give so much to us, What can we do for you?
 
cloasters said:
Here in the big city (New York is 12 times bigger) all I noticed sound wise is that the snow attenuates noises extremely well.
It's wonderful to "move to the country" so easily!
Click to expand...

Yep really easy. All you have to do is go broke then get lucky.
But there are a few here who actually planned their move here.
What a total lack of spontaneity! LOL

We try not to ridicule them for exercising foresight but it's hard being as we are so damn spontaneous. But the economy is such once your here you can save rather than plunge deeper in debt.

We pat each other on the back and thank god (in one form or another) every time we meet.the people here without exception have had a hard life. Lot's of drinking, lots of hard drugs but it's only gotten out of hand twice and one of them is gone and the other one is a bit ashamed and now completely forgiven.

To many here share his prob with alcohol. Most seem to be dealing with it quite well. Staying away as long as they can, but backsliding for a day on two on occasion. The isolation here (40 mile to your next drink)

Lack of spare cash and widely available cheep high grade pot I think helps them stay away from drink quite a bit. The junkies seem to have an easier time than the Alkies.
To be a good junkie you have to maintain friendly relations with a series of dealers and doctors and junkie friends

(at times impossible to tell them apart.)

We have no dealers, no doctors. 40 miles to Emenclaw, But Emenclaw does not a drug paradise make.
For those trying to save their souls from drugs Clear water can be redemptive.

Before I arrived the place was a speed freak flop.
But the mighty Row (short for Ramona)
Went to the owner, got the imperial seal and exercised her new powers to really clean the place up and cleaned them all out. Now one looking upon us would only think "Hey a family picnic!"

But to be clear no one stumbles around here drunk on anything. Just that some on us do drink to much.
But we are poor so access to booze is limited.

I have very slowly made my presence felt here. and now am working with two people trying to understand their lives now that the booze is gone. There are others but as I have let it be known that nothing I have offer is of any use to a drunk. I cannot work with some one whose conscience is not their own all of the time.

So they hover in torment trying to find their way to their "no" .

I maintain friendly relations with them, But as I'm now a symbol of anti-drunkeness
They mistakenly fear me a bit and are timid in my presence.

I have met with two ex drunks who are a pleasure to work with.
The funny thing is that the I-Ching is the only thing I'm qualified to teach anyone.

I have only said once that I won't teach it to those who lack sobriety. But the hard word got around.

None of them are interested in the I-Ching. Yet knowing I won't teach it has incentivized there efforts to cut back. LOL

I'd say the average age is probably real close to 60. So, many delusions have been put aside.
It is so much easier to help people who have shed their more self destructive delusions!

The Sun is out and shinning brightly, still very cold out, around 26F
But sunshine is more on a cold day.
Just as
Wisdom makes more sense to a broken man.":O}

I believe it is the new testament that speaks of and to the "Broken and contrite heart."
There are beautiful Flemish paintings that show the faithful all looking up ward with tear-filled eyes and beatific smiles.

Their eyes convey the fallen, their lives of sin, their wretchedness.
but their pain filled smiles convey their redemption undeserved, yet still given by grace.
You can look it up!! LOL
 
danrok said:
You can see what I mean by the sea freezing in someone's photo here:
https://scontent.fgci1-1.fna.fbcdn....=302a9d7ea4e8abba997e8297d4c1d60a&oe=5CF22408

That was the neighborhood where I lived for a year, but that marina is quite new.
Click to expand...

Looks pretty classy. Is that in Estonia or Finland?

Lakes in northern Canada freeze hard enough to be parts of highways in season. But frozen seawater may be in a class of its own. I didn't know that Estonian was closely related to Finnish. I thought that the tongues spoken in that little corner of the world (not including Finnish) were all ""Baltic."" Have an old friend who's Lithuanian family was allegedly on the last truck leaving before the Soviets came.

The father of my school friend who lived in Oulu had an ice breaker. It was small and cute compared to the big ones used in the Canadian, Russian and American Arctic. Apologies to Leo, who I last spoke with 30 years ago, "cute" really describes that little vessel accurately.
 
danrok said:
I know Oulu but never been that far up north. It's a long way from Helsinki. I've seen people heading up there putting the cars on the train because it just takes so long to drive up there, probably 2 or 3 days of driving.

Spent a lot of time in Estonia as well. Estonian is the only other major Finnic language. Sounds much the same as Finnish, but a lot of words have a completely different meaning. Very confusing if you're trying to understand friends who are speaking Finnish and Estonian.
Click to expand...


I took an overnight train (there were actually wooden sided passenger rail cars at the Helsinki train station. Dr Zhivago or what?) from Helsinki to Oulu. Finnair was on Easter vacation. Finnish and Estonian will remain on my unlearned list. When in Rome and all, but my last visit was more than fifty years ago.
 
Daniel~ said:
Yep really easy. All you have to do is go broke then get lucky.
But there are a few here who actually planned their move here.
What a total lack of spontaneity! LOL

We try not to ridicule them for exercising foresight but it's hard being as we are so damn spontaneous. But the economy is such once your here you can save rather than plunge deeper in debt.

We pat each other on the back and thank god (in one form or another) every time we meet.the people here without exception have had a hard life. Lot's of drinking, lots of hard drugs but it's only gotten out of hand twice and one of them is gone and the other one is a bit ashamed and now completely forgiven.

To many here share his prob with alcohol. Most seem to be dealing with it quite well. Staying away as long as they can, but backsliding for a day on two on occasion. The isolation here (40 mile to your next drink)

Lack of spare cash and widely available cheep high grade pot I think helps them stay away from drink quite a bit. The junkies seem to have an easier time than the Alkies.
To be a good junkie you have to maintain friendly relations with a series of dealers and doctors and junkie friends

(at times impossible to tell them apart.)

We have no dealers, no doctors. 40 miles to Emenclaw, But Emenclaw does not a drug paradise make.
For those trying to save their souls from drugs Clear water can be redemptive.

Before I arrived the place was a speed freak flop.
But the mighty Row (short for Ramona)
Went to the owner, got the imperial seal and exercised her new powers to really clean the place up and cleaned them all out. Now one looking upon us would only think "Hey a family picnic!"

But to be clear no one stumbles around here drunk on anything. Just that some on us do drink to much.
But we are poor so access to booze is limited.

I have very slowly made my presence felt here. and now am working with two people trying to understand their lives now that the booze is gone. There are others but as I have let it be known that nothing I have offer is of any use to a drunk. I cannot work with some one whose conscience is not their own all of the time.

So they hover in torment trying to find their way to their "no" .

I maintain friendly relations with them, But as I'm now a symbol of anti-drunkeness
They mistakenly fear me a bit and are timid in my presence.

I have met with two ex drunks who are a pleasure to work with.
The funny thing is that the I-Ching is the only thing I'm qualified to teach anyone.

I have only said once that I won't teach it to those who lack sobriety. But the hard word got around.

None of them are interested in the I-Ching. Yet knowing I won't teach it has incentivized there efforts to cut back. LOL

I'd say the average age is probably real close to 60. So, many delusions have been put aside.
It is so much easier to help people who have shed their more self destructive delusions!

The Sun is out and shinning brightly, still very cold out, around 26F
But sunshine is more on a cold day.
Just as
Wisdom makes more sense to a broken man.":O}

I believe it is the new testament that speaks of and to the "Broken and contrite heart."
There are beautiful Flemish paintings that show the faithful all looking up ward with tear-filled eyes and beatific smiles.

Their eyes convey the fallen, their lives of sin, their wretchedness.
but their pain filled smiles convey their redemption undeserved, yet still given by grace.
You can look it up!! LOL
Click to expand...


You really are the spiritual reminder around here. That's just fine, we need one!
Oh brother, it's too easy to become an addict in this best of all possible worlds. By golly, I've been hooked on them all. Alcohol may be the meanest one. It just hammers your soul, oh those 4AM wakeups, the wonderfulness. You are too hungover to move so you just lie there being raked over the hot coals of your conscience. Waiting till maybe 7:30, then you can stand up and walk to the kitchen for your morning Big Gulp of booze. Oooh, it's a bad scene.

Heroin kills your conscience, you don't really mind a thing. You realize that you've been murdering your soul bit by tiny bit, day after day when it becomes time to kick. Then all of the pain you have been avoiding comes back like a freakin' double freight train. Hoo boy, and that pain earned interest daily! Enjoy!!
I was a short time junkie. It's worse for folks who use it for years. Unimaginable horror. Marlon Brando, my ass. He knew nothing (in Apocalypse Now) compared to a lifer junkie.

I could never afford enough cocaine to become a true addict. Thank God I missed out on Crack!!! That stuff simply makes you insane. Insanity is unpleasant, been there done that. There is no escape there, too bad youngsters must learn that the hard way.

Oh yes, the weather. The weather report for the next ten days says it will be below freezing all night. Except for one night. Yee haw! Sheeite, Mr Freakin' Weather has sucked and will suck for weeks. What have we done to deserve this?
Everything!
 
cloasters said:
Here in the big city (New York is 12 times bigger) all I noticed sound wise is that the snow attenuates noises extremely well.
It's wonderful to "move to the country" so easily!
Click to expand...
What about a language no longer spoken...Did you see any of that laying about? LOL
 
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