Only in Alaska would you see an ad like this one… http://anchorage.craigslist.org/zip/673017049.html.  I’m not sure that the ad is legit, or if it is legal to haul off a moose from someone’s yard.  But, it’s funny just the same.

And it’s not the only free moose on Craigslist.  April had another dead moose ad, in the sporting goods section for some reason.

This is the time of year to watch for newborn baby moose.  It’s also the time to stay away from the cow moose.  They will very aggressively defend their newborn calves.  After the calf is still hanging around a year later the cow has enough of them and tends to ignore them.  But if you mess with a newborn…watch out.

If you are planting trees in your yard this spring, you might take some thought to moose.  They love Mountain Ash, and Crab Apple trees.  I’m not sure what they won’t munch on, except evergreens.  But these big tree chompers can sure make landscaping in Alaska a challenge.  This moose in the photo was chewing on an Alder bush in my front yard just 2 weeks ago.  I haven’t seen them eat Cottonwood Trees, but who wants to plant Cottonwoods?

Bookmark this article!

Dave Johnson of Fishhook Realty questions my weather forecasting abilities in his comments on my last post officially announcing spring.  Look at them, the geese, cranes and ducks are still there under about 4 inches of fresh snow on the Palmer Experimental Farm fields.  It really is spring!

If that doesn’t mean it’s spring, I don’t know what does.  But I will admit that I’m glad I still have my studded tires on.  By the way, we are supposed to take our studded tires off by May 1.

I could barely see this flock of geese glide in for a landing through the snow.  They must be flying on instruments, no VFR for them.  I’m always impressed by the amount of migratory birds that appear each spring. I haven’t seen the swallows yet.  They usually arrive right after the cranes.  Hopefully they don’t go off course in this snow storm. 

So, buck up, this has got to be the last snow fall of the year………doesn’t it????

You have to love living in the Mat-Su Valley, we are so close to Alaska…We get to see things like these two moose munching on the willows in my front yard Tuesday morning…when it still felt like spring.

Bookmark this article!

A couple weeks ago I announced that spring had come.  Since then we have had temperatures down to 10 degrees and several good sized snow storms.

So much for my weather forecasting abilities.

But now, someone else has made it official.  The geese are on the fields in Palmer. 

We look forward to the geese arriving there every spring on their way to the nesting grounds and also note the huge flocks passing through in the fall on their way south. 

Take a drive out to Palmer just by the airport to see for yourself.  It really is spring.

Bookmark this article!

Alaska Is Huge

Every spring I get inquiries from people “outside” who have never been to Alaska about finding a piece of their Alaskan dream.  They want to buy a chunk of Alaska where they can have peace and privacy.  They know Alaska is big so they expect to get at least 10–100 acres of beautiful wilderness.

Of course, they also expect this to come with maintained roads, electricity, and hopefully public water and sewer as well.  It takes them awhile to come to grips with how hard to find and how expensive land is in Alaska.

Alaska IS huge, click on the top map to get a feel for just how big Alaska really is.  You could almost put one tip on New York City and the other on San Francisco. 

But less than 1% of Alaska is in private ownership.  Here is a map showing who owns Alaska.  Click on it to notice that it is actually a pie chart showing that the US Government owns most of the state. 

Alaska Is Tiny

Here are some more details on how tiny Alaska really is.

You will find that there is about as much private land in Alaska that you would find in the state of Massachusetts.  But much of that land is either remote, (you can’t drive to it), or swampy, or mountainous.  If we are talking about quality land in Alaska on which you can actually build a home, drive to, have telephone service, or farm and garden; it may be as small as the state of Rhode Island. 

You can find land in the wilderness, or on the ocean, (alaska has more than 34,000 miles of ocean front), on a river, or in the mountains.  But if you want all that and also want to drive to work in the morning you better have some big bucks. 

I can find you a piece of the Alaska wilderness for a low price.  But I can’t take you to it.  I don’t own a helicopter.

Palmer and Wasilla Are The Premier Alaska Locations

If you are looking for a real nice property that is close to all of the above, you are looking for a home in the Mat-Su Valley.  Almost any home in the Mat-Su valley is within a 20–30 minute drive of good hiking, mountain climbing, fishing, boating, hunting, skiing and more.  That is why the Wasilla and Palmer area is the bedroom community for the whole state of Alaska.

And that is why I live here and have stayed here for 40 years.  The Mat-Su Valley is the best place to live in the whole state of Alaska in my opinion.  If you are interested in a home here…send me a note by clicking on my contact link on the right.

Bookmark this article!

Whew!  We made it through another winter. 

 I’m officially declaring today the last day to worry about home freeze-ups this winter.

One thing that I think a lot of us Alaskans ignore is that we are extremely vulnerable to natural or man-made disasters. 

Almost all of us are tied to “the grid”.  We are dependent on the electrical grid and the natural gas distribution system. 

If we have a large scale failure in the grid the results will be disastrous.  Most of the nice new homes that I sell these days have no means to stay warm if they lose both gas and power. 

People brag to me about how their gas fireplace will keep them warm even if the power goes out.  But I have to wonder what they will do with that 5 star home when the power AND the gas disappear. 

How can that happen you ask?  One word…EARTHQUAKE… 

It seems almost inevitable that we will eventually have another large quake here.  When that happens there is a good chance that both the electrical and gas distribution systems will be down for weeks.  Can you imagine having to dig up and repair hundreds of broken gas lines throughout southcentral Alaska?  And if this happens in mid-winter the damage to homes will be huge.

We all need some way to keep our homes warm in a disaster.  You can go the cheap route…like me, and just store a barrel stove in the shed.  Or you can install a $30,000 masonry fireplace that will heat your home so efficiently that you can kiss Enstar goodbye.  Here are some good links:

• Craigslist…lots of used wood stoves that you can store in the shed, or install permanently.
• Frontier Heating Concepts…Palmer resident Andrew Good sells wood boilers.
• University site on wood heat…Lots of different ideas on how to heat with wood.
• Alaska Fireplace…Wood, Coal, and Oil stoves that run with or without electricity.
• Masonry Heater…Ned Rozelle article on masonry heaters.
• Cold Climate Housing Research Center…study on wood heaters.

Whichever route you choose…you have until mid-November to get it done.  That’s six months.

Bookmark this article!

I took a drive up Wolverine Road this evening to put a sign on a new listing.  Wolverine Road is one of Palmer’s secrets. 

Wolverine Road starts out as Clark-Wolverine Road from the Old Glenn Highway about one mile east of Palmer.  About 3 miles up the road, Clark and Wolverine separate, turn left to stay on Wolverine.  I found that someone else liked Wolverine Road as well.

I saw three moose on the 8 mile drive, this young one was munching on Willows next to Wolverine Creek

Just a mile up the road were some of our strange Alaskan Cattle. 

These shaggy beasts definitely look like they were made for an Alaskan winter.

Just across Wolverine Canyon is the giant carrot marking Wolverine Farms, home of the largest herd of Galloway Cattle in Alaska.

Someone who knows more than I do can tell us why every mountain peak has a puffy cloud above it.  There were no other clouds in the sky.

All this was to put a sign at the very end of Wolverine Road.  If you know anyone interested in a 69 acre parcel with about 20 acres in Hay and a 2200 square foot home let me know.  It’s a rare find, there are trails galore from this location.  You can leave right from your home straight into the Alaska Wilderness.  Here is a google map to the location.  Click on the satellite view to get a feel for this unusual opportunity.

Or you can call me for more info… 907 232–7900 is my cell number.

Bookmark this article!

It was an absolutely gorgeous Sunday in Willow for the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  My brother Mark and his wife Lorri staked out their favorite place on Vera Lake before the race began.  Their kids were already enjoying a camp fire.  They were at the very same location that we watched the race from last year.  See last year’s photos here.

My son Gerrit and I were the only representatives from my family for the second year in a row…couldn’t get the ladies to come but I’m sure they would have enjoyed it.  The weather was perfect, sunny and windless and about 25 degrees.  Can’t get any better than that!

Jay and two of his children along with my Dad, Gale Van Diest, showed up as well.  From left to right is Mark,Lorri,Jay,Gale, and Nikki.  Marty and Nikki Moffat joined us this year.  It was good to have them there, Marty and I have known each other since he was in Anvik and I was in Holikachuk back in the early 60’s.  Of course, it was our missionary parents who brought us there.

Here is a photo of Marty and Nikki with Rod Whaley from Tennessee right behind them.  This race had mushers from several differentcountries and many different states.  The top photo is Kim Franklin from the UK.  These people from outside Alaska are certainly on the adventure, and challenge, of their lifetime.  They are just beginning a 1,000 mile race through Alaska’s wilderness. 

Rachael Scdoris, a legally blind musher from Oregon, is following Joe Runyan to Nome.  Joe was our next door neighbor in Tanana and is a past Iditarod champion.  The discovery channel is filming their trip from a helicopter overhead. 

In addition to helicopters, there were airplanes galore, and hundreds, maybe thousands of snowmobiles following the race.  It was almost a constant drone from some motor.  Alan and Adele Morgan stopped by on thier machines to visit for awhile.  Alan commented on the irony of so much gasoline consumption to watch a sled dog race.  It does seem a little backwards, but like everyone else, we didn’t let it bother us.

 My Dad has some more photos on his blog here.

Bookmark this article!

I heard a funny story from a real estate friend today. 

During the last cold snap one of his vacant listings froze up.  Upon inspection he discovered that the water in the toilet had frozen and the bowl was cracked.  Knowing that this would be a real mess if it was allowed to thaw in the house he took the toilet outside and set on the deck.

Repairmen needed to access the house so he hid a key for them, he just lifted the lid and set the key on top of the ice.  That’s the last place a thief might look for a key.  That worked fine when it was 20 below…but this week we had a few days of unusually warm weather.   

Today he got a call from the repairman wondering if there was a new hiding spot for the key.  Then it dawned on him!  The ice thawed this week, and then re- froze last night.  The key was still in the toilet, but now it was at the bottom of the ice. 

At the last report, the repairmen were heating up the frozen toilet on the deck so they could access the house. 

Real Estate just works a little differently in Alaska. 

I should clarify that the key was hidden in the frozen tank rather than in the frozen toilet bowl.  Someone told me that I shouldn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story but I have to tell it straight.

Bookmark this article!

Last night was opening night for the Christmas Carol at the Valley Bistro in Wasilla.  It opened to a full house in the Teeland Building.  The historic building was a perfect setting for this dinner theater. 

People who know me understand that I usually go in for camping, hunting, and fishing for my leisure activities but I admit that I thoroughly enjoyed this play. 

Because of the intimate setting you feel almost as if you are in the Cratchit’s dining room watching their Christmas meal. 

The dinner was also very good.  Grace enjoyed her prime rib dinner and I had grilled chicken.  I’m not sure if the same menu is every evening but halibut was also available as an entree last night.

It was very well acted by the whole cast and especially by the director AJ Seims who also played Mister Scrooge.

The dinner theater will be every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night between now and Dec 22, 2007.  Buy tickets at the Valley Bistro or call 357–5633 for more information.  If you are interested you might want to buy your tickets soon.  This same play was offered last year and sold out for the season fairly quickly.

For more information visit the Triumvirate Theatre website.

Bookmark this article!

Anchorage Daily New photographer Marc Lester has a fantastic slide show of Hatcher Pass on adn.com.  It’s too good not to post for all my readers as well. 

I wrote about Hatcher Pass last December when we watched a bunch of kids downhill skiing.  There were having blast.  Hatcher Pass is a special place for our family.

Hatcher Pass is one of the crown jewels of the Mat-Su Borough.  It’s a fantastic get-away both summer and winter.  The photo at left was from an overnight camping trip with my kids up by “Monkey Face Rock”.  There is a beautiful valley beyond the rock.  These photos were taken by my daughter Teressa.

Below is the valley above our camping spot.  Is that pretty or what?  That clear mountain stream came directly out of the rocks just to the left of the photo.

Here is just partial list of things to do in Hatcher Pass:

• Hike
• Camp
• Take Photos
• Pick Berries
• Cross Country Ski
• Down Hill Ski
• Go Sledding
• Snow Mobiling
• Hang Glide
• Explore Old Mines
• Identify Wild Flowers
• Watch Wildlife, Everything from Pikas, Ground Squirrels, Moose, Bear, Foxes, Raptors, Ptarmigan, Marmots and more.
• Hunt Moose, Bear, and Ptarmigan in season.
• Rock Climb
• Mountain Climb
• Explore WW 2 Bombers

Bookmark this article!