Well, I am back home again. The 30 lbs of meat turned into 6 gallon bags full of jerky. After the first week back at work, I was down to one full gallon bag left, which I stashed so some of the crew out on rotation would get some. My boss, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, pronounced the jerky as the best home made he'd ever had. Since I made a few variations by mixing different batches with different amendments to the basic recipe, there was something for everyone, but the most favored one was the basic recipe. Go figure.

I was quite swamped with work. I can affirm that, while oil companies aren't going after the expensive stuff or doing any exploration right now, they are full throttle on pulling as much of the cheap oil out of the ground as possible right now. The drilling schedule this year is way behind, despite running all rigs 24/7. We are backlooged in doing hookups and tie-ins, and more work is being considered. At just $40 a barrel, the oil companies can still make money on slope oil, and oil from the Permian basin, which is why things are ramping up here and why unemployment in west Texas is at an all time low. I believe Midland/Odessa has the lowest unemployment rate in the country right now. Profits drive the business, so when the price drops, the cheap stuff becomes an obsession for the CEOs, who must turn a profit no matter what or lose their job. So North Dakota and parts of the Gulf might be stalled for now, but I also see the price is starting to come back up again.

Looks like California and the rest of the wsst coast might be getting a break. Apparently that Cat 5 storm that blew through the south Pacific last month was so strong it change the ocean current and it appears to have initiated an El Nino. Historically El Ninos spawn lots of precipitation along the west coast of North America. This may also mean that next winter will be dramatically different here in Anchorage than this last one. I expect if the current indications hold, we will get lots of snow here. Of course, up on slope there is still plenty of the white stuff blowing around. Monday morning as I was leaving the wind chill had us down around -44 deg F.

So we are moving again. Anchorage rent is just too expensive, even though I can afford it, I had only planned on staying in town here temporarily anyways. I've been here 2 years now, and now that I don't have a daily commute to worry about, it makes no sense to stay here. So we found a place out of town that is more to our liking and far more affordable. We decided to finally buy a place as I don't plan on moving again for a good long while. Ultimately, we looked at about 30 or so places, and finally found a nice ranch style on half an acre that the wife said she would be happy with. I will eventually acquire a more remote and larger piece of land to build on, which will be my getaway destination for doing more manly stuff. I plan on building a decent cabin, putting in a well and septic, and stockpiling about 80 or so tons of coal. It is by far the cheapest source of energy up here, it is some of the cleanest coal on the continent, and it is easy to store for a long time. But that is all out in the future a bit. First, I have to pack up all my "stuff" and get moved out and moved in. Life has taught me to work smart, not hard, so I will be hiring some young apes to do the heavy lifting. I figure it will be cheaper to pay them to break their backs than the medical costs to take care of mine.

Looks like the bear hunt may be a bust this year. With the warmer weather, the bears are getting out early. I will likely be back at work and unable to hunt when the timing would be optimal. I don't want to eat fishy tasting bear, and if you don't get them before they get to the salt marsh and the coastline, then that is what you end up with. So I guess we will see what happens in the next few weeks. Normally it would be mid May when the bear hunting here would get going. Dealing with buying a house and generally not prepared for a hunt right now, I can't do much about it this time off, so I guess it will be moose and salmon that fill my freezer and larder this year.

I am saying good-bye to Direct TV. The wife finally capitulated and agreed we will find a more reasonable alternative to the extravagance. It is easier to pull her teeth than to wean her off her addictions. But I am a patient man, and making her face certain realities will eventually lead her to a reasonable and unavoidable conclusion. For me, it is one more noise maker eliminated. Besides, I have a collection of literally thousands of movies and tv shows, and we will still have the internet, at least until the govt takes that away from us. So she doesn't have to go cold turkey.

By the way, I am so pleased with my Samick Phoenix 2 recurve, I am strongly considering selling my Bear Grizzly and getting another Samick. The Grizzly is a nice bow, but it is not as smooth as the Phoenix. Then again, I may just keep the Griz and buy another Phoenix anyways. This archery thing really bit me bad. What can I say. Instant gratification.