Daisy

We are on our last day of the trip.  I haven’t been taking many notes about what we have done, but have recorded every 10 seconds in pictures.  This one was taken by Richard.  It is my favorite picture of Daisy and the girls, Autumn and Linden.  They are retired sled dogs and used to mush through the snow.  Autumn was lead and Linden was swing or at the end, can’t remember.  They are the sweetest dogs, hardly any licking which is odd, and just give and accept the right amount of attention.  They are devoted to Daisy.

Staying with Daisy has given me several insights and a way of speaking has rubbed off onto both Richard and I.  ”I know” and “Yep” are now popping up all over the place in my speech.  Daisy is constantly moving and smiling.  She has big beautiful white teeth and dark black huge eyes.  She wakes up at 6:30 to hot tea, then a run with the dogs for 45 minutes in rain or shine and when the temp is above -30 (yep, “minus” 30 degrees)!  The run travels through gorgeous tree filled dirt and paved roads that go up and down gentle rolling hills.  She gets back, stretches and then changes quickly into her work clothes which are definitely not pearls and high heels.  Daisy is a “geek” and proud of it.  She is feminine yet throws her whole body into joyously splitting a whole cord of wood spread out under a month.  While we were here, a guy dumped off two loads of lovely wet birch.  Daisy will split each log chunk in half and stack it up to dry like the Jenga game so air can circulate to dry it.  Then she will split those pieces even smaller for burning.  She has a 16×20 foot cabin with a sleeping loft.  She won’t accept anything that is not deemed needed in her world.  She appreciated the box of kleenex and paper towles we bought her, but wouldn’t accept the poster of the YUKON QUEST SLED DOG RACE (!), even the one that was hand signed by all the finishers in 2008.  That one was won by a woman.

Dasiy’s Cabin is cute, isn’t it.  She has an outhouse that I fell in love with.  Don’t know if it would be so cool….. in 40 below weather which happens quite often in Fairbanks.  There is a foam seat so your behind is insulated against the super cold air.  However I would have to actually experience the situation to give an accurate account.  Everyone we talk to says that 40 below isn’t that cold.  No big deal…. better then 100 degrees in a humid place like California !….. wow….can’t get around that but some how believe them and think I could survive it.  Who knows, maybe we will return to see the Ice Carving Festival and or Arctic Man.

Here are some words from Richard….go…your on…. (ooops, bad speeling -grammerr comes with an art degree)

We’re actually as enraptured with Daisy’s worldly ruminations and rants as her thoreauly sublime lifestyle. We love the way that she has claimed central alaska as her stage for ongoing standup routines as she surrounds her cabin with an endless stream of walden puddles. How will we ever get accustomed to a day without a constant stream of bun puns?

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