I have a really good feeling about today, just
only a hunter would understand.
Sometimes you get that feeling that something's gonna happen,
and nine times out of ten it does.
Bear, bear!
There he is. There he is.
He's looking this way.
He's not giving me the shot I need. I
here he comes around the other side now.
He's coming back down, he's coming down.
I think he's gonna give me the shot.
Yeah, come on, come on.
Here he comes.
Nice shot.
I almost got a shot here.
Turn a little bit more.
There it is.
Right in the pump station.
Not bad?
He's down.
Wow.
That was a rush.
Well, it was a nice clean shot.
He's letting out his death moan.
It's... it's... The final thing they do.
It's kind of sad when they do that.
Just a... it's kind of a mournful sound.
A lot of the times, a bear,
especially when you've shot them in the lungs
they'll let out what the hunters call
basically a death moan,
and it's, the last of the life
that's in the bear is leaving its whole life basically.
It's kind of a crazy thing, but...
Well, he's, he's down.
Shot placement is everything.
I mean, not only do you gotta have Patience
to wait for the bear to show up,
you also gotta let the bear give you
the shot that you need.
One shot is the only way to do it.
It's clean. It's humane.
And I'm all into less work these days.
Got my birthday bear.
Today's my birthday, so worked out pretty good.
Should we go see what we got, junior?
We got a big bad bear.
This is your first bear, you did really good.
You got a lot of bones to eat.
Community is people coexisting
and working together for the greater good
to the best of their ability.
This part of the world really thrives on that.
If everybody was all in it just for themselves,
I don't think anybody would be out here.
The fun part.
I'm gonna put this on, and then he's got to kind of tuck
the hood around the seal, if it makes sense.
Okay.
Let's see. Good thing you don't have a lot of hair, Troy.
Yeah, don't worry about pulling my hair.
- Like so? - Good.
Okay. Remember the cable.
You'll see it coming away right about here.
- Okay. - It'll go straight down
to the bottom and then out, so...
Just kind of follow that?
- Yeah. - Okay, are you ready?
Yup.
A few months ago,
we had a pretty severe windstorm
and it knocked down a number of trees,
and one of those trees slid right into the main causeway
which we call "the gut," and it's gonna be a problem
because it's our only access point
from one part of the community to the other.
We're gonna have to try to lift it out of here.
I'm having a hard time envisioning this,
working out great.
I'm seeing a ginormous tree down here.
Branches everywhere.
They're poking out
of every different angle and direction.
I'm looking for a spot
at the kind of the base of the trunk there
where I can actually fit straps around it
to get this trunk raised.
I think there's more than one tree here too.
I think we might have multiple small trees,
one larger tree, a big root wad, bunch of blueberry branches.
This makes me nervous, being underwater
where you can't really see a person
or tell how things are going or what the heck is happening.
We are time sensitive in how much time he's in the water.
Yeah, the current's probably gonna switch pretty quick.
To get this job done,
Don's gonna give us some straps
and we're gonna try to secure that to the tree itself,
and then we're gonna wait for the lowest tide we can get.
We're gonna attach a float
to the lowest point of the tree, and hopefully,
hopefully, it'll float.
Do we know what time it is, Don?
Feels like the current switched.
Hi, Troy.
What, what's the report, man?
It's, that root wad is giant.
Do you think so?
There's a part where kind of two,
two, trunks come out.
I'm assuming you probably want me to go
under both the trunks if I can?
Yeah, just throw that line around there
and that's all we can do.
Cross my fingers.
Alrighty.
Bye.
Today we're gonna be, building a cover
over our front porch for a workshop.
Have, my chainsaw, grinder,
and have all my tools on the wall
and give Breanna kind of her entryway
so she can do what she wants with it.
Rain, rain, rain.
Never ceases to annoy me.
My big dream here is to have a mill on the back float
and be able to winch logs up on that thing
and kind of mill 'em up and be able to work out of
for all the lumber and stuff we're gonna be turning out.
Bet you're relieved
- that's the last one. - Yeah, I know.
Yeah, I'm really glad to be done with that.
Holy smokes.
My hand is just tingly as hell.
My knees are sore.
- It's nice wood. - Thank you.
It is nice wood.
Pretty clear, a couple knots here and there
but not anything huge.
I think they're gonna be nice and strong.
They're gonna work.
I've been doing construction off and on
since I was like 15, but this is the first time
I've ever actually built a structure from trees
that I've felled and milled up myself.
We're both short, so it doesn't have to be very tall.
Okay.
Framing out this wall here.
And then we're gonna try to get it standing.
Goodness.
It's been a good minute since I framed up a wall.
Let's go that way I'll go here.
Now we'll see if our layout is on.
Like this.
Perfect. Alright. Start screwing this thing.
I have experience with construction,
but I've always been kind of there
to grab something and lean something up
if somebody needs help.
So this is gonna be a learning experience for me.
Gonna want one about every 16 inches.
Okay.
Here, one sec.
Here, bam.
Okay.
I am really excited to learn construction
because in order to get to that future
that we want, we have to just keep building
and expanding our scene back here
so we can just keep this life going.
I think we're done.
About ready to stand this bad boy up.
Yeah. It's nice.
- Yeah. - Okay, you ready?
I don't know if I am.
I'm not feeling very strong at the moment,
I guess if we are.
Boy.
Damn. That can't be there.
Crap. The floor is uneven.
I don't know,
if we're not square right here as we're starting out and keep going,
then it's just gonna become a bigger problem
further down the line we go.
- It's not good. - No.
Alright. We got one, two, three, four, five, six.
I'm very fortunate in that
my aunt has everything you could possibly need
for canning and jarring stuff.
I think she experimented a lot
and tried to can anything she possibly could.
So... I'm gonna try to take her lead
and do the same thing if I can.
I find it very intimidating.
It's, I'm scared to do it wrong
or blow something up.
I always remember being afraid when I was a kid.
My name is Veronica arrants.
I grew up in a suburb near Seattle.
I came to port protection last summer.
My auntie litzi was diagnosed with cancer,
and she invited me to stay here to be with her.
And so, I quit my job and I moved to Alaska.
And that was the first time
I'd ever been to port protection.
And I've been here for the past eight months.
Growing up, I saw auntie litzi
raising her boys in the woods,
and it just seemed like such a magical life.
She was a very special person to me.
She had a unique strength.
Even when I was young, I could tell
she wasn't afraid of much,
and I admired her for that.
You gotta be kind of a tough character
to live out here.
Alright.
Ready, set, go!
I am learning to live in port protection
from the absolute basics,
but I have not regretted it one day.
Yee-hee!
That's exciting.
Alaska surfing.
Rule number one, stay in the boat.
I'm, gonna show Veronica the ropes
when it comes to subsistence Halibut fishing
because when you're playing with long line,
it is a dangerous activity.
More than one person has gone over the side
or got a leg broke from a big Halibut.
You know, I'm trying to, let her know
how we best go about things out here.
Whoa. Almost snuck up on a dead head there.
What's a dead head?
A very low fl-floating log.
It can make, short work of a lower unit
if you don't keep your eyes peeled on where you're going.
I'm very appreciative of you taking me out here.
Well, of course.
Actual fish and chips, baked Halibut.
It is a staple.
- Yeah, man. - You know?
Well, this is a nice little 15 fathom patch.
Awesome.
She seems like she,
wants to set down some roots here
and so in order to do so,
there's a couple pillars of prosperity
that she needs to get a handle on.
The knot is a sheep's bend
with an extra pull through,
makes for a marlin hitch.
Alright.
When I lived down south, I had a full-time job.
I was a single mom of three kids,
and I worked at a 911 center.
It was a high stress job,
and I always dreamt of living off-grid.
It's very interesting to me
to not have to rely on other people
to get the things that you need.
First thing we'll do is I'll set it off the bow,
and I'll just have you backing in a straight line.
- Okay. - And if I run into a hiccup somewhere
and something catches up, I'll holler
and just, put it in neutral and, deal with whatever.
Alright.
And
of course I stepped on it.
Okay, start backing up a little.
Okay.
Do I just give it a little bit of gas?
Just keep, nice and slow and steady.
- Okay. - I'm standing up,
so don't throw me into the bilge.
- Yeah. - Back.
Okay, good.
Hold.
- Keep going. - Okay.
- A little faster. - Okay.
Hold!
- Hold! - Hold.
Son of a bitch.
Rat's nest.
Never a smooth drop.
Some of the hooks sank down into the line there.
Alright, go ahead and give a good pull.
Okay.
Alright.
Well, now we got about three hours to kill
before we go to pull it.
Let's jig.
And away she goes.
Woo-hoo.
Alright. There's the end of the line.
So there's potentially two trunks,
and it's got a curve in it.
Hopefully, he's gonna find the spot that we're looking for.
Yeah. Here he comes, I think.
Every now and again,
you need a little shimmy-shimmy yah,
shimmy-shimmy yeah.
Cool. Looks like it's gonna work.
Yeah. Not building pianos.
Junior, good boy. Stay back.
Junior!
Junior charged the bear.
There he is. You got it?
It's not choking real tight.
Well, I can probably fix that with the skiff.
Cinch it up good and tight.
Pretty critical, man.
- Yeah. - Good job.
- Whoo! - Alright.
Like a seal.
I had the easy part.
I don't know that you had the easy part, sir.
We're gonna find out.
Where I used to work to make money to buy meat...
- Yeah. - Was a dimly lit room,
carpeted walls.
I was a workaholic and,
and there's some stuff I missed as a parent so I was like,
"well, you know,
"all those years trying to make ends meet
and take care, take care of my kids."
And I don't know, my priorities,
let's just say my priorities shifted.
Shifted considerably.
Yeah. I was getting kind of burned out there,
and I figured 20 years of that was,
a decent time to try something different.
Cool.
He's not giant, but he'll do.
Yeah.
A little sow, it looks like.
Has some big claws on her.
A birthday bear, junior. What do you think about that?
This bear, you know,
it brings back memories of the first time
I was on a bear kill.
I think I was 14, and they let me shoot it,
which was pretty big deal for me back then.
Her teeth are kind of wore.
Brings back a lot of good memories.
She was starting to lose her winter coat there.
This is from rubbing and that.
All this will grow back and everything.
Here, they rub on trees and everything
and whatever else they come along.
And it's probably been 10 years since I shot a bear.
This is the first one he's seen up close that I know of.
What is that?
A bear.
Yeah, I have been thinking about this guy for a long time,
and it finally happened.
It took a lot of effort, though, but
it paid off in the end.
Persistence.
Now the fun part begins.
We gotta get her field dressed and get it home.
Why is this not working?
- You're doing good. - I feel, well,
- like they're a little crooked. - No.
What did I do wrong?
You're starting to drop a little.
- Try to keep them up. - I can't tell.
How can you tell it's all even?
My guess they are.
I mean, I don't know.
I'm trying the best I can, but I don't really know
what I'm supposed to be doing at all.
That's alright. Just keep doing what you're doing, just...
Breanna's doesn't have a whole lot
of experience with construction,
but, that's what she's got me for.
See how that screw right there is only like the bottom
little tiny little bit of wood right here?
You put it up higher, it's got more wood
to hang on to for strength.
There you go.
What, what's next?
Hanging our rafters after this.
Cool.
Once we get this workshop built,
it'll be a nice kind of base
of operations for other projects.
We can have all of our tools stored in there
and kind of get everything organized.
This float, we got big plans for it.
It's really starting to come together now, I can see it.
Well, I would hope so.
I can see all my plants over there on that side.
Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. You can have that side, I guess.
Put all my tools over here on the other side.
This is your wall, and that's my wall.
Now that we have the rafters up,
next is putting on the roofing,
and I'm really kind of nervous about that
'cause I have not been on a roof before
and I don't like heights.
I'm nervous now.
I guess I'm just trying to prove to myself
that I can go out there and do something
and be successful at it
even if I'm a little bit scared,
and it's something I've never done before.
Boy, alright. That's that.
- Tired of being rained on. - Yeah.
This cover can't get built fast enough.
Okay.
So this is either a mooring buoy
or a piece of lost surge gear
for a barge on a tug.
It's got quite a bit of flotation.
I'm not sure if it's gonna actually do the trick or not
to lift up that tree stump, but I'm gonna find out.
Months ago, I see a giant steel sphere
floating around in the water, and it's a pretty good score.
Let's see if I can budge this thing.
This community is populated
by a number of coastal scavengers.
Everybody has always got their eyeballs out.
It's a pretty key aspect of living out here.
This is one of those instances I really wish
my grandpa was around
'cause he'd probably know just what to do.
My grandpa would probably...
Who knows what he'd do actually?
He might just laugh at me and say good luck.
I'm guessing I'm feeling strong or something, I don't know.
Probably a bad idea, but sometimes bad ideas
are the only ones you have.
I'm hoping that this big steel ball
is gonna have enough buoyancy to act like a counterweight.
And basically, when the tide rises,
it's gonna pull the root wad off the bottom,
and then we should be able to tow it out.
Alright. One, two, three.
Nope.
There.
That moved a lot better than I thought it was gonna.
Alright, I should be able to tow that out with the skiff.
I hope this thing's big enough to lift that tree.
I have some doubts.
If you could hand me that end.
Shoot.
Whoa.
Feet under me before I slide off.
Don't fall.
Don't break your neck.
Alright, come up here.
It's time to put the roofing up.
We're using plastic corrugated roofing.
It's nice and clear
so we don't have to hang any lights out here,
and Breanna will have a little bit of a greenhouse effect.
You good there?
I don't like being up here.
I have a fear of heights.
I'm not comfortable, like, really knowing
where my feet need to be
'cause I have not been on a roof before.
I might be able to reach my arms out there.
Arms are a little short.
- All the way over. - What?
You gotta step up on that next one.
Next step.
Ooh.
Never seen you on a roof before.
There's a reason for it.
My least favorite part of this project right now
is this plastic roofing.
You know, you're not allowed to put a lot of weight on it
'cause you'll go right through it.
I don't like to be up high.
I don't know how you're supposed to get way out there.
Just lay on your belly
and squibble on out there, man.
I feel like I'm gonna fall right through.
Where are you on this? I don't want to lean on the same as you.
I'm shaking.
I have a feeling that we need
to start getting rolling on this right...
- Yeah. - Now.
We gotta get that steel ball hooked up
before the tide switches and gets any higher
'cause we're, I think, maximum load here
coming up real shortly.
Yeah. This has got to have a heck
of a lot of floatation, though.
Our primary hope is that as the tide rises,
the buoyancy of that giant steel ball
is gonna lift the tree off the ground,
and then we'll be able to move it to a better location.
Okay.
- Let's go. - Go.
Before it gets away.
We only have about a 12-foot tide to work with.
That means when this line comes tight,
that's all the lift we get.
So we have to make sure we want it to be as tight
as we can possibly get it
before the tide starts coming in.
Peel out some line there.
Kind of about that direction
I think would be best.
Here, we'll just cleat it off to my stern here.
Okay.
Troy wasn't able to get a really super tight bite around it
'cause he grabbed two trunks at once
so we're gonna give this a good hard tug
and try to choke that up as tight as we can.
Choke it.
As a general rule,
folks around here, if there's a problem,
we come together to solve it.
We try not to leave each other hanging
as much as possible.
And this is just one of those instances
where a few of us are getting together and,
and making something happen.
Good to go, man.
Let's take a look.
I don't know if we gained anything or not.
Yeah. Judging by the angle of it,
I'd say we got a little bit out of it.
Yeah. Yeah, that's
I'm definitely pulling a lot further out of the water now.
Okay.
Got ten feet of lift at least coming, I think,
so it's either gonna suck
that buoy ball underwater,
or its gonna lift that tree off the bottom,
one or the other.
We'll find out.
Well, the next move is to get her field dressed.
We gotta
get her guts out of her here.
There's that.
There it is.
A bloody mess.
The set stayed nice and, spread out.
Just gotta make sure I don't run over the buoy line here.
Yeah.
Come on, baby. There we are.
Alright.
Never know what you got
till you pull her off the bottom.
That was an accident.
Coming out here, I feel like I'm a blank slate
for all the hunting and fishing.
I, I didn't do any of that,
but I know how to work hard.
Also, I love to learn,
and I'm not afraid to make a fool of myself.
I know sometimes that trips people up when they're learning.
They don't want to look dumb, and I have no problem
looking dumb.
Here we go.
Seems like I feel a little weight down there.
It might not be the anchor.
It looks like a star fish.
Baby.
This is a... Oop. So pretty.
I'm also a very persistent person.
When I see something that I want,
I'm not gonna give up easy.
- I see something. - Something.
You caught a jar.
Never know what you're gonna haul back up.
Impressive.
Starfish and a beer bottle,
not exactly bringing home the bacon.
Or Halibut.
If at first you don't succeed... Try, try again.
Man.
Ooh.
Your arms getting, tired yet?
Yeah.
Cramping up.
Okay, hit reverse.
Pull back that way a little bit.
Okay, not so hard.
Alright.
Whoa.
What is it?
We might have something on there.
These fish are...
- Freshy freshy. - Fresher than fresh.
- I'm feeling a jerk. - I see something.
I see something white.
Ooh, look at that.
Unclip the anchor.
We got some fish.
Halibut. Yee!
- He's just a... - Little baby.
Yeah, he's too small. Dammit.
Mister shaker.
It's a baby.
- Goddammit. - He's a fighter.
Drop him.
Son of a bugger less snot.
What's the difference between the shakers and the keepers?
About ten pounds.
Okay.
I feel bad 'cause I could see that squibb's disappointed
because, you know, he's a seasoned fisherman
and he knows how to do all these things.
But for me, I'm like, it's, it's all magical to me,
I'm like, it's just
a plethora of delicious goodies for my eyeballs.
Come on, baby.
Okay.
Got a bigger fish it looks like.
This one's a fish.
Ho, ho, ho.
I need a knife sharpener.
I try to use everything I can off this thing.
I mean, no sense in killing it if you're not gonna use it.
Every animal has a purpose in life,
and it needs to be respected too.
I'm trying not to waste any of this bear, you know.
I'm gonna bone everything out that's,
I possibly can,
and that's the name of the game there
to getting top quality meat out of the deal.
He's a fat one.
I know what I got, and it just tastes
so much better to deal with it
all by yourself from start to finish.
It's definitely worth all the trouble, you know.
I mean, nothing comes easy, you know, it's...
But this is
you know, part of the thrill of living out here, you know.
You gotta, you gotta be pretty self-reliant.
'Cause nobody else is gonna do it for you.
It gives me a good feeling, you know, to be able to go out
and harvest and process my own meat.
I mean, I'm basically, I'm just going to the grocery store
to feed myself, you know,
and people look at it different.
They think old poor bear and that, well,
it's a vicious circle, you know
and it's, it's part of life, it's part of survival.
Yeah, I kind of have a relationship with the animal
by the time it's in the freezer there
and I'm eating it.
You know, sometimes it takes a long time,
you know, people don't sit down and think about, you know,
that somebody had to butcher that animal
that they're eating and that.
Well, this ain't much different,
except we got better meat.
Just can't lean on this, can we?
Yeah, be careful, man, but that, that's what,
that's where you can make a mistake.
Okay.
I don't even know where to put my knees, like.
What do you think, Matt?
It didn't pick the stump up.
It hasn't picked it up off the bottom.
- Let's get a block in the woods. - Okay.
So that we can pull the tree up.
But I think we're also gonna need somebody
to hook it onto that ball
and try and drag it a little closer in.
No, no, dude, not like that, no.
You're gonna go right through it.
- Okay, hold the line. - Got it.
Come on over.
Hey, come on, simmer down.
- Got yourself a fighter. - I know, I know.
You bastard.
There's another one right behind him.
I'm gonna need you to hold the line while I get this one up.
Yee-ha-ha-ha!
Yeah, see that current's starting to run pretty good.
I'm looking for a nice tree, like right there, I think.
- That spruce right there? - Yeah.
If I could wrap those two spruce trees,
I think we'll be lined up pretty good.
Want me to go sail up there?
You monitor the skiff. I'll get it.
The tide is coming in right now.
We have about 45 minutes to get everything rigged up
and start moving this tree before it switches
and drops back down.
Right there.
Setting up his block system.
And this way, we're,
should have roughly double the pulling power.
It just gives you a little bit more oomph.
We're racing the tide.
Okay.
Now, we go grab the ball.
Between the two of us,
me pulling from the giant steel ball
and then Matt pulling on the tree itself,
we're gonna try and see if we can move
this thing out of the way.
It's gonna take a little brute force.
- Are you ready, Matt? - Alright, Don.
Okay.
God.
That's a big roof when you're up here
looking at it.
Hey, if I were you, I would put my foot on the wall.
- Like over here? - Yeah.
And then, there you go, now you got something
you can lean against, and you got something
more secure right there.
You gotta go straight down with them too,
'cause if they're off at an angle, they will leak.
And we'll be sad campers.
You're sitting there right over the water and if you go in,
you're definitely gonna get wet,
and so, definitely nerve-wracking being up there.
Breanna the roofer.
This is the last two pieces, Breanna!
Thank god.
I get nervous with heights and everything,
so that was definitely, like, out of my comfort zone,
but I'm glad that I did it.
- Don't die. - Just kidding.
How come every time I do this, I gotta say a little prayer?
You know, it's scary.
Yeah, that's sketchy.
Fudge.
Do you want me to just let him flop for a minute?
Yep.
He's a fighter.
Come on. Stop turning the other way.
That's awesome.
So exciting.
I am just so pleased that we caught anything.
Always makes me smile too.
Well done. Alright.
All that for two tiny stinking Halibut.
Well, better two little stinky Halibut than none.
That was pretty awesome.
Alright.
We thank you for your sacrifice, fish.
Alright.
Yeah. That one's a beast.
You going under the Gill
and then just up past the lip there.
I don't know if I could gut him.
The more I realize, like,
I can actually do this stuff for myself,
the more interested I become.
It's this magical thing,
you throw hooks in the ocean
and you pull out your dinner for the next week or so.
It's pretty awesome.
Well done.
Your first subsistence Halibut pull.
- Alright. - Welcome to the neighborhood.
Look at that.
Let's go ahead and pull it.
There we go. Alright.
Ho, we're just a little short to make this work.
Matt and I have been yanking on this thing
as hard as we can, and we're moving it.
It's, it's moving, just barely.
Don. We're, like, five feet short
for me to be able to double this back completely
and get the full bite.
I'm feeling a little under pressure.
We have maybe 30 minutes
before this tide turns around.
And once it turns, it goes fast.
It drops about two and a half feet an hour.
So, if we can't get this moved now,
it's not gonna happen.
Okay.
Geez.
Yeah, I'm having problems here.
Think. Think, think, think, think, think.
This thing isn't moving any farther.
We're gonna have to put another block in the tree.
The more blocks you have in play,
the more you can move with less energy.
Are you me?
Don't, don't, hold on, hold on, let me, let me get clear.
Yeah.
Dammit. Okay.
Come on.
Just about got it where we want it, Matt.
I don't know, Don.
Okay, I'm ready to pull.
Okay. Okay.
It's moving.
Dang it!
You pulling on that was really helping, Matt.
Too bad your line broke.
Yeah.
We were making it though.
Let's use this one.
Is there an end I can grab there?
Yeah, I got it on my side of my skiff here.
A lot of lines here.
The line snapped and it blew up,
and we're gonna have to figure how to re-rig this thing
and the tide is dropping fast
and we're not gonna be able to work much longer.
There we go.
Kind of got this all stretched out here and ready.
If you can get that tied off and that line back in the block,
I'll be ready to pull.
Okay.
Everything is stretched out nicely now.
That should be it.
Alright, go ahead and start, just drive away.
I'm scared!
I don't know if I can do this.
I know.
Yeah, it's moving.
It's moving.
Just about got it where we want it.
There we go. That should be it.
I think that's it, Don!
It's cleared the channel.
I mean, nobody's gonna, it's not gonna be in anybody's way.
You're brave, I wouldn't want to slide all the way down.
You're almost done.
I know, right?
Squirm your way back.
Do the worm!
Ooh, boy.
Son of a bi
you know what, this roof is on, man!
- Looks good. - Yeah, I'm stoked.
This is nice.
What a pain in the ass that was.
I'm very proud of the work that we did on this,
from the milling of the wood to just, you know,
how well me and Breanna worked together.
Belle's happy you're down.
Me and Breanna make a good team.
It's, been that way for half our lives and
gonna be that way for going forward.
Look at this, new boards.
- Sweet! - Woo!
Yeah, I'm pumped about it, dude!
I'm just really excited to see what the future brings,
having all my plants out there, having an area for Oliver
to work on things and stay dry.
It just looks great.
I can see so many possibilities now.
It's perfect for plants.
No, no, no, it's perfect for tools, Breanna.
Well, at least we didn't come back empty handed.
Yeah.
It's an a to z job there.
It's not just going out,
dumping the line and pulling up.
You actually have to be able to process it well.
I'm pretty pleased with how Veronica
is absorbing the little nuggets
of knowledge that I've been trying to lay down there.
She's avidly learning how to live out here.
There you go, see how, see how it pulls away.
Yeah.
Keep the knife steady that's alright.
- Heck. - It's alright.
- It takes practice. - Okay.
My life has turned around so completely
from what it used to be in the lower 48.
I'm just so grateful that people have been kind.
It feels like home here.
I feel like I'm with my people here.
I remember when all these boards were just trees.
That's cool to think that you,
these were trees and you went out there and milled them.
Just a bunch of boards ready to be set free.
I feel like the difference between surviving
and thriving is
surviving is kind of just doing the bare minimum,
and I feel like thriving is to just keep having goals.
So, it's just really nice to see
that we can have a place that's just beautiful.
It's all of our hard work that we've put into it.
I just look forward to the future.
I had to work harder than normal
for a, for a bear,
but persistence is what it takes.
It all paid off in the end,
and that's another memory in my head.
It was a good one.
That'll be about it there.
Now I can just sit back and enjoy it.
Yeah, wow.
That's awesome.
It's out of everybody's way.
We moved that a long ways.
It's definitely out of my way, I got a clear shot now.
- Got that sucker moved about 70 feet. - Yeah.
And only with,
you know, moderate use of foul language on my part.
I think we're a little beaten up,
but we're not down and out.
There's young people here that are making
this place their life,
and there's some old codgers
that are hanging out helping us.
It's an important spirit to keep living.