July 4th. Independence Day. Fireworks, hotdogs, and beer. That’s what it’s all about, right? In our broken society, we have forgotten the
true meaning of this day. On this day in
1776 the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America was
signed. That’s all well and good but we
as a country have been giving our freedoms and liberty away at an alarming rate
as of late.
That’s
enough for my political soap box. Let me
tell you what Independence Day means to me.
Freedom to be my own person. The
ability to be me. Autistic and proud of
it. I’m finally comfortable with
me. I’ve been fortunate throughout my
life to have been able to do many things that I shouldn’t be able to do. When I was young, nobody had a clue what
higher functioning autism and associated learning disabilities were. I was just the weird kid that supposedly didn’t
apply myself. I was a hard worker but
didn’t understand a lot of what was going on around me. I was my own worst enemy. No more.
Independence
Day. I had everything taken away from me
because I did it wrong. I worked for the
man. I toiled and I slaved. I worked
from sun up to sun down for most of my life.
I thought I was happy. I was ‘living’
the American Dream. All my money was
pissed away paying bills and trying to keep up with the Jones. Just like everybody else. The company I worked for pulled out of
Alaska. I was done. Lost nearly everything.
Independence
Day. The ability to fend for myself and take
care of my wife. That day is today. I’ve been learning for quite a while
now. It’s been an uphill struggle. I’m not out of the woods yet. We still have a way to go but are getting
there. My problem was that I was never
taught to think outside the box. After
all these years, I didn’t know how to improvise, adapt, and overcome when times
got hard and things went bad.
Kitty
has been a very good teacher. Truth be
known, if it hadn’t been for her patience, guidance, and chasing me with a
machete once when I really needed it, I wouldn’t be here writing. If it hadn’t been for Kitty, I would have
hightailed it back to Missouri and been miserable for the rest of my life. If it hadn’t been for Kitty, I wouldn’t have
learned how to think outside the box and make my own income when my age turned
me into a workforce liability in a long down economy.
My time
with AeroTech will soon be coming to a close.
Ted and Patti have been good to me and are very special people in my
life. They helped me when I needed
it. Our contract here in Galena will be
finished at the end of this month. Most
likely the helicopter will be repositioned to the Lower 48 once again. Kitty needs me now. I won’t be traveling with my machine.
We have
one more move to make. I hope this will
be the last one. We are waiting for word
on a small place that has a shop outside of Fairbanks. This place also has
water. Kitty can’t live dry
anymore. It makes things really
tough. If you are not in or from Alaska
the concept of living in a dry cabin is most likely a foreign concept. It is very normal here. Hauling water and hunny buckets takes a lot
of time though. I am hoping to move my wife next week when my break comes
again.
Pay no attention to the firefighter in the background! |
So,
with the end of my employment and no ability to get cash saved, what the heck
am I going to do, you are most likely thinking.
I’m going to do anything and everything I have to do. I’ll dig ditches till the ground gets too
hard. I’ll scrub toilets wherever they
need to be scrubbed. I’ll do what I have
to do to earn my income.
Arctic
Artique is going to be a very big endeavor this year. Last winter was bad but it did sustain us for
the two winters prior. I didn’t know
what I was doing then. I am now learning
to becoming an online entrepreneur. I
enjoy photography, woodworking, and making art.
I also learned how to sell on eBay.
I’ve learned all of the different aspects at different times. Now it’s time to put the whole package
together.
Almost finished. What could they be? |
I’ll
put my art in every vendor spot I can find.
What good tourist wouldn’t want an original custom Alaska memory? I’m also going to sell online. In addition to eBay which is not the best
outlet these days we will be moving into Etsy for Kitties unique brand of
vintage and antique artifacts.
I also
just started my own website.
ArcticArtique.Com
This site is currently under construction but is open. Enjoy! It will
incorporate a little of everything I have learned through the years. I guess you could call it the central nervous
system for an ever-growing social media presence. What the heck. Digital is the way to go these days. Make sure you check it out and be sure to
like us on Facebook at
Arctic
Artique!
You’re
probably wondering what happened to the herbal and curio shop. That place turned out to be a scam. We got took.
We were able to get a lot of our merchandise out but much of it was withheld
from us. You can see our stuff in her new pictures. The stuff we did get back was damaged.
That’s okay though. We move
forward. We leave that gal in the
dust. She’s in for a rude awakening as soon as the tax collector comes anyway!
As I said
before, we’re not out of the woods yet.
I can see the forest through the trees now!
ArcticArtique.BlogSpot.Com
I love your website. Hate that we won't see you next year but I understand why. Love that moose picture. Were you really that close and where is that volcano picture from?
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. Yes, I was that close. That was a little Fugi camera I had at the time. That picture was in Kenai in 2009. The volcano is Mount ReDoubt. It sits across Cook Inlet from Kenai. I will never get quite that close to a momma moose again. I had a lot to learn then!
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