On the Second Day . . ,

The troops arrived!  Trevor, Angie, and Aspen were coming to help with the projects on the house.  They flew into Ketchikan the first of July.  We had give them a list of things we needed picked up--things that would not fit in the truck.  So they went shopping!  Among they things they purchased was some storage containers, a barbeque, and some kitchen and household items as well as some food items we could not find on the island.

 

Trevor, Angie, and Aspen arrived on the ferry at 6:30 and we were there to pick them up.  They enjoyed the beautiful scenery from Hollis to Whale Pass.  They love the outdoors and this was like heaven to them!

 

When they arrived, we got the beds made for everyone.  After fixing dinner and taking some time to unwind, we headed to bed--we had a big day ahead of us. 

 

The bedrooms in our house are quite small, so there is no room for a closet or dresser.  Glenn and Deb thought storage boxes which fit under the beds could be used to store shoes and clothing.  Trevor and Angie brought the storage boxes with them from Ketchikan.  These were to be used in our bedroom and the twin bed bedroom.  The bunk beds were too low for these boxes, so it was decided to purchase some smaller boxes for that bedroom.  The boxes fit wonderfully under our bed, but the twin beds were too low.  So Glenn, Trevor, and Jordan jumped in and rebuilt the bed frames so the boxes could slide under them. 

 

While the men were busy with rebuilding the twin beds, Angie, Aspen, and Deb started working on the blinds.  The kitchen window had a curtain up to it, but there was nothing at any of the other windows in the house.  We installed mini blinds up to the windows and the doors in both the twin bed bedroom and the bunk bed bedroom.  Next we installed 2-inch blinds up to the two front room windows and our bedroom.  It was so nice to be able to close the blinds at night for privacy (although I think there are only bears and deer out there).





 In the first post called, "In the Beginning . . .", I said: "There were two interesting parts about this house: (1) it had two roll-up metal doors in the back which were used to pull recreational vehicles up into the house, and (2) there were two front doors, both of which led into bedrooms." We wanted a front door that led into the center of the house instead. We also wanted a window in the bathroom to bring in light and allow for venting instead of the roll up door. So the work began. We purchased a new front door in Craig on one of
our visits to town. Glenn, Trevor, and Jordan removed the window at the front of the house which was between the two front doors. This was going to go into the bathroom.


After making some modifications to the opening, they installed the new front door. We now had three front doors!!! This would be the main entrance into the house. The other two doors could be used by those staying in the bedrooms, but they could enter through the main door if desired.  Right now the new door cannot be used because it doesn't have any stairs leading up to it.  However, we are going to build a deck on the front of the house which will be created in the "On the Fifth Day . . ." post.  Once the deck is created, we will be able to enter through our Front Door.



After getting the front door completely installed, Glenn, Trevor, and Jordan turned their attention to the bathroom.  First order of business was to remove the roll up door.  Then they worked on framing in a place for the window which was removed from the front room.  They screwed OSB over the 2x4's on the outside then installed the window.  Wow, did that make a difference.  To finish it all off, they finished the interior wall around the window to match the rest of the room, which was OSB painted gray.  This wasn't really nice looking, but it was temporary.

 

Another project Glenn, Trevor, and Jordan worked on was to enclose this opening (in the picture) on the back of the house.  This would increase our bedroom by a couple of feet.

Once the changes were made to the back of the house, they were ready to start putting on the vinyl siding.  They sided the back and one side.  There were now three sides of the house with vinyl siding.  They looked great!  The front of the house will be sided after the desk is built.

In an effort to collect more water, Glenn, Trevor, and Jordan also built a huge metal tank and lined it with a silver tarp.  This tank would be able to hold about 3,000 gallons.  You can see the tank in the far back ground of this picture.



Many times late in the afternoon or early evening, we would have some visitors in our yard.  This picture was taken out or one of our windows.  On this particular occasion, we were all in the house, but one evening many of us were outside and a deer came wandering through our yard.  She didn't seem to be the least bit worried that we were there.



While the men were working on the exterior of the house, Angie, Aspen, and Deb worked on the interior.  We decided to do the flooring first.  Half of the living room, our bedroom, the twin bed bedroom, and the area in between those two bedroom had plywood that had been painted gray as the floor--it had never been finished.  One of the things that Glenn brought up with him in the truck was a number of boxes of floating vinyl floor tiles.  They were very easy to install and they looked beautiful!  This sure made a difference in the appearance of the home and made the floors much nicer to walk on!

 

The next project that Angie, Aspen, and Deb worked on was to finish the walls in the master bedroom.  As you may recall, this room was used for storage, a meat locker, and a recreational vehicle garage.  When we started cleaning out this room so that we could use it as a bedroom, we discovered a number of packages of bead board.  Many of the walls in the house were finished with these boards, so we decided to finish the bedroom walls with these also.  This picture shows how nice the room now looks.  You would never have guessed that it was used as a meat locker!

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."  We didn't go to Alaska just to work.  We also wanted to do some site seeing and fishing.  In July the fishing in Whale Pass is absolutely fantastic!  The refrigerator that was in the house when we purchased it was very small--especially the freezer section.  In order to be able to freeze the fish caught by us and our guests, we purchased a chest freezer.  We had to go to Craig to pick it up.

 

 

About ten miles from our home is a limestone cave which is called El Capitan Caves.  The U.S. Forest Service will take tours through it.  This cave was discovered by loggers who were working in the area.  We made arrangements to go through a tour.  We hiked up a series of stairs and walkways until we got to the cave.  Our guide gave us information about the area, the plants and trees, and the discovery of the cave as we hiked. 

 

Once inside the cave, we learned that this cave was a fairly new one and so the formations inside the cave were small.  We only saw a small portion of the cave.  Our guide said the cave was lots bigger, but there were parts that were not very safe, so they would not take us there.

  

This was a picture of the forest below us as we came out of the cave.  It is so green and beautiful!







After visiting El Capitan Caves, we stopped to see Beaver Falls.  The falls were beautiful!  They were also very different in that the water at the bottom of the falls disappeared into the ground.  This area is all limestone, so it must have gone into an underground cave.

One day we were standing on a bridge looking down at the salmon that were stacked up in the Neck Lake River, when a black came out looking for dinner.  He didn't have much success this time.






This is the cascades on the Neck Lake River that the fish are trying to get up so they can spawn.





We decided we needed a garage where we could park the truck and boat as well as to provide a space for storage.  In the process of thinking about the possibilities of building a garage, we decided it would be nice to put an apartment on top of it.  One of the last things we did on the Second Day was to have a pad made in the space across from the house.  This picture shows the rocks being dumped in the whole where the garage will be built.  The front loader then smoothed the rocks out.  It took 12 truck loads to construct the pad for the building.

We were only able to spend one month at our house in Whale Pass.  The troops and even Jordan left us about the middle of July and Glenn and I left about a week later to return home.  They loved being here and we loved having them.  Their help was much appreciated.  We felt very good about all that we were able to accomplish.  We were very grateful for the rain because we like to shower and wash clothes.  We enjoyed all that we saw and did. 



This is a picture of what we saw as we left for the summer. 

Glenn and I said, "It is good!"


 

On The First Day . . .

After our visit to Whale Pass, Alaska on the Prince of Wales Island we decided we would like to purchase the house so we began negotiations with the previous owner.  After a few offers and counter offers, both parties were able to agree on a fair price.  We then became the proud owners of a home in Alaska! 

Now began the work of planning what we needed to take up with us.  The plans were to pack the truck with as many things as possible and drive it to Alaska!  We gathered things from the house that we were not using and thought we could use in Alaska.  We purchase things that we were not sure we could get in Alaska or that would be too expensive up there.  All of these were packed into boxes or placed in the truck.  The extra long things that would not fit inside the truck were wrapped together in a extra large tarp and tied to the top of the truck.  Glenn figured that the truck was loaded with an extra 3,000 lbs.

Glenn and our grandson, Jordan, left early one morning to start the long three day journey to Prince Rupert, Canada where they would take a ferry to Ketchikan.  Glenn came down with a really bad cold the day they left home.  He drove most of the time and then would collapse in bed at night.  Jordan drove a little, but found that the truck was hard to manage due to the weight that was in and on the truck.

I left for Alaska three days later.  I flew into Ketchikan and Glenn and Jordan picked me up at the airport ferry.  They had arrived the previous night, so they got up early and were able to complete their shopping at Wal Mart.  I had to laugh at the looks of our truck.  I thought it was as full as it could possibly get when they left home, but now the tailgate was down and things were stacked on it and secured by a rope.  There were even things being tied onto the outside of the truck.  It looked like the Beverly Hillbilly's vehicle! 


Jordan and I did some grocery shopping while Glenn took care of some hardware store business.  One of the items he purchased was a 20 foot ladder, that was now added to the items tied to the top of the truck.  We had brought a big cooler with us from home, so that is where we were able to put any items that needed to be kept cool.  We then boarded the Inter-Island Ferry to the Prince of Wales Island and sailed at 3:30 p.m.  It was a beautiful three hour trip.  We arrived in Hollis at 6:30 p.m.  We made one last stop in Klawock to shop for frozen food items, then started our drive to Whale Pass.  It was a 2 1/2 hour drive over paved and dirt roads. 


By the time we got to Whale Pass it was dark so the first thing that needed to be taken care of was to turn on the electricity.  Glenn had made arrangements before leaving home with the propane company and APT (Alaska Power & Telephone) to have them install the utilities they could without us being there.  APT had taken care of the power to the house, we just needed to turn it on at the box outside on the pole.  We unpacked the groceries and put the refrigerator and freezer items away.  Next we needed to find our bedding so that we could make our beds and get some sleep.  That was easy because Glenn and Jordan bought them at Wal Mart in Ketchikan, so they were not buried too deep.



This was the year of function.  Our main goal this year was to get the house operating with the basic necessities--electricity, heat, water, phone and to fix anything that needed immediate attention. 


Glenn got up early the first morning to go look for sources of water.  We are not on a water system in Whale Pass, so we have to find our own source.  The previous owner got his water by running a pipe from a small stream quite a long way above us down to the house.  Glenn was hoping to find another source, but was unable to.  While on his trek, he did discover bear droppings on the road. 

Later in this posting, we will show you our solution to a source for water.


Another one of the top priorities was to get heat into the house.  There was an old blue oil burning stove in the kitchen with a stove pipe that went up into the ceiling and through the roof. We had noticed some water damage on the ceiling when we came to look at the house in February, and discovered the damage was caused by water leaking in around the stove pipe opening in the roof.

We decided we wanted a more efficient source for heating the house and because we were going to use propane for the clothes dryer and for cooking, we decided upon a propane heater.  Glenn had made arrangements to have two propane tanks delivered to the house prior to our arrival.



A propane equipment installer arrived our first morning with the new heater.  We chose to have the heater, which was vented through the wall to the outside, placed in the front room so it was more centrally located.  The installer got the heater in and working.  He connected the clothes dryer, which we brought with us, and the instantaneous water heater to the propane source and made sure it was working. 




The last thing he took care of was to connect the camping stove/oven we brought with us to the propane.  He made sure all of these appliances were working properly and were safe. 

 

That first morning we also got a visit from an APT (Alaska Power & Telephone) employee who installed our phone lines and tested them to make sure they were working.  So by the end of our first day, we had electricity, phones, and heat.  The water was a much bigger problem. 





 We had purchased six gallons of water in Klawock, so we had water to drink for a few days but nothing in which to bath.  This now became our highest priority.  The first two days after we arrived the weather was beautiful.  However, rain was forecasted to come in for a number of days after that.  Having not found a good water source near us, we decided we would collect rain water!  There were already three 55 gallon water barrels on the premise which the previous owner had used to store water.  Glenn and Jordan moved those barrels over by the propane tanks.  We decided that the best way to collect the rain water was off the roof, but without rain gutters it would be hard to catch very much.


We knew we would need to make a trip to the hardware store in Craig, which was on the island, to pick up things that were needed.  So after making a shopping list, we made the 2 1/2 hour trip.  While there we went to lunch, visited the hardware store, the grocery store, and the boat store.  Our trip to Craig took the good part of a day.  When we got home late that afternoon, Glenn and Jordan removed the old oil burning stove in the kitchen, the stove pipe, and the cement board that was behind them.  They took the stove out of the house and placed it in the yard. Deb thought she might make a planter box out of it.  This now left a whole in the metal roofing as well as the plywood under it. Glenn had purchased a new panel of metal roofing when we went to Craig so that he could cover up the hole. He needed to take care of this before the rain started the next day. Glenn and Jordan got up on the roof and installed the new metal roof panel.  They then installed the gutters on the house.  This was a big job and it was already late in the day.  They worked late into the evening.  We thought it was amazing that it was not pitch dark.  They were able to see fairly well.  After finishing the rain gutters, Glenn created a down spout that could be used to direct the water from the gutter into a specific barrel.  The rain came the next few days and we collected the water we needed to bath! 





 Glenn and I planned from the very beginning to make the storage room/meat locker/recreational vehicle garage into a bedroom for ourselves.  So the next big project was to clean out the storage room.  We hauled most of the stuff outside and then stacked the wood that was going to be used to finish off the room in a corner.  Glenn and Jordan then built us a bed frame out of 2x4's and plywood.  They did a wonderful job!  One of the things Glenn brought from home was a queen-size memory foam mattress.  It was great!  The mattress was rolled up in a box.  All we had to do was take it out and let it expand for a couple of days.  We were now ready for Trevor, Angie, and Aspen to arrive.

Glenn, Jordan and I said, "It is good!!! 









In The Beginning . . .

We (Glenn and Deb) flew into Ketchikan, Alaska on February 8, 2012.  Our mission was to look at a home which was for sale in Whale Pass on the Prince of Wales Island that we saw on the internet.  We were able to do some siteseeing in Ketchikan until the ferry left for Prince of Wales at 3:30 p.m. 

The ferry arrived in Hollis on Prince of Wales at 6:30 p.m. We were taken by an island taxi to a B&B in Craig, which was about 31 miles away, where we spent the night. The next morning Leah Music, a realtor, picked us up and drove us to Whale Pass, which was about 73 miles away.  The trip took about 2 1/2 hours. We traveled on paved roads for about 34 miles and the rest of the way on gravel roads. Being February, there was snow and even ice on the road in some spots, but we made it just fine to Whale Pass.

We were amazed at how beautiful Alaska was.  It was so green and so thick with growth!


The house was off the road about 75 feet and the ground was covered with about a foot of snow, so we hiked through the snow to the house. Like many Alaska homes, the house was about 80% done.

There were two interesting parts about this house: (1) it had two roll-up metal doors in the back which were used to pull recreational vehicles up into the house, and (2) there were two front doors, both of which led into bedrooms.





Only a third of the exterior had siding on it and the other half had strandboard (OSB). 






Some of the OSB had Tyvek stapled to it--some of which had pulled away from the house and was partially hanging.











There were two sets of rickety stairs on the front of the house that looked like they had been exposed to rain for many years.  Deb was a little nervous to walk up them.






There was no electricity on in the house, so we used the light from the windows to see the interior.  We were able to see just fine except for the bathroom, which had no windows.   We found the inside to be partially done also.  About two-thirds of the floors were plywood which had been painted gray.  One of the rooms in the house was unfinished.  This room was used for storage, a meat locker, and a recreational vehicle garage.




The kitchen was one of the nicest rooms in the house.  The cabinets were in good shape, but there was limited counterspace.  This side of the house had white vinyl on the floors and the walls were covered with white paneling.  There was a blue oil burning stove in the kitchen with a stove pipe that went up into the ceiling and through the roof.  We noticed some water damage on the ceiling and after checking we found that the stove pipe had leaked around the opening in the roof.

One of the front doors went into a bedroom with two twin beds.  The bedframe was made of 2x4's and plywood.  The previous owner left mattresses on these beds.  There was no door giving privacy to this bedroom from the rest of the house.

 

 

There was a doorway from this bedroom into a small open area, which contained a small desk and a small bookshelf.  This area was surrounded by the bedroom with twin beds on one side, the storage room on another side and the center of the house on one end.

As we went through the house, we noticed that there was nothing up to any of the windows.




The other front door lead into a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds.  The walls were covered with white paneling and the floor was covered with white vinyl.  The bunk beds were made with 2x4's and plywood.  They actually seemed quite nice.  There were mattresses on the bottom bunks, but none on the top bunks.  Walking through this bedroom took you into the kitchen.  There was no door giving privacy to this bedroom from the kitchen.





 

In the center of the house there was a long room that went from the front of the house to the back.  At one end of this room there was a small table with three office-type chairs on wheels.  There was also a wooden bookshelf. 






The other end had a couch and two chairs on a carpeted floor.  The furniture was not in too bad shape.  Many of the walls and ceilings were covered with pine planks, which gave it a warm and comfy feeling.







The bathroom had a toilet, shower, and sink.  There was an instantaneous water heater on the wall that was for the shower only.  The walls and floor were made of OSB which had been painted gray.  A metal roll-up door that was spoken of earlier was in the bathroom.  There was no light in the bathroom because there were no windows.  We were able to take this picture with a flash.

We took many pictures of the house, both inside and out so that we could refer to them as we were making our decision on the house.  This would also help us remember what was there.






 


After looking at the home, we drove around a little to see Whale Pass.  We drove down to the dock. 

The bay was calm and the water looked like glass.  This is a picture of the boat ramp.

Glenn is waving to the camera with the Fire Department building and the Post Office in the background.  What is not showing in this picture is the Library with is over to the right.

 

We liked what we saw in Whale Pass on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska and we said, "It is good".

 

We returned to our home to contemplate our next step.