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Ose Mountain in Alaska

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Dumb question #2.

What about vegetables? Do you have a greenhouse and if you do what types of plants/veggies can you grow given that it would be very difficult to keep a greenhouse warm enough to grow a lot of the veggies we take for granted down here in the lower 48 states?
 

osemtnak

New member
Duane, got the battery and radios back in my plane, will be running it up to Fairbanks for the annual sometime this next week. Let me know when you have solid ground on the runway and maybe I can hop over there for a bit!

Didn't put the skis on this year, wasn't much snow to start with and the Nenana Ski strip is all grass now....

Hello ,... Well another day like today... It is not safe to use skies now. Wheels could be done now . But to be safe , I will put ashes on it tommorow. + 40` today, center of strip is dry and most of the other ... Give it another day or so .

Duane
 

osemtnak

New member
Dumb question #2.

What about vegetables? Do you have a greenhouse and if you do what types of plants/veggies can you grow given that it would be very difficult to keep a greenhouse warm enough to grow a lot of the veggies we take for granted down here in the lower 48 states?

Yes, we have a big green house 16 X 36 , with raised beds waist high all arround and center. With a wood stove. vented or close as needed . 86 ` in there today. at night I fire up the stove. And we can grow any thing. Corn is iffy .... Corn needs darkness , We have now 13 hours of sun, june 24 hours. So corn is iffy ( Sweet ). I live on a hill side faceing the sun and in a pocket bowl , hill top to our back sheltered area.

That was the fun part... Picking my land. I planed ,and got every thing I wanted. High up for warmth. ( Cold air sinks )Birch timber , = good soil, and dranage. The water sorces are up above us for gravity feed . 40 psi Rain water dams, ( Resevoirs ) In dry times we use that water for the gardens SS . Green house has water collection tanks (.Free energy sun and water ) Digging a self flowing well now for house, that will be in use this year. Right now we use roof rain and systern and snow melt . 12 volt pump runs our system for the house on demand.( Solar, wind and gen for back up )
I have had the greatest fun planning and seeing my plans develope. Living highup the temps are 25 ` warmer then by a lake or in the flat lands.With solid ground, no permafrost.
Root celler in Basement insulated 40` the warmest, and controled..... Runway on top 150 x 1300 2,000 feet away from house.
This has been a trip for me doing all this , FUN FUN..

I use too man a Nuke Missile base In Wheeler Ind. And Korea
Thank you for the questions made my day.
Duane :smile:
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Hello ,... Well another day like today... It is not safe to use skies now. Wheels could be done now . But to be safe , I will put ashes on it tommorow. + 40` today, center of strip is dry and most of the other ... Give it another day or so .

Duane

Won't be able to get out there until they get the annual done on the plane sometime this next week. When I do, will take some aerial shots of the place on the way out.
 

osemtnak

New member
Run way iffy some dry some snow , put ash on today . need some warm sunny days and it will be good for wheeles . Heard some fly bys today. Others are looking at it.... Be safe.
Duane :unsure:
 

Cletis

New member
Hello Duane, what is your snow depth in the winter and do you have to do anything special to deal with it?


Cletis
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Run way iffy some dry some snow , put ash on today . need some warm sunny days and it will be good for wheeles . Heard some fly bys today. Others are looking at it.... Be safe.
Duane :unsure:


Guess I won't be up for a bit, found out I have metal in the oil and a new engine is going to be needed for the bird! So got a tad bit of a set back!
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Duane and his wife made it into town this last week, had coffee with them this morning. Is in town for a week or so more, then plan on heading back out to their homestead.

He was telling me about a new wind generator he bought a year or so back that didn't work and he couldn't get it back in until just a few months ago, the dealer that sold it to him claimed they didn't have any paperwork on it and wanted him to write a story then send it back to the factory. Not a very good warranty system, so he may be looking for a new supplier of the wind generators.

Being out a hundred miles off the road system is tough sometimes when you deal with city companies that don't grasp the fact that it takes time and money to transport faulty equipment out and back.
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Hello Duane, what is your snow depth in the winter and do you have to do anything special to deal with it?


Cletis

He is off the line for a bit since he is in town, but the snow varies from year to year, sometime a foot or two, sometimes seven or eight feet.

He has two wide track Arctic Cat Bearcats, same as the one I have and they are well suited for working in deep snow. To make them even better, we install wide ski skins on the skis that make them about four to six inches wider, which translates into better floating on the deep snow.

The wide track machines are normally built a bit heavier for hauling freight, and aren't much for a racing version, although the newer ones have over double the horse power these do, at about 130+- HP, mine has 57 and I can pull a house, so no idea why all the extra HP other than going faster than I care to fall off of it at...

In my case, I had to haul my building material only forty miles one way verses the one hundred miles that Duane has, but the logistics are the same, you break down, you have a long walk ahead of you... Duane's place is sixty miles past my cabin and he makes it normally in a one day ride if weather is helping out. When I was hauling my building supplies out, I would do a round a day which was still only 80 miles verses his 100 one way.

But here is some photos of my snowmachine (same as Duane's, but a year newer '05), it is a four stroke gas engine, and can get up to about 20 MPG on good trails, which is almost double or better over the two stoke engines. And when you have to haul the gas you use, the better the mileage, the farther you can go with less weight to haul other than the freight.
 

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osemtnak

New member
Hello Duane, what is your snow depth in the winter and do you have to do anything special to deal with it?


Cletis
Hello ! We are all most home . Useing a friends computer . In regards to your question. Mark done a good job anserwing it. On the run way , I snow drag it after each snow fall, to prevent drifting. Many others are not able to keep there runway from drifting, due to not living there all the time. It is allso draged all summer, and golf course grass is mowed , along side the runway.... Snow depth can be up to 5 feet. This winter only 5 to 8 inches in total. Very dry. I have a riding 54 inch mower. The only one for a 100 miles. I got some looks hauling that out in the winter near town. After 40 miles , no more gawkers. All my trails are draged, often. Makes for better trapping. Fur animals like them smooth hard paths. Trapping is best when the snow is deep, and lines are hard paths. .... // Snow is like sugar, untill distuurb'ed, draged & or Drifted. ... A few more days of this town living and were out in the wilderness, and Gods country.. Rena had a eye operation to keep her vission. Looks good so far. ( has to be, She is my fur handerler ) She was loosing her sight. All stops were pulled for her, to get and save her eye sight..... Looking forward to working on my sights again, pluss all that a home stead way of life intails....// Thank you , Duane :hammer:
 

osemtnak

New member
Thank You.... Rena's eye is healing well..... Between the two of us now we have two working eyes.
We realy did work together building our home.
No crying in our Beer.
Injoy life today.
Duane :hammer:
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Got an email from Duane today, he asked me to post that they are back home but the fires on the upper Kantishna are spreading at a pretty steady rate towards their area unless there is some rain shortly. Where the fires stopped last fall with the rain and onset of winter, they appeared to have remained burning all winter under the tundra/root base and flared back up this spring.

They have four Forestry Fire Fighters at their place setting up sprinkler systems and water storage tanks in the event the fire reaches their area. There is some other residents at some of the other lakes in the area a couple of dozen miles from them that also may be in harms way and I am sure they are being set up by the fire services as well.

Keep them and the others in the area in your prayers.
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Been watching the story of the fires but did not know it was that close to his place. One report says they may be a rekindle from the year before and it smoldered under the snow in tundra and peat?
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Some of the fires that are going on out by the Ose's homestead. Been pretty stressful for them, not over yet, but they appear to be in good spirits..

Here is a few photos of what is going on there, the fire service is really active in working with the people there, they have done a great job of protecting people there and their homes. Backfires are set to stop the fires advance.






Smoke around their home.


Backfires set on the trail system to stop the fire's advance


Airdrops of firefighting supplies on their runways



 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Hope they manage to save their place and some of the furbearers survive. The last I saw they had evacuated quite a few remote residents ahead of the fire.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
I hope the fires stay away. That's too much effort to lose in a fire.

Prayers from here as well.
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
great picture of the casa 212 doing an air drop that sucks when the smoke is that thick had it around here one year the funny part about it was it was all comming down the yukon and accross norton sound had smoke so thick you couldn't see accross the street this year so far the winds aer in our favor.
 

Cowboy

Wait for it.
GOLD Site Supporter
Thanks for the update & pics Fog . Thoughts & prayers from here as well for Duanes family & all others in the area . :flowers:
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Any update on the fires? Seem to have dropped off the radar down here.
 

DAVENET

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Fogtender,

Just stumbled across this yesterday at work and read thru it all last night.

Apparently Rena had a heart attack last year (big news around here since a person from Mass was able to relay info for assistance from the Ose's Facebook page to their local flight service to get her flown out). The Osemountain site is gone (or inactive) and there is very little current info on howthey are doing.

Have you heard from them? Pretty damn cool story of life that I'm envious of.

David
 
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