December 12

-1 C clear and the sun is just on the horizon.
Very frosty out there this morning.
Zgrabcmbyume mou nycckue gryzu.

At the Sons of Norway Christmas tree I met a young woman who is just finishing her last year of university and is now taking Russian so she can teach in the Baltic. I had her write out the 3rd line above for me.
I hope I have it right or at least close!

Sterling was happy.

Chapter 5

That wet summer finally drew to a close. Eric and his family left and I heard later he refused an appointment to another district and quit the Forest Service. Jack headed for Australia on a sabbatical before he took up his final university year.

I was now the lone ranger (assistant ranger anyway). Just after everyone left, I took the family down to Fort St. John for a few days, there was an annual end of the season party there for the District staff. I was the first one from the outer regions to be able to attend.

I got the good news that my wagon would be traded for a pick-up but it hadn’t arrived yet. This was a blessing in disguise as on the return trip there was a police blockade at Trutch. The five of us lived in the station wagon for two and a half days.

What had happened was that just up the road, right near the private land sawmill a US Mail truck had overturned. What no one knew back then is that those “mail” trucks carried military explosives to Alaska. Every piece of the ordinace had to be accounted for and the morning after the rollover it was discovered three pieces were missing.