The subject of moving keeps cropping up around here – never have I ever been so indecisive about such a subject in my life. It makes my stomach hurt to think about this. I often think when the weather takes an ugly turn that yet another person who lives in this area has packed it in and is heading south. And I inwardly cheer to think of this, because less people in an area is always better. We are too much like flies on shit.

Now I am realizing that this someone might soon be me. The one itty bitty difference is that my move won’t be totally weather-related. However, weather will figure into this. The snow and wind is one thing, but the extended rainy season is now quite another.

My indecisiveness has been exacerbated by uncertainty. Three coal companies are honing in on this immediate area, but right now the economy is such that other countries aren’t buying this Alaska-based resource. Things could go either way – we just don’t know.

Another problem – our elected officials, both locally and state-wide are in office because they’ve convinced the religious right that they’re in their camp. All someone has to do who is running for office around here is to go to a local church and tell the pastor that they’re anti-abortion. These individuals can then write their own ticket. As far as they’re concerned, the rest of us can go to hell in a hand basket.

A case in point – Brian Endle, who was elected president of our community council, is now soon to be appointed to the local planning commission. From there, it will be a hop, skip, and a jump to an assembly seat. This is a man who takes his orders from God. And in fact it was God who told him he could marry a brown-haired woman. He was reluctant to do so, that is until the blonde haired woman he was dating told him that she’d dyed her hair.

What gives? Indeed, what gives? I currently live in the most beautiful place on this planet, and am reminded of this every single day. For instance, this morning, as I was on my way down to the horse pen – I looked up and saw snow sparkles swirling in the morning sunlight. This was such a beautiful sight that it took my breath away. For the next hour I constantly repositioned myself so that I could again take in this glorious sight. I had never before seen anything like this, and doubted that I’d ever again see anything like this.

And this afternoon, as I was riding Signy and ponying Raudi, I headed downroad –ahead of me were the snow covered foothills of the Talkeetna Range – the sun, behind me, was low in the sky, so they were pink in color. Too, this sight took my breath away.

So yes, I would hate to have to move. But at the same time, I would hate to see this place ravaged by corporate greed, and governmental ineptitude. You’d think that people who live here would say “this happened there, it ought not happen here.” I guess that such people don’t have an appreciation for the intricacies of nature.

If we do have to move, I will simply be forward thinking about our plans, and assist Pete in finding a place in America that’s to our liking. This place would be located near a college, so that I’d again be able to teach. There would be no major resource extraction taking place. The property would contain a house, a barn, and a fenced-in pasture. It would be in an area that Republicans veered away from. There would be zoning, and restrictions placed on future development. The area would have four seasons, but at the same time, a lengthy growing season.

I know that such places still exist because this isn’t something that everyone wants or values. I also suspect that we might at some point have to become politically involved, in order to save it. But this would be with the knowledge that it could be saved. (Most of the time it feels working to save what we value is a losing battle.)

In the meantime, I am going to continue to work at appreciating what we have here. It’s strange, but the fact that we may someday have to leave it makes me appreciate it even more. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Next: 50. 2/19/13: A Conversation with Signy, et al.