WILLY ARRIVES

We have just retrieved Willy from down south and prepare the old shed as a barn. We lay down pallets in the center bay and stack a load of hay for the winter. The old 8x8x4 crates helicoptered to the site after Saudi Arabia serve as our first tack room. We trim off some rotten wood... add a few new boards and throw a black tarp over everything to keep out the wind and snow. Not beautiful but functional. Willy didn't mind.... but the gravel bottom to the stall kept getting deeper and deeper with every cleaning.

PILE DRIVER DAY

Now this was an exciting day..... the piles are being driven for the
dock. It took years to get all the pieces together. First apply for
the Army Corp. Permit, survive the public hearings ("... he will kill
all the fish in the harbor!"), appeal initial rejections of
consistency with the Coastal Zone Management Plan (... well... if
everyone in Alaska built a dock like mine then the habitat for Salmon
would be seriously jeopardized and make impossible Fish and Game's
management of the resource!"), refloat the old Cost Guard Dock, then
retrieve the old cast off floating ramp from Taku Harbor, put all
the pieces together on the beach, and wait for Bob File. The luckiest
part was getting Bob File to assemble his old gear together, get it
running, and come on out and drive the piles. A fabulous job......
just fabulous......, he accomplished so much with so little, so
smartly.