51 Comments
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Jenn Schuessler's avatar

“…kalsarikännit, the Finnish of drinking at home alone in your underwear.”

DEAD. 😂

I feel seen.

This was wonderful!! 😍

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Summer Koester's avatar

Yay!!!!!!!!!! thank you!!!!!!!

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Jenn Schuessler's avatar

(Edit: the Finnish ART of drinking…)

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Frank's avatar

Cool and so cathartic! Is Alaska prepared for the mass migration of a despairing nation who are now thinking 'I will be Wolf too' for the next 4 years!!! Just think of the opportunity... I mean franchise workshops called 'How to Wolf!'

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Summer Koester's avatar

Haha! I've been telling my family to buy property because with global warming and insanity, the Last Frontier sounds very appealing!

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Kert Lenseigne 🌱's avatar

In retrospect, after reading this, it really doesn’t surprise me that I understand it all!

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Summer Koester's avatar

Doesn't surprise me either lol

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John Skipp's avatar

To which I just add: ARRRROOOOOOOO!!! Happy Thanksgiving to yoooouuuuu!

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Summer Koester's avatar

ARRRRRRROOOOOOOOO to you back!!!!!!!

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Robert D Cameron's avatar

Kalsarikannit..I invented that. Never knew it was a thing. No longer ashamed now that I know my little lupine friend does the same. 🌹

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Summer Koester's avatar

Hahahaha! well thank you for inventing that! And I love that you used the word lupine. I also love the flower :-) very Alaskan

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Brien Nicolau's avatar

Absolutely the best 😎. Thanks for being a bright light in a dark world.

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Summer Koester's avatar

Thanks as always, Brien!

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Peter Johnson's avatar

Wonderfully written: inventive, moving, the whole shebang.

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Summer Koester's avatar

Thanks so much, Peter!

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Michelle Lindblom's avatar

I love all of this—your writing makes survival sound incredibly inviting in the chaotic mess we find ourselves in. We recently moved to Sequim, WA, a quaint little town at the tip of the Olympic Peninsula. I feel closer to nature here, which is how I plan to survive the next few years.

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Summer Koester's avatar

Oh I love that! My husband’s cousin lives in Sequim. He loves it! He says he can grow the biggest produce there! He said it’s like Juneau, but much better weather, and extremely white, lol

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Michelle Lindblom's avatar

The weather is perfect for so many things. My geraniums are still blooming and look better than this summer when in the high desert of central Oregon. And yeah, sadly, it’s pretty white, but people here seem real, doing their own thing and not pretentious. That rates high in my book.

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Summer Koester's avatar

Mine too! That sounds like my husband‘s cousin as well. He’s a lifelong commercial fisherman. Still comes up to Alaska in the summer to fish, even in his 60s.

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Mike M. in the PNW's avatar

"the future is still female" Agreed! or there is not much of a future to be had. I just hope I live long enough to see it.

Stay feral!

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Summer Koester's avatar

Haha! good point! why am I laughing? I don’t know! better than crying!

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Lee Buchanan's avatar

Big smile!

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Summer Koester's avatar

Thank you, Lee! and yay!

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James Murdock's avatar

Gosh. Brilliant writing. Thank you from one feral dog to another.

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Summer Koester's avatar

Aoooo!!!!! Thanks, James!

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Papadas's avatar

i love this one !!!

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Summer Koester's avatar

Thanks so much, Papadas! And thanks for sharing!

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Trish McDonald's avatar

"So very clever," I say as I howl at the moon.

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Summer Koester's avatar

Thank you, Trish!

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Julie Babis's avatar

Brilliant!

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Summer Koester's avatar

Thank you, Julie!

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James Crockett's avatar

Summer, wow! This is the ultimate F Stack. So feral and feminine, taking we in the lower 48 on a mind safari through graveyards of bones protruding from snow drifts and a madhouse. What a great piece! We have our own aging canis lupus keeping us as tethered to the wilds as we can be in south suburbia by-the-sea. His name is Kodiak 😏

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Summer Koester's avatar

Love it! is he part wolf? We had a dog who was part wolf :-)

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James Crockett's avatar

Kodiak is a 102 lb 13 year old Alaskan Malamute. No wolf reported from the vets, but many who see him ask! My daughter rescued him when he ran in front of her car on Santa Monica Blvd. He was 6 months when he arrived here on Thanksgiving that year. We had some serious training episodes with him. Apparently Mals love to run away and hide. He’s famous in the neighborhood bec he escapes & goes visiting - and still does as 13!

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Summer Koester's avatar

That sounds like huskies and our last dog, too! part husky, part wolf. always running off, esp when the wolves would howl in the mountains! like he was looking for his mates!

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Susan-Jane Harrison's avatar

So vivid and potent.

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Summer Koester's avatar

Thank you, MM!

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