McHenry County Opinion

Oliver: Lessons from Alaska could help in preparations for our own winter

“Winter is coming.”

That phrase holds a certain meaning for fans of the fantasy television series “Game of Thrones,” but for me, it reminds me of an entirely different series.

On the Emmy Award-winning National Geographic series “Life Below Zero,” viewers follow the lives of several people who live off the land in rural Alaska. The scenery is breathtaking, even when the temperatures hit lows that fortunately we do not see here in Illinois.

The pursuit of basic necessities takes up a good chunk of time for many of these folks, and a constant theme is that they must fend for themselves because they don’t have the ability to just go to the store to get food, firewood and building materials.

The other constant theme is that winter is coming. Even when the weather is pleasant and the resources are plentiful, these Alaskans know they must build up their stockpiles for the impending cold, dark months.

They cut down dead standing trees to make sure they have enough firewood to keep themselves warm. They stockpile fish that can be preserved so they have it when they no longer can go fishing. They hunt moose, caribou and other small game so that they can sustain themselves until spring.

Do I have to mention how happy I am that I don’t have to do that here?

Although our winters can be challenging, they usually don’t come with repeated blizzards and air temperatures below minus 25. Still, I’ve found that the lessons I’m learning from these intrepid Alaskans just might help me get through our own coming winter.

For instance, my natural tendency is to block out the fact that we have months of bone-chilling cold and snow that needs to be cleared on a regular basis.

I’m also inclined to wave off all that talk about natural gas prices being a lot higher this winter because of supply shortages and inflation. My thinking usually goes along the lines of, “Oh, I’ll worry about that when it gets here. Surely things will change in a few months.”

Perhaps that thinking has worked in the past, but now that I’m a full-time caregiver for my husband, who has early onset Alzheimer’s disease, I’ve found that I’m much better off taking proactive steps to be prepared for whatever life throws our way.

When I discovered that I needed to replace the gutters on our house, I jumped at the chance to see if I could add some insulation to the attic too. The hope is that this will keep our home toasty when the temperatures do their usual plummet mid-January.

Some unexpected but incredibly appreciated help came in the form of a friend’s husband, who not only replaced the weather-stripping on our garage door, but also fixed the back door to the garage, which over time had developed a nasty gap that let in leaves and snow.

Lately, I’ve been going through my winter gear to make sure that I have the proper hats and gloves to keep Tony safe and warm. One of the things I’ve noticed with his Alzheimer’s is that he doesn’t really register when he’s cold. That just means that I must be extra careful to make sure he doesn’t get frostbite.

Since I’m also hearing that this winter could be bad in terms of COVID-19 and flu, I’ve made sure that Tony and I are up to date on our vaccinations. I can’t afford to be out of commission even for a couple of days.

In anticipation of those snowfalls that are sure to come, I’ve added a bench near our back door so that I don’t have to struggle to get my boots off after shoveling sessions. I can also hide my hat and gloves in a basket below it. Last winter, I wasted a lot of time trying to find my hat when Tony decided to move it to another location.

Sure, the weather might still be unseasonably warm this week. That just means I’ll have more opportunities to get the Oliver homestead ready. There’s always more to do.

After all, winter is coming.

Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.

Joan Oliver

Joan Oliver

A 30-year newspaper veteran who has been a copy editor, front-page editor, presentation editor, assistant news editor and publication editor, as well as a columnist and host of an online newspaper newscast.