Very odd that they change the cause of death back and forth. At any rate, I hope she is able to cope with things by herself.
I read an article about two sisters (early 40s) and the 14 year old son of one of them who went into the Colorado wilderness last July (2022) to "live off the grid." They refused to tell anyone where they were going. The sole experience/prep they had was via YouTube. Their partially mummified remains were just found in Gunnison National Forest. There was evidence they attempted to build a lean-to shelter, but they finished it. They may have even died in the fall. It's not just Alaska. And the stupid thing is they were from Colorado Springs. So it's not like they drove up from Orlando with no idea.
Heck, I have been toying with an emergency shelter for inside of hubby's house, about the size of an ice fishing hut. Problem will be condensation if no fan. Went through some 20 below without a furnace around New Years without a furnace available anywhere. Probably should clean out my below ground storage area.
Hey Mary--I saw a news item about the woman who dismembered her boyfriend and left his head in a bucket and it made me think of you. (Happened in WI...haha.)
I had my oil floor furnace go out so I got a kerosene heater. The problem with those (besides the smell) is that there is no High/Medium/Low adjustment...it's just High. I'd almost prefer fighting the chilly than being in 83° heat all the time.
Serves him right for saying he wanted to "split up." Here she is, in all her sane glory: She was 24 when she did it. The guy was living with his mother, who discovered her son's head in the bucket. From an article: Throughout the trial, Schabusiness openly laughed and smirked, including when video of her being interrogated by law enforcement was played out for the court, and when a judge weighed whether to allow the jury to see graphic photos of the victim's decapitated head. She was declared to be sane when she committed the crime. Gee, this thread sure is chock-full of "interesting people."
That might work better, since the food in the fridge/freezer is not gonna go bad in a house that cold.
I met another new person who just moved here from California. It was a job transfer, so he wasn't "escaping" as the others were unless he requested the move--that I don't know. He is single and drove the Alcan in a pickup pulling a small trailer. He said he has to fly back to California or Missouri (where he grew up) later this year to to retrieve his guns, as he couldn't drive through Canada with them. He said his truck and trailer were filled with clothes and tools as he is supposedly and accomplished carpenter, electrician and plumber. The main thing I noted was that he had no idea about cold weather. His coldest previous experience was Missouri at -10 F. for a short time; -30 or -40 F. will be a shock as he was talking about not using heat during the winter. I told him to please not die during his first month here as he spoke of wading across a stream in a nearby pass to get berries that no one else had picked. If no one else had waded the stream, there is probably a reason why.... The surviving widow that began this thread has sold her cabin in the woods and is now searching for a new place to live. If she stays here (she says she is determined to become an "Alaska Woman"), I hope she rents an apartment or house in town where she will be more secure and not have to struggle through another winter with no spouse, no central heat, no water, and no indoor "plumbing".
I am flabbergasted that adults would do such stupid things on such a monumental scale. Not to wish anyone ill, but I've often said that most modern advances have done little but thwart Darwin...calling into question the validity of the term "advances." That being said, your stories got my wheels turning. You got a recent widow with no heat and no plumbing, and a newcomer who also eschews heat and has plumbing skills. Hmmmm....I wonder if he knows what the frost line is in that region. Gotta be at least 3, maybe 4 feet, right?
Regarding frost line (since it's come up a few times): You (@Don Alaska) mentioned before that some folks use 48" there, but those who know go to 10'. Looks like northern Minnesota frost line is 8'-9'.
The Native Americans in the lower 48 were a hardy enough lot. One wonders how the Inuits even got established in such an environment, much less thrived.
We take precautions because it is often impractical to go 10 feet or more. Water is not left in the pipe from the well to the house, and the septic tank and lines are insulated. We have an even more special case here, as the water table is about 10 feet down too. Foundations usually don't go down that far, but my son would have to address that question. He is a project manager for the State of Alaska and deals with this stuff all the time.