You Know You’re In Alaska When…
. . .you take off your shirt and your arms are as pale as your legs all the way to your wrists.
. . .you know that the term “Break Up” has more to do with the weather than personal relationships.
. . .your monthly phone bill is larger than your house payment.
. . .there is a bottle of Avon’s Skin-So-Soft in your tackle box.
. . .you don’t know anyone who doesn’t own a 4-wheeler.
. . .you have ever taken a trip “outside” and tried to cash a traveler’s check, drawn on an Alaskan bank, and the cashier asked you the current exchange rate in Alaska.
. . .you have ever washed your car while there was still snow on the ground.
. . .you have ever power washed your car by parking driver’s side into the rain in the morning, and passenger side into the rain in the afternoon. (a Dutch Harbor thing)
. . .you have tennis elbow but have never played tennis, just snagged a lot of salmon.
. . .you know a honey bucket is really a bucket, but it’s not really full of honey. (If you don’t know, don’t ask)
. . .you know that the Rat Net is not a rodent catching device.
. . .you know the Naknek twitch is an illegal fishing technique, not a spasmodic muscle in your neck.
. . .you travel for two days to get outside but none of your family members will travel more than two minutes to visit you.
. . .you learned to swim indoors.
. . .you leave your Christmas lights up, year round, because as soon as it gets warm enough to take them down it starts getting dark enough to put them up again.
. . .you had waffle soles put on your cowboy boots.
. . .your monthly veterinarian bill is more than your own medical bill.
. . .you know that a “handi-man-jack” is a device designed to lift a car to change a flat, not a guy named Jack that comes around your house on Saturdays to repair minor problems.
. . .you know a “white out” has to do with winter conditions not correcting fluid for typos.
. . .when you’re outside at -40 below , shoveling snow in your shorts , well you know it’s a hassle putting on all those cloths for just 10 minutes.
. . .you can see the road through the floorboard of your pickup truck.
. . .you have called an 800 number you found in a catalog and then were told “Alaska? Oh, we don’t ship out of the United States.” (Try saying “North Pole”, most places usually laugh for a solid minute, or they just hang up thinking you’re some kind of prankster.)
. . .you put up with the pain of a toothache until the Permanent Fund Dividend checks come out in October.
. . .you know going “outside” involves a whole lot more than opening a door and walking into the yard.
. . .you have ever worn a tie with waders.
. . .you have learned to never say to your kids, “Be home by dark.”
. . .you know Bunny Boots aren’t worn by bunnies or made out of bunnies.
. . .you know the meaning of the word “baleen” and it has nothing to do with making hay into large cubes.
. . .you think it’s normal for a town to put all the businesses on one side of the road.
. . .there are only three seasons: winter, breakup, summer.
. . .your local golf course has “happy hour” between 1:00 and 2:00 am
. . .the seat in your outhouse is lined with styrofoam so your butt won’t freeze to it when you have to sit down for a amount of time.
. . .when you have to set your alarm every three hours to go start you car and let it run for 20 min. so hopefully it will start in the morning so you can go to work.
. . .when you leave the water running in the sink so your pipes won’t freeze and you can’t sleep because all you can hear is the water running.
. . .Instead of plugging in your freezer you just move it to the front porch!
. . .You open your freezer to take out something for dinner, and are faced with many choices, Pink Salmon, Silver Salmon, Red Salmon, King Salmon, Smoked Salmon, or Halibut!
. . .You go to shop for a second vehicle and come home with a snowmobile!
. . .you’re buying a house & you have to ask for water & electricity as an option.
