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Public Defense

: A Public Defender's Life in Alaska

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So, I did it. The last time I blogged, I was three months from leaving for Alaska. Now, in early December, I have been an Alaskan again for 6 months. My house, my giant, house is not only up in the air but dried in. We are living in it- despite the fact that it will likely take me years to finish. I didn't blog at all during the build- I was too busy working 16 hours a day. A lot of it was filmed with the idea of making the move into a TV show but that has yet to be realized. So, now that I have actually built the giant timber frame, what are the pro's and con's?

I'll start with the cons. The biggest one is that I spent too much. Way too much. I get that I have a huge house and a huge shop

but it was frustrating nonetheless. Part of it was the nature of the build and part of it was being cheated. I have really learned to despise contractors. I built a 6000 square foot shop and an almost 6000 square foot home without an architect, structural engineer or general contractor. Still, a few of the subs that I hired cheated me and now I have to deal with it.

The second con is how much Soldotna has grown. When I left in 2012, it was probably 8-10,000 people in the surrounding area. Now, I bet it is 30,000 people. Maybe more. There are simply people everywhere all the time. It's enough that I am already considering selling the house and moving. It's just too much. Julianne was right: I should have lived here for a year before dumping my entire life savings into a house.

The third con is climate change. I used to love the cold, dark winters. Now they are still dark but the cold is gone. It rains now in the winter and everything is covered in ice. It makes for shitty driving and even walking. Winter sports are a thing of the past. Nor are the winters coming back.

The final con is the amount of work I have left to do. I LOVED building my house this summer. 6 months of building was so much better than being a lawyer. But it left me broke. So I will have to peck at this giant house for 5 or even 10 years. That's ok except for one thing: I don't want this house to consume my entire life. That would be easy to do as it is taking me forever to make any progress.

As for pro's, there are some. I'm home. In Alaska. I have an amazing house with an amazing view. The girls are doing great and I'm proud that they are Alaskans again. To be honest, I think I'm just a little burned out. This summer was amazing- the best summer of my life. But it has left me exhausted. I'll continue to write. I'll add more stories and pictures from this summer so that the kids will have this blog for when I am gone. But the key to this post is this: I made it. Sure, I had to spend it all. But I live in the most incredible timber frame house in the whole State of Alaska.