You Know You Live in Bush Alaska(Galena) When.....

-You wear shorts, Bunny Boots and a sweatshirt to go take pictures in a blizzard.
-You know what Bunny Boots are.
-Your shoe closet consist of Mukluks or Bunny Boots for winter and Rubber boots for summer
-When shoe shopping you consider the fact of how easy it would be to slip them on and off when entering and exiting someones house.
-You wear bunny boots to prom with your fancy dress or tux.
-Duck tape fixes anything and having coats and boots held together with duck tape.
-You are proud of the fact that your coat has duck tape holding it together because that just means you are TRUE Alaskan.( I was not to happy when my coat ripped but I must say I was VERY proud that I got to wear duck tape to hold it together!)
 -Your stroller wheels broke in the airport in Anchorage, You duck taped them on and that stroller held together all the way to Zambia and back, holding 2 kids and a suit case!
-There are duct tape balls and parties to see who has the fanciest clothes made with duct tape!
-Your Zambian basket's bottom fell out so you used duck tape to form a bottom so you can still use the basket and it still works great after 3 years!
-When temperatures reach below -50 nothing works or starts so people walk to church.
-You pull your kids in sleds behind a sled, behind the snow machine.
-You find nothing weird about hearing "Hey it warmed up today. It is -31 degrees"
-Spring arrives with MUCH JOY and there is still 4 ft of snow on the ground
-We don't have Snow days, school just becomes optional when it reaches to cold for the buses to start. (At -60 my son still went to school!)
-Expiration dates are recommendations. Opening a can 4 years old is not uncommon
-You actually wait for the milk to expire so you can get it HALF OFF! ($5 instead of $10 = AWESOME!)
-You check the softness of the bread and the appearance of mold and NOT the expiration date.
-You take the chance of buying ice cream at the store. There is a 50% chance that it has melted and frozen again, thus leaving the top portion of the box REALLY creamy and the bottom portion mostly water.
-1/2 a gallon of liquid Bleach from the local store cost more then a movie ticket in the city.
-You eat Lynx Links
-You eat Beaver Sticks
-You can graduate from high school and have your Pilots Licenses, you have flown solo across the state in a plane, but don't have a drivers license.
-Every March, every inch of your window space becomes a garden space for seedlings and you can't use your dinning room table till June first when you can plant the jungle outside.
-You find nothing weird about seeing a truck pulling another truck, pulling a boat out of the water.
-September is hunting season and finding anyone in the office is VERY HARD!!
-You understand what it means to "torch" your engine block so your truck will start.
-A night on the town is buying a snickers bar at the liquor store and going and sitting down by the river to eat it.
-You have been depressed because you want a snack, have walked into you pantry, not seen ANYTHING you want and then realize that is EVERYTHING you have to eat for the next year.
-The Riff-Raff at the local mall won't mug you but they might eat you
-You know what happens to boiling water when you throw it in the air at -50 degrees
-You have search Amazon for something that is $1.72 just so you qualify for free shipping.
-Your physical address is made up and sending something General Delivery will actually get to you
-You have met people conducting a Census who actually try to look up those physical address and then you spend an hour with them and give them directions to get to someones house. "You go to the third street, turn by the giant Snow mountain, pass three broken snowed in snow machines and then turn by the blue house with a broken tree in the front yard with a 8 sled dogs in the front yard.
-Your local radio post these kind of notices on the wireless "The City of Galena would ask all residents to conserve any room they have left in their sewer tank due to the sewer truck being broken." or "To all Galena City residents and businesses, the city is asking you to hold your trash till further notice due to the trash trucks failure to start in cold weather."
-Your family in the Lower 48 Google directions from their house to yours and Google says"you can not get there from here".
-You know what the Lower 48 means
-You have to order water and Sewer pickup
-You hair dryer gets used to thaw the shower, warm the snow machine, start the wood stove way more times then actually drying your hair.
-You decide to plug your freezer in or your car depending on the weather.
-Dressing up for church means getting out a clean pair of Carharts
-It takes longer for you to get from Galena to Houston, Texas as it does for your parents to get from Lusaka, Zambia to Houston, Texas.
-You memorize time zones in order to call family, credit cards and banks.
-You get excited when either one of those have 24 hour service.
-You frequently get phone calls from friends and family members that forget there are 4 time zones between you.
-Getting to prom in an airplane instead of a limo is not uncommon
- Your kids beg for fruit and veggies for snack instead of candy. They actually tell their VBS teachers from Texas that they could have brought Veggies for snack so they could have had healthy snacks instead of just candy.
-You stand in the kitchen and ask yourself how selfish would it be to EAT the Last strawberry or give it to your son.
-You mail cheese in the mail at the post office
-When you fly out to town, you mail all your dirty clothes back via postal service and fill your totes with fresh goods.
-You don't use suitcases when traveling but use plastic totes because you lose 15 pounds of weight when using a suitcase.
-You know how to pack those totes and can feel how much 50 pounds is by lifting your tote.
-Shopping for fresh goods takes a little time because you not only buy the stuff but you mentally calculate how many pounds the food is as well as the containers that they are packaged in.
-The airport security in Houston has stopped you and asks "Why is your luggage full of cream cheese, butter, sour cream and other fresh good and it takes you a while to explain and to convince them that you seriously live in the BUSH and getting this stuff there is hard.
-You know where the middle of nowhere is.
-You know what the "Mall" is
-You drive to the mall and get great deals on a washing machine, showers, bath robes, Carthart jackets, overalls, boots and other goodies.
- People in the Lower 48 think having a fire place is romantic and here you know it is hard work but it bets having to pay for heating fuel!
-When driving the highways in the Lower 48 you see all the wood on the side of the road and wish that there was someway to get that good wood to your house in Galena.
-You are more excited to meet Todd Palin than his wife Sarah, because he is an Iron Dog Champion.
-Your Hair Iron becomes a sewing accessory to iron material instead of hair.
-You open your door to check for moose or bears in your yard before letting your dog out.
-You find nothing weird about having a Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin as your carry on.
-You use empty diaper boxes to organize your freezer.
-You understand the statement "I hope it warms up this weekend so it will snow"
-Your front porch becomes your freezer during winter.
-Your kids learn the difference in temperatures and knows at what degrees they need to put on an extra layer of clothes to stay warm outside.
-Snow machines and boats are a necessity more then a luxury
-You don't wash your car because that dirt is what is holding it together.
-You have told people in the Lower 48 that you live in an Igloo, wrestle bears, wear fur, eat whale blubber just to see if they believe you.
-A moose blocking your driveway is an acceptable reason for being late to work or church.
-"The Lights are out" doesn't refer to the power being off
-You would pay $10 for a head of lettuce
-You measure distance in hours not miles
-Everyone assumes you are all Jewel fans..... Who is Jewel anyways?
-The Red and Green show is a documentary and you use many of those ideas in everyday life!
-Jeff Foxworthy's You might be a Redneck" could relate to your life. You have done some of those things.... and lived through it.
-You have seen Anti-freeze freeze
-Your truck is ALWAYS in 4X4
-You don't tell your kids to be home by dark because if you do they won't come home till fall!
-The song "The sun will come out tomorrow" Can't be sung for 3 months during our winter
-You have to make your Halloween costumes to fit over snowsuits.

Thanks to my friends Chris and Shell, Ross and Wendy, and Trisha who contributed some of these points.