Skagway: The Butterbox

Friends, family, and foe keep asking, “So what’s your cabin like, now that you’ve painted, hung towel racks, and moved in?”

First, while Jim Jewell, the owner, might explain the effort to paint the interior as being a bit like “polishing a turd,” my Skagway summer friends, however, have taken to calling this converted storage shed where I currently live the “Butterbox”—due to both its shape and the interior paint so laboriously applied.

Yeah, so what’s it like? they all pester. Any pictures?

Yeah, there are pictures.

Butterbox

Butterbox sits tightly amongst Charlotte and Jim’s greenhouses, tucked under the low limbs of a Sitka Spruce where glossy black ravens caw day and night with unparalleled enthusiasm. “Good morning,” they cough through hoarse throats. “Good night!” For the uninformed, night is about 1 a.m. And morning is 3:30 a.m. The two and a half hours between, a time of dusk and hazy shadows, these friendly purveyors of carrion go somewhere else and sleep.

So enter, if you will. Welcome. The door hangs three-quarters of an inch off its hinges, so give it a shove. Don’t be shy. It’ll bounce just fine over the ceramic tile of the “entry.”

Kitchen: SE Corner

First thing you’ll notice is my kitchen. Note the tap. No running water. I do, however, have a wee frig, a microwave, a toaster oven, and camping stove. What more can a girl want?

Bedroom: NE corner

 

On the opposite wall is my bedroom, with a top-of-the-line Posturepedic mattress, I mean air mattress. And sleeping bag. Four feet up, yes, but easily assessable with the help of a green upside milk crate.

 Closet: NW corner

Behind the door is my medicine and vitamin cabinet. Also my clothes closet and accessory corner.

Office: SW Corner

And, last but not least, and built in under the window, is my office.

Like I said, what more can a girl want?