Oliver: Colorful TV show character provides model of problem-solving grit

Sometimes when I find myself in a troubling predicament at the Oliver homestead, I think to myself, “What would Sue Aikens do?”

Who is that, you ask? She is one of the featured Alaskans on the TV show “Life Below Zero” and the proprietor of Kavik River Camp, which has a Fairbanks, Alaska, address and is a few miles from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

I’ve been fascinated with the National Geographic show for years. That is, once I got past my aversion for sub-zero temperatures. I remember scoffing at the title of the show, thinking that I wouldn’t be interested in watching people freeze.

When I finally took the time to watch an episode or two, I realized how wrong I was.

What I found was a way to “travel” to some beautiful places without leaving my house. This has been especially soothing during these many, many months of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alaska always has been on my bucket list as a place I would love to visit. That, sadly, does not seem to be likely now that my husband’s Alzheimer’s disease has been worsening. In fact, travel of any kind seems to be out of the question.

Beyond my vicarious travels, the show also provides an interesting case study in determination and resilience, two qualities that I’m doing my best to cultivate as I deal with my own challenges here in a far less frigid environment.

That’s where Sue Aikens comes in. She’s not that much older than I am, and as it turns out, she’s also an Illinois native. She is originally from Mount Prospect.

Aikens is one tough cookie. She’s strong and resourceful and doesn’t appear to let anything stop her.

Since the “Life Below Zero” series began in 2013, Aikens has been shown dealing with all manner of obstacles at her camp: blizzard conditions in the wintertime, a need to hunt for food during the warmer months, emergency repairs on electrical generators and dealing with wolves and wolverines that come too close to camp.

She’s survived an attack by a bear, which happily was not part of the filming, having occurred before the show began. She’s also dealt with injuries, including breaking her collarbone when her snowmobile flipped while she tried to cross some open water.

Sometimes she’s brutally honest about how hard it is to live where she does and to overcome those challenges. Never mind that she’s also doing it essentially alone.

Still, she oftentimes stops and shares just how grateful she is for the beautiful place she gets to call home. How lucky she feels to be able to live the way she likes in a place that she loves.

All the while she comes up with pithy sayings that sometimes are downright hilarious. And I have to mention the truly crazy knit hats she wears with not one shred of self-consciousness. She’s comfortable in her own skin and doesn’t seem to care what anyone else thinks about it.

My favorite thing about her is her ability to figure out every problem, usually doing so without the ability to jump in the car and head to the hardware store.

She reminds me of a real-life “MacGyver,” with her unconventional problem-solving abilities. She’s just not working for a government agency and trying to save lives. Then again, she’s often trying to save her own life and to keep her camp visitors safe.

In a strange way, she reminds me a little of a more effective version of my mother, who often tried to solve the problems at my childhood home in unconventional ways. Maybe that’s another reason why I appreciate her so much.

Sadly, I’ll never really be able to do a lot of what she does. I’m a lot smaller, a lot weaker and not nearly as brave.

Although that won’t stop me from trying.

• Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.