JUNEAU -- The Division of Elections has finished reviewing the write-in ballots for nearly three-quarters of the precincts, and the results show Lisa Murkowski on track to be the first write-in candidate elected to the U.S. Senate since 1954.

I keep a wintertime emergency pack in the trunk of my car, right next to the snow shovel, plug in tire pump/air compressor, old bath towels, a roll of TP (wrapped in plastic), camping bow saw and a couple 2 liter PET soda bottles sorta full of drinkable water.  The pack has a couple good-sized candles, a Bic lighter and a pack or two of matches, some bandaids, adhesive tape, gauze pads, a wire survival saw, some extra bootlaces, tinfoil, hard candies (butterscotch and peppermint swirlies), a couple envelopes of hot chocolate mix and of oatmeal, some teabags, a couple envelopes of instant soup, a little heat-tab stove and fuel tabs, a clean old soup can and one of those blue-enameled camping coffee cups, and a camping knife-fork-spoon set.  While there's a lot of stuff, it all fits inside a little surplus backpack about the size of a big set of binoculars.

Winter can be rough here and, if a traveler gets in trouble, it can be lonely for a long time, too.  When I moved here, one of the things I brought back was the winter emergency pack for the car.  

I loved Lipton's instant green pea soup - the infamous Cup-a-soup.  It was a favorite of mine as a kid in Scouts and in my earlier adult years. It had the essential things any wintertime outdoors soup should have:  served hot it has a bulky stick-to-the-ribs character  to it, lots of salt, and it'll tend to keep you warm.  So, in preparing the emergeny pack the first thing I started looking for was Lipton's green pea cup-a-soup.

To my horror, it seems they discontinued it so long ago I might be the only person alive who remembers it.  I had to settle for (yuk) cream of chicken.

When it comes to split pea soup, though, I say go for the scratch method.  I just finished consuming, over week or so, a pound of peas' worth of it.

I make mine thusly: put a good quantity of water in a soup pot and throw in the peas.  Throw in a ham bone, preferably one with a little meat stuck to it.  If you were smart enough to retain the cooking liquid from your ham, you can substitute that for an equal quantity of the water.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Cube 4 or 5 good-sized potatoes (3/4 inch or so), a pair of carrots (1/4 - 3/8 inch), and dice a medium onion finely.  Once the peas start softening, throw all these in. (If you throw the potatoes in too soon, they will overcook and start to crumble.  Not necessarily a bad thing - they'll help thicken the soup - but you should be aware of it.)

Cook at a low simmer, stirring frequently lest it burn on the bottom of the pot, until the peas crumble and you have a smooth soup.  Cut some of the cooked ham into the soup at time of serving.

Alternatively, if you do not have a ham bone, you can chop some (very smoky) bacon finely and try it out in the bottom of the soup pot, then gently saute the onions before deglazing with the water and ading the peas, then proceeding as above.