Walking Tour of Quinhagak, AK - Part 1

These pictures in order:

1. Bingo Hall
2. Church
3. Post office
4. NVK building - villages offices
5.Washateria sp?? - wash you clothes, take a shower, take care of business in the many offices upstairs.

Saturday Morning 12/13/08

Couple of shots from this morning.

New Music

Took a week off. Got busy, but back with some tunes for you all. In fact, let's just make this Jack Johnson and Friends Hour.

In honor of us coming home.
Heading Home - Donovan Frankenreiter and Jack Johnson


In honor of Marley our beloved Husky. Got to love the Weisenborn guitar and Ben hitting the high notes.
High Tide or Low Tide - Ben Harper and Jack Johnson - (Bob Marley Cover Song)


A little Matt Costa for good measure. Sunshine just feels good. Especially when we only see it for 4 hours.
Fall Line/Sunshine - Matt Costa and Jack Johnson


Rainbow- This song has special meaning to us. See the first time we drove up here and drove back the 7,000 miles round trip, we had an issue with the registration and insurance card for the car. We couldn't find it. All the guide books said to be sure to have it traveling through Canada, especially at border crossings where they ask to see them. Being travel worn and 9 months in the Bush, we don't look necessarily look like clean Americans. More like dirty hippies. Anyway, as we worried and worried and got closer and closer, we didn't know what they would do if we couldn't produce the info. Not let us by?? Well, as we got closer to the the boarder, there is this typical mountain road with twists and turns and as you come out of it there is a vast plain with Canada straight ahead and the last look at Alaska Range. Breathtaking view from this spot and as we come out of the trees and get this look, we see this rainbow arcing in the sky. On my ipod which we listen to the entire trip on comes this song. The ipod had about 5,000 songs on it and it was on shuffle. Randomly playing songs. This song comes on. Talk about comfort, as the song said "That was God telling me, every thing's gonna be alright" and it was. They let us by with little more than a couple questions.
Rainbow - Jack Johnson and G-Love

Finally,
Breaking away from Jack, we have the Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama. I have to put this on here. Gave me chills. If you don't smile at the end of this song something is wrong. Please don't stop listening until the end. Look at how the band reacts. Even if to you this music is terrible, that ending is inspirational.
Take My Hand Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama

Take Care,

Jim

This was just a pig Dolly Varden. Milt and Michael took me out, so big thanks to them. 23 inches long and 12 around. Biggest trout I have caught. Look forward to more.

Hot water pipe froze??? This was last week. Lucky for us, there was a panel that gave access to the pipes. I think this has happened before :-)

This is the name of the school if you were wondering. Don't ask me how to say it. We are the Seahawks and this is our territory. I try to get a picture of the school up this weekend, maybe a tour if your nice.

Sundog Update

Per Grace:

In Yup'ik, akerta-gguq aliimatengqertuq (the sun has gloves on).

nengllipiaqatarluni (both hands).

Per Emma:

Interpretation: Get your parka out, it's going to be cold.


Two days later we had the exact same scene. So maybe they are not that rare. Fog mixed with sun low on the horizon: Sundog weather

Also, it was cold.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Even though the economy is in the crapper be thankful it's not this one :-)
Let's hope this economy doesn't kick the bucket, that would smell. I'm sorry I'll stop.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...wish we could be there. Nobody makes apple pie for me Grandma.

This is our thermometer. That much frost is about -20 below. Took this picture on the door of our arctic entry way. Notice the snow that has not melted all week. You can hang meat in there. Not joking. Our water distiller was out there, (was) it froze.

Gas

I don't think I have mentioned this yet. Gas is $6.22/gal. Toys are expensive and then worrisome in the cold. $1.90 looks beyond belief at this point. They set the price each fall right before freeze up. So that price is not going anywhere until the spring. By that time it will probably be back up to 4-5 bucks a gallon down south. Hope not, but lets be realistic. Quinhagak does have 15 miles of dirt roads to travel and when the ground freezes there are many miles of trails. Plus, I come home at lunch everyday and let the dogs out. So the machine is needed (I keep telling myself).

Been quietly looking at boats and jet prop motors too. haha. Digging into the frozen tundra -Don't tell Steph.

Weather

Always a theme. The weather has turned cold and I have a new appreciation this year of its effects. Starting a 4-wheeler in -15 weather is not fun. We give it 15 minutes in the morning and 5-6 minutes at lunch to warm up. The Big Bear has been running really good the last 2 weeks though and good thing too. I don't think the weather is going to warm up anytime soon. We have a new cover, a oil pan heater, and battery wrap heater on the way. So things will hopefully be toasty warm under the ole Yamaha soon. I feel bad for her.

New Music Friday

-Bela' Fleck - Bach
- Virtuoso playing and our dog's namesake to boot.
-Hear

Ryan Adams - Carolina Rain
-Much different than last weeks song. This classic is Steph's favorite song. Great storytelling.
-Hear

Jack White - Wayfaring Stranger
-Different side of White here, nice version of a classic. Some say this guy will be who we talk about 50 years from now from this generation. We'll see.
-Hear

One from the Vault:

Hank Williams - Lovesick Blues
Very nice song here. I have another version from Ryan Adams, but no video. So with the original we will go. I also like in Shawshank Redemption when the guy sings this in the library.
-Hear

Sundog

A sun dog or sundog (scientific name parhelion, plural parhelia, for "beside the sun") is a common bright circular spot on a solar halo. It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon primarily associated with the reflection or refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals making up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Often, two sun dogs can be seen (one on each side of the sun) simultaneously. - Found that on the internet, sounds about right

Bela does this every time we eat. Just fixates

- New Music Friday -

Because music is a huge part of my life and a huge part of my sanity and this blog is about how we live, I have decided to start a "New Music Friday" post. Just stuff I want to recognize as good to me... maybe not necessarily good to you...so in that case disregard Fridays. Music however is how I spend a lot of Fridays...so I share...enjoy

By the way, all this music is not going to be playing on your top 40 or late night mtv, when they sometimes play videos. "That" music, is not music...I feel very strongly about this and will stop now...because this is a positivie post, for positive thoughts. Do a little digging and find the good stuff - luckily it is still out there.


The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
-Nice little bluegrassy, old timey, acoustical trio - discovered them last night - video looks like fun.
-Hear - Will you return


Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cardinalolgy
-Latest album from my numero uno at the moment. Pretty decent record- no Cold Roses though.
-Hear - Fix It


Ray Lamontagne - Gossip in the Grain
-Latest album from the man, the myth - I need a few more listens to pass judgment. Sidenote: I would trade a lot for a beard like that - good looking beard - in the most hetro possible way
-Hear - You Are the Best Thing



One from the vault -

Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
-Not all that old, 98', but she is the one of very few women in my collection - probably because she sounds kind of manish. Beyond good guitar by Doug Pettibone there - lyrics are dark, but don't get hung up on that.
-Hear - Joy

My mom sent us a box of leaves last week . Just leaves. Fourth year in a row too! I took them around today and let everyone have a smell. Many good memories were brought back - Thank you mom

Tomorrow morning John Teddy Roberts is taking me upriver a couple of miles to Ice Fish/Fly fish depending on how the ice is. Dolly Varden and Rainbows are the prize. Should be interesting if we get a chance to fly fish in the snow. I will take the video camera and try to get some video.

John took me out the other night ice fishing right here next to town. Fish were not there, but learning the techniques was good. The first step is to find a big rock. Next, put that rock in a sock and put some salmon eggs from the summer in the sock on top of the rock. Tie the sock at the top and attach a length of string. After chopping some holes drop the sock into a hole and tie it off at the top. Albert our secretary and professional fishing guide during the summer calls it "cheating" not chumming.

That's all for now. Later

Room with a view...

This is the view from my classroom window. I love clear days.

Nov. 4

Man the lines were long here. I think I waited in line for 10 seconds or something. lol

"Yep, I make my own meats, I make my meats. I mix different stuff...chicken n' burgers n' sausages n'. You guys like sausages n' burgers and everything?

1 pound cayenne pepper my nemesis you expire in 1 week. Yet, you are only 1/3 gone. I will battle through the tears and finish you...these are things I think about in Quinhagak...seriously

Caribou

Milt and I heard about a herd of 30 caribou about 7-8 miles from the village last night from some students. So we got up early this morning and headed out with the 4-wheelers. We drove to the end of the road and then took the trail for about 4 miles up the river. The trail and ponds we crossed were frozen really well. Now, Milt is self-diagnosed as blind and as we were moving up the trail there was a caribou just standing off the trail about 150 yards to the south. Milt was in lead and didn't see it, so I threw the 4-wheeler into 5th gear and raced to catch up with him. As I got closer I yelled and he slowed down, looked back at me pointing and realized there was a caribou right there. We got off and and watched as the caribou just trot right up to within about 75 yards. Milt took one shot, dropped it and we were done. Probably about as easy as it gets. I likened it to going to the grocery store easy. Shoot, we were home by noon. It was a young caribou and should be really tasty too.

Gonna try this again next weekend.

4wheelering

Chalk up another first for me today...changing oil on something. To make it a little more enjoyable, I waited for 15 degree weather. Thank you Yamaha for putting the oil filter in a near impossible location. Oil filter... I look forward to getting you out again next spring. On a happy note, nothing broke...nothing is leaking...things seem to be working fine...am I now a mechanic?

On another note. I read this story on msn http://www.newsweek.com/id/165478?GT1=43001

Speaking from experience (last spring we flew in to Ketchikan) that landing on an island was extremely confusing. As of now, you have take a ferry across...which they don't tell you...and you have to pay for it. The article is also correct about Ketchikan being built on mountains. The town just goes straight up.

So I agree with the mayor...build a bridge...or tell people to take the ferrry. (We tried to call a cab, first. Would have been over a hundred dollars to come get us, I guess.)

Weekend Plans -

Volleyball - 3 teams flying in - no fog please
Halloween Dance - Should be funny to watch no one dance
Husker Football
World Series
Gold Fever episode catch-up
- Looks like it is shaping up nicely. Maybe a trip to Target and Arby's for kicks!

"Wash your hair" - Bela

Snow!!

Well, last Friday it snowed. Didn't stick, but lots of white stuff was coming and going. Big flakes, small flakes, the whole nine. Ground was not quite cold enough for accumulation. In the mountains it was a different story as they look pretty nice right now. First time in my life I have lived close enough to a range to see the changes. very nice. enjoy...

The Caribou Are Safe...

So...I got my first chance to see the mountain up close and personal this last weekend. My fellow Jr. High warrior Tim asked me if I wanted to take a camping trip up to the mountains near Quinhagak here. Of course I jumped at the chance, even though I didn't have much of my gear. We took off Friday night around 5 pm and headed up river with his flat-bottom boat and 40 horse Yamaha jet engine. Jet props suck in water and propel it out the back pushing the boat thought the water. They run in really shallow water, which is need the farther you go.

We ended up going 40-45 miles up river to the real middle of nowhere. Kipnuk, Quinhagak, they are close to the middle of now where, but this was right in the middle. It must have taken 3-4 hours to get that far. It rained off and on, but that has been the norm the last few weeks up here. We took a couple of breaks to gas up and listen for other boats coming down river in a few tight spots. Tim asked me my first impressions of "Her" when we were using the facilities and I commented "she" was gorgeous and totally different than in town. The river that is. The trees get bigger, they change colors. Salmon were all over the place, red and spawning, really cool to see. All Tim said was "Just wait".

Get this, once we hit the 40 mile mark and came to one of Tim's favorite camping spots there was someone already there. We kept moving on, remembering that there is a lot of mountain up there. We stop at the weir, where they count salmon during the summer. It was abandoned for the winter and we decided that the tundra would play fits on my back, with just a sleeping pad for comfort. The tundra is rather bumpy up close, not totally flat, I think I have mention this before. Anyway, we drifted downstream a couple of bends and found a sandy spot next to the river and set up the tent, ate a mountain house, and tried to get some sleep. The .375 H&H, was right next to Tim all night ready to light up any bear that tried to join the party. I was almost asleep, when I thought I heard footsteps in the river, I woke totally up and listened real hard, before determining that it was the same sound over and over and over and not a bear. Tim was snoring. I should mention real quick my bear fear was well founded. Every time, we got out of the boat, there were tracks, some fresh, some not so much, but every time tracks. Tim said in fact, he believed that bears were over populated on the river. We ended up seeing 8 in two days. Nothing close.

So the next morning, we set out looking for caribou herds. After locating 4 different small herds and trying to cover as much ground as we could with binoculars, we got some lunch and headed for the closest herd. Problem was, a sow bear with three cubs had moved over lunch and was now right between us and the herd. They laid up in some brush. We decided to make a huge arch around them upwind, so they would smell us and go the other direction. This worked and she took her cubs away. The caribou were moving our direction and as we got closer they finally noticed we were getting closer. When they looked up at us, we raised our hands up in the air and tried to look caribou. It seemed to work and they are naturally curious and came within probably 150 yards. I was set up for the shot, but we thought they would get closer so we waited and finally they spooked and ran over the hill. We chased and got within a 150 yards and this time I let one have it. Except I missed and they jumped a few yards to the right. I re-loaded and shot again, and a caribou fell to the ground. Legs kicking, good shot to head we thought. Tim said nice shot and I ran back up the hill to get the packs. As I came back to my surprise, the caribou had gotten up and ran off. I didn't hit it in the head. Probably just grazed it, or maybe hit an antler. We followed the heard another couple of miles. Exhausted and watching the caribou running around healthy, we decided there was nothing we could do. We hunted the rest of the day, with gorgeous weather and also the next day. We never got close again and headed home Sunday.

It was a great trip and I was impressed with the magnitude of the mountains. The pictures I took are terrible and do no justice to the area. A true wilderness, with a few Quinhagakers sprinkled in favorite camping spots. It is just so different out there. So large, I felt very small, very isolated.

New Toy

Here is our new-to-us 4-wheeler. Next, on the list is a motor. Boats are laying around everywhere.

There you go mom. I even added the house

Whale bones scavenged from up the coast a few miles.Cemetery with a view. Mountains are about 17 miles away.
Silver salmon drying.

FOOD!!

Our food came today. 50-70 pound boxes. My back is okay. Old favorites, old friends they are all. side note: Like the paint job? Art work is coming soon. I will update.

Spaghetti cubboard...yum...sidenote: close the Parmesan lid before shaking and it makes a good movie snack. Cover two holes and shake into mouth.

24 cans of olives, 12 boxes of cheeseburger macaroni hamburger helper, 12 boxes of granola bars, 11 instant chocolate puddings (3 years old, terrible with powder milk)
Chili cupboard, and Ramen snacks for Steph - are we still in college?
There's more, like 24 boxes of Stovetop stuffing, and 2 dozen cans of pineapple and chicken soup. Other things include 900 rolls of toilet paper. side note: Honeybuckets don't plug up, good thing for me, huh Mom and Dad. Get that toilet fixed.

So in Review: whole family room full of groceries and nothing to snack on.

Ocean gathering

Steph and I took the 4-wheeler we recently bought and took a trip up the beach that is about a mile from our house. We drove until the Arolik river where you can't cross and then came home. We stopped and picked some blueberries, honest to goodness blueberries, like the ones in stores. There are also real raspberries around here, but we didn't find any of those. It was a nice little trip and I tell you what, it is sure nice to get out and do something. That is one thing we really like about Quinhagak.

Life is Good

Dying Chum SalmonSilver Salmon - good eating
Silver Salmon
Once school settles down, I hope to get back on here - probably when the fishing lets up too. lol

So about a week and half ago, we showed up to school like any other day. Ready to educate and inspire. :) Unknown to us, Elsie one of the nicest ladies in the school and my classroomate, had a surprise for Steph. She gave Steph one of her Yupik Parkas, saying, "None one else was using it". That's it, see Elsie is pretty straight shootin' and she must have thought Steph was cold.

Last Year, when I moved to 4th grade, Elsie asked me if she could station her desk in my room and I agreed. Elsie teaches Yupik to the K-8 kiddos and has the amazing ability to control even the toughest class. One second I am struggling to keep control, keep students in the desks. The next moment Elsie walks in the door and silence. Chaos - Silence. Seriously, so frustrating sometimes.

Elsie and myself last May - She is standing on a chair :)

We have forged a great relationship and spend many Fridays just talking. Afternoons are a work time for teachers and we usually just sit and talk about anything and everything. She is a local expert and very wise on the old ways of life. Much of my Yupik knowledge comes from her. We have plans to put together an Elder photo wall in the school, with all black and white photos. While she doesn't consider herself an elder, maybe I can sneak a picture of her up on the wall. I keep you posted with pictures.

Anyway, that coat is an incredible gift and has many folks jealous. Steph was speechless.

Time and temperature

Time: 10:18pm
Temperature: 60

We can't get the temperature in the house above that 60 degree mark. Thus, hat and sweatshirt wearing we will go. It's good sleeping weather, but bad tv watching weather.

Tomorrow the guys will have to take a look at the boiler. Fix the dinosaur, hopefully.

Last night I was browsing the internet and clicked on the Northern Lights link. I notice that we were experiencing an active night and that the short term forecast was also active. After checking the KP strength, I saw that it was peaking at that very moment at about 4.6. I quick got dressed and grabbed the camera and ran. Ran to the weather cone on the outside of town, far enough to get past the bright lights of a big town like Kipnuk. I set up the tri-pod and then realized that I didn't have the camera set up properly on the right settings. So I had to take off my gloves and try to figure it out in the dark. It probably took about 30-60 seconds to set up, but my hands started burning. My skin felt like rope when its frozen. It was stiff and hard to move. This may be the coldest my hands have ever felt, so cold that strangely they didn't hurt. Flash frozen, maybe? Like in the "Day After Tomorrow" when the Arctic air froze and killed everyone in New York. Anyway, once it was ready to go, I took one picture after another for about 10 minutes. The sky was moving. The camera was freezing. I had chills. It was cold.

This display was much better than the last time. It wasn't as large and bright, but it was moving like crazy and even had a different color in spots. Pretty cool, cold. But, 10 minutes was all my camera could take and it flashed no battery on a full charge. Anyway, I was cold and was having trouble getting my left eyelid to open up after a picture. I guess my breath moving up the camera was freezing my eyelids together. enjoy. jb

P.S. the Super Bowl is strange on a 20 inch TV at 2:30 in the afternoon, eating $7 dollar Doritos.

So mark your calendars. February, 2, 2008 the first time yours truly had to chip ice. We have been existing on water from the fall and two freak rain storms late into November and December. Maybe it was water gathering experience, maybe luck, but being February and chipping ice for the first time has been nice! It takes about hour and a half to chip and usually I go southwest of town to a couple of small lakes. Luckily yesterday, I followed a guy out to his spot. Usually, I just drive the snowmachine around until I happen chance on a spot. There are many holes like this out on the tundra. They have to be outside the flood plan, so that the water is fresher. Hopefully fresher. Once we melt the ice, Steph and I distill the water to make it safe. Hopefully, that makes it safe. We haven't gotten sick yet! In ice chipping there are two rules. #1 Don't hit your foot. #2 Don't hit your forehead.

So during supper tonight, Steph asked where we got the pizza from. She said, "How did we get delivery?" I said "No silly, It's not delivery, it's Digiorno's " Plus, for only $16.14 it was a steal. I also noticed 2 dozen eggs were $7.64, and the Peanut Butter I bought was $5.86. The sign on the eggs mentioned they were only one day old, fresh from the farm down the road, right next to the Pizza Hut, so that price is justified I guess. As the kids say "I joke". The prices are real though!

In other food news, we just bought 700 bucks worth of groceries. Hopefully that will last a while. Better. We bought $115 dollars worth of Parmesan cheese, because for some reason Kipnuk just makes us eat lots of cheese. In fact, we ordered three different kinds of cheese. Sharp Cheddar, Mozzarella, and 6 lbs of Parmesan. Watching TV tonight? How about some Parmesan.

The weather...

When there is not much to do, one seems to pay attention to the weather. Especially when the house is shaking. Like today, when Bethel set record highs with a balmy 42 degrees. One asks the question: What is going on? Last week, it was -29 below, with -52 below wind chills in Bethel. Today, 65 mph wind and rain, rain! What is going on? In our three years in Kipnuk, this is the strangest weather we have had. Twice this winter season (since snow fell) we have had south winds and rain, with lots of snow melt off. Before Christmas, the ground had about 1/2 inch of snow. It looked like spring! I have not chipped ice for water yet and it is January 19. Crazy, just crazy.

To make it all much worse, the satellite is shaking like a leaf. No TV, errrr