“When the gales of November came early”
Ok, so there are no ore boats around here that have sunk,
but it has been quite windy lately.
(Or
that could be some sort of metaphor about the election.)
A couple of weeks ago, the coast had winds of
up to 70mph.
It wasn't that bad here in
Bethel, maybe only 45mph.
We had ice and
cold and the river froze, but then it warmed up in the 40’s and the ice
melted.
Don’t worry, that didn’t last
long and it’s been below freezing now and the lakes are frozen. The barges are all up on dry land until next year.
We enjoyed Halloween in Bethel.
Kids trick-or-treat quite late into the
evening and we had the porch light off, but they kept coming.
Brad had the opportunity to attend a carnival
at the high school, a costume party at the pool, and then he had the
celebrations at school.
He was a
handsome Harry Potter, and had his friend Sadie dress up as Hermione.
Brad didn’t need a fake scar because he
managed to bonk his head at the pool (the morning of the costume party), causing a large gash on his forehead.
I was stopped mid
lap swim and told by the lifeguard he hit his head and was bleeding.
After I managed to pull myself out of the deep end, I found Brad
standing in the lifeguard room dripping wet with blood running down his
face and chest. They hadn't managed to find a bandage for him yet. Alex put in 5 stiches at home (using expired lidocaine and sutures!).
He won first prize at the costume pool party;
I think he got the sympathy vote.
It has taken awhile for the snow to make it here. When it came down last week, I was very excited. I think I even clapped my hands!
We don’t have our ice skates here, but that didn’t stop us
from venturing out onto Hanger Lake.
We
were assured that the ice was at least 4 inches thick.
Alex and Brad were able to try out the skate/sled
thingie and scoot across the ice.
It was
a breath of fresh air to be outside.
Bethel has a variety of restaurants. The food is pretty good at most places. We enjoy Chopstix, which makes good sushi. We were able to have sushi, udon soup, and really good sweet potato fries all at the same meal.
I had the opportunity to travel to Tununak, which is a small
community on the Bering Sea.
I was there
to evaluate a health aide that had just been rehired by the hospital.
Tununak has a population of about 300.
The clinic, school, and teacher housing are
the only buildings to have piped water.
The rest of the people have to go to a water station and haul their
water back to their homes (unlike us in Bethel that have a water truck that
delivers water). I was talking to a local man and he said that some people have
honey buckets (a 5-gallon bucket that is used as a toilet).
I didn’t ask where they were emptied.
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| This is the airport terminal |
Tununak has two stores, both of which as pretty well stocked
and have some items priced lower than Bethel.
18 eggs were only $3.59.
There
was fresh fruit, butter, and lots of chips and pop.
One store sold camping supplies, fabric, and
furniture.
I was stranded there for an
extra day due to the weather—it was too windy for the planes to fly.
That meant I didn’t get to leave (and neither
did the co-worker that was with me) and the mail didn’t come.
The blood that was drawn and cultures that were taken at the clinic
were stranded as well.
When I did get to
fly, I thought it was just as windy as when the planes were grounded!
I had cell service the whole flight home and
was able to text Alex my location, just in case we crashed and he had to send a
search party.
I was equipped with very
warm clothing, extra food, a lighter and newspaper (although there would not
have been any wood around to burn), a LED light (thanks Dad!) and a reflective
survival blanket.
I would have lasted at
least 6 hours . . .
I haven’t tromped on the tundra for awhile, so I made the
boys bundle up and off we went.
Indigo
tagged along too!
It is a lot easier to
walk on the tundra when it’s frozen because there is no worry of sinking into
wet and mushy ground.
It was great to
slide across the ice that only 2 months ago was swamp and caused me to be knee
deep in muck.
We found some frozen
cranberries as well as lichens and sedges.
Brad made a tundra angel and Indigo found some snow to eat.
Alex brought the spotting scope and we were
able to view Nunapatchik about 21 miles to the northwest.
With the colder weather, it isn’t nearly as
dusty and the mountains to the east have been quite clear.
They
are anywhere from 50-80 miles away, but look to be a lot closer.
I think Santa is bringing Alex a snow machine
for Christmas so he can go try to climb those mountains.
His first quest: Breast Mountain (and yes,
that is what it’s called!)
When you live in Alaska, you are bound to see a dog sled
team.
We saw them in the tundra before
the ground was frozen and they go at quite a clip.
As we were heading to the pool, we saw a team
of dogs on the road pulling a guy on a 4-wheeler.
I met a team pulling another 4-wheeler when
Indigo and I were out for a run.
The
dogs wanted to come say hi to her, but maintained their cool and listened to
the commands of their musher.
The K-300
is a big race that starts (and I think ends) in Bethel in January.
It’s supposed to be a happening event.
More random photos:
 |
| Wrestling is HUGE and there are frequently tournaments in Bethel. Kids fly in from the villages. Sometimes they come from Nome and Dillingham. |
 |
| 10:00 sunrise from my bedroom window |
 |
| Newly "paved" road |
Ok, so there are no ore boats around here that have sunk,
but it has been quite windy lately. (Or
that could be some sort of metaphor about the election.) A couple of weeks ago, the coast had winds of
up to 70mph. It wasn't that bad here in
Bethel, maybe only 45mph. We had ice and
cold and the river froze, but then it warmed up in the 40’s and the ice
melted. Don’t worry, that didn’t last
long and it’s been below freezing now and the lakes are frozen. The barges are all up on dry land until next year.
