Since my last blog, I could lie and say that I have been so busy and that's the reason there has been such a lag in the posting of our Alaskan adventures. But that's not the case. We haven't had very many Alaskan adventures in the past 5 months--we're just living like everyone else on the planet.
In November, I was able to attend the Northwest Chocolate Festival in Seattle. There were rows and rows and tables and tables of chocolate. I was able to sample anything I wanted. Most of the chocolate had very few ingredients and it was all good. Of course, some was better than others. I really enjoyed the Bourbon caramels.
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| My take! |
I've posted pictures of sun dogs before--those are the small rainbow colored bands of light that occur when the sun hits the ice crystals and is refracted in the sky. I have never seen a complete arch of a sun dog. This picture was taken around 4:00pm in late December. We also had a lot of ice fog this winter and several times I saw "ice bows" in the sky. They were devoid of color, but were white arches stretching across the sky. I tried to get the entire bow in one picture, but couldn't.
In early December we said good bye to Indigo. She was 13 and had reached the point that walking down the steps to pee made her wheeze and nearly suffocate. She also lost the control of her bowels and needed to be cleaned up after and carried outside. Putting an animal down is not an enjoyable task. There were many tears shed and she is still missed.
Brad turned 11 this past December. He had a small party and invited 10 friends, so I had activities planned for 10 kids. What I forgot is that when you have a party in Bethel, often times people bring their friends who in turn bring their friends. I think we had 15 kids at our house. That may not be that many, but it was a little chaotic. I think my ears are still ringing from the noise!
Since he missed Indigo so much, we got Brad a new dog for his birthday. Reggie is a sled dog, but she proved to be a crooked runner, which is not good if you need to run in a straight line. Yes, Reggie is a girl. We picked Reggie up in early January and brought her home. The first thing we did was throw her in the bathtub! She was pretty smelly. She was outside for all of her 2+ years of life so house breaking is challenging. Notice the use of "is". We've had her for 2 1/2 months and on occasion she still pees in the house. She's sweet and quiet and smart, so her redeeming qualities make up for the urine she deposits on the floor (most often in Brad's room).
New Year's Eve is always an exciting time because they shoot off fireworks. Unlike July 4th in the rest of the country, we don't have to wait until late at night to see the exploding color in the sky because it's dark so early. Of course, there are no fireworks in the summer because it really doesn't get dark. There is also a big bon fire on the Brown Slough. In case you're curious, the Brown Slough is a small waterway that does flow (so I'm concerned that the fire will melt the ice and everyone will fall through) into the Kuskokwim River. I really don't know where the Brown in the name comes from, but I can surmise it's from poop. Each year the lagoon in town is emptied into the big river and it flows by way of the Brown Slough. Now to assuage your fears, the water is treated and the city says it's clean when it reaches the river.
I spent most of New Year's day in the house while Alex and Brad dug out a quinzhee (an igloo type structure). They had made one earlier in the winter and did a little more digging to make it bigger. It was difficult to crawl in on one's belly and elbows, but once inside, it was almost comfortable. If I'm ever stuck outside for any length of time, and I have no GPS or cell phone, and I remember my shovel, I would for sure make me a quinzhee.
Hockey is not a popular sport in bush Alaska. The two big state universities (in Anchorage and Fairbanks) have Division I hockey teams (but maybe not for long if the new governor's budget proposing a multi-million dollar slash to education passes), but not the villages way out here. I think the cost of maintaining ice and a Zamboni is too exorbitant. Brad has a Finnish friend who really likes hockey, and so does his dad, but I think his sister is the biggest fan. They shoveled off a rink on a frozen tundra lake to skate. Alex hauled the snow blower down on the back of the snowmachine to aid in the effort. Now that's pond hockey! Made me nostalgic and I watched Mystery, Alaska.
Brad was a member of the Breakfast Club Lego robotics team this year. The theme was something to do with space and he designed the t-shirt. Neptune was left out for some unknown reason. His team was able to compete at the state tournament in Anchorage (the same weekend as the K300) and they took 14th place overall. The team also won the Best Project Award. We were able to stream his competition live on You Tube. It's amazing how technology makes the world seem smaller than it is.
The 40th running of the K300 took place in January. We hosted Jessie Holmes and his dogs again. Jessie took 3rd overall. There was a big showdown at the end of the race! The guy who crossed the finish line second "lost" his GPS tracer at the last checkpoint 50 miles from Bethel. We saw him coming in and he was coming from the wrong direction. It was assumed that he took a shortcut and shaved off about an hour. The officials penalized him and added time, so he actually took 4th and lost about $7000. Bethel's own Pete Kaiser took second and then went on to win the Iditerod. My parents made the long and dark journey for the big race and had a weekend full of activities. It was actually cold with temperatures well below zero, which was very uncommon this winter.
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| On the river |
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| In the middle of no where |
Brad's basketball season was short and he was very much improved from last year. He scored 10 points in one game. Two didn't count because he shot after the buzzer, but in my mom's eye, they counted because the ball went into the basket. He got a rebound, made a fast break, dribbled down the court LEFT handed, and scored. He's the dude with the moves wearing #14.
Alex was able to get up to the Yukon River for a moose hunt again. I didn't think he was going to be able to go because there wasn't much snow on the tundra. We netted about #300 pounds of meat again this year and Alex is now making sausage. He told me after he got home that he had to race across open water on the way to the hunting ground. I was not very happy to hear that, but was glad I heard it after he got home. Five people have died this year by going through the ice or running into open water on the river.
The grocery store had star fruit!
March brought us to Santa Rosa, California to spend Brad's spring break with Alex's sister Caroline and her husband Don. They lost their home in the wild fires in October 2017 and are just starting to rebuild (which means the contractors have been busy). It was nice to see the walls go up while we were there. Caroline's son and Alex's mom were there too so it was another mini family reunion. The weather wasn't so nice and it rained most of the time we were there. We did manage to snag a rain free afternoon and zip lined through the tops of the red woods. Brad got stuck on the 1500 foot line because he didn't have enough body weight to maintain the inertia and momentum to get to the end. The guide had to zip out to him for the rescue. He just hung there, 200 feet above the ground, and thought it was great.
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| Kieran and Brad playing bocce ball. |
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| Honey Buckets aren't just in Alaska! |
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| We visited the Charles Schultz museum. Is this drawing newspaper worthy? |
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| Father and son sudoku |
As we begin to enjoy our third spring here, I am anxious for the tundra to turn green. There is only a little bit of ice left and small green plants are starting to reach for the sun. People frequently ask us if we like it here and I'd like to say, "yes, dumb ass, we like it here--we still live here!" but my politically correct response is just yes, we enjoy it. It's not always easy living here because it is really remote and sometimes desolate. There is a lot of poverty and sadness (too many people die too young). There's crime and school bullying (isn't that everywhere?). But despite the bad things, the community is full of kind and wonderful people. This is the place we are supposed to be at this time.
I've typed this blog twice because my ancient computer and slow Internet didn't cooperate the first time. I'm sitting in our living room looking north as far as the eye can see and the sun is casting reddish-pinkish hues on the tundra. The sun is setting in the west and the clouds are layered with yellows, oranges, pinks, blues, and grays. The air is still and quiet. I'm waiting for Alex and Reggie to come back inside.
I leave you with random photos of Alaskan life.
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| Alex ignoring the rules in the Anchorage airport as he takes the luggage cart on the escalator. |
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| The x-ray machine at the Bethel airport blew up or caught on fire and the firemen were summoned. |
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| Brad broke a coffee cup and made a valiant effort to repair it. |
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| I can't figure out why the light pole at the fitness center is so tippy but I no longer park anywhere near it. |
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| One of the only days we ventured out on the river. It was -30 with the windchill. I was the lead machine and Alex tells me to just follow the trail. See, the thing was, the trail wasn't marked and there are many branches off the main river. I'm lucky I made it home. |
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| Alex and Reggie |
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| Brad and Reggie |
