Hello again,
Well hello to you band of battered but hardy survivors of the south's version of dodge the ball (one that's hundreds of miles wide and packs a heck of a wallop). And hello to those others who are blessed to not have experienced that game. No one on my list lives in Florida but quite a few do go there for relaxation and vacations. I suppose their future trips might bring new experiences with the recent changes brought about by the fall 2004 hurricane season.
It's 8:30 am as I type here in the Arctic and it is just showing daybreak outside. The sun has not appeared yet and the outside temperature is 28 degrees (above zero although the below's are rapidly approaching). We have had a couple of snowfalls in the last week one of which left quite a bit of snow on the ground. The last few days though have seen the temps in the mid thirties with rain, so most of the snow has left for now. There are a few patches of ice remaining hinting of the slick conditions just around the corner, a time when folks share their acrobatic experiences with a smile (most of the time).
Most locals love the winter and are eager for the snows to come and for the water to freeze deep enough to break out the snowmachines. No, they do not call them snowmobiles here. It's called either a snowmachine or a snowgo, so I bow to the local lingo. One man who works for housing I was speaking to told me he wants a couple of weeks of 30 below weather so he knows the ice is safe. The lowest we have experienced so far is 32 below, and that was for a brief time. The temps here can get as low as in the minus 50's and I am talking about the ambient air temperature, not wind the chill! During the height of the one winter we have been here the temp's stayed pretty regularly in the minus 18 to minus 22 range and believe it or not you do get used to it. Any lower than that and this wimp is turning mole and venturing out to work and back only with maybe an occasional trip to pick up our mail at the post office or a trip to the grocery. Hey, our only transportation is by 4 wheeler that just hates running when it's 20 below or colder (we do have windshields and of course central air), snowmachine, which loves the cold but only one of our two is running right now, and of course, on foot. With the colder temps now folks are appearing around town in their furs. As I have said before the furs are pretty and fashionable but more so, and I mean exponentially, they are functional. I have a ruff hand cut and sewn from wolf that I am going to have attached to either my camo jacket hood or my carhart hood. Obviously this won't be a fashion statement but a functional attempt to keep the ice away from my face and to keep it warm. I have a beaver fur hat with flaps and wolf fur over mittens for my hands. It gets cold out there and believe me; you do whatever you have to to keep warm. I know some are thinking why live here? (Ok, all of you are thinking that.) I will not belabor this as I have spoken of it in the past and sometimes I'm not sure myself. I will say again this is a land of beauty and opportunity and if folks would just get past the phobia concerning the winter, darkness, large carnivores, the highest accidental and suicidal death rates........... I'll shut up now.
No I won't, and yes I will belabor the point again. Before coming here Patty and I would finish our work day, return home, eat dinner, and most nights sit and watch TV. We had performed all our responsibilities as far as the propagation of the species is concerned. We had our kids and were pretty much finished raising them. We would make plans for that one bright spot out in the future, our next two week vacation that came once a year. Occasionally the conversation would turn to the years stretching ahead of us with more of the same until one of us broke down or we retired. I would look at Patty and ask is this all there is? Now I don't want to sound ungrateful. We each come from a good family; both have a few idiosyncrasies but what families don't? We both had good, although not necessarily great jobs. I had been tossed out on my ear from my job at the bakery when it closed and only with the support of my wife, kids, families, and friends, I made it through nursing school. We had our own home. We had two good children that were experiencing the same potholes in life we had when we were their age, and just like us they would not listen to their wise parents. We had all the bells and whistles that make life comfortable, right? Oh yea, there was always a better computer, a better TV, a better vehicle.............to strive for but somewhere we came to the conclusion we wanted more than just the newest car or other inanimate object. (Damn this is a deeper subject than I had in mind when I sat down to write.) We had a lot, an awful lot to be grateful for. But being the ungrateful bast... I am, it wasn't enough. So like an alcoholic, we decided that a change of geographic locations would be the answer. After all, the kids were grown, my parents were gone, Patty's family was scattered all over so what was holding us in the Deep South? (Forgive me for spouting this all again, I guess I just have a need to.) We have always had a love of the outdoors and since visiting the Pacific Northwest had a desire to maybe one day move there. The only problem with that is it seems other folks have the same idea and the area is getting more crowded every day. So from somewhere and someone the idea of moving to Alaska appeared and appealed to us. Yes, all the aforementioned phobias came up in the process but when we looked closely at them, they just did not seem so daunting. Maybe it's the same reason people do things like jumping out of planes, or climbing mountains. It can kill or maim you so it's exciting. Heck, I don't know. I do know the idea of the unknown brought a feeling of living life, not just being alive. Yes, we are fortunate that I have a career that affords us these options and I realize many people don't. It is for this reason, and the reasons I mentioned before about good families, good kids, good home, and all the bells and whistles, we ended up here in Kotzebue. I have always felt a bit guilty for all the good things we do have when so many others are not as fortunate. So after sending out queries to the major hospitals in the one modern city in Alaska, and I began to be contacted from small facilities in the bush, an idea began to form. Working in bush Alaska among the Eskimo seemed a way to give something back. After all, like the recruiter here at the time stated, "it's just like working in a third world country without leaving the United States". Your darned right it was selfish, and it took a bit of convincing to get Patty into the spirit but I don't think she regrets it for a minute. Getting back to why live here......lets see. Historians say the human population of the Americas came from Asia thousands of years ago across the Bearing land bridge. That means that the Eskimos have inhabited this land longer than any humans have lived in any part of the Americas. This populace has its problems as I have mentioned many times before. Many of these problems arrived with the white man. These are a good hearted sturdy people who have lived and existed here long before I came and will continue to do so long after I am gone. I just have a need to share some of what I have been blessed with with others, and this is an opportunity to do so. Do they need it? Who can say? I do know I need it so again, I'm selfish. I have to say though, ask my wife and ask our children how they feel today. I'll bet they smile and tell you they have no regrets.
Whew, where did that come from-again? Give me a moment while I tuck my soul back in. Ok, that's better.
Patty just read this and told me what you and I both know. I have said all this before so sorry if it is boring. Patty recommends shortening it.
No, I'm not going to shorten it, it's how I feel today. Maybe I am trying to justify things to myself.
One of the departments I am responsible for is Central Sterile which is where we keep some medical supplies and of course, do all the sterilization of instruments. There are two full time positions, one of which until this week when she retired was filled by a lady elder. She has lived most of her life here and I enjoyed sitting and listening to her some mornings. She worked at the hospital from 7:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon Monday through Friday. Most days after work she would venture out and do what her ancestors have done for thousands of years. Almost every morning for the last month or so she would show me her stained hands. She loved to go out berry picking. Last week she came to me and asked to leave at noon as her work was caught up. Seems they had some caribou but needed more for the winter and her and her husband wanted to get out one more time in their boat before the freeze-up. One of the ways folks hunt caribou here is to catch them crossing the rivers. It's easier to get close to them, easier to get them to a place to dress them and get them into the boat, and there is less chance of just wounding them. No it is not "sporting". Neither is butchering a cow or hog. This is for food, not for fun or sport. They did get three females although they were hoping for some bulls. I asked why bulls to which she responded, "they're fatter because their getting ready for mating". She told me they did see some bulls but the animals were wary and when another boat came along, they took off. I have been told that there can be a thick layer of fat under the skin and this is highly prized; especially as an ingredient in "Eskimo ice cream". About two weeks ago she went out with her husband to gather a certain type of root that can be eaten raw or baked like a potato. She said that in areas where there are mice the mice collect them and folks in turn raid the mouse's cache. The hospital had a retirement party for her last Wednesday and since she loves to sew, she received a huge box of thread and a rack to hold them, a sewing machine, and a complete locally caught, professionally tanned grey wolf skin so she will have something to work with. Now that's something you don't see in the lower 48. That morning before her party she was telling me she was looking forward to freezeup when she will go out on the ice behind our apartment with other elders and catch Tom Cod, the small green fish I have written about in the past. She asked if I was going to go out there. My response was since she was about a third my size I would probably wait until the ice thickness is measurable in feet, not inches. I will miss chatting with her.
The man I am replacing also had his retirement party that night. He is Commission Corp which if I was a bit younger I would look into as he gets many of the same benefits that retired military get. This man has some big shoes to fill that I do not believe I will be able to fill. I feel I can do a good job but with his years of experience it will take me years to know half of what he knows. I am enjoying the position though and if I can just get a grasp of everything and get it into my own working order; I feel I may have found something I have been looking for. Again, only time will tell.
Believe it or not it is now 11am and the sun is up. Patty is up and making pancakes so it is time to end this. I thank you for your indulgence and for listening to some of the same things I have said over and over and probably will again. It is therapeutic to sit down in the quiet and type. There are many ways to relieve stress and I suppose this is the best way for me today. I used to go fishing and hunting with one of my cousins and him being a cop and me being an ER nurse made for a heck of a conversation on the negative merits of the human race. It did relieve stress though. He recently wrote of a fishing trip he made but did not catch anything. He voiced his need for stress relief and in the course of his letter reminded me that's why it's called fishing, not catching. Thanks Joe
During breakfast Patty and I did some talking about what I wrote. Also I was just reading an article in the Smithsonian magazine about the new Native American museum in Washington DC that contained individual excerpts from different Native Americans. Both raised some new thoughts and ideas. I am not sure how to put them to paper and maybe trying to would be like getting in trouble with your spouse. The more you try to explain things the deeper the hole gets. One thing that did come up was whether the locals appreciate or even want us here. It made me think a bit. I don't believe that's the question for us anymore. At work, on the street, in the store, at the post office, on the beach, we see local folks that we know. Some we know by sight, some by name, some because we work with them. When we see them they say hello, chat with us and generally treat us as neighbors. We are not "those white folks". We are I feel an accepted part of the community now and you know what? That's good enough for me.
Carlo
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Last updated:
08/29/05