Hey again,
I have learned from a number of undisclosed sources (people who are disgruntled about having to read all I write to begin with and now have the nerve to complain that the font is too small) that when they receive my letters the writing it too small for their aging eyes to read. That's an easy fix, just go out and get some reading glasses or a magnifying glass. (Oh shoot!) Uh, no, not everyone's eyes are aging! Hey, I'm approaching 50, way too old to be electronically (i.e.. computer) savvy. Find someone under 20 (a teenager or younger), someone who has not passed from the all knowing teen years into brainless ineptitude like all adults. I told my kids that when they reached 20 they would begin getting stupider by the minute like the rest of us. Lo and behold, I am having trouble with the guest book on the web site and Cathy, who used to take 5 minutes to fix it just a couple of years ago, is now clueless. "That's right", I exclaim, "you're 22 now". "Don't you remember when I told you as you passed from your teens to adulthood you would begin the dumbing down process?" "No, you don't remember do you?"
(Let’s see, in just two letters I have alienated all the women out there, I have insulted the aging and folks under 20, my wife and kids............... Did I miss anyone? At least it will shorten my email list.)
My apologies for the small font. I am having a problem here that when I type, the letters are huge. So, when I sent the letters out I reduced the font to normal size. Of course you know what happened when it arrived at it's destinations, it was tiny. On your end the fix is to go to "view" on the tool bar at the top of the page and click on "text size" and click on "larger" or "largest" font. Another way is to copy it and paste it to Microsoft word then click on "select all" under edit, then under "format" click on "font" and select the size you want. I have not figured out how to fix things on my side so, I'll just pretend my eyesight is bad and write in this big font (pretend?).
I mentioned in my last letter about there being an unusual amount of overflow and the possibility of it being due to the tsunami. It turns out I was right. There was overflow on all the bodies of water here and even up the rivers at some of the villages. In front of town last Sunday folks were out on the ice walking in the overflow with boots on while carrying buckets picking up herring, smelts, and tom cod forced up by the swell. I have heard stories of ice, and in some places mud being forced up onto the shores along some of the rivers. I have to say though that when I mentioned the tsunami, I did not realize the extent of the horror and destruction. A lady I write to in New York sent me an email she received from some friends who were traveling by sailboat and were vacationing in an area that was struck hard. Their description of the occurrence and their narrow escape sent shivers up my spine. They happened to be aboard their boat in a harbor when the waves hit. They were able to ride out on one of the waves and stayed out at sea that night. Their description of the yacht harbor and buildings where just the night before they and hundreds of others celebrated Christmas............. My heart and prayers go out to all those affected.
I have frequently thought about Kotzebue sitting on this narrow spit of land, no more than about 4-5 feet above the level of the sea, residing in a place that is possibly the most seismologically active in all the world, a part of the Pacific "ring of fire"............ It would not take much to swamp this town. I do take some comfort in the fact that the Eskimo has been here for thousands of years although of course that's no guarantee.
We had the blizzard on Christmas day which I mentioned in the last letter. I had also mentioned that Cathy and Gary had problems with power surges at their house. Well, they blew a TV, a fancy microwave they had bought from QVC that did everything but wash the dishes, their cordless phone system, a number of surge protectors, the VCR/DVD player, and a number of lights. Gary had also blown a piston on his snowmachine the day before on Christmas Eve. Last week they finally got the house running again and it turned out the heating problem was not due to the storm but to not enough stove oil in the tank. No, there is no city system of oil or gas. You have to call Crowley, the town supplier and they come out and fill the tank. That ended up costing them 900 dollars. Then to add insult to injury we had lent them our snowmachine because of the storm and Gary's machine being down and Simba, their friendly mutt, chewed up the seat on my machine. Gary had come home tired from working all night and had parked it too close to Simba's dog house.
Now fast forward to December 30th. We all got off early from work because we were hit with another blizzard. Cathy planned to spend the night at our place because we are right behind the hospital and her place is a half mile "uptown". After an unsuccessful attempt to drive our 4 wheelers out of the parking lot (I ran mine into a 3 foot snowbank and got stuck) we walked. Now it's only about 100 yards or maybe a bit more to our place from the back stairs of the hospital. It took us about 15 minutes to walk it and at one point I was headed for the lagoon instead of the apartments. I took a wrong turn and thank goodness Cathy and Patty were there to set me straight. New Years night while the four of us ate the traditional New Orleans fare of black-eyed peas and cabbage, another storm hit causing a whiteout. Cathy and Gary quickly jumped on their 4wheeler and arrived at their place about 20 minutes later. At 11am as I write the winds have abated some but there is another storm forecast for this evening and tonight.
While sitting here typing Esther, Gary's mother, called to see if Gary was here. There's a search and rescue going on that started right after Christmas. A man was intoxicated on Christmas and he got in a fight with family. Lightly dressed, he stormed out into the blizzard. He has not been seen since. It was reported he was seen at the grocery Monday buying cigarettes and some feel he may be in hiding. However the search has gone on since the day after Christmas, and the focus is here in town. They are now out probing the massive snowbanks with poles and they are looking for volunteers to try to find him before the next predicted blizzard arrives. Gary had worked with SAR before and they had called for him.
Ok, it's now Monday night. Patty and I left right after the call and made a run to the grocery where we bought soda and a big can of coffee for the searchers. We stopped at the hall and there were plenty of volunteers and food everywhere. We decided to treat ourselves to breakfast and rode up to Bayside restaurant and ate. While sitting there of course, the weather closed in again and the wind began to blow. After finishing our meal, we made our way back home in the blowing snow which steadily got worse. This time however it abated just as quickly by early evening and for one of the few times in the last few weeks, we saw stars out. Some folks even went out onto the back bay and shot off some impressive (by Kotzebue standards) fireworks. When we went to bed last night the building was still as the wind had stopped for the first time in days and this morning the stars were still there. Around 2pm as I walked down the hallway at the hospital on some business errand or another a nurse who is in the middle of her first winter here stopped me and exclaimed how excited she was. What caused this type A personality medical professional to be so hyped up? She saw the sun peaking above the tundra behind town. This is the first time it has made its presence known in I cannot say when.
I had plenty to write when I sat down and I suppose I wrote plenty; just not what I had planned. So, I guess I'll save the rest for the next installment.
You folks take care and best wishes for the New Year,
The Sam's
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Last updated:
08/29/05