Hey again,
How's things down there? We are still alive and kicking up here.
We are still in transition with the web site. The new server tells us we need to get in touch with the old server for them to release our password and username. One of the main reasons we left one2host.com was our inability to get in touch with them. This hasn't changed of course so we still cannot update the website. It may come to a point where we change domain names. Just a bit frustrating to have paid two companies for service and cannot get it from either one.
We are now having about seven hours darkness each night and until today the temps have been holding in the 50's-60's. (Today at 11 am the temp is 44, it's overcast and windy.) The last five days have been clear with shirtsleeve to light jacket weather. At night the stars have been out in abundance and we have seen the Aurora Borealis-the Northern Lights-four out of five of those nights. Sometimes it is a light green, almost like a film across the sky that as you watch slowly changes shape and brightness. Other times it has been a light whitish color shaped like diagonal brush strokes.
The tundra is starting to change colors. It has gone from a vibrant green to having shades of brown throughout. We are told it will change colors soon just like the trees down there. About a month and a half ago the salmon berries were ripe for the picking. Next came the blueberries which are almost finished. Now there are what are called blackberries-nothing like what you have down there-these are small, round, black colored berries that grow on a tiny what looks like a juniper branch sticking out of the ground-no more than 2-3 inches long. The berries are the size of a tiny pea and have plenty of seeds in them. The locals love them. Me, I think it's an acquired taste. There also right now is an abundance of cranberries-also the size of a small pea and bright red in color. They are kind of bitter but I am told they will sweeten up after the first frost. The big thing here for the locals is to go berry picking. I gotta tell ya, after being out there picking these things that are literally on the ground in the brush, I believe you burn more calories than you gain from the fruit. Good exercise though.
We are going to Anchorage in two weeks and are looking forward to it. We will get to see our long lost daughter and her significant other, eat fast food, (or any food other than Chinese) ogle the low prices in the stores, (and probably try to buy them out) maybe go to a movie, or who knows what. We can see the runway from our apartment and the Alaska Air jet comes in three to four times daily. We have taken a page from the Vietnam era soldiers and have started calling it the freedom bird. We have been here five months. We have been told the key to sanity is to get out of town every three to four months. I can see now this is true. Just writing this email is a way of getting out for me. This is why the website is so important to us. It gives us a way to stay in touch with you folks and when it is working, we check the guest book and our email everyday.
Speaking of the airport-this is a busy place. There are I am sure over a hundred takeoffs and landings on some days here. There are a lot of small personal planes including some float planes-many of which this time of year are hunting and fishing charters. There is Lynden Cargo which operates a fleet of c-130's, Everet's which operates an older type of four engine prop plane the size of old passenger planes, and Northern Air Cargo which operates jets the size of the Alaska Air jet. There is Baker Aviation, Bearing Air, Cape Smythe, and Hageland Air that operate daily flights in and out of the 11 villages this town is the hub for. Now the sound isn't as bad as you might think, although we usually know when the bigger planes are coming and going. On a clear weekend day though there are so many small planes all over we wonder how none of them collide. The pilots here do not need to file a flight plan I am told and they just go when they want to. I am sure they are in touch with the airport when they are around it (I hope). It is always interesting when we go out the south side of town as you cross the northern end of the runway. Your head has to be on a swivel to make sure no planes are coming in or taking off. One other note. Usually the planes take off to the north and our view is of the southern 2/3 of the runway. When they take off to the north they go out over the sound. When they take off from the south they go out over the tundra. Well, the tundra to the south starts with a ridge about I guess 300 or more feet high. When we watch the large propeller driven cargo planes take off that way we are mentally and some times physically willing them UP, UP! They say the pilots here are the best in the world. I feel they probably are.
Also, speaking of prices, a pound of yellow onions is $1.89. A one half gallon carton of fresh orange juice is-on sale-over $6.00, regular over $8.00. A bottle of liquid Tide clothes soap is $17.00. A tub of soft margarine $6.00. Hey, fresh corn is on sale-three ears for $4.00. Lettuce is over a dollar a pound. Campbell's chunky soup is $2.50 a can. A 10 lb bag of sugar is $8.88. Want a watermelon-only .99 cents a pound on sale! A 12 pack of can Coke or Pepsi products on sale is $6.49, off sale $8.49. Meat is not that bad though, maybe a little higher than there but not much. Heck, when we order out or eat in-the price is the same-we expect to pay around $12-$15 a piece (unless you order a hamburger-around $8.00 and fries-$2.00). So in that respect it doesn't faze me when I pick up a pack of New York strips at $8.89 a pound, around $30.00 for four of them. Needless to say we do a lot of online ordering. Drugstore.com is great-no shipping charges on orders over $50.00 and the prices are comparable to the stores back there. This is where we get most of our bath and paper products. We also have a barge shipment coming in at the end of this month with cases of canned goods, clothes soap, etc.
Well enough for now. My apologies for not writing to each person individually but I do have over 25 people on my email list. I do enjoy sharing our experiences here and look forward to hearing from you.
Take care all,
The Sam's
For problems or questions regarding this web contact
carlo@samsicles.net
Last updated:
08/29/05