Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
We went to New York for the Thanksgiving holiday and got to spend some time with some of Patty's siblings and their families. We also took a couple of days and drove down to Washington DC. Fortunately we flew out of New York the day before the snows began and arrived home safely as scheduled. It was interesting as the temps in Washington fell into the upper 20's to low 40's and the locals were complaining about the cold. Yea, I'm bragging. I have to say the flights were long and cramped for a little fella like me but flying into Anchorage on a clear night with the northern lights visible from high altitude almost made it worthwhile (naw). On arrival in Kotzebue at 10:30am the temp was minus 20 and snow was piled in some places in 8-10 foot high drifts by the plows. There have been two blizzards since we left with the first on Thanksgiving day and the other the following Sunday. The one on Thanksgiving was the worst in years the locals say. Our indoor/outdoor thermometer showed that it had fallen to negative 27 while we were gone. On arrival home the first thing we saw was our 4 wheelers covered up to the windshields (the second was a red fox nosing around the snow banks behind the apartment). So after being up for a total of 30 hours with 23 of those in airports or in the air (with some naps in between) we unpacked, walked to the store, bought two snow shovels, and dug them out. The temp had risen to a respectable minus 18 by then and with the exertion our breath froze on our hats, faces, my beard, eyelashes, and every darned thing else (at least the exertion kept us warm). We were only able to start one of the three machines so we towed the other two to the fire hall, hosed them out with warm water, took the air filters out (which were also frozen solid) and left them to dry out. The snow blew so hard during the blizzards that when we removed the seats the snow was packed up against them too. All is well with those machines for now. The next day we spent digging out our snowmachines and getting them running. Patty and Cathy were out on the frozen back bay doing donuts like little kids that evening.
We are down to daybreak now starting around 11:30am with sunrise between 12:30 and 1pm and sundown around 3:30pm with dark 30-45 minutes later. We are loosing 11 minutes daylight a day now and will until December 23rd-the winter solstice. Then we will start gaining 11 minutes a day for a while, then 7 minutes a day until we have 24 hours of daylight in June. We are looking forward to February and March when there will be plenty of daylight and the temps will be moderating. Then we will be able to do some serious riding on our snowmachines and do some ice fishing and maybe caribou hunting. The last two weeks the temps have been in the low teens to zero. It is not uncommon to hear folks come into work or the store and state "it's warm outside" when it is above zero. Although the temps are up a bit it still never goes above freezing which is a good thing. This way there is no ice glaze, ignition switches don't get wet then freeze and not work, etc etc. We learn things the hard way here. I bought a couple of pocket torches and tried to use one after the machines thawed out at the fire hall and then ignition froze. When I took it from my warm pocket to the negative temps it would not work. Live and learn (I hope).
We just took delivery of a basket sled. This is a handmade bentwood wooden sled that is used locally to haul anything needed behind a snowmachine or as long as there is ice, a 4 wheeler, or a dog team. The locals use them to move supplies to their camps, to trap, to haul goods, animals after hunting, fuel, and yes, even people. We will use it when we ice fish, camp or for whatever. It was made by a local Inupiat over a period of about four weeks. I visited his home and saw the process of how he bends the wood and it is a time consuming process. Most of the sled is hand lashed together although there are some bolts and brackets and it was hand oiled by him with linseed oil. It is a work of art we plan to take with us if and when we leave here. While visiting in his home his wife was making a parky which is an insulated Inupiat parka that is adorned with stitching and has fur around the wrists, the bottom, and the hood. The hood is usually a work of art in itself as the ruff is made from either wolf or wolverine or a combination of the two and sometimes beaver, or otter. When down the hood forms a large fur rim around the neck and when up it is called a sunrise as that is what it resembles. She was hand stitching the fur pieces and using a tiny ulu-a curved Eskimo knife. I am trying to get a parky made for Patty as I have most of the furs I need.
As far as Christmas is concerned we have a little artificial tree we bought in Anchorage, stockings we bought here, and some decorations. The town has lighted decorations on main street light poles and some houses have decorations. As far as a white Christmas-not a problem! We are all off Christmas day and are planning on doing a 24 pound turkey we bought, pumpkin pies from our Halloween pumpkin, jambalaya or dirty rice (no oyster dressing as I cannot get them here), and then having an open house with folks bringing a dish. Christy is coming up for New Years and the town they tell me has fireworks. The fire department sets them up on the ice in front of town and sets them off so it should be a good holiday.
Enough for now. Again hope you all have a safe holiday season and a happy, prosperous New Year.
With love,
Patty, Carlo, Christy and Cathy
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Last updated:
08/29/05