This BLIZZARD is NOT from Dairy Queen

Folks, this is for real. I posted the pictures of the snow a couple days ago. And on Facebook I posted the videos. The sun is out and Ron has a new job... finding the windows. I have heard the stories, and here is the real deal!

My Man

My Man. Ahh I love him so. And to see how courageous he is to enter this village and lead a new fashion trend. What strength, what self confidence. A real man. He is going to learn to hunt and gather. And shoot a Moose or a Caribou or a Reindeer. But my favorite will be fish.... I think. I have tried seal It is a staple here. They call it black meat. It soaks in seal oil, they bring it out and cut it up. I had a piece the size of a pea. Not so bad, slightly fishy, but the skin was too tough. I spit it out. I turn around and a very elderly Eskimo lady was standing facet face with me. Very stockily said to me in the ritual Eskimo quiet dead pan voice, "If you eat the skin you will not get fat. I said, ohh thank you. That will help me tremendously.
The Village Native store doesnt sell it. Not that I would buy it, but it is good info. Anyone need some menopause ideas. I bet I can find some to send along.

Back to my man. He is such a risk taker by setting the new fashion trend here. Here he is. And I will find some locals dress so you can see the giant difference he is making here.

Request for Reindeer Meat

I have been asked to please post a picture of reindeer meat... with jingle bells. I cant do the jingle bells, but here is a box of reindeer meat. Reindeer stew looks like every other stew. But all I could do is picture Rudolph.
The ladies that were preparing it were having a heck of a time hacking the meat off. we are so spoiled in the "lower 48.

King of the Hill

Here are some kids playing king of the hill. If you look closely you can see the perspective of how big tall the snow is. Same on the previous pictures. The doorway in the school can barely be seen and the tops of the kids heads are standing up on the the side of the hill. Here you go! This was before more snow that we got yesterday and today. This is the worst blizzard and snow fall they have ever seen here.

Happy Light

Just a quickie... Ron sitting under the happy light. That keeps up happy happy happy.

Walk to the Clinic

About 100 feet away. We had to gear up. Completely gear up. Thermal underwear, wool socks, big boots, sweat pants, outer winter bibs that keep you dry and warm. Big big jacket, fur collared hood with a wire in it that forms a tunnel with abut six inches or less to see and some big time goggles like you see on TV. We took pictures of each other, I haven't downloaded them yet, but will tomorrow and add to this post. Walking to the clinic, the snow was up to my knees, I was holding onto Ron's arm and he was holding mine. I did ok for a while, then ka boom, face plant. Darn, I wish would quit doing that. But I do it regularly. At least it was soft snow.

Coming back from the clinic the wind was behind us... it made us run or fall on our back. The locals say this is THE WORST THEY HAVE SEEN HERE. And we are here to witness it. If the wind calms down tomorrow, I might try to walk down the main street and see whatever there is to see.

The clinic trip was for a broken tooth. It only hurts a little, but apparently not enough for him to fix it. You can fly to nome and have him put a crown on it. Bolognie. I am not paying 250.00 to fly there, take a prep for the crown,, and fly back. Just pull the damn thing. Needless to say I was not a happy camper and will not be for a while.

Blizzard Takes Center Stage

Holy Moly! This morning, even the locals said this is as bad as they have ever seen it. The teachers were called to work early to start calling students and tell them to stay home. In the process, the teachers were literally blown over. One teacher had to crawl to school. My husband was blown over, taken down, the vicious wrath of mother or nature is flexing his or her muscles..
I can hear the wind howling thru the stove vent and the bathroom vent. As you can see by the pictures, the snow is up to and completely covering the windows in our living room, and the view of our bedroom, where the kids were playing yesterday has brown a few feet.
I am happy to say that I have not had to go out into this stuff....yet.

The Winter is Arriving

This is the first high wind Little Blizzard this year. Gusts 60 to 70mph. I have video clips but I cant post them on this blog for some reason. I am posting stills and I think I will go to YouTube post them and then get a link embedded here. Yeah baby.

The name of this is "Little Blizzard" as the locals inform us that this is just the beginning. I heard there kids were even out playing in the playground. I wish I was able to get that shot.

Trust me, this doesn't do it justice.

Here they go!

Grenades are better for moving.

Have I mentioned that I hate hate hate moving???? I would rather toss a grenade and be done with it. Horrible experience. Lately THE MOVES HAVE BEEN MORE THAN AWFUL. I CANT STAND IT ANYMORE. PACKING, UNPACKING, PACKING, UNPACKING. Have I mentioned, I HATE IT!!!
AND we have are now finding out we have lost some stuff. Think the post office will look after5 months? I will ask, but the odds are against me.

Alaskan Tred Setter

My Man. Ahh I love him so. And to see how courageous he is to enter this village and lead a new fashion trend. What strength, what self confidence. A real man. He is going to learn to hunt and gather. And shoot a Moose or a Caribou or a Reindeer. But my favorite will be fish.... I think. I have tried seal It is a staple here. They call it black meat. It soaks in seal oil, they bring it out and cut it up. I had a piece the size of a pea. Not so bad, slightly fishy, but the skin was too tough. I spit it out. I turn around and a very elderly Eskimo lady was standing facet face with me. Very stockily said to me in the ritual Eskimo quiet dead pan voice, "If you eat the skin you will not get fat. I said, ohh thank you. That will help me tremendously.
The Village Native store doesnt sell it. Not that I would buy it, but it is good info. Anyone need some menopause ideas. I bet I can find some to send along.

Back to my man. He is such a risk taker by setting the new fashion trend here. Here he is. And I will find some locals dress so you can see the giant difference he is making here.

Original Duplex Aug 2010

This is the original apartment we lived in when we first got to Teller. Ron did a lot of work to clean it up so I wouldn't pass out when I got here. So nice of him. To me this apt looked like an old motel. Maybe they bought the insides of one and imported it here. It was a dark place to live... not counting the running salt water, and all that I have previously mentioned. Now it is right next to the post office and that, my friend, is a huge plus. Now we have to take the toboggan there, maybe 3 blocks, but let me tell you, 3 blocks is a long way in the blowing snow that feels like bb's hitting my eyeballs. Anyway, here you go!

New Housing Feb 2011

Again here is another comparison. This is the new housing, the four pled. MY OH MY, it is so nice. We are still settling in. We sent so much stuff, we have to go thru it and rethink what we need. There is going to be a garage sale at the school benefiting the student council this weekend. I have to get in gear to start making yet more decisions. This hurts. I am so tired of making these decisions. We just have a lot of "stuff" and we need to part with a bunch of it. Two out of three of my kids are not keepers of "stuff" I wish they would have made a swoop thru my house and say WHAT ARE YOU KEEPING THIS FOR????? sigh. Anyway, Here is our new apartment. Love it!

Then and Now

Old Diggs



New Diggs
These are a few comparisons between the old housing we were in until the first of Feb, this month. I hope you find it amusing. I found it educational. To be intellectual, we just don't know how good we have it until one moves into a very old duplex that has running salt water. We (Ron) has to haul potable water in by the 5 gallon containers. Then we have to heat it for any purpose we may need hot water i.e. dishes, washing hair, and other things. To drink we have to filter it. First, the water comparison.
We now can have running potable water, hot and cold. We still need to filter, but... so what!

Last Train to Nowhere, Darn Storms

There it is the middle of the tundra, absolutely nothing around. All the brown ground you see is the Tundra.. just like peat moss. Soft and very difficult to walk.



Shipped to Alaska in 1903 to serve the miners along this line to Nome. A gold strike at Ophir was the inspiration for the construction of the railroad, but a huge storm in 1913 took out the tracks and stranded the rolling stock where it is today, literally dissolving under the influence of Bering Sea storms.

Seagulls

Nature never ever ceases to amaze me.




Seagulls. I was lucky to have been able to get close enough with my telephoto to get some good pictures.

Sunrise, Sunset, Birds, Hills, Snow

This is the progression of one sunset. I did not do anything to the colors. Breathtaking.