July's Tributes

To all of my faithful blog followers..please keep Ingrid in your prayers this week. She has been very sickly for the past month. This morning, she coughed up some phlegm that put her in a temporary coma. She has actually been on bed rest for about 3.5 weeks, and she decided she was up for a little walk this morning. However, she wasn't "quite" ready as the 3 leaks are still not completely healed. RJ was supposed to take a look at her, but he hasn't really kept his word. Plus, neither of us want to cross him as he has a criminal record and we are fearful that we might end up just like Ingrid!

SO, due to Ingrid's failing condition, the trips out to the wilderness have been few and far between. It has still been quite enjoyable, getting to know the town and the people.

On the 4th of July, it was really cold here, so I didn't really stay outside too long. The parade consisted of about 15 floats which included the cool school bus from my earlier posts. Everyone threw candy which is unheard of anywhere else!!! I ate a few bite sized snickers and some smarties to enhance my brain power, but I left the rest for the little ones running around. After the parade, there were bike races for the kids - so adorable!! It was separated into age groups and the prize was usually $1 or $5. I didn't have a bike, so I couldn't compete. Next time, I'm bringing out the HUFFY bike I just bought for $200! haha!!! What a deal!

This was my favorite float in the parade!! Aren't they adorable?? My little Mexican Chihuahuas!!! They remind me so much of my little Coco who I miss so dearly!!! I have been able to talk to him on the phone once or twice and he apparently wags his tail when he hears my voice. But these little peaches made me smile on the fourth. One of the most amusing people in this town is our landlord. She goes by "J" which I haven't figured out stands for yet, but she is hilarious!! She lives in a one bedroom apartment that's about the size of a large bathroom. She smokes like a chimney, has a huge dog that somehow lives with her, works 3 jobs, and teaches baton to these girls in the parade. Her voice carries about 10 miles and sounds raspy like a chronic smoker's would. I guess she's been married about 6 times up here, but decided after her 3rd or 4th husband, she was sick of changing her last name back, so she kept his.

This picture was from the 4th of July when we went to the park in the afternoon for some good old fashioned grilled hot dogs and burgers!!! Hooray for food that makes my tummy smile! :)

Look Aunt Carrie!! I'm wearing the hat you got me!!! :)

Because Ingrid has been under the weather, we have been walking everywhere around town lately. One of our walks was to Anvil mountain which was only about 4 miles from Nome...the last 100 feet was really steep and I had to stop every 5 seconds to rest - I had NO endurance!!!! I tried different climbing techniques like turning my feet out so I could have a wider base of support, leaning forward so my momentum would carry me up and not back! I even tried walking backwards!!! But, nothing really helped as much as stopping and taking a few deep breaths!! This picture is a view of Nome from the top of the mountain.

On our hike up Anvil mountain, we had to walk by the high school's baseball diamond which I believe also doubled as their football field and possibly their soccer field as well. It was hard to tell seeing as it was merely dirt with a fence around it and some white lines. Grass doesn't really grow very well here. People take a lot of pride in their yard if they have grass and boy do I stop and look at it if they have a yard!! Most of the yards are dirt and rocks.

These tires were just sitting there on the side of the HS's parking lot. I've never seen tires this big!! Wouldn't want to be in the way of whatever machine these tires are on!

The huge grey structures are "White Alice's," remnants of the cold war communication system used by the US air force. It operated from 1958-1978. In the 50s, Alaska only had a basic telephone communication system which meant that only one person could make a phone call from Nome to Fairbanks for example.

The city of Nome fought to keep these white alice's around as they are a historical landmark! They make a pretty spiffy echo if you yell into one end of it. I wonder if Russia heard me when I said hello!! :) hehe

On one of our beach walks, we came upon this dredge that they used in the gold mining days. They are everywhere, but this one has been preserved quite well!! Phil took an excellent picture!!







My first village experience was pretty amazing. I went to a place called Unalakleet (you- na - la- kleat). It's one of the more modern villages meaning they have running water and flushable toilets. The population is about 800 and there are no paved roads (yet).They are apparently going to have roads paved this year sometime which I think might be a huge mistake given the harshness of the winters here. I can't imagine they will be able to maintain the raods properly. But the maintenance guy, Jimmy, was excited and can't wait to rollerblade to work :)

I arrived at the airport an hour early but my heart was still racing - probably because I'm so used to the security checks in normal airports. There is no security check here. In fact, people were bringing their guns which were put right behind the passengers on the plane!!! I guess there is a certain degree of trust here that doesn't exist in many places.

When I looked outside at the tan "Bering Air" plane, my heart was pounding even harder. It only had 8 passenger seats! I have never flown in a plane that tiny! There were 2 propellers in the front and 2 little mini lights on the wings....oh jeeze! I had the dramamine ready in case I felt at all woozy. The pilot was telling the passengers where to sit to make sure the weight was distributed in the right places. We stopped at 2 other villages on the way to Unalakleet to pick up other people and drop of cargo. At our last stop, St. Michael, the pilot had me sit up in the co-pilot's seat because there weren't enough seats for everyone. That was so awesome!!!

It was a crazy week for me in Unalakleet, and I saw patient's every 30 minutes - hardly enough time to do a thorough evaluation AND give them an appropriate home exercise program. PT's only make it out to the villages every 4-6 months, so when a therapist arrives, the entire village knows! I had people coming out of the woodwork!! Half the time, they didn't even know why they were there!

There were so many ladies in their late 70s who would come in complaining of back pain because they were out picking berries all day. If you see HOW they are picking the berries, you would understand why!! They are crouched over literally for hours on end picking berries!!! I now know why Joe calls it "berry picker's back" and "berry picker's hip"!!!

Jeremy, the nurse practitioner who lives at Unalakleet, took us up to some beautiful areas in Unalakleet. The views were breathtaking!
We walked down a hill from the car, onto the tundra, and behold what we saw!!!! Spectacular!

Jeremy brought his fishing pole along with him when we stopped here so he could catch some salmon. Unfortunately, he caught a king salmon who promptly ate his plastic bait and took off!!! Guess he brought the wrong pole for catching big fish!!!

And to end this blog on a food related note, ODE to coffee creamer!! This is my new favorite brand of coffee creamer at the store. For only $6, you can get the generic brand of non-dairy creamer too!! YES, this COULD be YOU!!! No folks, it's not sugar-free, but it is ultra concentrated, so you need only a few small drops to experience the most pleasurable flavored coffee that a store can buy!

I had to add this picture into the mix because it was the best moose jerky I've ever had!!! Phil's co-worker, Dan, made it, and it was fabulous!!!! I only was allowed to eat half of it, but I was left with this craving for MORE MOOSE MEAT!!!