Snow and bones

It was an interesting Saturday. Samara woke me around 11am, so that we could go to the post office and check the mail. It had snowed again. Today it didn't melt as much, since it stayed cold.


Down at the post office, we had a package. It was Samara's new toy from Linens'n'Things.


That's right! It's a Cuisinart brand blender and food processor. It was sort of a belated birthday thing. Not that I actually bought it for her, mind you. She bought it. But I told her we had money to buy it, and sometimes that's as close as you get to actual gift-buying when you're married.

On our way to breakfast at the Muddy Rudder, we drove by this guy selling produce on the side of the road. He seemed to have pumpkins, and who knows what else. We didn't stop, since we have produce coming in a box from Full Circle Farms. It was a strange sight for Alaska, though.

I also took a picture of the mountains in the distance, and Samara took a nice picture as well around near the courthouse.

After our breakfast at the Muddy Rudder, I bought a box of rounds at the L&M hardware store. I thought I'd go out and do some shooting at the landfill again today. It turned out to be a bit of an adventure.

First, as I was headed out of town, I saw a guy at the AC Value sticking his thumb out. This is rural Alaska, and I was driving the only direction he could have been going, so I pulled over. He actually seemed a little surprised.

His name was Olaf, but I think he was Yu'pik. It's kind of a weird artifact of Alaska that natives might have Norwegian names. Olaf was a bit intoxicated, or at least smelled that way, and he was headed home. I didn't really understand where he was saying he lived, but I told him he'd just have to show me the way. We went out Wood River Road, because he said it was the shorter route.

As we went down Waskey Road, which cuts between Wood River Road and Aleknagik Lake Road, I was complaining to Olaf that I hadn't really seen any wildlife yet. He promised that we would see some on Waskey. I had driven down that road a few times already, and seen nothing. But sure enough, we saw a spruce on the side of the road. (A spruce is actually a spruce grouse, a wild bird native to Alaska that Yu'piks hunt for subsistence living. It's best hunted with a .22 rifle or .410 shotgun.) I told Olaf that he must be good luck. I mean, yeah, it's a bird, like the crows and seagulls I've seen already, but at least it's a game bird. That's an improvement in my Alaskan wildlife count.

Well, we passed the landfil and turned on to the Lake Road. Turns out that Olaf lives on Warehouse Road. At least that's what he called it. It didn't have a sign, but it was a few more miles up the Lake Road. He pointed out many of the other residences as we went by--he's cousin to many people around here.

His place is a little bit of land with a trailer and a small house. When I say small house, I really mean it's more of a shack. It probably has one room, but that makes it easier to heat. Olaf thanked me a few times in Yu'pik as I dropped him off. I started to pull away, and he picked something up from in front of his house and gestured towards me. I stopped and got out to see what he wanted. He was offering me a gift in exchange for giving him a ride from town. It's a caribou jawbone with teeth in it. He had both, but I only accepted one. I honestly don't even know what I'll do with it, but here's a picture of it.

I don't turn down gifts of appreciation, even if they're a little weird. I'm sure he or someone he knows shot this caribou, and it was probably great eating.

I went on over to the shooting range, and was surprised to see other people there. There was a black man (kind of odd to see here in Alaska where most folks are white or Yu'pik) and a young native guy shooting revolvers. At the other side of the benches was a guy sighting in a rifle. Just as I got there, another old guy was setting up with another revolver. So I set up with my rifle as well, and went down range to put up a target.

The only annoyances with having other folks at the range is that they sometimes start shooting before you can get your earplugs in, and everyone is competing for target space on the couple of available stands. Thankfully, the guys with revolver were just shooting at cans or whatever. The older guy with the revolver had made some shotshell handloads that he was testing on some cardboard at close range. Before long, those folks took off.

The guy sighting in his rifle was Drew, and his rifle was a .338 Winchester Magnum. Apparently it's got quite a bit of recoil. He had just run out of rounds when I got there, and was somewhat frustrated because it wasn't sighted in well at 100 yards. Of course, like me, he wasn't shooting from sandbags. That makes it harder to get a good group for testing purposes, like sighting in a rifle. He also couldn't really afford to shoot all day, even if he wanted to. Apparently rounds for his rifle are $60 a box. I thought $25 a box was bad!

As I shot, he hung around and spotted my targets with his longer scope. That made it easier for me to figure out whether I'd hit the target without walking down range. It was nice to talk to someone about shooting. I was way off today, but it was fun to shoot. I think my next range trip needs to involve more patience and a 25-yard sight-in again to make sure my scope hasn't gotten knocked around too much.

I came home, then, and Samara had returned from a Body Shop party at SAFE. Basically, one of the ladies that lives at the shelter is a salesperson for Body Shop products, like an AVON lady. Samara didn't buy anything. Then, she made us some good dinner, and now she's chatting with her brother Mike on the phone.

All in all, a pretty good day. I don't know if it's enough to make me fall in love with Alaska and want to live here forever, but it's nice to have stuff to do.