First of all, the weather has sucked. You remember all that snow we've been posting pictures of? Well, it rained this week. It hovered just above freezing and rained until the snow was mostly gone.
It was pretty miserable weather. I would rather have had snow and freezing weather, to be honest. The rain seems to have stopped for the weekend, so hopefully we'll get some more snow to cover all the dirty mud in the streets.
Christmas gifts are starting to trickle in by the mail. We've got a few things sitting on the "new" shelf we picked up at the thrift store. Here's a wrapped present from Samara's dad.
So after a week of bad weather, we got to sweet, sweet Friday. Samara had to work late, so I went out for nachos at the Windmill Grille with the judge, the magistrate and one of the local attorneys. It was good company, but the Windmill Grille isn't my favorite local restaurant. The food is basically what you could cook at home, and it takes forever to arrive. Slow service and mediocre food, but at least the judge was nice enough to pay! I'm really looking forward to the Muddy Rudder opening again.
On Saturday, Samara made lunch. Mac'n'cheese and canned ham. Yeah. Canned ham.
You know what? That shit is gross. When I opened it, it smelled like wet cat food. I ate a piece anyway, which probably means I'm not the smartest person that ever lived. Humans probably shouldn't eat things that you need a key to open.
After lunch, we went to Saramay's, and I installed a new fuel filter on her truck. It was a relatively easy job, and in exchange, I got to use her garage to work on some of my own projects. (It's hard to weld or grind in your spare bedroom, and her garage is nice and heated!)
Samara made some sangria to take over. The cheapest bottle of wine at the Dillingham liquor store was $14.00, and had an inauspicious name.
Good thing that bad wine makes good sangria. We had dinner and played Ticket to Ride with Saramay, Ricky and Bobbie. (Ticket to Ride, by the way, is an awesome board game. If you're looking for a board game to entertain you, buy it.)Here's a picture of Ricky doing something authentically native (or so he says).
Then I wrestled with Saramay's big afghan. His name is Chaos, and he is one bony dog. First I rolled him up into a ball.
He doesn't weigh much, but he's really long.
Sunday, Samara got up early and set up a crafts table at the Christmas bazaar, hosted at the high school. She was working with a youth group associated with SAFE, helping kids make crappy ornaments from Oriental Trading Company kits.
Lots of folks set up tables at the bazaar and sell all sorts of crafts. This is the place to go if you're looking for native-made goods. In other words, hats and mittens made of beaver, red fox, seal, wolf, and something called a land otter. That's what everyone would be getting for Christmas, if it wasn't for the fact that a pair of mittens ranged from $125 to $200 and the hats were $200 to $600. I guess trapping, curing and tanning, then making garments is a huge pain. It was fun to look at everything, anyway. I went over after I woke up, and had nachos for lunch. If I said that the nachos cost $9, you'd probably think that it was just crazy rural Alaska prices, but in fact, I got a ton of nachos and toppings for money. Ricky was helping make the nachos. I think it was a band fundraiser or something--he's a music teacher.
I took a break from the bazaar for a while and went out to the shooting range. All the rain had melted most of the snow, and the rest had been plowed off to the sides. That made it easier to set up targets. The fact that it was just above freezing rather than way below also made it more pleasant to shoot.
After shooting, I went back to the bazaar and wandered around looking at crafts some more. We did manage to find a few Christmas presents, but nothing made of fur, so far. I also helped make a few crafts at Samara's table.
Oh, yes... I nearly forgot the unpleasant news I received this weekend. Saramay has a scale, and I weighed myself. I guess eating a double-slice bologna sandwich every day for lunch has taken its toll. I've gained 20 pounds since we arrived in Alaska. No wonder my pants don't fit so well anymore. Samara has also gained more weight than she'd like, but I won't make the mistake of saying how much. She hasn't been eating double-slice bologna sandwiches, so maybe it's not my choice of lunch food. The funny thing is that we haven't been eating fast food all the time like we used to in Kentucky. You'd think we would have lost weight eating at home all the time, especially with the fresh produce. I swear that our bodies are preparing to hibernate. Maybe once the long days of summer arrive, we'll lose all that weight again.
(Added by Samara)
With this in mind, if anyone would like to send us yoga or exercise DVDs that would be swell. I have gained 20 pounds just like Aaron. My only guess is that I can not get fat-free or reduced calorie anything there. Normally, I would by the 35 calorie bread to make sandwiches and reduced fat bologna. Those don't exist here. Lean cuisines frozen dinners are $7.00 each. A box of 100 calorie snacks are even impossible to locate. Everything here is full of fat, carbs and sugar. I am not surprised that we are getting fat! I can see what my New Years' resolution is going to be already.
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