A Virtual Saturday Tour

It's Saturday once again. I slept in until noon, and then decided that I'd go out to the landfill to shoot, even though it was snowing. It had snowed quite a bit overnight, actually.

I headed out of town and found my way onto Waskey Road. It's a dirt road, and every since it started snowing, it hasn't been plowed. Today, though, it was covered in snow deep enough that if you didn't stay in the grooves made by other vehicles, it was hard to steer.


I reached the landfill without incident, though. There were a couple of guys, Eric and Pat, there shooting. One was breaking in the barrel on a new single-shot rifle. The other was sighting in his rifle at 100 yards from a bench rest. I shot my box of 20 rounds at 50 yards. The first 10 rounds grouped about three inches left, so I made some adjustments. The next two groups of five shots were much better (with the exception of a flyer in each group). About 1.5 inches at 50 yards for each group. Not horrible with a 2x scope.

It snowed the whole time I was shooting, so my rifle got plenty wet on my outing. You can see how much snow we're talking as I leave the landfill road.


After I wrapped it up, I headed back from the landfill on Aleknagik Road. I thought it might be a little clearer, but it wasn't.


Doesn't look much better than Waskey, does it? And it's a paved road.

I started snapping pictures every once in a while as I drove off Aleknagik onto Kanakanak Road and into town.

And as I got here, the flats were off to my left.

In town, I tried to take pictures of a few Dillingham landmarks covered in snow. This is a mound of snow that has been plowed up off the streets. The smaller blue building to the right of the mound is one of the local bars, although I've never been in there.

Here's the Muddy Rudder, which is closed for the season.

Here's the courthouse, where I work. That's the magistrate's truck out front--I guess he was putting in some overtime. The pink thing to the right is our colorful dumpster. The window to the far left is my office.

As you pass the courthouse, you come to the Dillingham middle and high school. Go Wolverines!

At the end of the road is the hardware/general store, L&M Supplies.

Taking a left at the intersection, you pass the Wells Fargo Bank first, and then on your left is the post office. We have a post office box--there's no home delivery. Consequently, the post office is a daily stop. It makes getting your mail more exciting, really.

Here's another giant pile of snow in the senior center parking lot.

And then I finally reached our street.

And there's our apartment!

When I got home, I had Samara snap a picture of me dressed up in my paper-hunting outfit. I've got long underwear on under this, mind you. My parka and boots do a good job of keeping me warm, though.

Which is good, since although I didn't take any pictures of it, the snow at the shooting range was about 2 feet deep. I had to brush a good foot of snow off the shooting bench, and then it was a real pain to trek downrange to set up targets when you're sinking in past your knees.

Still, there's not much else to do in Alaska, so some hobbies take perseverance!

I hope this picture-filled post gives you an idea of how much snow we're dealing with already here in Dillingham. Since I got home, the skies have continued to open up. Although it's pitch black now, at 6pm, as I post this, I could see thick, wet snow falling rapidly all afternoon. I'm sure there'll be plenty more snow tomorrow.

Winter Comes

As I gazed out of my office window today, I spied a mammoth raven atop a hillock of snow.

Yes, it was snowing again in Alaska. And we have very large birds.

As Samara and I drove to work this morning, we actually passed a pile of snow that had been plowed off the streets. It was at least 20 feet high and 20 feet in diameter. That's a lot of snow.

And we've barely begun.

Check out the drift that's blown up again the side of our apartment.

Around the back side of our house, here is what our living room window looks like from the outside.

That's where we get all the good views of the bay. I walked through the snow drifts and took a picture of the bay as well.

I tried to snap a picture on the way back to the house that showed how much snow I was sinking into.

That's a lot of snow. When it's on the roads or parking lots, it tends to pack down into very slick ice. I bought some nice boots to keep my feet warm, but I was still sliding around because the soles didn't get a good purchase. I fixed that cheaply.

That's sheet metal screws. It works great for a cheap traction aid.

I'll see if I can't you fine folks a picture of a raven perched upon a mountain of snow. It'll have to wait until the light returns, though. It's after 6pm here, so it's already pitch black outside.

Sunrise-Sunset

Of all the things I imagined about Alaska, the bright blazing sun was not one of them. Don't get me wrong, it's cold here. In fact it's been snowing off and on for a few days now. Up until Friday, our bedroom window had only blinds on it. Which meant on our days off, the sun would peak over the mountains, straight in to our room. I remedied the situation by just getting up no matter how early. Aaron remedied the situation by putting a sock over his eyes, (It was actually pretty funny to see) but this allowed him to sleep in a bit more on our days off. Something had to be done about the window--then enters the sheet. Friday night, I have Aaron get the burgundy sheet out and nail (yes, nail) it to the wall. Finally, we were able to sleep in until 11am without putting socks over our eyes.
For those of you that are not currently aware of the times sunrises and sunsets are currently taking place, there is this handy-dandy website. The sun rise today was at 8:51am and sunset is going to be at 4:35pm. You might be thinking to yourself, but shouldn't you relish the sunlight and try to be awake for as many hours of sunlight as possible. To that my response is: BAH! I like my sleep more and I like my house to be as dark as a cave. This could possible have something to do with the urge to hibernate.

Snow Weasel!

Samara and I just returned home for lunch, and as we were approaching the apartment, I saw an animal bounding away, underneath our neighbor's truck and into the snowy brush.

My first thought was squirrel, because of the way it moved, but obviously we don't really have squirrels here the way that Kentucky does. Then it seemed smaller, and I thought chipmunk, but again... this isn't Kentucky. As we neared the apartment, I could see that it was long, white and seemed to have a black tail.

Snow Weasel!

Now, the thing is: I have no idea what small mammals are resident in Alaska. This is the first one I've seen, and I haven't done any research. But I feel confident in saying that I have sighted a snow weasel. It may have some other "technical" name, but it was weaselly, white and in the snow.

I promised a picture of Samara in the hospital, and she consented, so here it is...

But, in all fairness, I have a better picture of Samara, cooking Thai food for our friend Bobbie's birthday dinner.

A belated happy birthday to my sister, by the way. Samara was still under the weather Thursday and I went to work, and we just completely forgot to call and wish her a happy birthday. We're bad siblings! If she's counting backwards now, I believe she's 29 years old.

An Unpleasant Day

Wednesday was a less-than-pleasant day for us. Samara woke up in the middle of the night and started vomiting. She was pretty constantly sick all night and through noon on Wednesday. She was having headache and stomach pain, and couldn't even keep down a sip of water.

I decided we ought to pay a visit to our local ER around noon, and off we went. Let me tell you--there are benefits to being in a small town. We parked right in front of the ER, walked inside, and the nurse took us right into an exam room. The doctor was there within minutes, and he talked with us longer than doctors usually do. It wasn't until we were there fifteen minutes or so that the lady came by to get our registration information.

Anyway, Samara got a shot of promethazine for the nausea, which helped immediately. Then she got a narcotic for the headache and stomach pain a little later on. They did some bloodwork and regular diagnostic stuff. They couldn't find anything particularly wrong, which wasn't surprising. She has had to go to the ER a few times before because of stomach issues. They have tested her for almost everything, and the conclusion is that she simply has an irritable gastrointestinal system.

After a bit of a nap, she was able to keep liquids down, and the doctor sent us home. She didn't need an IV for fluids this time, since she wasn't that dehydrated. We have some promethazine in case she needs it at home. I fed her some soup, crackers and gatorade, and she's doing better.

I have a nice picture of her in the hospital bed (which she told me to take!) but until she wakes up and the effects of the narcotics have fully worn off, I won't be posting it without her permission.

So she's fine--no one needs to worry, but this was a long day for both of us. It's not much fun to call in sick when someone is actually sick!

Smorgasboard

It's hard to be good and post every day, like we should. What you're going to get now is a post that encompasses a couple of different topics.

The first topic involves the fact that I'm hungry. Really hungry. I get up in the morning and eat a small portion of dry cereal and drink a cola. Then I get to work at about 8am. By 10am, I've got to eat my lunch. It's usually a sandwich (bologna and American cheese on wheat with yellow mustard), pretzels, some fruit snacks and a snack size candy bar. Of course I drink a cola with that. Now that we get fresh fruit, I usually eat an apple or pear by about 1 or 2pm.

Today was the standard menu, except that I also had a fresh orange at about 9am as well.

So you gotta figure that's plenty of food, right? But somehow I'm still starving to the point where my stomach hurts by the time 5 o'clock rolls around.

And there's another symptom. I usually wear pants with a 33 inch waist if I need a pair of pants that actually fits right. (About half my pants are a 34, because that fits okay too with a belt.) I put on a pair of dress pants on Monday, and they were too tight! Uncomfortably tight in the waist.

What does all this mean, you ask? I'm fairly well convinced that my body is preparing to hibernate. I think that soon, I will fall asleep and awake again as the snow begins to thaw from this icy wasteland.

Either that, or, I don't know, maybe I'm just getting old and fat.

Another topic for discussion: how awesome is it that you're going to have to call me "Your Honor"?

Pretty awesome.

See, after I've been in Alaska for six months, I am eligible to be a deputy magistrate. That's sort of like a junior junior junior judge. I'll be called upon to sign off on search warrants in the middle of the night on weekends. Very exciting stuff. However, the Alaska courts have made clear that magistrates are considered judges in the sense of the Alaska Constitution. I'll get to wear a robe, and folks will have to call me address me as: Your Honor. Pretty good for six months out of law school, eh?

That's rural Alaska for you. Many fine options for resume building. I'm pretty Samara now has five people that report to her, and they seem to keep adding people under her every day.

And finally, the election. Samara and I both voted today. Neither of us voted for the Alaskan Independence Party candidate, so we'll probably still be part of the United States in the morning. Alaska, of course, will go to McCain. It's a Republican state, for the most part.

The nice thing about being in Alaska is that I'm getting to watch election results after polls close on the east coast, but it's only dinner time here. In other words, I don't have to stay up late to see John McCain cry.

The breaking news, as we speak, is that Rhode Island has gone to Obama. And as we all know, as Rhode Island goes, so goes the nation.

What to do on a Saturday Night in Dillingham

What is there to do in Dillingham? Short answer: not much. Long answer: make food, invite friends.

I didn't had a chance to use my food processor (the one that I got for my birthday) until last night. In our box of vegetables we got a very small head of cabbage, a couple purple onions, carrots and some golden beets. I had no idea what to do with the beets until I thought about the cabbage, then all I could think about is coleslaw. I made Sweet and Spicy Coleslaw. This is not the coleslaw your grandpa made with fried chicken. Here is the recipe:

1 small cabbage--shredded (or 1/2 a large)
1/2 lb carrots-shredded
1lb golden beets-shredded
1/2 purple onion-sliced thin

Dressing:
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
2 tbl honey
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or you can use fresh jalapenos--I didn't have any)
1/4 c. canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

Toss all the shredded vegetable until all the carrots, cabbage and beets are not in big lumps. In another bowl mix honey and vinegar until dissolved. Slowly add in the oil until it thickens. Add cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Add dressing to cabbage mixture. Ta-da. Coleslaw.

After the coleslaw is made, you invite some people over who help you eat dinner. And that my friends is what you do on a Saturday night in Dillingham.