Drift net fishing on the Kuskokwim

Drift net on the Kuskokwim River

Our catch from the drift net.

Yes, those fish are on the kitchen floor. Don't worry, we cleaned up.....

Holding a nice King salmon from the Kuskokwim River.
Tonight, the Doug, Janna, Kelly, Tammy and I went out on the river for some dutch oven cooking, and fishing. Eric was in St. Mary's, so he missed out on the fun. We packed up our dutch ovens, and camp chairs and took the boat up river. It was a bit windy out, which was nice since wind keeps the mosquitoes down. Kelly and Tammy just bought their boat, so they were excited to take us out on the river. Kelly found a nice spot for us to have dinner, so the boys dropped the girls off to make dinner while they tried out the drift net.

The boys were gone for a little over an hour, so we got the coals going and started cooking dinner. Tammy made some chicken, and I made biscuits and a dessert. The boys came back after a while, and had no luck using the drift net. After a yummy dinner, we packed everything back on the boat and went back out to try the net again.

Since we are Alaska residents and live in the bush, we can participate in subsistence fishing. That means, we can drift net as well as rod and reel. Using a drift net is pretty tricky. One person must steer the boat, while another person feeds the net out into the water. The person steering the boat, must keep it straight so the boat doesn't get caught in the net. While the net is in the water, fish (hopefully) swim through it, and their gills get caught in the holes. The net will bob up in down in the water when we have fish, then 2 people pull the net in. Kelly and I pulled the net in, and killed the fish that were in the net. We tried this for a few hours and only came up with 6 king salmon and 2 silvers. Not very good. It was still fun trying.

We came back to Bethel, cleaned up the boat and headed over to the Kelly's to clean the fish. Tammy was freaking out that we were going to put the dead fish on her kitchen floor, but we all promised we would clean up. After a few hours filleting the fish, we were all covered in blood and fish guts. Yummy! There is a right way to fillet a fish, and I'm getting the handle of it. It helps to have a nice sharp fillet knife. We then divided up the fish, and cleaned up our mess. By the time I drove home it was almost 3 am, and the sun was still out on the horizon. I love the summer sun.

Quick trip from St. Mary's

Crew unloading Eric's plane
Eric has been in St. Mary's for about 2 weeks. St. Mary's is on the Yukon River, and takes about 1 hour to fly there. (in a small plane) Eric is training in the 207, and will be based in Bethel. He's been in Nome for over 6 months, so I'm happy to have him home on a regular basis.

Eric flew down to Bethel today to drop off passengers, so we were only able to chat for a few minutes. I grabbed him something to eat, and sent him off with a care package of goodies. It is hard being separated all of the time, but this is just what we have to do to get him flying. Luckily I have a lot of great friends to keep me busy - I'm also pretty independent, so that helps too. Eric should be back to Bethel by July.

Vegetable Garden

Planting our first garden in Bethel.

Bethel's green house
Janna, Tammy and I decided to plant a garden this year (or try to). We were amazed to learn that Bethel has a green house, and we could buy plants. We bought tomatoes, squash, peas, and broccoli.

The three of us spent the afternoon planting all of our vegetables, and are excited to see if anything will grow.

Around town in Bethel

The video store. We don't have a movie theater here, so we must wait for movies to come out on DVD. You can rent a movie for 3 bucks.

A view of the AC parking lot in May.

Another parking lot view. This is why break-up boots are a must have in the bush.

Banana prices in Bethel. I remember when they were $.39/pound in the lower 48.....

The cereal and cracker isle at AC.

Pilot crackers, a popular food in the bush. They taste like stale saltines to me.

Milk prices in Bethel.....

Mouthwash is kept behind the counter in the bush. It contains alcohol, and people drink it.

Bethel's grocery store - AC .

This is our "main street" in down town Bethel.

Here's our truck

This is the 800 Building - the apartment complex for YK employees.

Springtime??? The Kuskokwim River is still frozen and it's May 4th..... I'm off to warmer temps.
I decided to take some pictures around downtown Bethel. As you can see, we have a variety of activities to choose from.... The grocery prices blow me away. Many of the villagers buy their food in Bethel since it is so much cheaper than in the village store. That's scary.

This is spring time in Bethel. It means lots of mud. There are no car washes in Bethel, and water is too expensive to waste on washing cars. I have to be careful getting in and out of my truck so that I don't get mud all over my pants. I also wear break up boots or shoes I don't mind getting dirty around town. You don't want to wear nice shoes here - they will get all gunked up.

I love the picture of the mouth wash behind the counter. Bethel is a damp community. What that means is that you can buy alcohol in Anchorage and ship it here, but you can not buy it in Bethel. The law here also regulates how much alcohol a person can ship in per month. And let me tell you, they keep track of it. My friend Janna checks what is shipped in every day - she works for the troopers, and that is her job. People here are so hard up for alcohol, that they will drink almost everything from hairspray to mouth wash. It's pretty sad. The AC grocery store is the local hangout, and I always get a contact high just from walking in. There are so many drunk people congregating in front of the AC, and they always hit people up for money. All I can do is laugh. The AC is also where "deals" go down. Eric and I have witnessed people buying alcohol by the side of the store. That is illegal here, but it is tough to catch. Alcohol is banned from the villages, but just about everyone knows how to make "home brew."

Anyway, I'm off to Anchorage today, then to Utah for Lee's USU graduation. I hope to experience some warmer temperatures! Eric is in Nome, and won't be able to come with me. We are going to meet in Anchorage when I get back.

Winter Fun

The girls - Jessica, Lisa, Courtney, Me, Janna, and Carolina. Napakiak, Alaska

Here we are in Napakiak, Alaska Today, the girls decided to have a girls day out (Eric was allowed to come). We took our snowmobiles out on the frozen river to some of the surrounding villages. Everyone looked at us, as we "drove" into the villages. I know they were thinking "crazy white people!" It was a great time. The weather was much warmer that usual - at 20 degrees. That felt like a heat wave compared to sub zero temps.

I don't know how to drive the snowmobile very well, so I was glad Eric was here. Our machine is made for the powder of Utah, but it has worked pretty well in Bethel. I guess Bethel had more snow than usual, so we could ride our machine.

We stopped at the trading post in Napakiak, which is just like a 7-11, but with no gasoline. You can buy groceries and other small items. The prices were unbelievably high, but I was amazed at how much they had. I also noticed a box of these mushroom/fungus looking things. I learned that was called punk to make iqmik - which is a type of chew. Just about every man, woman, and yes even children use iqmik. They burn the punk, and add it to Copenhagen chew. It's pretty gross. As I said, everybody chews here. People are constantly spitting around town - and it's totally gross.

After the trading post, we had to find a bathroom which is not easy in a village. Villages do not have running water, and most homes still use a "honey bucket". A honey bucket is a plastic bucket with a seat attached. When the bucket is filled with waste, it must be dumped out. Each village has a place to dump the human waste, but most people just dump it outside. We decided to go to the washiteria to find a restroom. I could not believe at the price to do a load of laundry - it will cost you over 10 dollars to do one load! You can imagine the stares we received as a group of rowdy white girls tromp to the bathroom. Once we were finished, we all got back on our snowmobiles and headed home.

Snowmobiling

Eric trying to ice fish on the Johnson River

Trying to ice fish

A Russian Orthodox church

Basketball court

The village store

Pike drying outside a house in Napaskiak

The school in Napaskiak

A steam house in Napaskiak, Alaska

Eric and I went snowmobiling today. We rode out to the village of Napaskiak which is 5 miles down river. The village store did not have much food to choose from. They did not have any fresh produce, milk, cheese or eggs. They had some frozen vegetables, and lots of canned stuff. They also had lots of frozen pizzas, burritos, hotdogs, etc. In the village milk is either powdered or canned. Most of the food was expired, and was priced 10 times at what you pay in the lower 48.

I am standing by a steam bath house. Steams are a big part of the culture here. Since water is scarce, this is how most people cleanse themselves. From a medical standpoint, they are a cesspool of bacteria. The steambaths are made of wood, they are not cleaned or disinfected, and people go in there in the nude - with no barrier. People here suffer from boils like you would not believe. Many of the hospital inpatients are there for treatment of an infection that resulted from a boil.

Eric and I decided to try out ice fishing for pike. We did not have any equipment, but that does not matter. All you need is a stick, some rope and a hook. We gave it a try for about an hour, but we did not catch anything. It was pretty cold, and I was ready to head back. The temps were hovering around 10 below zero, which wasn't too bad since the wind wasn't blowing.

Walrus in Nome

Walrus on the sea ice

Bering Sea

A view from the air - outside of Nome. These are some pictures Eric took while he was in Nome. People eat walrus and use their tusks to make jewelry. I'm sure they use the skin for something - as nothing is wasted. Whenever Eric lands in one of the villages, people come up and ask him if he wants to buy any ivory. It is illegal for a Non-Alaskan Native to have a walrus tusk in their possession. However, an Alaska Native can sign a tusk and sell it to a Non-Native. They cost anywhere from $1,500 - $2,000 per tusk. I have told Eric to be on the lookout for an ivory bracelet. I think that would be a neat thing to have from here.