All things polar bear, yet remain unseen

So here we are at the top of the world. Atticus having been sick from scarlet fever is finally getting well and feeling good, and I get a call from my husband, "Polar bear. Brower's. Gotta go." It's baby nap time, but I throw my camera gear together, wake up the baby, give him a dose of antibiotics and load us into the 15 passenger hooptie and hightail it out to Brower's. I was really quite proud of how quickly I got us out the door. I mean, I get motivated for polar bears! And alas, we were too slow. The bear had decided it had too much of an audience and swam off into the distance... apparently RIGHT before we got there. CRAPSPACKLE!

After the disappointment of not getting to see the bear that a significant number of the Barrow population had wandered out to ogle, we headed to the post office. I ran into my favorite librarian and in the process of the conversation I mentioned that I knew a polar bear had been shot... ok, back up storyline... our landlady, the dentist, gets a lot of community gossip and she had just told us the day before that a bear had been shot. I KNOW that means there's a pelt somewhere.... back to conversation with librarian... she knows where the pelt is! She gave me an idea of the area of town. But alas, I couldn't even find the dead polar bear! Ah well, there's always time for the polar bear scavenger hunt tomorrow. I think it's safe to say polar bear season might be starting here soon! Incidentally, it took 10 shots to take the dead one down.

Weird and fascinating facts about Barrow

Since I haven't had a lot to report on due to a string of rainy, cold weather, I thought I would give you some interesting Barrow tidbits that I've picked up along the way.

Whenever a UPS or FedEx package arrives, it will be delivered to your house by a member of a family of Tongans who will drive it over as soon as it gets off the plane... this means it could be 10pm.

If you want a pizza delivered, East Coast Pizza has fabulous pies but you'll have to pay the $5 delivery fee for it to be delivered. Why? Because they call a cab and the cab delivers your pizza. Cab fare is $5 anywhere in town. :)

We attend the Presbyterian Church, which is the oldest church in Barrow. Unlike any other place I know, Alaska was split up by the different denominations by an agreement and Barrow was in the Presbyterian area. Only Presbyterian missionaries were sent up here initially. It is also interesting to note, that the scripture is read in Inupiat as well as English.

All the police officers are not originally from Barrow. The reason is that nobody in the native community is interested in taking the job because they are related to everybody else and don't want to arrest their relatives.

For summer fun, the kids find pieces of plywood or old table tops that float and sticks that they use as oars and go punting on the tiny, shallow ponds that are all around town.

Dinner with the people who love Barrow

Tonight we went to the rotary meeting. One of Ian's colleagues is from Tuscaloosa and had been home to help out with tornado relief and was giving a speech on his trip. I find it both funny and bizarre that here we are something like 4000 miles away from Alabama and I run across a rival. It's like we can't get rid of alabama fans no matter where we go! :) It was a good speech, though, and he and his wife are extremely nice. It looks like we'll be getting together for bbq in the future. The great thing about the meeting was that it was full of the people who love living in Barrow. So we came away feeling really positive. The alabama fan's wife is originally from South Africa and had so many interesting stories to tell. They've been up here for 17 years and have even lived in some of the small villages like Anaktuvuk Pass and Wainwright... and they loved living there too! It sounds like I have a lot of interesting experiences ahead of me from polar bears and walrus to the whale hunts.

The woman who sat next to us was a probation officer. She has been up here for a while as well. One of her funny stories involved a drunk man approaching her while she was taking a walk and suggesting he should be her boyfriend. When she said no, he invited her to a party. He tried to tempt her by telling her there would be marijuana and alcohol. So she asked if she could invite her friends so it could be a real party. He was really disappointed when her friends turned out to be the cops! That just cracks me up! Word to the wise: if you're on probation, do not approach a probation officer and invite her to your illegal party!

Life on Barrow time

One of the reasons I was excited about coming to Barrow was the unique opportunity to see things few others get to see and last night was my first of those opportunities. This past spring two whaling crews successfully pulled in a bowhead whale. The first crew held its celebration yesterday evening. I also got my first REAL example of Barrow time. We had gotten word that the blanket toss was going to take place between 7-8pm right after the banquet. So Ian, Atticus and I got started walking at about 7:15 only to get a text message that the banquet was still going on and it would probably be another couple of hours. Ian and Atticus stayed home and I headed out about 9:20. When I got there the party still hadn't started. The people of Barrow seem to be night owls and the party didn't truly get started until 10:30. But when it did, all were having a great time. There were bits of whale meat out for particular families to pick up and anyone and everyone who wanted a turn on the blanket got their opportunity. I finally left a little after 11 since I needed to get some sleep and I was starting to lose feeling in my fingers, but I got the distinct impression that things were only going to get livelier. And from what I understand, there was going to be a dance after the blanket toss. The second whaling crew is having their celebration tomorrow, but we'll have to determine if we'll go based on the weather. It's supposed to start snowing.

The Arctic Nacho both in and out of her elements

The Arctic Nacho fam took a walk out of town to celebrate another gorgeous day at the top of the world... and I have to say getting out on the tundra away from town was wonderful even if it was only for a little while. Just long enough to take some pictures and see a plane come in. I feel comfortable on the tundra. The seemingly endless expanse of earth is really something. You feel both small and important at the same time.

Otherwise, though, it was a trying day. The little nacho was out of sorts, one of the nacho kitties was out of sorts, even the daddy nacho was a touch out of sorts... and my house still isn't together and that puts mama nacho a touch out of sorts. BUT it WILL eventually come together and there are less trying days to come... days where toddlers eat what they're supposed to, parents get to sleep in, all while still being productive. One day this will happen. :) I did realize something, though... my husband really should appreciate me quite a bit. He can never say that I wouldn't follow him to the ends of the earth!

Happy Solstice!

The summer solstice is kind of a big deal in AK. Down in Anchorage and Fairbanks the sun does officially set, but it's light out like it never went down. Here in Barrow the sun has been up for 41 days... the summer solstice marks the midway point for our extremely LONG day that lasts for approximately 82 days. So for us the countdown is 41 days till sunset! Since we're not down in the big cities to have official celebrations, I just made cookies. I made do with what I had so I think this is actually an original recipe... so I'm calling it MV's Happy Solstice chocolate oatmeal cookies!

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. self-rising flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugars, and cocoa together. Add eggs. Mix in flour, salt and vanilla and mix till blended. Lastly, mix in oats. Add dollops of batter on a non stick surface cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until done.

Today has been a really great productive day. It's also Ian's last work day before he has three days off so we'll be off having fun and finishing getting the house put in order. The kitchen is finally done which helped aid in the cookie baking!

Prettiest day we've had yet, so out we went.

Finally some blue sky! Atticus has been begging to go outside for days now so we walked him downtown to play on the playground next to the beach. With lots of rain lately, it was muddy but he was so ready to expend some energy!

We took another stroll by the beach and sea ice and then headed to meet all the people at the police department. As it turns out, we scored a free lunch AND I caught the news that Anchorage had an earthquake this morning. After days of rain/snow, it actually felt like there was a hint of warmth in the air... maybe "summer" will get here after all.

I was also reminded of something I find rather charming about Barrow... we have elections coming up and I've seen a lot of hand painted election signs. I far prefer these to the ones everyone sticks along the road in "normal" places!