BARROW BITS AND PIECES

 

BARROW THIS AND THAT:

In all of the ten years I never took a sick day.  

The Barrow High School has an Olympic sized pool.  The only pool that a swimmer could train in for the Paris Olympics.

Jury duty was always very interesting. I observed several ways to be excused.  One was to bring a book, read, do not pay attention. You are excused.  Bring lots of business cards, give to everyone and do not pay attention.  Bye bye.  Make a jjoke. Lawyers do not like a sense of humor.  There was voir due question in Nome about bumper sticker.  I said had had no bumper outte here.  The cases I hear were mostly assault and DUI.  No murders thankfully. 

They usually had a craft fair close to Christmas.  The Filipinos made  adobo, pansit.Yummy.  I purchased a beautiful beaded angel pin for my coat.  Lovely.

I worked on the RPMS system, resource patint management system.  Three of usT were sent to Tucson for a refrsher couse.  While there I purchased a pair of burden basket earrings.  Then I had fry bread taco for the first time. Wow!

I loved to order Teriyaki and seven up. The taxi guys delivered it for fifteen bucks.  

Television was from Chicago so prime time was well over by the time I got home after five.  Saw some intereting commercials about black hair care.  One app was good enough to eat.  I asked a black lady at work if she processed her hair.  No her father was Indian. Shoot. I really wanted to know.

The Eskimo station always broadcast Star Trek and the occasional Eskimo dance. Also older.

There were  films about Eskimos making a sled using antler and the runners were large fish inside skins then frozen. When the camped and made the igloo the fish were cut up and cooked in a stone bowl. The kids loved the fish eyes raw.


I tasted whale chittlins, it was crispy like a radish and fainty fishy.

The local folks love TexMex Muktuk.  Seal oil, hot peppers muktuk.  Ok.

The whale muktuk os sliced off with long knives and put in the cellar which are below permafrost and well frozen.  Fresh muktuk is boiled and called unaluk.

Barrow was usually damp.  Means you can have liquor mailed in to consume.  For a period of   eighteen months the town was dry.  My job was to report all alohol related visits to ASRC.  One of the doctors did a study about the results and I was cited as a contributor. Kewl.

Recently the town voted that all liquor would be confined to a space and held two weeks until people could pick up their order.

The taxis were very reliable. One time they called because they were holding a strike  I walked to work and got there safely.  The strike was over by noon.
I purchased a beautful fox fur hat, red with tail. I loved it.  I sold it to one of the taxi guys for fifty bucks. 

They had internet, It was dial up. Husband called them so often he was banned for thirty days.

Yard sales were very popular and especially the teachers.  I had a yardsale and made about eight hundred dollars.  I left the left over in the washroom where ther was a free shelf.

Sold lots of VCRs.  Had to leave a beautiful steel shelf that cost one thousand dollars to ship.  I used it for plants, it was beautiful.  

All veterinary services were free. Bradfor had all his medical stuff done there and we had to put him done.  They were very sympathetic. Bradford spoke Chines when he was warbling away.

Litters were rare so I brought three of Jubiles litter to Barrow.  Two  two one house and one to another.  One one flight the kitten was so noise the jet actually flew faster to Fairbanks.

One time I attended a workshop in Fairbanks, it was so hot no breeze I was temped to sleep in my car.

One time I attended a workshop in Anchorage.  I had to drop the car off and got lost. I finall saw a sign that said keep runway clear. Yikez!!!  Turned around and found the right place.

One time Phil used airmiles to send Mom and Dad to Anchorage.  They checked in before I did. We met.  I had reserved a catamaran to take us on a tour of glaciers.  Did did not care for the food Chicken Tetrazine.  Yerk.  We rode the train through a tunnel it was so much fun.  Then we went to the zoo, the elephants painted and it was stinky. There was also a large polar bear named Binky.  A tourist decided to jump the fence.  He got lucky, Binky got to keep one red tennis shoe. Headlines and picture read, “Send more tourists, they are delicious.”

One evening there was an earthquake about 5.0 barely feel it.  We visited Vivian and Darrel.  It was nice seeing the cousins, one of them was a fisherman and the other drove bus.  Darrel drove the haul road when the pipeline was being built.

My favortite place to camp out was the Hilton and order room service.  One timeit snowed heavily it was so pleaceful  especially with the cemetery next door.  I especially like the coconut shrimp with Becks beer.  Ya!

DAD AND THE HAYSTACK

DAD an4 the Haystack:

One time Dad and Carl were working the neighbors field. They were learing out the drain ditch. The got old and pulled some hay from a nearby haystack and made a fire. Unfortunately the fire got away from them and burned the haytack. Grandpa B made them work the farmer for six months to make up for the lost hay. All that time they plotted about how to take revenge.

The next time the farmer and family were gone, the boys sneaked onto the property. Well, well, well. They decided to stack up several hay bales next to th barn.. They then coaxed the gentle bull up onto the top of the barn.

When the farmer got home and discovered the bull on top of his barn, he was pretty sure that the Berglund boys were guilty./ The sherrif even got involved. The boys laid low for a long time after that.

I moved back to Idaho in the mid seventies after becomig a displaced housewife. For a time I worked at Dewey orchargs. Mr. Dewey recognided me and remembered Dad very well.

While worktring there I worked in the packing she then drove truck. One tiime there were three of us and I had to ask the man next to me to spread his legs so I could shift into low.

Then there were a number Japanese men there. Mr. Dewey warned me to be careful as they were lonely. They only ever offed me a cigaretto. Then I met a ouple of Romanian. One man were there from a cattle ranch of all things. I asked him if he had bought anything for his wife. Yes.. Ool. Huh? Baa baa On Wool. K Mr. Dewey intrpduced them as our friends from behind the Iron Curtain. Very nice folks. 

DILLIGHAMB=BITS AND PIECES

 

DILLINGHAM BITS AND PIECES:

One time is snowed and I went to town to grab some donuts for a medical staff meeting. I decided to stop at home for some reason and at the top of the hill just before our duplex my right passenger side tire fell off. I managed to skid my was to a stop in from of my place. I walked back uphill and found the tire. For some stupid reason I took off myglove and poked my finger inside one of the hole. HOT burned my finger. I walked back to the house to call Janice to tell her what happened and made arrangements to get the car towed to the gas station and wait for parts. Janice picked me upl and I attended with meeting with donuts. Yummy.

It took a few weeks for the part to come in and then it got fixed, I do not remember what it cost. I had

Another time it showed and then froze. Janice went to go to work and promptly slid off the road. She hollered at me not to try it. So I called into work to say I would not be in. After a while a car creeped slowly to park in from of my house. I invited her it and began decorating my Christmas tree and make fruit cake. Later on I received a Happy Winter Solstice card from her. I think she was Wiccan.

Il a

I also had some visitors come, first was Ellen and Mom. Ellen treated them both to a inner island cruise. Mom said she enjoyed it but Ellen said she griped about everything. They bought an airbag because I only the bed for Mom, the couch and I got the airbed. Wheee. Mom had an ingrown toenail and insisted that she be seen. I took them into MR and Walter exclaimed, The just keep getting shorter! He was fun. The doctor tried to inject her toe an she kicked him in reflex and he got a needle stick. We ate out a couple of time and had halibut, my favorite.

Then Jim an Jordie came for fishing. Jim chartered a plane for

catch and release. I kept calling Jordie something faintly asian. That was fun.

There was always a weekend garden sale, I bought fingerling potatoes it was delish. One time I was at AC and saw the most strange peaches. Thy were flat, donut shaped with a bulge on one side. Delicious!

Salmon berries were available but the native ladie said dont buy them, they are not ripe.

Had to haul garbage to the local dump. One time the lady asked if she could have a box, sure.

The Seventh Day church had a pancake supper that was wonderful.

One time was had a MR candidate from Florida and she was a disaster. She had to leave Florida because she sold a ingle pill an got busted. Did not hire her.

DILLINGHAM WOMENS RETREAT

 DILLINGHAM WOMENS RETREAT

Everyonce in a while the overhead would announ

ce Native Arts in the lobby.  I went out once

 and I recognized a lady from Barrow. She was

there visiting family and she had a parka for sale. 

 It was a nice print lined in blue warmth and 

had a wolf ruff.  I purchased it for two 

hundred dollars.

A few weeks later Janice said she wanted me to

 go with her to a Women's Retreat sponsored by

 the Seventh Day Adventist Church.  I had a 

cold, coughing my head off and felt awful. 

I said I didn't want to go.  She said she had 

already paid the fee and we were going.  

I got a facemask from the hospital.  

We packed and she drove to Mosquito point on 

Lake Alecknagek. 

 

There was a little old man in his nineties 

using a tug boat to shove a barge onto the beach.  We got loade up and away went.  He was charming and I had a bit of a girl crush on him by the time we reached to island where there was hunting lodge large enough to host 20 women.

We got unloaded and found our rooms. 

In the mean time I was coughing my head off. We met the hosts and got acquainted with them as well as the guest speaker.  She had gotten her doctorate of theology after being divorced.

We had a lovely lunch.  One of the ladies 

started compolaining of chest pain.  

Have you ever had an all veggie meal? No. 

Got to the kitchen sprinkle a couple teaspons 

of baking powder into warm water. 

After you belch you will feel better. Worked.

Then the lady preacher began speaking and I 

continued to cough. She came over asked if 

she could pray for me.  Yes.  She prayed and 

essed me and annointed my forhead with oil.  

Well crap after that I had to pretend I was 

cured. So went the day. 

I stepped outside everytime I coughed. 
 

The next day we got on the barge and headed home. It rained a bit and my wolf skin parka smelled like wet dog. It was interesting. 

DILLINGHAM

 

DILLINGHAM STORY:

I lived in Dillingham, Alaska in the year 2005 and 2006 which came to one yeara exactly.

My boss was Janice Snow, she liked to give people name an extra suffix if their name was one syllable. I became Royster unfortunately. It is illegal to murder yg small presents to your person then on Friday give a bigger present My poor lady received Christmas Cakes then a large one. I do not think she was thrilled.

One of the ladies gave me a can of smoked oysters. I was thrilled I was raving about how much I loved smoked oysters. She said, no look at the label. She had written Smoked Roysters on the label. I laughed it was prett funny.

Ptl =

I loved Dillingham, it was beautiful and when it snowit really snowed. One winter day it snowed and froze. The road was so slick several cars were stopped. Janice took her car and promptly slid off the road. She hollered at me to not go in to work. One woman pulled into our yard. I invited her into the house and got out my Christmas tree and made Christmas Cake. Finally a tow truck came and pulled people to where they could get traction. Later on the lady who shared my morning sent me a Happy Solstice care, I believe she was wiccan but I did not know a lot about the craft back then.

One time I went to my house for some weird reason, my tired fell off and I skidded into my yard. I walked back up hill to find my tire. Found it and like a dummy put my finger in the middle and burned my finger. I made arrangements to get it towed to the end of the road to get if fixed. Took a while, parts had to come in by plane.

Mom and Ellen came to visit. They took a ship tour and flew from Anchorage, we had a lot of fun. Mom had an ingrown toenail and was seen in ER where she kicked like a mule and the doc got stick.Oy.

Then Jim an Jordie came to do some fishing. He chartered a flight for fish and release. My goodness. That was a lot fun as well.

Will talk about the Women's Retreat some other time.

BARROW STORY RABBI DO

BARROW STORY RABBI DO

One Winter we had a Rabbi DO come to the hospital for a few weeks. I do not remember his name. He wore a black fedora and ringlets before his ears. We had all sorts of questions. I asked him how he knew when sundown occurred in Barrow since the sun had set in November, it was now January or so. He said he coordinated with colleaques in Anchorage if sundown was 4 pm there he would celebrate the same time here. Also he had been working at a Kosher winery. How is winery Kosher? The fruit may not be harvested until the vines are four years old. Coincidentally that is usually when the vines first fruit. Salt is Kosher if it does not have Iodine in it. Huh. As time went by he kept busy visiting with the patients. The nurses had a cow because he lit a Menorrah during Hannakuh, OPEN FLAME. Don't worry he wont set an oygen patient on fire. One day I saw him in the hallway and called, “Hey Rab! Happy Hannukah!” He whirled around and asked, “What do you call eight days of great sex?” I shook my head no. He replied, ”Hannaka Lewinsky!” I have since told that joke several times. 

BARROW STORY SPRING WHALING

 

BARROW STORY SPRING WHALING:

The International Whaling Commission established the amount of strikes each village can have each year. These meetings usi annually in a diverse places as Jordan.

One spring a whale was struck. The telephone system collapsed with the volume of calls. This is always a time of celebration. Anyone who can goes to the beach to help haul in the whale. A larger caterpillar using an O ring hauled the whale to the edge of the beach. Everyone rushed to help pull it in further. Daphe Perez was there. She was married to Pedro Perez one of the hospital doctors. She volunteered with the Girl Scouts and had a mile wide smile. There such a cute couple, holding hands and they had two teenagers a boy and a girl.

Tragically the O ring snapped and whipped into the crowd. Three natives were killed outright and Daphne was struck in the abdomen. They got her to the R in time for her family to say goodbye. It was a horrible day. Francis, one of the ladies in Medrec gave her little girl a middle name of Daphne.

Pedro loved to take his family to the Taj Mahal where Mumtaz was the Shah's fifteen wife who died trying to bear hilm another child.

Dr. Perez is working in Seldova. He is a very nice man.