BUS RIDES

 

BUS RIDES:

My first bus ride was when I was about two or

 three years old.  I am sure that Richard was

 with us.  Dad was working in Eastern Oregon 

and Mom had to return to Emmett for some 

reason.  So we took a bus.  The main thing 

I remember was when we were nearing Ontario 

there was an over powering smell of onions. 

 Phew!

Next bus rides were the routine school bus 

rides when ever we lived out in the country

 sides.

One very special bus ride was one to eastern

 Idaho to attend the 1965 Basketball 

tournament which Emmett won for their 

division. I screamed myself hoarse.

There was one memorable bus ride when we 

lived near Riggins.  Mom found us a Church 

Day Camp to attend.  Away we went, all six 

of us. One of the ladies thought the girls 

were my daughters.  We all did the macaroni 

and glue art project. I remember some one 

asking about religious preferenes.  Not a

 problem attended plenty of Sunday school here and there.  I am sure the lady was d by my eccumenial leanings.

When I lived in California, my first roommate

 took a trip back east.  She had me take a 

bus from Vallejo to Reno wher we met.  

That was fun. The trip up was unremarkable 

except for a black couple who were drunk and 

argued.  The bus driver finally had them leave the bus at some point.  There are always intereting folk to be found on a bus.

Then I took a bus ride with Charlie from 

Philo,CA to Novato.  We were scheduled for a 

trip to Idaho. We rode on a helicopter to 

SFO and it was noisy.

Before that I was chaperon for Vicky on her 

class trip. We weny from Novato to Disney. 

This was shortly after a big quake that 

brought down freeways.  Once we got close, 

the driver very carefully got to the Happiest

 Place.  It was fun.  I forgot how few places

 there are to sit down in Dinny land.

I got got we had a bus system in Barrow, 

you 

could look on the Eskimo channel to see how close it was.  Hop on drop in a token, away you go!! Occasionally the driver would say where were by saying “ And here is the Blue Hotel. Jail” Every one laughed.  

If I ever hit the lottery I would start a l

ocal bus service for Coquille and to Myrtle 

Point for free. Wheeee.

MOMS STORY

MOMS STORY:

I guess Mom got tired of me talking all about Dad stories.  I had talked about the time he ran away from home at age eleven and took a lenghthy journey, the time he and Carl burned the neighbor farmer hay stack and the time he went AWOL and got away with it.

 So she told me that she once stolen five pounds of sugar. Oh, do tell I purred. She was on a date with some one, not Dad. They had gone dancing. There may be been the itty bitty aount of liquor consumed. The went to the Ola Store.  There was a very bit stack of five pound bags of sugar.  She decided to steal one and put it in her coat pocket...deep pocket.  I asked her what she did with it. She put in her mothers pantry.  Grandma Horn baked a lot. She usually made pies and routinely kept one hundred pounds of sugar and baked bread and kept one hundred pounds of flour.
 

I wish I had asked her if she had committed any other girlish indiscretions. I know that she droppd out of highschool and worked in a bakery an then at the local five and dime, I think it was Sprouse. She boarded with lady who owned the store. She was very independent. The sugar was taken well before WWII and rationing began. I remember her telling me that she was painting the bedroom when they heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor. She said she got her first pair of nylong after she married. Her wedding shoes were leather, brown and heeled. Ellen has them. I remember her telling me that Dad gave her a Pink Kimono which came from Uncle Carl as he had been stationed in Japan. She said she made it into a dress. I do wish she had kept the Kimono. So did she. If anyone has other memories, please share. 

HIGHER EDUCATION

 

HIGHER EDUCATION:

The summer I moved to Petaluma I was seventeen, not old enough to work.  So I spent that time going to Santa Rose Junior College to take placement tests. Unfortunately I could not enroll due to lack of money. I also babysat once with a family who went to Russian River over Fourth of July.  That was fun.  I wish I had volunteered at the hospital with my current experience and gradually gotten into medical transcription. I may have headed for a degree in medical records much sooner.  Once I was hired at Fairchild on night shift.  I was free to attend Redwood Junior College where I took classes on Astrology, Art and Spanish.  

When I returned to Idaho as a displaced housewife I took aptitude tests and the local unemployment office.  The Social worker told me that I had a good vocabulary and would work best on night shift. She then presented three jobs she thought I would excel at.  First was nuclear lab technician. This was located in far eastern Idaho with a lengthy commute by bus to the lab. No thanks. The second option was that of OSHA inspector. Umm people are shooting at OSHA inspectors.  Third was medical records, two year degree at Boise State University, Tell me more.  I applied and qualified for Basic Education Opportunity Grant.  Thaat paid for my tuition.  No books or food.  The books were spendy but I only bought a couple of them.  There was no math requirement.  The rest of my classes were wonderful. Medical record five day a week, terminology three days a week, she gave new words and tests on Friday so I skipped Monday and Wednesday. I aced it.  Biology thrree day a week, lab once a week three hours. Speech three days a week, English three days a week, Medical Law evenings once a week.  Also Introduction toW Western Civilization. The teacher asked us first thing what grade did we want. He love =d social experiments. After a while we understood do project, read book. Well we never opened the book. He loved to have prisoners come in; we had burlary week, car theft week. Then we had a couple come in he wanted a sex change, still wanted his wife and family. He asked what to tell the children, one of his friends said tell them that Dad had died.  NOOOOO. Kids love their parents no matter what.  When I worked at St. Als a doctor wanted a path report on someone.  He was a prisoner who would swalloe items such at razor blades, knives etc. The path report reae in part “and a partridge in a pear tear.”  So my project for class was to invite that prisoner to class but he did not want to do that. I got an A. Wunnerful

When I transferred to Barrow, Alaska there is the Ilizagvik College out at NARL, naval arctic research lab.  They discovered a vast gas field. All the borough owned buildings and apartments were heated by gas.  The dryer were gas as well. I took a couple classes one was film we watched tne original Vampire film with Bela Lugosi. Then we watched the recent Frankenstein with Robert Deniro. We also read a short story about someone heating a pot of rice with a very small fire.  The teacher asked us to write about one of them.  I chose Frankenstein.  It was a lot of fun.  Victor lived happily ever after in The Place of Owls.  HIGHER EDUCATION:

The summer I moved to Petaluma I was seventeen, not old enough to work.  So I spent that time going to Santa Rose Junior College to take placement tests. Unfortunately I could not enroll due to lack of money. I also babysat once with a family who went to Russian River over Fourth of July.  That was fun.  I wish I had volunteered at the hospital with my current experience and gradually gotten into medical transcription. I may have headed for a degree in medical records much sooner.  Once I was hired at Fairchild on night shift.  I was free to attend Redwood Junior College where I took classes on Astrology, Art and Spanish.  

When I returned to Idaho as a displaced housewife I took aptitude tests and the local unemployment office.  The Social worker told me that I had a good vocabulary and would work best on night shift. She then presented three jobs she thought I would excel at.  First was nuclear lab technician. This was located in far eastern Idaho with a lengthy commute by bus to the lab. No thanks. The second option was that of OSHA inspector. Umm people are shooting at OSHA inspectors.  Third was medical records, two year degree at Boise State University, Tell me more.  I applied and qualified for Basic Education Opportunity Grant.  Thaat paid for my tuition.  No books or food.  The books were spendy but I only bought a couple of them.  There was no math requirement.  The rest of my classes were wonderful. Medical record five day a week, terminology three days a week, she gave new words and tests on Friday so I skipped Monday and Wednesday. I aced it.  Biology thrree day a week, lab once a week three hours. Speech three days a week, English three days a week, Medical Law evenings once a week.  Also Introduction toW Western Civilization. The teacher asked us first thing what grade did we want. He love =d social experiments. After a while we understood do project, read book. Well we never opened the book. He loved to have prisoners come in; we had burlary week, car theft week. Then we had a couple come in he wanted a sex change, still wanted his wife and family. He asked what to tell the children, one of his friends said tell them that Dad had died.  NOOOOO. Kids love their parents no matter what.  When I worked at St. Als a doctor wanted a path report on someone.  He was a prisoner who would swalloe items such at razor blades, knives etc. The path report reae in part “and a partridge in a pear tear.”  So my project for class was to invite that prisoner to class but he did not want to do that. I got an A. Wunnerful

When I transferred to Barrow, Alaska there is the Ilizagvik College out at NARL, naval arctic research lab.  They discovered a vast gas field. All the borough owned buildings and apartments were heated by gas.  The dryer were gas as well. I took a couple classes one was film we watched tne original Vampire film with Bela Lugosi. Then we watched the recent Frankenstein with Robert Deniro. We also read a short story about someone heating a pot of rice with a very small fire.  The teacher asked us to write about one of them.  I chose Frankenstein.  It was a lot of fun.  Victor lived happily ever after in The Place of Owls.  

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.

BARROW STORY CULTURE PILL

 

BARROW CULTURE PILL:

I love to take classes occasionally.  The teacher for literature lived in my building and was kind enough to have the classes in downtown Barrow. 

The first class was about Frankenstein. We watched the most recent film starting Robert De Niro etc.  It was very good. At the end of the class we were challenged to write a sequel.

My was titled Big Man.  Frankenstein was last seen in the book as he jumped offith a group of Inupiat fishing him out of the water.  He was burned badly. Soon he was awake, eating and thanking them.  He recovered nicely and learned to hunt. They returned to home The Place of Owls now known as Barrow or Utkiagvik.  He married and the first few children were all named after peole in Switzerland. The rest had native names.  His journal is still held in the archives of the Barrow History center.  

The next story we read was a short story about the Third Bank. A woman asked the priest to bring her husband back who was missing.  He could not do that.  Had not left in a canoe that held only one.  We finally figured out that he had died and could not return. So the third bank was death.

Finally we read Love In The Time of Cholera by Marquez a nobel prize winner for literature The book was only six chapters a great deal of description.  I got the the fourth chapter as I was reading I got a strong sense of Deja Vu.  So I began back tracking until I found a duplicate paragraph.  They were on a steam ship and the paragraph was exact.  I was encouraged to write to the author to ask of the duplicate paragraph was an easter egg.  I never heard from him and have never read any of his other books.  I someone has read One Hundred Years of Solitude and found a duplicate paragraph please me know. Thanks. 

BARROW STORY FIVE

 

BARROW STORY FIVE:

This is about Neal the canary strangler, probation violating murder.

I first became aware of this man when he appeared for walkin. He needed labs drawn for his job. He was worried about being absent too long from his new job. I told him not to worry. He was about five foot eight, middle aged, about 180 lbs, wearing a jacket with elbow patches. He also wore his hair short and blond. He worked in the local attorney's office.

Patrick told me that his roommate was the lawyer for whom Neal was working. At any rate he was soon fired because he was downloading porn on the office computer. He fled Barrow.

We would have never known anything more about him but he called to have his last paycheck forwarded to Florida. It turns out he was a convicted killer, who panicked at the scene and strangled a canary. I will assume that he returned to prison for parole violation but you never know how things go elsewhere in the lower forty eight.

BARROW STORY FOUR:

 

BARROW STORIES FOUR: Patricks recipe.

When I worked in Barrow at the hospital, I would occasionally eat in the cafeteria, There were only about six tables there and it got very noisy. One day there was a pause in the noise and Patrick said, “..hamburger dildo..”. Dead silence. I asked Patrick what that was all about.

It seems that his aunt, a very conservative Catholic lady had a recipe for hamburger dill roll. It consisted of a large dill pickle wrapped in hamburger meat and fried. I asked what the side dish was and Patrick replied white sauce and two medium sized boiled onions. The family promptly renamed the dish Hamburgery Dildo. We all got a huge laugh out of that one.

BARROW STORY THREE

 

BARROW STORY THREE:

Ricky the Red Headed Hitchhiker. This young man on a nice sunny day decided to hitchhike the Dalton Highway or the Haul Road. My Uncle Darrel drove on the haul road when the pipeline was first started. The Dalton Highway is 414 miles long from Valdez to Dead Horse. There only a couple of stops for fuel and a 256 mile stretch without fuel.

So, Ricky decided that when ever he saw an 18 wheeler coming he would lie down in the road and pretend to have a seizure. The truck picked him up and dropped off at Deadhorse. They did not have medical services and put him on the next jet to Barrow.

He arrived in the walk in clinic carrying an Alaska Airline cardboard suitcase and smelling very bad. He was triaged and found to have cerebral palsy and he was given the opportunity to clean up. The staff could not recommend any treatment for him and put him on the jet to Anchorage.

I like to think that Ricky is still successfully falling into a fake seizure as he travels through out the lower 48 states. I wonder if he has tried Canada?

BARROW STORIES TWO

 

BARROW STORIES TWO:

The Ninja sex change kidnapper. I would ofen man the front desk from twelve to one for walk in clients. One afternoon, a silky voice announced, “I am Michelle K” Okay I looked that up and said I could not find the name. Then she said, look under Michael K. Oh. Would you like me to add Michelle as Also Known As? Yes, please. He/She went on for the walk in. I had seen him in the neighborhood. He liked to dress all in black as a Ninja, he did not have the throwing stars or the swords. He applied to Arctic Slope Regional Corporation for money to get a sex change operation. He was turned down. He was very disappointed so much so that he kidnapped a teacher couple and kept them in their house. He demanded the money before he would let them go. The standoff went on for most of the day. About the time the SWAT team from An;chorage landed, he decided to give up. The sentence for kidnapping in Alaska starts at 99 years. Since he was nonviolent I am sure the sentence was far less than that. I do not think they do sex change in prison, so he probably had to save up his various dividends. I am very sure that Michelle is now happily going about her business.

BARROW STORIES ONE

The mystery of Aunt Mary.  I worked in Barrow, Alaska for all of the nineteen nineties.  I loved it there.  I worked in medical records and sometimes took a lunch time shift at the front desk taking walkins etc. One of the elders came and she did not look well.  She died four days later.  There is no coroner or funeral services in Barrow.  The body must be shipped to Anchorage.  In a week or so the casket is returned and the family views the body in the back hallway by ER in front of a two drawer morgue.  In due time the casket arrived. The family arrived.  The casket top was opened.  That was not Aunt Mary.  It was the body of an old black woman from North Carolina.  Oh dear what happened.  That casket was returned to Anchorage.  In about a week Aunt Mary was returned.  The family came for the viewing and left satisfied.  The casket to be transferred to the Presbyterian Church.  One of the nurses was heard to murmur rather sadly, "You know, Aunt Mary never traveled that much when she was alive."

QUILTING

QUILTING. The earlierst quilt was one of Grandma Horns, The garments used were familiar. I recognized someones shirt, skirt, blouse etc.  No fancy stitched sewed together on the wonderful old treadle Singer machine.  Later, in Junior High when she lived in town I would go over after school to make three baby doll quilts for my three sisters for Christmas. Then Mom showed me a quilt pieced by Grandma Latimer when she was born.  It was a red, white and blue log cabin pattern.  At one point in the nineties she decided to complete it.  First she fixked the turkey red because she knew the color would run something awful.  I believe she used vinegar, well soaked and rinsed.  Then shes about using thick white threat to quilt the thing with  filler and backing of course.  It was just gorgeous when it was finished.  She gave the quilt to Carla, I think who then sent it to me.  I decided to use archival paper to wrap the quilt in as well as a cloth where I printed the history of the quilt. I then carefully folded it in paper and sent it to Ellen, who has always loved it.  I loved to attend the annual quilt show held at the former highschool.  My favorite was a beautiful Mariners Compass.  Gorgeous.  There was an avant guard quilt of dark green, ugh.I made several quilts for relatives all of of polyester.  Mom made a small baby quilt for Charlie Sherry had it for a while.  I think it got used as a saddle  blanket. Mom got it back for me and I believe Charlie still has it. I have seen the gorgeous Victorian pieces with fancy stitching but never made one or wanted one.  If anyone else has quilt stories do let me know. R

TRAVELING WITH ANIMALS

 The first animal I remember traveling with was a puppy we had taken on the summer we went to Aripzona  We stopped for lunch at a spot and the puppy mysteriously disappeared.  The next time was when Judy Jones went to Emmett with me.  She brought a ginea pig, the girls were thrilled.  It was very squeaky. Then there was the time we flew from San Francisco to Bluefield West Virginia.  Judy brought her black poodle, Lucky.  There were three adults, two childre;n and the dog.  We had so much luggage we had to wait until the next day to pick it up.  Betty used one suitcase for her wig.  We truly did look like the Gabor sisters on tour.  Next animal was in Barrow. Tim had a Manx named Bradford.  He became hyper thyroid and we had to take to Springfield to be radiated.  It worked somewhat.  He was charming and spoke Chinese when he was warbling about something he was pleased with.  The next Kitty was Jubilee. She had five kittens while I was in Barrow and Tim  in Coquille.  I took two kittens to Barrow for adoption.  Litters were very rare, they went to good homes.  All of those kittens remaing died.  Our last kitty was Charlie he was born 2016 and died 2024 he was our last kitty.  Gale felt sorry for us and purchased a black kitty from Amazon to put in the window.  Tim was trying to find a Vet, the Animal Hospital in Coos Bay had an interesting answer on their phone.  If you wish to incur a bill from 1200 to 1800 dollars, please press one.  Um, no  Local people were available and were very kind. Still cost three hundred dollarsl.  Pet insurance?  NOOOOO

CORVETTE SUMMER

CORVETTE SUMMER:

Judy Jones came to own a shabby looking 1956 Corvette.  It had a removable hard top for going about in the sunshine.  It was held together mostly by bondo and fiberglass.  Eventually it got painted white had red leather interior and looked pretty snazy.  One weekend we drove to Bakersfield with the couple from Judy purhased the car.  We went to participate in a Corvette Cross track trial.  There two runs for each car.  Judy drove one, I drove the second.  It was a lot of fun, I believe I stalled out.  But she won a noncompetition trophy because there were no other 56 Corvettes.  On the way back, we were pulled over by the State Police.  His reason was that he could not see the front plates.  I think he just wanted to flirt.  We got home and Judy kept the care for a couple of years.  She gave it to her younger brother, Ed.  He painted it blue.  Do not know what happened to it afterwards.  It was a fun car.