Who's Hungry

So sad to say it but I think I cut up Rudolph!

Yesterday Rod (Sheila's husband) returned from hunting in EEK and had 2 caribou and a reindeer (the caribou is on the left and the reindeer is on the right).

We wanted to help butcher next time someone got a caribou even though Michele turns white at the sight of a dead animal! We headed over at about 8:30 last night ready to work. When I walked in the door (I arrived later than the other girls because I went to a friends house for dinner) they told me to pick up the heart and get a picture. I wasn't afraid so I picked up this heart, nearly the size of my head, and smiled for a picture. Michele turned around and apparently worked hard to keep the vomit down. She was in for a long night.

Sheila had some akutaq (eskimo ice cream) waiting for me when I arrived :) After eating, the ulu knives were brought out and the skinning began. Luckily the animals were already gutted (that's the smelly part) and we needed to start cutting of the skin. Wasn't too hard- just had to make sure I didn't get any of the meat on the skin and waste it. Sheila kept the fur from the caribou neck because that is used for dance fans. While skinning the animals we also cut off the calves of all the legs. Dolores, a new friend and parent of a student here, told me I was now 'qualified' for a husband because I can cut up the animals. We will see about that ;)



Took maybe a couple of hours but we skinned BOTH animals and took a break. Next we had to take wet paper towels and began wiping the hairs (MANY of them) off of the bodies. We then cut off the legs and from there cut the meat off of the bones and into roast size pieces. After the pieces were cut we washed them again to get off as much hair as possible. While we did this Sheila worked on sawing the ribs so they weren't as huge. We bagged all of the rinsed meat so that people from the village could come by today, Sunday, and get meat. This work was exhausting. Rachel, Michele and I left at about 1:30 because we were so tired. Sheila and Rod were saving the rest of the work for the next day. We got a lot more finished than they had expected :) This is a picture of us at the end of the night-- wiped out...

Sheila sent some meat home with us and Rod drove us by 4 wheeler so we wouldn't have to make the walk. It was FREEZING out- unfortunately I don't know the temperature. On Thursday I walked to school without a hat or gloves and didn't feel too bad. Found out that afternoon it had been -20 not including the windchill. I MUST be getting used to this cold weather.

I also wanted to let you all see the MAMMOTH TOOTH! Gideon, the 2nd grade teacher, was out hunting at the beginning of the school year and found it. Apparently mammoth bones/tusks/teeth have been found in this area. It's pretty awesome is all I have to say.

Ice Road, Dr. Bob, SRA, & Hospital!

After a lonnnnngggg bad week last week (to say the least), I am off to a great start this week! Sunday I flew into Bethel for another SRA training. I am starting the SRA program at our school and therefore the District Office flew me into Bethel because a lady came in from Colorado to train/coach us all day Monday. When I flew in, a friend picked me up at the airport with another friend’s car. I stayed at Julane and Michael’s house, my friends I talked about from the Anchorage conference, while they were out of town and borrowed their car. They both work in Bethel. What a GREAT help that was! Sunday night I was able to go shopping and pick up dinner without having to walk in -35 degree weather or paying for a cab. Monday I went to the District Office for the training, which was great by the way, and took Moose to the vet right after. I e-mailed the vet last week about Moose’s leg and attached a picture to the e-mail. The vet said he wanted to see him when he was in town. He comes in once a month and luckily this was the week he was in town- couldn’t have worked out better! The vet said to keep it wrapped and not let him lick the wound at all... whoops- Megan and Garnet swore that would help HEAL the wound so I left it uncovered for a week or two! That’s right, I’m calling you two out on this issue! I brought Moose in and the vet said as long as he doesn’t lick it- he thinks it should heal. He could give him stitches but the wound is in a bad spot for stitches because they would be really tight. Living in bush Alaska, so far from a vet, it was probably more of a danger to go with the stitches. Moose didn’t need any special meds or anything! He did however get… dun dun dun… the cone of shame (for those of you that have seen the movie UP, you will appreciate this). Let me tell you… Moose was thrilled!!! When the vet first put the cone on Moose turned his head fast and WHACKED me right in the head. I guess I deserved that. (I’ll try to put a video of Moose’s reaction to the cone on facbook).

After the vet I brought Moose back to the house. Zach (another 1st year teacher in Bethel- he too was in Anchorage at the conference) and I went on an adventure! There are many of these in Alaska ☺ We went for a drive- on the ICE ROAD! It was weird, scary, and thrilling all at the same time for me to drive in the middle of a river that in August I traveled on by boat and caught my first salmon!

While we were driving we passed a lot of fish camps (used in the winter but especially in the summer) and people out on the river ice fishing.

We drove all the way to Oscarville, a village of about 70 people. Oscarville is only about 5 miles from Bethel but still. In the summer they can only travel to/from the village by boat because it is on an island (I think it’s an island but regardless, there are no vehicles and no planes). In the winter they travel by car or ‘snow machine/ snow go’, Alaskan for snowmobile. It was sooooo nice to be able to just get in a car and drive around- I miss driving. Below is a picture of Oscarville.

We also passed a lot of fish camps on the drive.

After going for a drive, Zach and I went out to dinner and had Sushi. I know, sounds scary eating Sushi in Bethel, AK- but it was delicious! At dinner we ran into the SRA trainer and the guy from the DO who organized the training. After dinner we decided to visit his neighbor/friend, Jackie, the vet’s secretary and her family. Dr. Bob- Moose’s vet was there as well. (Dr. Bob works with some of the Iditarod dogs!) They too were about to head out for Sushi (I wanted to sing ‘It’s a Small World After All). Anyway, I can stop blabbing now- it’s probably getting boring but it was much more eventful than a school day in Kong would have been… well maybe.

ANNNNDDD I'm adding onto this blog as I wait for pictures to upload...
I returned from Bethel on Tuesday and went back in on Wednesday! Michele was sick Tuesday night with a lot of stomach pain and nausea. She went to the clinic (we were worried she had appendicitis) and they gave her tylenol and sent her home. Wednesday morning they called her to come in again and ended up sending her to Bethel. She asked me to go with her so I left school early and we took the next available flight. Unfortunately we were on weather hold and had to wait an hour for a flight to come... could have been much worse. When we were approaching Bethel I noticed the pilot turned around (7 times!!!!) because the weather wasn't ok for landing. I was stressed and anxious. 1. I don't do well with vomiting 2. I just wanted to be on the ground. Luckily we were able to land in Bethel, got a cab and went to the ER.
3 shots, 1 IV, blood drawn, morphine, anti nausea medication, catscan, and 2 bags of fluid later Michele was sent home for the night. Her bloodwork showed a possibility of pancreatitis- YIKES. The doctor wanted to see her in the morning. We stayed at Julane and Michaels again and headed back to the hospital in the morning. They took her blood again and all levels were normal so she was free to go back to Kong. Could have been an Ovarian Syst and the flu... not exactly sure. She was definitely feeling better :)
Considering the circumstances, Michele and I managed to have a good time in Bethel. Could have been the morphine- but there was a lot of laughing. *When I called for a cab I could see it coming in the distance. I pointed it out to Michele and she said, "So all Red Trucks here are cabs?" No, not the red truck... the vehicle with the 4 numbers on top of it is the taxi. *When Michele was finally in a room, the doctor poked his head in and said abdomen or rash? We responded abdomen. He responded "cuase if it's a rash I'm NOT going in there!" *Later at the hospital a machine in Michele's room kept beeping and the screen said to press stop. Well the doctor came in and could NOT figure it out. Finally I was like... ummm just press stop and pointed to the stop button. He wanted to hire me after that one but I rejected. *When Michele was released the first night she started to grab the IV and said "So I just pull this out?" The doc was like "NO- hurry up and get in here to help this girl out she's trying to do it herself!" ....just a few of the examples.
This morning (Friday) when I woke up it was 53 degrees in our house! COOOLLLLD! All 4 dogs (we are watching all dogs since Megan and Rachel are out of town for spring break) jumped on my bed during the night because I had an electric blanket. They were actually shivering. I ran to school in the morning and our reliable maintenance guys came and fixed the heat. A couple of hours later I was in the office talking about how my room is always cold because of where it is located in our house (or so I thought). Nick, the maintenance guy was like "oh you probably have an air pocket... I'll come fix that too." TURNS OUT... all I had to do was open the vents! I am so dumb some times. I have been FREEZING for 3 months in my room... so bad that I sleep in the living room quite often... and all I had to do was open the vents. WELP now it is warm at least. This evening I made chicken and dumplins (with Grandma's recipe) and pumpkin bread. Garnet and Margaret came over- it was delicious if I do say so myself. Now it's time to relax and enjoy what is left of my break.
(These are pictures I took on a 10 minute walk today- it was soo cold I couldn't handle any longer)