Freeze Up is on the Way

The last three mornings there has been frost. Today we awoke with a light dusting of snow. The ground is beginning to harden and ice is forming on the gravel on Shore Avenue. Freeze Up is on the way.

Freeze Up is a Arctic term used to describe the process in which the rivers and ocean turns to ice. Out on the tip of this peninsula, we will spend the eight months of winter surrounded by ice and snow. The ocean ice normally thickens to about five feet deep. Some years it has been as thick as 10 feet. The many lagoons will be frozen, as well as nearby Swan Lake. The old fashioned, outdoor, ice skating rink near the Club will be used.

Fewer people have been venturing outside in the last day or so. Yesterday I saw a couple and young child dressed in down jackets and wool hats. When Rick and I went out to dinner, I noticed an occasional four wheeler pass by. The drivers wore heavy jackets, hoods, gloves and sometimes ski masks. The others had ruddy complexions. Frost bite will be possible soon.

As winter sets in, our virtual shopping carts are filling up with bulk foods, vegetables and meat. Fred Meyer Alaska ships to the Bush and so does Mr. Prime Beef.  Last Friday night we saw a large cargo jet taking off around sunset. Once a week they make deliveries to Bush cities like this. The rush to replenish the winter stockpile is on. The University of Alaska-Fairbanks offer shopping tips to teachers moving to the bush.

I had willed myself not to think about temperatures dipping below freezing so soon. I refused to think about people in other parts of the country who are basking in Indian Summer temperatures, sitting by a pool, or hanging out in shorts on the beach. But yesterday the bitter arctic winds and freezing temperatures sent my body into cold spasms. Disbelief crept in. Today I move forward, accepting the fact and the change of wardrobe: down coats, thicker gloves, long johns, wool socks, and soon winter boots.

As I look out the window, the reality of winter sinks in. Snow flakes dust the ground. Children all bundled up play excitedly in the parking area. The tundra is in the hazy distance and white patches can be seen. Otherwise it's quiet.

Suicide Prevention

Recently I was reminded how important love is when someone reached out for help after taking a bunch of prescription drugs. There was a suicide note in his pocket at the time. Because he reached out, he is alive today. In Kotzebue and the villages of the Northwest Arctic Borough, suicide is a reality that touches nearly all of us either up close or distantly.

Last year there were three suicides here. While we were fortunate that this young man reached out for help, there are countless others near us who will not. Suicide among Alaska natives is commonly linked with depression and mental illness, which often goes untreated in rural areas, as well as with alcoholism. Disconnection from their culture and poverty are other factors that increase the chances of suicide. The highest rates of suicide among natives are between the ages of 20 and 29.

I am writing this post to tell you of the young man mentioned above and because Monday is the beginning of Yellow Ribbon Week at the Club. There will be programs to teach our members about the realities of suicide and to celebrate life, a life worth living. Our members will learn what to say to someone who is considering suicide and what to do if someone they know takes that path.

We will celebrate life because we need to remember how blessed we are, especially those at risk. We need to remember that there are those around who love us, those who would be deeply impacted if we were no longer living. There are those people whose lives we have touched.

We also need to be reminded of our uniqueness and our sameness. God's plan for each of us needs to be carried out by us. Only we can deliver God's mail.

So this week celebrate life. We all have much to be grateful for. Give yourself when you are prompted. Make someone feel loved. And remember that you are dear to your family and friends.

Highlights of the Week

Our apartment in Teacher Housing

Life in Kotzebue has finally begun to normalize. This post is a recording of the week's highlights, including changes in staffing at our jobs that will free us both up to spend more quality time together. The new landline phone will help us connect with our friends in the lower 48 better. And also some furniture -- including a dining table, four chairs, and a tv -- was gifted or loaned to us.

During the week I learned of some good websites and catalog companies that ship groceries and household items to Alaska. The most exciting discovery was Fred Meyer Alaska. They offer a large selection of natural foods and regular groceries at really reasonable prices. While searching their site, I recalled deadlines at Oregon Coast magazine when Rosemary and I would take a few minutes to walk over to the Florence Fred Meyer to pick up natural food staples and treats for the office. I miss my work buddies at the magazine.

Rick talks with Tryson about sales

The packaging store hit a good stride late in the week when a new assistant manager was hired and a new stock of alcohol arrived. Rick has been helping out there in the evenings sometimes when it's been super busy. He's lost some weight schlepping around the cases of beer and looks good.

The store is expecting a huge barge shipment soon. In the meantime, their inventory is quickly evaporating. Sales are booming. Hopefully this shipment will last through the winter. With three of the large employers handing out paychecks on Friday, alcohol flew off the shelves and the lines were out the door most of the day.

More than 500 permits have been issued, close to the 600 total projected. A customer must purchase a permit in order to buy alcohol at the store. There has been no noticeable increase in the number of alcohol-related crimes. However much bootleg alcohol has been ceased. I pray the money saved by those who are purchasing alcohol at the store is being spent to buy more food for their families.

And finally, yesterday Rick watched the Oregon Ducks beat the University of Tennessee on a tv in our apartment. Yes, we can watch Ducks football games on tv up here! Go Ducks! During the commercials the usual flipping to other stations occurred. Rick was stoked.

Seagulls and Soil in Kotzebue

Late this week, the weather resembled an Oregon Coast winter transplanted to the Far North.  There were white caps on windblown waves pounding against the shore of the lagoon. Misty rain came down in sheets; windy and cool. The winter quiet had arrived.

The seagulls were happily gliding in the wind, dancing on currents with little effort. From our living room window, I could see them coasting between the apartment complex across the street and Teacher Housing building A. Those green-painted units house seasonal workers for AIC, some acronym that begins with the word Alaska and has to do with constructing roadways or other transportation methodologies.

Steel frames help to position piling.

AIC workers are thrusting metal sheet piling into the ocean sand along Shore Avenue. Most people refer to this roadway as Front Street because it is the ancient front door of Kotzebue, as evidenced by the oldest dwellings located there. AIC will finish their work this year sometime in October as winter will dip to sometimes 30 below and the permafrost will be impenetrable.  In spring, they will resume the project with completion expected sometime before fall.

The project is an attempt to stave off erosion, which is shrinking the roadway along the street. The metal sheet piling is also meant to provide protection from large chunks of ice that can run aground and slam into cars and homes while rushing through the channel during Break up.

Erosion is a real problem in Alaska. A recent article in the Arctic Sounder mentioned that scientist have found that because the Freeze up occurs later each year, the ocean waves and rushing rivers have more time to eat away at the banks of of towns and villages. When I recently visited the Eskimo village of Kivalina, I saw a sea wall comprised of huge boulders that had been barged in from far away. It is hoped they will hold dirt on the peninsula. Backyards along the ocean shore have fallen into the ocean and been swept away by currents.

Five years ago community stakeholders considered relocating Kivalina but decided instead to try this method without doing any studies on whether it would work. It was a cheaper solution than moving a village and more funding was available for the project. Uprooting families that had lived there for countless generations played a factor in deciding not to move the village.

The gulls outside my window enjoyed their flights. Some just hoovered above and others rocketed through the air on those invisible currents. Some flew in twos, others solo. Beneath them the wind forced waves of salty water against the shore, depositing foam on the pebbled shore. In my flu-caused delirium, I thought it had been the first hint of snow.

A small plane lifted its front and and then back wheels off the runway located along the opposite shore of the lagoon. The take off was somewhat blurred by the misty rain. More than likely the transport was traveling to a neighboring village carrying people or Internet orders. More than four charter and commercial airlines fly in and out of this hub city every day.

No more seagulls to watch. Rain fell softly outside the fogged up windows. The quiet of the day lingered. The muse was finished with me for that day, and I longed for Rick to be home watching the gulls.