Number 4 has begun the journey

I've picked the picture I'm going to post tonight, but maybe I can get in two. I have an announcement to make concerning family far away and since none of them are nearby for me to photograph and no one can substitute for them, this mid-afternoon shot of the Kuukpik Hotel (left) seems like just the right photo to use. The family threw a double birthday party yesterday for Rex and Lisa. There, Rex and Cortney announced they are expecting. Grandchild Number 4 is on the way. I was not certain I should post the news but it's hopping around Facebook so I see no reason to keep quiet about it any longer. 

The Daily School Bus: Working on the ice roads

Here's that little school bus again. It just might be the last time you see it or another on this blog for awhile, for a few different reasons. The most important reason is because my internet connection here is very slow and, couple this with Squarespace problems,* my posts take more time to put up than I can afford to give them. So, for the remainder of my time here in Nuiqsut, my goal will be to put up just one post a day, at the end of the day. I can't have the rest of my posts all on one little school bus. Second, while this is a school bus, it is not being used as a school bus. For the moment, there are no roads that reach beyond the village but every winter a series of ice roads are built to link the Alpine oil field and its satellites to Prudhoe Bay and the haul road and Nuiqsut gets linked into the network. That process is under way right now but is behind schedule due to the prolonged period of unusually warm weather. That, I am sure, is why the fellow yesterday was complaining about how "too damned hot" the -1F temperature was. They want cold weather to build the ice roads. This little bus carries workers staying in the hotel to the places where ice road construction is under way from here. There is a separate school bus to serve the school but it is not being used right now.

*Well, you can see one of the Squarespace problems I refer to - all that gray. This has been happening to almost every post I have put up since I arrived in Nuiqsut and to several in Barrow, occassionally in Wasilla. To correct it, I must email a picture from my iPhone to my computer and then upload and place it in the old-fashioned way. I just don't have the time for this. I'm going to leave it now as an example of the kind of headache Squarespace has been for so long. Hopefully, their new platform will be as good as it is touted to be and these problems will disappear. If not, then I will disappear from Squarespace.

On airplanes and shooting iPhones in cold weather without gloves

Airplane coming in to land early this afternoon. From yesterday afternoon's balmy -1, the temperature had dropped to -16. Not frigid for this time of year, but still I could note a marked difference from yesterday. Now that I have gotten into using the iPhone to essentially keep a daily diary and I know of no way to shoot pictures with an iPhone with gloves, I have been wondering how I would manage it when I finally get into deep cold.

I don't think I will be able to do it for more than a frame or two. This afternoon, I kept my gloves off for several periods of several minutes each and I did okay, but my hands did get pretty cold a couple of times. They warmed right up when I put them back in my gloves but at -40 or even -30 this could become a dangerous exercise. Assuming the iPhone 5s will keep shooting at such temperatures, I could get a few frames off all right but the question is knowing when to stop before it becomes too late and uou have frostbitten yourself.

The breeze is seven mph and the humidity is 87 percent. Still, the air is dry. In subzero weather even air with a high percentage of humidity is dry. Truly cold air cannot hold moisture. Moisture freezes right out of it.

The indispensable knife: how it came to me

At the end of August, as the EMN crew gathered in the home of whaling captain Edward Nukapigak to eat before boating to Cross Island, Isaiah handed this knife to me. He said I could use it through the whole trip. If you want to eat with the Iñupiat a good knife is essential. That flimsy thing they call a steak knife in mainstream America? It just won't cut it up here - literally. Try it on a piece of frozen maktak or caribou - it just won't cut it.

I used to always carry a good knife, but after 9/11 I kept losing them to airport security. I quit carrying. Before 9/11, I was in New York City and I ordered a pretzel from a street vendor. To get to my wallet I had to pull my knife out of my pocket. The vendor's eyes went big and he let out a fearful gasp. Not everybody looks at knives the way folks up here do.

Anyway, Isaiah's knife served me well all the way from Nuiqsut to Cross Island and back - and then - I lost it! I looked every place I thought it could possibly be but could not find it. I felt terrible. I told Isaiah I would replace it. "It's ok. Don't worry about it," he said. "I've got lots of knives."

Just before I left Wasilla this time, Margie found it in one of the extra pockets of the heavy-duty overpants I wore. Yesterday afternoon, I dropped in to visit his parents. Isaiah woke up and came out. I pulled out the knife and returned it to him. He handed it back. "You keep it," he said. In Iñupiat culture, you cannot turn down a gift. I accepted it back but first took this picture. Isaiah's niece, Caitlyn, suddenly decided she wanted to be in the picture, too.

Now I must be certain to always pack it away and never let airport security get it.

I lost my hat but still need to walk

Just before I left Wasilla, I realized I did not have my warm hat. Margie and I looked all over for it but could not find it. I flew to Barrow without it. I did take a neck warmer. I folded it over and used it for a hat. It was fine for walking around Barrow, but would not do on a country snowmachine venture. I needed a new hat before I left for Nuiqsut, just in case such a venture presented itself. I went to AC Value but the hats in their winter clothing section were not what you would want to trust your ears and head to out there. Beaver hats are my favorite. No matter how cold the weather those parts of my head covered by my beaver hats of the past have stayed warm.

AC Value had locally made beaver hats in a locked display case. I found one that felt good. $350. A fair price but still I hated to part with $350. I decided to stew about it in my sleep and then come back in the morning and buy the hat. Come morning, I lacked the time and flew to Nuiqsut with no hat. It felt bitter cold when I landed. Windy.

A bit later, when I stepped into the hotel, I found Robert Nukapigak just beyond the door. "Where's your hat?" he asked.

"I lost it. You know anyone selling a beaver hat?" I answered and inquired.

"I'm selling a seal skin hat," he answered. Irene made it. You want it?" The price was good. I bought it.

Today, I wanted to take a walk in the early afternoon twilight and wondered how I should dress. I asked the desk clerk if she had been outside. Yes, she said and it had really warmed up. It was very nice outside now. "It's hot!" a man standing nearby complained. "Too damn hot!" The temperature was -1 F (just shy of -19 c), the breeze light.

Good. I would not have to bundle up. A pair of light over pants, a light but warm jacket, Sorrel boots and I would be fine. I took a long, pleasant walk, most of it along the frozen Kuukpik River. My head sweated just a little bit in my new seal skin hat, but not bad. The hat was comfortable. 

Note: I am having internet difficulties. It took a number of tries spread off and on over a few hours before this post took. I see also that my school bus post got all messed up. I have another post from today, but I am tired of fighting this battle. I will hold it for morning and see if things work better then.