MY FIRST SATURDAY OCT 13

I went to sleep last night at 10:30 pm to the sound of strong winds blowing outside my window. I might not shovel again for a while; it just piles up in deeper drifts the next time I open the door. On second thought, I should continue shoveling. Like every night so far, the sounds of young people’s voices talking and laughing could be heard outside.


I woke in the middle of the night remembering that I had managed to hand carry a plant with me all the way from Seattle. It was to be my little living companion in my new life in Barrow. It survived every step of the way including being pushed under the seat in front of me on the plane. I did have a contingency plan in case I wasn’t allowed to take it on the airplane. A woman who sold me a bottle of water at an airport shop at Sea Tac said, “nice plant…are you taking it with you?” She agreed that she’d love to take it home if the airlines turned it away at the gate but was genuinely happy for me when I walked back to tell her that I’d be able to take it. There are nice people everywhere. I remember getting off of the plane and showing my little green friend to Darlene at the Barrow airport, but couldn’t recall seeing it since. What had I done with it? Did I leave it at the airport? Was it in the back of the truck Darlene picked me up in, frozen now? I could just imagine its little soul lamenting, “Thanks a lot! You brought me all the way up here and left me somewhere to freeze.” I’m feeling terrible about this, but hope to find it. No autopsy will be necessary, I’m sure.


I walked almost all the way to the airport in Barrow this morning in search of my little plant, but ran out of time, so circled back…sort of like not reaching the summit, I thought. The wind was very cold and even though the long woolen braids of my new hat look very cool hanging down on each side of my jacket, I relented and tied them tightly under my chin. Better to be warm than cool. I took a path near the lagoon instead of the road. I could see for quite a ways ahead, so scouted for bears along the way. I learned today that polar bears are most interested in the fat from seals, many times leaving the rest of the meat on the ice. I was thinking about carrying a sign with my BMI on it…there is no way that a polar bear would enjoy dining on me. Just seems fair to let them know ahead of time--why waste their efforts on a fruitless endeavor?


I returned to the library several minutes before the van from the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium arrived to take those interested in the lecture entitled Snow Drifts and Polar Bear Dens: Merging Biological and Physical Sciences in an Interactive Computer-based Lesson. Also waiting was a woman named Jan who moved from northern Idaho to Barrow in August to teach science at the middle school. She has 125 students rotating through her classroom in seven different groups every week. She’s teaching basic biology now and is looking forward to teaching astronomy next when the sun doesn’t come up above the horizon. This is probably one of the few places in the world where astronomy can be taught outside in the middle of the day during the winter.


The lecture was presented by a US Fish and Wildlife Service Educator and two Barrow High School science teachers. They wanted to show the community an interactive computer program that snow scientist Glen Liston from Colorado State University and teacher April Cheuvront from North Carolina created in conjunction with an expert snow modeler and expert bear biologists. The program is being used in the schools to make students aware of the changing denning habits of polar bears and how scientists are mapping them. With ice masses moving more northeasterly, the polar regions in the southwest Arctic regions are experiencing less ice in the winter months for polar bears to make their dens, hibernate and give birth. Many are being forced to move inland. Polar bears require snow drifts between 1 and 1.5 meters in order to create a den.


It was interesting to learn that they are impregnated and carry a fertilized egg into a snow den, but it is not implanted until they have settled into a den and begin their eight month long fast. The cub or cubs are born in the den and stay there until four to six months old when their mother brings them out and then returns to the den with them. The mother is weak and in great need of eating her first meal in many months by the time the cubs are big enough to travel out onto the ice. The mother nurses her cubs until they are two years old when they become independent and have learned to hunt for seals on their own. I enjoyed the lecture very much and can see the value it would have to school children as well as to adult audiences. Lectures on various subjects are held most Saturdays. The van ride back to the library found me mesmerized by the brilliant blue sky, the interesting cloud formations and the rainbow above the dramatic rising and falling of the tall steel gray and white waves of the Arctic Ocean.

 
Yesterday my fellow public health nurse, Bertrand, told me that there will be one more whale strike and that it will be divided up at a place east of town. He said that I should try to be there to watch as the next time will be next fall. I was surprised because I had heard that whaling was done in the spring time as well. Bertrand said that the spring strike is different with the whaling happening out in the ocean and the cutting up taking place far out on the ice. Some people outside of the Inupiat culture have attended, but it is by invitation only and it doesn’t happens very frequently.

 
I attended a lecture at the library after the visit to the BASC given by local author, Debbie Dahl Edwardson. She moved to Barrow many years ago, married an Inupiat man and had seven children together. She became concerned that the books available to children who live in Barrow didn’t reflect things that they could relate to, giving examples of stories about families that had BBQ’s, cars, fathers who mowed the grass in the back yard, etc. She began to write children’s books about the Inupiat culture, Whale Snow, Blessing’s Bead and her latest book My Name is Not Easy was a finalist for a national book award. Whale Snow is written in both English and Inupiaq with the phrases side by side. Don’t tell Jordan, Keira and Gracie, but Santa Claus tucked one for each of them into his big bag.

 
I talked with my father who flew bush planes out of Barrow in 1951 and 1952 tonight. I always love hearing about his adventures and will post some of what he shared with me soon.

 
I walked for over an hour this evening, enjoying the biting cold, spent $50 on two bags of produce and am now enjoying the warmth of the apartment. It’s a feather bed for me now…not literally, but it’s time to head in that direction. I can hear the sounds of children talking, laughing and playing outside my window. Snowballs are hitting the glass and the wind is blowing strongly.