Nursing in Barrow

I'm trying to decide whether to ride my bike or to walk to work today. One morning last week the weather report looked incredibly grim with visibility at less than 1/2 mile, high winds and a subzero temperature. I hadn't opened my blinds before leaving, so was pleasantly surprised that the sun was shining and the winds hadn't picked up yet...a glorious morn and an enjoyable walk on the still frozen lagoon. On the bike ride home from work yesterday, the strong, cold winds and I fought it out...I think it just wanted someone to toss around like a lion does its cub. It had almost lifted and definitely propelled me towards work earlier in the day. This morning NOAA, a reliable source of weather conditions most days, reports a wind chill of -11 F with winds out of the east. Here's a peek of our weather here. To bike or not to bike...that is the question... Detailed forecast for Northern Arctic Coast Today Partly sunny. Flurries. Areas of blo...

I'm feeling very rich tonight. My serial visits to Anchorage and multiple orders though Amazon Prime have resulted in my cupboards completely reaching their saturation points. I have eight liters of olive oil, bags (and bags) of dried figs, Goji berries, nuts, quinoa, flax, chia, sesame, sunflower seeds, 10 tins of sardines, pounds of frozen fruit and salmon, bottles of sesame oil, apple cider vinegar and soy sauce. I am stocked for a good, long time with all of these wonderful commodities. The drive to have an abundance of supplies on hand came from the almost tiresome routine of ordering food staples every two weeks. Not meaning to take this for granted or to be ungrateful in the least, but along with doing the wash by hand most weeks, it has become a bit of a chore and all without the enjoyable experience of bumping into friends while shopping. Another dynamic of the online shopping experience is the multiple trips to the post office that are required to pi...

Glenn and Anne's hut at NARL Ah...I haven't written for some time now but somehow it feels right this morning.  I'm sitting at my pine desk after a wonderful night's rest in my own bed.  It’s wonderful to have taken this for granted in the past but to find renewed joy in it now. Contrasts and change seem to heighten a sense of gratitude for me, pushing me into a pleasant and welcome state of mind.  I just recently returned to my apartment after enjoying eleven days of  house/cat sitting out at one of the huts at NARL, the old Navy Arctic Research Lab.  Big Boy, Anne and Glenn’s smokey-gray, long-haired, affectionate feline was in need of companionship and feeding as well as were the two fish in the large murky tank and the multiple, active, chubby worms in the indoor compost bin. All-in-all, it was a great eleven days.  The hut is quite large although it looks small from the outside. I’m still washing clothes by hand at my apartment, a weekly ritu...

I took these photos the summer before last but missed posting them. When out with Mari for a beach walk last weekend, we saw the same varieties of jelly fish and some, this year, with longer tentacles. They're beautiful and sparked my curiosity. Some years one sees them populating the beach with ice bergs floating on the sea in the background, so the water can't be very warm. It's interesting that they can live in the Arctic environment here.  According to Natalie Angier in an article she wrote for The New York Times (June 6, 2011) called So Much More than Plasma and Poison , jellyfish inhabit all the oceans of the world and are the oldest multi-organ animal, believed to have been in existence for 700 million or more years.  Here's a link to her fascinating article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/science/07jellyfish.html?_r=0

It's been some time since I've visited or posted to the blog but in looking back on my last entry, I could have left the impression that I didn't survive the outing to scout for polar bears.  Unfortunately there were none who wanted to be seen on the Saturday Jan, Mari, Rita and I ventured out in the small car Jan had borrowed. It was a wonderful afternoon though with the sun beaming from low on the horizon, promising longer days and the ability to see again the stunning Arctic beauty after a long, comfortingly dark winter. My father passed in early January.  I'd been fortunate enough to see him and Mom several times over the past year and know that he's in a brighter place now.  Our family and his many friends will miss him in ways that are difficult to describe but I think feel his presence to some degree at different times.  The sound of his laugh is easy to recall and I smile remembering listening to his thought processes as he explained something to me, alway...

Although I've seen polar bears while on nursing trips to Kaktovik, I haven't seen one in Barrow yet. The whale remains are taken far out of the village to the point where bears can enjoy them without human contact.  This notice came through the North Slope Borough email recently.  It was welcome as knowing there are polar bears nearby provides a possible opportunity for people here to see them, but also serves as a reminder to be alert to the danger they pose. https://sp.north-slope.org/Public/Documents/2161/20141203140119.pdf Several friends have told me that they've driven out to see the bears over the past two weeks. They saw a sow with two cubs who seem to be living in one of the cabins at the fish camp beyond the location of the Naval Arctic Research Lab (NARL) and Ilisagvik College and this side of the point. The pups go in and out of the cabin easily but the sow takes some time squeezing through the door not made for someone her size.  A male bear has been seen...

Ah…my nursing class is over and I’m finding myself with some wonderful evenings of free time.  It’s taken several days to unwind and to begin to enjoy what feels like a normal several hours after work before succumbing to a deep winter's sleep in this dark and interesting place.  I could get very used to these sorts of evenings and to waking up without a nursing assignment on my mind, at least until they begin again on January 12.  That should be plenty of time to feel rested and reinspired.  The wind chill has caused temperatures lately to be between minus 20 and minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit.  It will drop as winter goes on to 50 to 60 or possibly more degrees below zero necessitating, even now, warm clothes and for me, interventions like hot tea after trekking for any distance.  Kind people stop often on the roads before and after the lagoon and offer rides on cold and windy days.  I seem to need a great deal of exercise and enjoy it as well, so ...