Dear Everyone

(I thought I would throw in this picture so you could see where I work here in Nome)
Dear Everyone....I am so very sorry I have taken so long to write on this blog...we have not dropped off into a bear den! Be careful what you wish for because it may come true way more that you expected!! I had been so lonely and got involved in many things to occupy my time....so NOW I am in way over my head. I literally have been getting little sleep due to my "projects"......and I have to have my "projects" done by the time I go to training in Anchorage during the middle of Sept....because I need to get several things in the "big city". It is always comforting to know that less than 2,000 miles away there IS A WAL-MART!!
Technology really means nothing up here and nobody really cares.....I guess that is why they have the most worthless cell phone service on the planet! Just to let you know the pricing up here....Iran and I SHARE a cell phone (that has worthless service) and have snail Internet connection/service.....and we pay like $175 a month.......FOR WHAT??? Dropped calls when you pretty much leave the "drive way" and Internet that just disconnects right in the middle of an e-mail? Hmmmmm
I leave for the village of Shishmaref on Monday. Then I will be traveling most of the entire month of Sept. SO I am just letting everyone know....we are still alive and I probably will not be able to post very much at all during the next month ... month and a half or so.......for that I am sorry because I really enjoy hearing from everyone and telling you about Nome!! So in other words I may be taking a short leave of absence. Then be in full swing in October. Speaking of October, I guess that is when snow starts falling. I heard people at work talking about the fall and how summer is over.....uhhhh WHAT??? I said WHAT??? They said summer is totally OVER and now it is fall.....I must say it has really been chilly lately....I have the heat going full blast now as I type. I am scared to think about the "fall weather" let alone the ice cold nights! My "Swiss Miss" hot chocolate will sure come in handy.
The entire talk of the town has been about the absolutely HORRIBLE salmon run this year and how last year the salmon were so thick that you did not need a lour at all....you just snagged them....EVERYONE was talking about that.....but this year has been horrible.......they expect a MUCH better year next year.....very disappointing for Iran and I as I had got several special coolers to mail salmon back home....only to find out that the salmon is very scarce this year due to the terrible storms they had had two years ago.....the life cycle of a salmon is two years....they swim up from the ocean into fresh water to lay their eggs and then die....then the babies go back to the ocean and return in two years to lay their eggs and die.....well, I guess they had a bad storm two years ago that they think killed so many of the little salmon. Salmon fishing up here is taken very seriously and they report it on the radio all the time...AND they think that is also why they are having some trouble with the bears because they are so hungry due to not having the salmon to eat...they are taking down musk ox and I guess breaking into cabins because they are so hungry. It has been neat to witness nature in a whole different way!