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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A pokey little puppy.

Here's our Sisualik house. My dad built it with my mom because he lived out there for years. It's a perfect one bedroom, five bed, one honey-bucket room sized camp house.

house

Oh, and what's that over there?

closer house

Let's get a little closer shall we?

porcupine

Ah, gross. It's a porcupine. Ick, I hate porcupines, because they like to chase me. And when we were kids, they ransacked the dog yard and us kids had to pluck all the quills out of the howling, biting dogs.

pokes

Dean caught it when they were "squirrel hunting" and the girls were looking for starfish on the beach.

What am I supposed to do with it? They're not too bad tasting, once you get over the quills and long blond hair that you have to burn off with a propane torch, or a campfire. Then, peel the skin off and then you can cook it. Not too much meat on these critters.

pokey

Although, if you were to gut it, you could carefully remove the intestines and pinch the insides off like a long piece of sausage from the butcher, let it hang and dry, and use it for all your stomach ailments. Sort of our Eskimo version of Tums. (Yes, I have had it. Yes, it works better than Pepto!)

pliers

But, first of all, I need to get the quills off. The lazy version, I just pinch them all off with a leatherman until I discovered that they even stick to the wood I was using to push back the hairs.

pull it out

Into the tupperware you go, little quills. Enough to make several earrings out of, once the points are removed. They are great decoration for barrettes, and beaded jewelry.

tupperware

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my. The first and only blog you have written that has upset me, lol. We have had several porkies as family members and I just cringe when people eat them. Growing up, Daddy would come home, throw a skinned something on the table, tell me it was porcupine. As long as it wasn't a BUNNY!! Then one day he brought in a tiny bundle of needles and Julius Caesar became my "brother", sleeping with me, trying to nurse in my hair. He was my best pal. So from then on when Daddy would bring home a skinned something and throw it on the table, he would tell me "it's a bunny!". Then I would eat it. Julius lived to 12 years old. We've had others, but Julius was my first. They are the sweetest, most gentle creatures that God created. I forgive you for eating one of my little brothers. Just next time, tell me it's a bunny. Ha!

Kathleen Campbell

Finnskimo said...

It's a bunny. :)

Anonymous said...

I really like your blog and appreciate the information. I have pulled quills from my dog's nose too. Never eaten one though - what do they taste like? Dumb question, right? Answer is probably chicken! Ha!

I like your home too.

Best wishes!
Cameron

gpc said...

Many years ago, my brother went to Michigan Tech in the upper peninsula of our state. I remember when he sent home an eagerly awaited letter and when my mom reached in to grab it, her fingers came out peppered with quills -- he sent them as a surprise, and they sure were! My little sister and I laughed our butts off. The quills make such beautiful baskets, too.

Dog Beds said...

Aw porcupines!!! I hate that too...Anyway great pictures and nice post!!!