Fishing Firsts!

Max is ten. He is the epitome of ten year olds, can evolve a chimchar to a monferno, can build a killer shark out of lego's, and can follow his dad around like a shadow.

Since school's out, Camp Sisualik and Camp Sivuniigvik haven't started. The five day forecast calls for wind, and overcast, like every great spring day in Kotzebue. Before your kids go bonkers, just send them out fishing!

Since Dean moved to Kotzebue five years ago, Max has wanted to catch a fish. He wanted to come at spring, to go ice fishing, but his crazy mom wouldn't allow him to. There was no excuse, just that he wasn't coming for a weekend.


Yes, that's my son wearing a pink jacket...he has NO shame!

For the past few days, the herring AND the shiifish have been hanging around the docks on front street. The kids have walked over, or biked over with their fishing rods in tow every day. Two days ago, Max finally caught a fish.


Yay Max!

HE. WAS. EXCITED! He sounded a little like he was too excited to actually say English words, trying to pull it up. "Ohm ick eesh, i mea uugh, oooly..."

It was very cool.

After he brought the fish home (they caught seven), he declared that his was biggest...EVER. We tried to tell him about Kaisa's fish and that they can grow to be MUCH bigger than that, but he just didn't grasp it. So...its the biggest fish!

After bringing them home in a plastic bag, the boys had some work to do. Max asked, "why don't you clean them!?"



"Uhm, because you caught it..." (I forget sometimes, that they didn't grow up here...)

"Can't you just do it?"



"No, but I'll show you how..."



So...he managed to gut and behead one, and Koy did the rest. Even though they were the teeniest shiifish I had ever seen, I TRIED to fillet two and get as much meat as possible, so Max could have some deep fried shiifish, and everyone LOVES that. So, I was able to salvage enough of the flesh for that. Then I took the white King I caught and used that for the rest!


He LOVES deep fried Shiifish

On another note...Kaisa made it to Anchorage JUST FINE. I stalked Alaska Airlines because their "track flight" wasn't working online. I facebooked everyone who was in Anchorage...it was very, very sad. But. She made it, and I feel better! :) Thanks for the warm prayers and fuzzy thoughts.

In God's palm...

I meant to do a post on Max catching his VERY first Shiifish late last night, complete with photos and witty banter...but I just can't think.

I am VERY nervous right now. VERY. Like, as in, I'm damn near on the verge of a panic attack.

Why? Oh, simply because I just sent my six year old daughter on her first Unacompanied Minor flight between Kotzebue and Anchorage, which is about 600 miles as the crow flies.



So, for the next hour and a half, I will be simply subsisting on carmello's, Dt. Dr. Pepper, and a plethora of bible inspired verses, telling myself that, "IT'S OK!"

And, "People send their kids alone all the time..."

YEAH, PEOPLE, not this people. Not me.

So, as I type away, my mouth is filled with ooey, gooey caramel chocolate, my heart is filled with angst, and my head is filled with what if's...Someone HELP ME.

Tell me it's going to be OK and I'm freaking out over nothing.

And if anyone's in the Anchorage airport at 4:15 p.m. Alaska time, please go to the C0A gates and check on my kid...she'll arrive about then, and you can email me and say that SHE IS FINE.

Ack. I need another Carmello, good thing they're 5 for $3 at AC right now.

BACKTRACK! Water park fun...

So, since we've been back from vacation, we've been super busy doing "other" subsistency stuff. Like stripping everything but the eyes and back bone off of a bearded seal.

Only one more day of work and then we get to rest for a few days while our meat dries. Sheesh...its hard to be an Eskimo...but OH SO VERY fun!

The kids have been whining about the water park pictures, so I'll recap the freakin AWESOME day we had in Seattle.



We started off with some cocks, cock-a-doodle dooing at three am. I walked out to the chicken pen with an axe in one hand and a nice soothing voice whispering, "here chicken, chicken, chicken."

Those damn cocks didn't come near enough to me, so I threw rocks at them.



The rest of them got up early enough to get on the road to Seattle, about an hour away from Roy. We stopped at the AWESOME Coffee Shop and Kmart for some cool towels for everyone.

From there, Dean's super cool blackberry told us which way to go to get to the Wild Waves Theme Park and away we went.

We told the kids to stay in groups of two, and check in every hour or so for more sunscreen and to make sure they were still THERE. Kaisa stayed with me at the Pirate Lagoon, and splashed in the FREEZING cold water.



She had a long day, and about 11:00 am, she was super hot, so I splashed some cool water on her, put a towel over her and let her take a power nap.



I don't think I saw the boys but once, and that was cause they were starving! We had shirts (rashguards) for everyone, but only Kaisa and Koy opted to wear them.



We ended up purchasing an $18 bottle of spf 50 sunscreen cause I was paranoid that they were all getting sun damage!



Dean, of course, refused sun screen, cause he's awesome stupid and burnt to a crisp. If he wasn't bald, you'd think he had the worst case of dandruff known to man. Awesome, honey! Little does he know, though, that I sprayed him with that 50 spf, every chance he got, even when he was SNORING resting his eyes.



After a long day of FREAKIN hot weather (80 degrees, yes, that's HOT for an Eskimo!), we finally started home. On the way, my awesome husband spotted the Cabela's sign, and we ended up taking a detour to the SUPER Cabela's store on exit 111!

It was A.W.E.S.O.M.E! And $200 later we were back on the road again.

I heard NO complaints, I heard NO fights, I heard NO whining voices...just the content quiet after a fun filled day...and that in itself was WELL worth it.

And the work continues, day two...and smoked fish!

I am showing them how to Kavraq...the aana way, and getting 99% of the blubber off is a good thing because we are going to stretch this skin in a couple of days.

Annnd, the work continues.

You know, if I didn't have to work full time, take care of four kids, and a slew of ducks and dogs...and didn't have softball committments, I'd LOVE to work on Ugruk all day and all night.


After the blubber is removed, in slabs, the kids and inexperienced get to cut it into strips to render.

Its just that we have so much to DO in this present time, that just Kavraq-ing (removing blubber from skin) is hard.


Maddie LOVES to help with whatever she can get her hands dirty with. She would be a great Eskimo wife!

Its a good thing we have lots of help. Both my sisters were around today, as were, Cathy, Eric and Kari and my cousin Stacey. The kids helped too, so it wasn't too long, only two hours of work today.


You never know what you might find in a seal, when you're working on them. We have found old harpoon tips, predator teeth, old bullets, and last night, we found....MONEY. Seriously, this was all rolled up between the blubber and the meat, with no hole leading to it. Very odd. But, cool!

But, two hours of work after working 8 hours, playing in a softball game and having dinner is exhausting. I don't think I have slept this hard in a while.


The intestines are hanging and ready to dry.

I'm not going to complain about how well, or not well, our other helpers were in getting the blubber as close to the skin as possible. Because I was beat, and I'll take any help we can get.



While the women were busy with the seal, Dean, my AWESOME husband, has found a new favorite hobby. Canning stuff.


14 jars fit in there...14 for 2 hours, times the speed of light equals one happy wife and four happy kids!

He is just so cool sometimes! I had never had canned fish, or meat, unless you count canned tuna, which SUCKS compared to HIS fish. It is SOOO good. I am pleasantly surprised. And very happy that we have so much food now! We didn't quite know what to do with our 18 cu ft freezer FULL of fish.


Mmmm, pre-pressure cooker.

His mom was not using her pressure cooker anymore, so we snatched it from the garage, and since we've been home, he has canned King Salmon, Copper River Red Salmon, Chum Salmon, Shiifish, and Caribou.


Behemoth!

All the while experimenting on what goes in the jar before sealing... LAST night, he hot smoked a bunch of Copper River Red Salmon that sat in a brown sugar and garlic brine for a few hours, and let me tell you, the smell of SMOKED Fish wafted through our house, our backyard and is STILL stuck in my nasal cavities! I LOVE it.


right out of the smoker...

And I love you honey...I'm coming home at lunch today, ready for some salmon spread!

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MmmmM, smelly cooking blubber!

So, we love Cathy (www.tundratantrum.blogspot.com) she is the bomb!

Due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, my husband, who's white, can not hunt sea faring mammals. This includes Seals, Whales, Walrus, etc. My large family tends to be a bit lazy, and have never gotten me a seal. My dad always made sure my mom, aana and I got Ugruk every year, when he was here.

Now that he's gone, we haven't had ANY Ugruk and have had to basically BEG for some from people.



Since its embarassing, I'd rather not. So, Cathy so nicely offered to share hers. She's in the same boat, kinda. She's not from round here, and can't hunt either. But her family can. So, we're sharing.

When we bought our house, part of the kicks included a screened in drying rack attached to the garage in the back yard. We have never actually used it, except to hang a hind quarter of a caribou every once and a while.



This year, we changed that. We have now kicked the ducks out of their nice warm pen, made them a fenced in (by pallets, no less!) area in the back yard, and are now using our drying rack, for..... DRYING!



After scooping the duck poop, adding some baking soda (for the smell) and more gravel, topping that with stinkweed, we put some skinny trees up and are hanging our Ugruk.



The process, of course, starts when the hunter brings it home. After its brought home gutted, the blubber and skin are removed from the carcass.



Once that piece is removed, the younger kids, and inexperienced ones, are given Ulu's to remove any meat that snuck onto the blubber. The older, more experienced ones remove the meat from the bones!



Once the meat is removed, its slabbed and cut into strips to hang, blubber side up in your inisaqs (ing-ee-sucks) for a day or so to harden a bit, so its easier to cut.

Sometimes, getting the bones to separate is hard...so you ask your husband nicely to "cut that STUPID $%*&#*&%ing flipper OFF the carcass! .... please."



So, he does. :) With a double-bitted axe.

Of course, we ALWAYS have a pot of Inaloaqs (ing-ah-lokes), or seal intestines, some meat, and some blubber boiling in a pot sitting on a siigruq (see-ig-rook), or camp stove.



Mmm, we love us some intestines! With mustard, of course.



Anyway, we cut for half the day and now, its time to watch a movie. And wait for that meat to dry....I can taste it now!



Tomorrow, we'll Kavraq (kuv-ruck) the blubber from the skin, stretch the skin over a board, and render us some oil.

Man, its good to be Eskimo. And, its GREAT to be HOME.

Shut your eyes boys!

We're back in Washington having a grand time with Dean's sister and her family. As we drove to Seattle yesterday Dean and I stopped to get a coffee from the next drive-through we could find.

As we drove up, I jumped out to run to the gas station for drinks for the kids, and heard, "SHUT your eyes boys..."

I opened the door, to let the girl know what I wanted, and was greeted with this:



Apparently, we were at Heaven in a Cup, where they like their coffee like they like their women...Hot and Steamy. Ick.

The poor girl was wearing undies far too small for her, and looked as if she'd been awake for the past 12 hours dancing. When she sniffed her nose and asked in a monotone voice, "what do you want?" I knew we were in a classy place!

Get this: There are MORE than one coffee shops that serve in underwear. We passed THREE more on the way to I-5.



Hmm...should I tell these girls that they could make a MINIMUM of $15 an hour working in Kotzebue for the summer? And they can even stay at our house, if they clean up a little.

I should open a website for a housecleaner! We have an apartment in the back of our house, a mother-in-law if you wish. She could stay there, work, then clean for us, and we'd all be happy. And we'd even let her wear her clothes. But, of course, Dean might like if she cleaned with just her undies too. We'll keep that up to her.

Any takers?

Cracka dawn fishin!

Well...Ketchikan at 5:30 in the morning ain't all its cracked up to be... Yesterday, after a FULL day of ... Float Plane Rides: Koy, Kaisa and I had our first (and last! hehe) float plane ride in Papa's favorite Beaver on floats. I wasn't too impressed, especially when we started bumping around in the air, and the 15 year old kid flying didn't know exactly where he was going.


The REAL Lukin family.

OK, he wasn't 15, but looked it. Good genes I guess!


"Fred" the crab. He lived a long and happy life.

We took a trip to Papa and Gramma's old cabin out in Chomley, to spread Papa's ashes. We were out there about an hour, and really did enjoy it.


Dean and Papa's last flight in a Beaver. Don't worry, he did NOT put Papa in the floats!

After the dizziness wore off, we were to be at a picnic at Ward Lake, where the kids could swim, and the adults could hang out and talk about life. Swim, they did, until of course, they found out that in most lakes, some inhabitants include LEECHES! The girls screamed and ran out, only to find that a few had wiggled their way onto their feet. Ick.


Pre-Leeches photo!

Once the screaming and running around had passed, we were able to eat a bit. The six kids we had after the picnic were able to take showers at a friend's house, cause we ran out of water at Chucks.

At around ten or so, we had to get all the kids to bed, so Dean and I could be out at the docks at SIX AM. Seriously...six. I thought to myself, "WHO gets up at six in the MORNING?"

Apparently MANY people in Ketchikan! The cruise ships run the town here, and since three were docking at six thirty, a thousand people were up. Even Chuck was gone before we woke up at five thirty. Of course, NO coffee shops were open though.


Girls laughing it up, again, pre-leeches

Dean's always talking about fishing with idiot sticks, and fishing for Kings back "home" in Ketchikan. So, we were able to take a fishing charter out today with Lorraine and Robert.


Here fishy, fishy, fishy...

I did manage to catch my first King Salmon, which we're planning on eating a bit, and canning the rest for later. $126 later, we really only got one. Our yearlong hunting and fishing liscenses ARE paid for, but this damn state's gonna make me broke just so I can eat a King Salmon. Ugh.


Hubbs.

Better not complain though right?! At least I CAN fish... Oh and, remember Friends don't let Friends Eat Farmed Salmon...only fresh Alaskan Seafood please! :) Don't have any? I'll send you some as long as you have an Alaska Airlines Cargo place near your home and you're willing to pick it up. I still have Copper River Red's and some Kotzebue Chum. Oh, and now a King.


Please excuse the fuzziness, my husband is not the photographer in the family!!!
This was about a 30 lb King. :) MMMM...good eats.

Long days full of adventure are gone, so I think we'll head south for a bit. I'm gonna check the weather in Seattle to see if we can squeeze a trip to the water park in before we head back north to SAVE ELSA from our ducks and demonic dogs (www.finnskimo3.blogspot.com). She needs help! :)