Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Some fishing with the kids

I figure to let you in on my favorite Fisherwoman, My wife Agnes.
Born and raised to fish, this woman grew up commercial and Subsistance fishing, for $ and food. The Kotzebue Sound drainagaes are Salmon rich with Kings , Chum, Pinks and Silvers....with some Reds showing up now inthe last few years.
Shes a master at drying, canning and cooking all kinds of fish, from Smelts to 60lb Sheefish


Best of all, she has alotta help from our daughters as well.......heck, we all pitch in one way or another.









Heres some vid of the kids and us at where we like to fish for Salmon.


They are side by side, so Im not sure how this will turn out ~~LOL!!~~...but Im experamenting here, and trying to get 'er done.

The kids make the work fun, from start to finish, Its always a blast when the work is there.

We make our kids the knifes they use and make sure they are in on every part of the process.

The wind drys the fish the best,and in an hour or so, the flys wont be able to set eggs on they, but on still ,windless days,we often set a smudge of smoke to keep the flys off untill a nice dry crust. Its also a great idea to keep the sun off drying meats as well.

If its drizzling, we will drape tarps to the ground and make a big smoke house to keep the bugs off with a smudge on. The meat racks are also a place the kids like to hang out at, and so do loose dogs.....~~LOL!!~~

Twice a day the wife inspects all meats, and decides what they will be used for, where and when.









Monday, January 25, 2010

2010 census starts here.

The 2010 census starts here in Noorvik.
So much for a news link.........

I cant figure out how to "Dashboard " unless its a new post, so I cant correct stuff...I cant get here without a roundabout way "in" and I cant copy/paste stuff, such as internet adress's.
Arrrrgh.
Been losing my posts, like 4 so far, writing more than 1/2 way through , losing it, rewriting it again................and I loath to write so much and see it dissapear.

How do I even know if more than 1 guy even reads this?

Gimme time, just frusterated here......

2010 census starts here.

Friday, January 22, 2010



This isnt the order I wanted my pix~~LOL!!~~ Just trying to get this post up right....any suggestions? I cant "Copy-Paste" and the last time I moved the pict, I lost it .......









I figured to try and download one of the vids I have, a "fish test" so to say........lets hope this vid works, so I'll load more......







Those, above, are Sheefish, the biggest in the Whitefish family, and we catch them when ever we can. They have big bones that are easily removed and firm ,white , sweet flesh. Great as soup or Fryed, baked, or frozen with Seal oil.




We use a large meshed net, 5inch + and that lets the small ones pass through, and we set them right after the spring floods move the ice out of the river, and in Spring when the Shee migrate up river as well as in the fall, when we set them under the ice, when they return to the brackish waters of Kotzebue Sound.




The vid comes from April, when we, (and everyone else we know) go out and "Hook" for them through the 4 foot thick ice. Sometimes we score sled loads.



Thursday, January 21, 2010

Cant edit, figgur'd frostbite might test it.....

Whats happend? I cant finish my last post.


Nothing worse than 1/2 a post.........

Here comes the sun

Think "Ox" ~~LOL!!~~ Some memories from a few hunts ago........To remind us to "Get our Ox-on"~~
Being in the Arctic, a good chunk of our year is spent with 24 hours of Summer sunshine, and in opposition to all that brightness, we have winter darkness.
I read somewhere that despite the commings and goings of the sun, we actually get just as much or equal, at least, of the sunshine that the equator gats.
Were in the lower arctic, crossing the Arctic circle like some cross a town, and our darkness/sunshine is not as drastic as it gets going further North......they are still in Darkness.
Luckily , were over tha darkness now, and were excellerating to sunshine, full blast. We gain 10 minutes a day, and were almost up to 4 hours of usable light now.
We work hard to getup enough food and fuel for this cold time of year, and are usually set untill Feb. Seems to have worked out well enough this year.

Spent most of December in Kotzebue , while the wife did Postal Relife and I did odd jobs and generally let my ribs knit up. No complaints now, unless I cough hard.

This last couple weeks we returned to Kotz and I and my pard set about de-icing 3 feet of broken water main and the solid wall to wall ice it filled the house with....~~LOL!!~~ -45' below can do wonders to your house if the heat go's out.......what a chop job!

Things on the transportation front have taken a beating as the clutch to my snow machine is about dead and its 633$ for a new one, so it looks like Im seeking a used one !!


Theres work on the shop to do, and Traps to set/check, as well as some hunting, with the good news that I have a willing partner/camera guy 'cause Im up and filming now. Im learning I warn ya, and I have to find out how long a vid I can put on the internet or send them on to someone who "Can" ~~LOL!!~~ Most likely Mike. The wife bought the accessories that make the camera do its thing, as well as spare stuff like batteries and chargers, as well that I found a disk to film onto, and more are on the way.
I'll try for that intro for Up North Journal soon.

Mostly we look forward to catching another Muskox for the table, as the wife has a permit, but itts only a transportation situation that needs dealing with , and then were out for Ox.......


Fur time is here as well, now that weve had -50below, and all fur is prime, while those that werent are dead after the deep cold killed 'em.


With the comming light and better hunting weather were in need of more meat and wood to burn. This will go well with some of the traps Ive got out, as "rout" per say.
I might add here that my computer is back in the land of the living and soon Ill be downloading vids again, as the camera I have and this internet just need to work out how to get that done........and I look forward to it :D