Even in Alaska....#9

Spring fever hits pretty hard. The snow is starting to melt and emotions around here are pretty different. Most people have this wide eyed staring sort of crazed look. One you would imagine you would see on the faces of people buried in winter snow for months beginning to see the breaking of Spring. This of course is contrasted by the teenagers who are running out of snow to run their snow machines on. They have the look of grounded teenagers who have just had the keys to the car taken away. As contrasted to the younger kids who are completely thrilled to be ridding their bicycles again.

The adults, both men and women are so excited for spring. The men are getting geared up for seal hunting (Oogrut) and have their eyes on the Bering Sea waiting for an easterly breeze that makes the ice shift, and allows them to get their sixteen foot boats out into that freezing water so they can drive between the chunks of ice looking for Bearded Seals sunbathing. These things are pretty big, and in these sixteen foot boats with two or three men, two or three seals…freaks me out to think about it, but they love it, and every day are looking for the right opportunity to go.

Everyone is excited about the prospect of fishing. I was at the elders last week and they were both talking about going fishing. He is around 87 and she is not far behind, but they both look like starry eyed kids when it comes to fishing. Young or old, male or female, everyone is crazy about fishing. Catching, cleaning, drying, smoking…they are in to it. And you better know how to use an Ulu. Know what I mean?

The women all talk about berry picking. This is one of the main ingredients in a dish they call Akutaq,or Eskimo Ice cream. It is made with what they call blue berries (but they are much smaller than the version I am used to, and not as sweet) fish, salmon or whitefish, sugar, and Crisco. That’s right, the same kind grandma used to fry chicken in. It seems that Crisco is quite the delicacy here. I had a patient who I was talking to about her lipid profile the other day tell me “I guess I’m going to have to give up Crisco on Pilot crackers, that’s always been my downfall!” Ya think??? Wonder why you cholesterol is through the roof? A pilot cracker is this cracker they sell here that is round and hearty. It is about 4 inches in diameter, and almost a meal in itself. The people here keep a supply of them around like Rooster Cogburn used to carry corn doggers. "You’ll never starve if ya got a sac full o corn doggers". I don’t think Chin Lee is making these crackers though.

The people here come by this habit honestly, because in the old days (and still quite a bit now) they would eat seal oil, or blubber like that. When the white man came along with a tub of white grease that was easier to get than driving your sixteen foot boat out into the cold water to harpoon a seal, seemed like the natural alternative. The difference is that the people that eat a lot of fat that comes from seals, have great lipid profiles. So it may not be your cup of tea, but it’s definitely the good fat. There is a group here now who is doing a study on it, and they say it’s a good idea to eat plenty of seal oil. After seeing the lipid profiles of these people for over a month, I’m all over town trying to buy a couple of jars! I’ve tasted it, and found it to be quite good. If I can get a supply of seal oil, all I'll need is the pilot crackers.

Every day there is less and less snow, and more and more daylight. Right now it is 10:00 PM and there is still a couple of hours before sunset. In the evenings I have made a habit of going up this big hill just behind the village to look out over the Bering Sea to the west, and the village and the Unalakleet river to the south. It is an incredible view, and changes nightly. The wind has a huge effect on the ice flow on the sea. If the wind is from the east, it blows the ice out, and you can see more water. If it is from the west on the north it blows it in towards land so on some days you can't see water. Right behind the village is what they call the slough, and it is breaking up now with big cracks in the ice, but it is still about 4-5 feet thick. There are sea gulls all over town now, Unalakleets version of robins which come signaling spring. There is a bridge over the slough where people throw carcases from seals, geese, or what ever they have been hunting to feed the sea gulls. When I drive over the bridge on the 4 wheeler they swam me as if I'm the guy bringing it. Jeremy's wife Wendy says the noise they make sounds like they are all saying, "Mine! Mine!" She's right.

Everyone is out. Walking and talking about how busy they will be this summer.

Life goes on....

rto