Scanning My Life

Overlooking Arctic Ocean - 1981

2010-01-16T10:40:33Z

Well, Mom got sick of looking at the the muktuk. I must agree it it was a very unappetizing shot. And even worse to eat.

Muktuk

2009-08-25T20:32:29Z

Well, I know my Mother and good friend Kristine are sick of looking at a walrus being butchered. In fact Kristine specifically asked me to post something new here...so here it is. And just what you may ask is it? Muktuk is an Eskimo delicacy. It is pretty much what is looks like. A small little piece of whale sushi. It is a portion of whale skin with a bit of the blubber (that is, FAT) from the whale. Cut into bite sized pieces and then popped in the mouth raw, like candy. Maybe it's an acquired taste. Cuz truth told, I found it to be awful. Best description I can give it is that it tastes like snot on a chunk of cardboard. I only ate one.

Another of the Walrus Butchering

2009-07-12T20:02:48Z

I showed another shot from this incident a few posts back. I can't recall the details, but the native Eskimo population is given an annual quota of whale and walrus they are allowed to harvest. No whales were taken while we were there.

Inside the Mess Tent

2009-07-10T07:30:38Z

Here's the promised picture of the Mess Tent at our summer camp. I should point out that the tent camp was located smack dab in the middle of the town of Barrow. In the previous picture, the large building with the dome was the weather station located in Barrow (never really thought about that radar spinning feet from where we slept). Our camp was literally set up on a gravel drive from the road the radar facility. The mess tent was the social gathering point for the summer. We had a cook, and camp manager, and an assistant to handle our needs in the camp. Food was plentiful and good,as we needed lots of calories to work in the usually nasty weather that was typical of Barrow (it snowed or sleeted virtually every day and I think the average temperature in the summer was probably around 35-40 degrees F. Which was ok, because on the few days when the temp was in the 50's, the mosquitoes came out in force. We had satellite TV (still a novelty for most in 1981) and we able to enjoy the grand wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in that little tent! We may have been at the 'Top of the World,' but we still were connected!

Our Home away from Home

2009-07-05T20:20:24Z

The story of my trip to Barrow Alaska began in the early summer of 1981. I was assigned to be an assistant field school director at SUNY Binghamton (the school where I was working on my Doctorate) and was going to work with a fellow graduate student in the upper Delaware Valley, just above the Delaware water gap. But not enough students registered for the summer to support my position. My advisor, who was in charge of the work at Barrow, knew of my field archaeology skills, so offered me a position on his project. So, instead of a the Delaware River and life in an old farmhouse near Callicoon, NY, I got the Arctic Ocean and life in a tent. The strip of quonset style tents housed our entire crew. Four people to a tent. The larger tent at the left side (I'll post a picture of the inside of that tent soon) was the mess tent and general work and socializing space for our crew. Our first night there, which was probably in late June (around the time of the summer solstice) was my first experience with the 'midnight sun.' We had to learn how to sleep in full daylight, with the normal activities of the town going on all around us. The first night, local children, wondering who we all were, woke us around 3 am by standing outside our tents and talking loudly and throwing small pebbles at our doors. They did ultimately grow bored with us, but it was tough to get used to young children running around at literally all hours of the day and night.

Bad Hair Day

2009-07-04T22:25:59Z

I was unable to find the slide I wanted from the summer of 1981. On July 4th Barrow did their annual polar bear swim in the Arctic Ocean (can't do it on New Year's Day, the traditional Polar Bear Club swim day) and my fiancee, Cindy, and another of our crew took the plunge into the water, swimming out between a couple of icebergs! But I couldn't find the picture of them in the water. I don't remember exactly when this shot was taken calendar wise but think it was near the end of our stay there. No alcoholic beverages are sold in Barrow, so our crew had to import a few cases of Olympia beer for a crew party. I was most definitely suffering from bad hair on that day!

Umiak: Up Close

2009-06-30T20:00:02Z

Sorry about the gap. Work and life has made continued scanning of the slides a lower priority. I do need to get this done however because the damned slides are taking up too much space in my living room!

Walrus Butchering

2009-06-13T20:01:48Z

One evening, news spread around town that someone had brought a walrus in. One aspect of life in Barrow is that there was a strong movement to preserve native Eskimo customs in the face of rampant westernization. Don't quiz me on the details, but as I recall the native Eskimo groups were allowed to take a limited number of whales and walrus from the sea...not sure there were any limits on seal. Anyway, the butchering became quite a town event. The walrus was laid out on an iceberg right by the beach so it was easily accessible to one and all.

Ice Formations

2009-06-09T19:23:26Z

This was the summer of 1981. There was still a good bit of ice on the ocean. The wind and currents would move it around a good bit, but usually there was a sizable pack up near the shore. I think I read recently that there is no more summer ice around Barrow.

Owlets Close Up

2009-06-04T22:05:56Z

This is a bit more of a close up shot of the Snowy owl chicks - I believe called owlets?? I thought there were two, but it appears there are three in this shot. Not sure if they survived, but I'm pretty sure that all were still living when we last saw them after determining that the mother was still hunting and feeding them.