Sunrise over the Nushagak

                                                                      A few sunrises from our living room window during October.  We should have sunrises in our window all winter. 

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The Barge

The last barge to Dillingham for 2011 arrived in early October.  A few weeks earlier we flew to Anchorge for a long weekend, to purchase a car and stuff for the barge. We found a car through CraigsList on Sunday morning, took possession on Monday morning, drove to Costco filled the car with goodies, like tissues, toilet paper, and olive oil.  Next, we drove right to the port of Anchorage and dropped the car off to be loaded on the barge.  Then there was a stop at a furniture store, bought chairs, dining room table, sofa, and beds, they delivered the furniture to the barge on Tuesday.  We flew home on Tuesday and waited for the barge to arrive.  A few weeks later there was the barge with all our stuff. 

Tony' Run

Every year in Dillingham, the first Sunday after moose season ends, there is a run called Tony's Run.  It is in honor of police officer who was killed in 1992.   This website tells more about the race.

Dan and I signed up for the race to walk the 10K portion.  There is in fact for runners, walkers, bikers in marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k events. 

We had a lovely walk at a good pace on sunny day in Dillingham.  It was well organized and I got an email the other day.  Seems our City Manager now holds the record for men's 10k.  What a guy! 

Tomatillo Salsa Verde



Before



After

I used the tomatillos, that I got from Circle Farms to make this salsa, see Barb Bites for the recipe.  It came out great and it was very very easy.  Love learning something new.  Used to finger those tomatillos at Fresh and Easy and wonder what they were used for.  I will make some chicken tacos and use the salsa.

First Full Circle Delivery

Today is a gorgeous, clear, cool day in Dillingham a perfect fall day, with lots of color in the trees and grasses.  Temperatures have been perfect, 40's and 50's during the day, low 40's at night.  The sky at night is incredible, no lights, no polution, just lots of stars.  We are just waiting for that first really cold day.

Picked up my first Full Circle Farm Box at the airport.  Full Circle Farms is a service that ships organic produce to Alaska, Washington and Oregon.  They are based in Washington.  Kelly used them in Barrow and loved it.  So I signed up for a box every other week.  There is the opportunity to pick from a variety of fruits and vegetable from an online list  a few days before they are shipped.  Kelly said she liked getting whatever they sent, it made her eat and cook new and different foods.  I forgot to do the selection so, I will be busy today looking up recipes to figure out how to use some these things.  Here are a few of those items,  kale, fresh beets and tomatillos.  What about this squash, are the green ones ready to eat?  Any suggestions?  

Holy Water

So the first morning in our new place, we notice the toilet water is very red. Who hasn't moved into an apartment that maybe hasn't been occupied for awhile and have had some rusty water. So I get busy cleaning them, comes right back, flush a million times, comes back. It doesn't look rusty coming out but it really stains. So we try the tap water using our Brita water filter pitcher. Very very rusty. Again with running the water to clean out the pipes. No luck.


We ask our helpful neighbor about the water. He explains that many of wells here are rusty, that's just how it is. But there is a perfectly normal solution for your drinking water problem. Go to church. Yes, the The Holy Rosary Catholic Church down the road (go to the website and scroll way down on the right column and you'll get the full story) offers the water from their well, which is clean, cold and very tasty. As you can see from the pictures, it is very organized and for a small donation, all the blessed holy water you can drink.

To solve the toilet problem I found "Super Iron Out Rust Stain Remover" a teaspoon after every flush does the trick. By the way, no one wears white here.

2145 Kanakanak Road #7

We live on a road that is a palindrome. It is a 3 bedroom spacious apartment about a mile out of downtown Dillingham. It has a view of Bristol Bay, nice big windows in the living room and bedroom upstairs. Not much furniture but we will go to Anchorage next week and buy some for the barge. It will arrive in mid October.

A slight complication; the building is owned by the city because the owner did not pay his taxes. So the place goes up for auction in 2 weeks. We are hoping to find a good owner who will finish the place (it still has 2 units unfinished) and keep it in good condition. If you are interested in being our landlord check out the details. Also note there will be some rusty cars and an airplane sitting next to our place for auction as well. Link here to see all the goodies for auction.

Do not send us mail here, there is no home delivery. We have a PO box for mail.

Pitcher of Beer and Pizza

We arrived in Dillingham on a Friday night and I had just vowed to cut down on my calorie intake. I had carefully packed a few healthly dinner items in my carry on, so when we got into our new place, I could cook us up a quick dinner.

We had barely got our luggage in the place when a neighbor, a guy who has been working in Dillingham for awhile and Dan has known since his early Barrow days stops by to welcome us. His greeted us with, " Do you want to go out for pizza and a beer?" From the dry and damp laws of Barrow, I am not accustomed to hearing those words in rural Alaska. So .4 miles from our place, a nice little walk is the "Windmill Grille". Great pizza and beer on tap. Guess where we will be spending our Friday nights during this long cold winter?

How much do you weigh?

It was a fun summer of traveling, seeing family, attending the Colonial Williamsburg Institute, saying goodbye to friends and colleagues in San Diego, maybe a little too fun.... As we checked into our PenAir Flight in Anchorage to take us to Dillingham, we were asked our weight. My mind flashed to all the Yuenglings I drank at JoJo's in NJ, all the O'Connor's Green Cans I drank at Chownings Tavern in Williamsburg, the Stellas I drank at Rocky's and all the Klondike Golden I drank at the Mooses Tooth in Anchorage. I cringed, whispered the answer and we sat down waiting to board. Can it get more embarrassing? Oh yes, Dan was called to the checkin podium and was given a new seat assignment, to help with "weight and balance" . I vowed to begin a regime in Dillihgam so the next time I board a PenAir Flight I can proudly and in a normal voice give my weight.