My 2009 berry picking tale

Most of my berry picking adventures deal with animals, specifically bears but nature trumped the animals this year. I was able to join my parents, brother Herman and sister Olga on a camping trip across Napakiak this year. First picture a 16 foot lund boat filled beyond capacity with camping and picking gear. To lighten the load we used their dome tent but still the poor 40 HP motor was pushed to the limit with all of us and a trip that would normally take about an hour took three and a half. We landed to the sound of cranes nearby. We put up the tent and as my mom was cooking, my sister and I took a short walk to see what we could find. The wind at the time was not bad...but by evening, wholly smokes was it really blowing! We took a walk and picked berries until about midnight and tried to settle down below the loud crackly sound of the tent's dome flap whipping in the wind. (this would be so much more exciting if I could add the sound here) By 4:30 AM we noticed that the wind was doing more damage to the tent's poles. One had snapped and tore the top. I heard later that the winds were gusting to 40MPH. We made a wind breaker and were able to sleep after about 30 minutes of tying off the broken section of the poles. The wind had not died down all the next day, which was maybe a good thing: No bugs. We got about 17 gallons altogether in two days, I got to bring home 6 gallons.

Rainy days, good for eliminating procrastination

Sometimes I notice delays tend to wait for me to finish up something I put aside until it is completed. For example the weather outside has been dismal, and after I had a bout of sickness I got so bored I started scanning the pictures I wanted for myself from my parents collection (some of which were mine from years ago). What do you know - the sun is peaking through the clouds. Maybe once I am done uploading them to a place I can retrieve them later we can actually go berrypicking. Speaking of berries, they seem late this year. I hope we get some because I am missing my girls. The picture added here is my grandfather with his wife Olga, my dad and his sister Nastasia

Happy belated 91st Birthday to Apa "Papasneak" Peter Nick

My eyes mist every time I see my grandfather "Ap'a Papasneak" Peter Nick pray thankfully before he blows out his birthday candles. This year he got discharged from the hospital after an episode of irregular heart beat and "A-Fib." His health in the past year has been a bit stable but about every month we are reminded that his condition will gradually decline. We are blessed to have him as long as we had...this year the great-grandchildren kept vigil at this bedside for a while as I finished cutting the chums and red salmon caught for drying at my parents fishcamp. The nurse asked during my session "where are his little grandchildren?" I replied smiling, "They are his great-grandchildren - I am one of his grandchildren." Her surprise was the normal response I am getting used to. Peter says his long life is due to his faith and active lifestyle and native foods.