Bering Sea, December 7, 2007

Greetings from Nome.

Some of you got a chance to listen to my "news radio voice." Don't feel bad if I sound different, even my roommates have been telling me I sound different when I'm on the air. It's still a work in progress...

The weather warmed up a while back. It was in the mid-30s during the day, and it rained, then froze at night. So a lot of the snow was washed away and replaced by smooth, solid ice. Then it got back down to -12 with wind chill and poured snow, so everything is just about back to normal... yeah, normal.

My prayers are with everyone in Western Washington. With I-5 shut down, the storms there were the number one story on the ABC national radio news broadcast we play here.

Last weekend was the Firemen's Carnival in Nome. Each year the Nome Volunteer Fire Department holds one fundraiser. They raffle off a snow machine, Alaska Airline tickets, an ounce of gold, heating fuel, and a number of other items at one dollar a ticket. I think they sold 25,000 tickets this year. They had bingo at a dollar per card, and a 10-dollar plate of ribs. The Rec Center was packed. Somebody told me they violated the fire code.

We had winds gusting to 65 mph last week, and the internet didn't work. Neither did cable TV. So when I got home I finished reading "The Impossible Journey of Earnest Shackleton." It's the true story of his crew's struggle to survive after their trip to Antarctica goes wrong in 1914. Good book.

Then at around 1 am I knew I'd fall asleep if I went upstairs to pray my rosary, so I took it for a walk. I walked along Front Street out toward Nome-Council Hwy. East of town and watched the waves rolling in from the Bering Sea. It was high tide and I could see just the shadows of the waves before they rose up and broke on the rocks to send spray up about 12 feet. Orion was on my right to the Southeast, and The Great Bear was Northeast on my left. A guy was walking along the road toward me, and he stopped to ask what I was looking at.

He was a slight native man, probably in his late 50s, missing five or six teeth, and wanted to know if I smoked. I told him I didn't. So we stood there and looked and the waves for a while, and then I asked him about the sea ice and when the sea would freeze over. So we chatted about global warming, or at least Alaskan warming. He said his name was Robert, and a few minutes later he kept walking into town, and I continued out.

I went out that direction again a couple days ago, and the sea is covered with snow. I added a video to the end so you can see for yourself.

We had another fire a couple weeks ago. It was a fuel truck at the mine this time. NovaGold and AMI run the Rock Creek Mine outside of town. Fortunately NVFD put out the fire before the fuel in the truck ignited. Paul and I drove out there, and then the mine security guys led us to a room to sit and wait. Then we left about 20 minutes later. They didn't really like us being there it seemed, but we have our job to do, and they have theirs. If there's a fire in a small community, there will be rumors, and it's our job to set the story straight.

Then two days later a truck tipped over of the road on the way to the mine. They're not getting any breaks up there it seems. A month or so before I got here two miners died in a accident, and last month one died in a house fire.

Father Sean left for the next five weeks, so the only Sacraments we'll be getting until mid-January are the Eucharist at Sunday lay services, and then a Christmas Mass with a guest priest who's coming for that weekend.

I've been experimenting with what's left over of our food before we go to the store next. In a big frying pan: two cans of tuna, one can of corn, one can of green beans, hot sauce to taste. That was my latest recipe, and it didn't turn out too bad.

Alright. That's all for now. I'll write again before the holidays, but Merry Christmas anyway!

Take care and God bless,
Jacob.