Lazy Summer Days

It was sunny and about 70 yesterday with light winds, so we took the inflatable boat out on the lagoon for the day. The kids had a good time, we all got a little sunburnt. This place looks completely different in the summer - it's not what you would imagine a village North of the Arctic Circle would look like.









Got my new gun in - a 454 Casull with a 2" barrell...that should be fun to shoot...

4th videos

Here's a couple videos from the 4th of July. The first is Patrick and Chris dancing, the 2nd is snowmobiles trying to ski across the lagoon behind our house, 2 of them sink...the quality isn't the best.

4th of July in Kotzebue

Yesterday we had record breaking temperatures, with highs reaching 80 degrees just after 6pm...which felt nice after 100 degree temps in Arkansas (I was in Arkansas the whole month of June). So, today, the 4th of July, it's only 52 degrees and the winds are about 15mph...it felt freezing. Anyway, for the 4th the town has a big celebration which started with a concert yesterday and will last through Tuesday-no fireworks though, since it's light out 24 hours. The various outlying villages surrounding Kotzebue participated in the fair and put together some pretty cool floats and trucks. Here are a few pictures from this morning, my favorite was the bear hide on the front of the pickup:

New Videos

I'm gonna start recording short videos of routine life here in Kotzebue. Thanks for the idea Jim. I think it will help illustrate life here. These videos were shot in May and there is still over a foot of snow on the ground. The puddles are from the melting snow, and the entire town is a mess from them.

Blogging

I don't have the drive to keep up on blogging. I really enjoy reading other blogs, but I can never keep up with one for myself. Anyway, I posted a couple of pictures today and will try to post more later.
Spring is here, and temperatures are remaining right at their average - which is about 20-25 for the high and around 5 for the low. We have about 4 feet of snow still on the ground and it is melting at a rate of about 1 inch every 2 days. The sun is coming up at about 6:30am and setting around 11pm, making for some long days. After May 7th, we won't see any darkness until the end of summer.
I have been accumulating hunting gear slowly but surely to prepare for hunting season. I will be eligible to hunt beginning in November for large game. I traded some gas for caribou the other day, ran it through the grinder, and we all ate it as meatloaf tonight. It was good, but we cheated by mixing in regular ground beef with it.
The ATV and snowmobile are a blast, and I'm thinking of selling the Durango and buying a UTV. I can get top dollar for the Durango up here since it costs about 8 grand to get one delivered.