It's About Time!

Yeah, yeah!  I know....I haven't added much to my blog in quite awhile.  So sorry!  I've been just a little bit busy up here....to put it mildly.  Let's see....where shall I begin?  Halloween!  Check out this picture....the little bumpkins had to bundle up in order to trick-or-treat....

This was the "calm before the storm" looking out over the Chukchi Sea.  There was ice forming on the water at this point but when the storm blew in, the ice went bye-bye!  This picture was taken on Nov. 7.

The following pictures were taken while it was still light out and as the storm was blowing in (November 9).  Obviously, the worst of the storm hit when it was dark and I can assure you that I was NOT outside in those strong winds.  As it was, my house was rocking and rolling in the wind since my house is not at all protected from the wind.  It's a straight stretch from the lagoon (south side of the island) to my house.  On that side, there was concern for flooding (which did occur but not to the point of evacuating my house) and on the second night of the storm, the sled dogs just to the left of the house had to be moved up to locations right outside the house.

There was some shoreline erosion which, as I have mentioned on Facebook, Shishmaref cannot afford to have happen.  If you can, check out Ken Stenek on Facebook.  Ken is a veteran teacher here and some of his pictures/video were shown on Alaska television channels.  All in all, it could have been a lot worse.  There were some families who had to stay at the school after some damage occurred at their homes.  The worst for me was that I lost the top to the outside honey bin!  The next day, I realized that I was not the only one as I saw several strewn throughout the village.  I did locate mine later in the day and returned it to its proper resting spot!

My son was saying something to me about going to the school for safety.  The school is an "evacuation location" as is the church right across from my house.  However, Dan made the comment that the school "must be built of cinder blocks and would be sturdy".  Well.....it's not built of cinder blocks!  It, like most buildings in the tundra, has to be built up on stilts to protect the permafrost.  You can look all the way under the school to the other side.