Kalib moves out, final: He shares his dad's birthday dinner, helps? decorate the Christmas tree; Today in Wasilla: Familiar face regurgitates, then pops through the door

I take one last journey back to last Friday night, when Kalib moved out. Here, he looks through the window of his new house as his Uncle Kalib pulls into the driveway. Just moments before, his dad pulled in with something special in his vehicle.

It's a Christmas tree! Kalib gives instructions and directions on where and how to place it.

Before the tree can be decorated, we all go out to celebrate Jacob's birthday. Jacob chose the nearby Taco King.

We all ordered Mexican food.

Kalib ate a wedge of lime.

Then we returned to his new house to eat cake. There were no candles at all, this time, so Lavina tore off a piece of a paper bag, rolled it up and lit it on fire. The lights were turned out. The paper only smoldered, and try as I might, I could not take a picture off the glow of the smolder. 

In desperation, I dialed my shutter speed down to something like maybe a full second or two and tripped the shutter. Even as the image was exposing someone turned on the light.

Kalib lifted up the first piece and dumped it upside down atop the cake. Oh, it was a good cake, though. Margie made it. Lisa bought the ice cream.

Next it was time to decorate the tree. Kalib began the task with confidence.

Can you see how sleepy he is? Remember, he had hardly had a nap at all. He was very tired. Everything in his world was changing.

He started to cry and ran across the floor. Lisa tried to amuse him with a balloon. He ignored it and zipped right past her.

Then he flung himself face down upon the rug that his parents will soon replace. Caleb tried to amuse him by bouncing the minature Spiderman basketball.

Kalib would not be amused.

And right after this, his gramma and I had to say goodbye and leave.

Early the next morning, his actual birthday, btw, his Dad had to leave to go to Washington, DC, for some training. 

Today in Wasilla:

What!!!??? Who is this, sitting on our couch with Caleb, eating strawberry Jello??? Why, it's Kalib! But he moved out? How could this be?

Last night, he started to vomit. Fearing that it was fumes from the new paint that has gone up on the walls since he moved in, Lavina brought him home. He is going to stay here for a few days now.

We have since learned that three of his day care peers had to go home today, because they were vomiting, too. So maybe it wasn't the fumes.

Whatever, he is here again.

And here I am, driving down Lucille Street, on my afternoon coffee break.

As you can see, weather-wise, today was exceptionally nice. It sounds like we were about the only place in the country with good weather today - except for Hawaii, where surfers were cutting up giant waves, 30 feet tall - a gift to them from Alaska.

I want to ride a 30 foot wave.

Do you think I could?

Or would such a wave tear my artificial shoulder right out of its socket?

I wanted to go to Hawaii this winter to find out. But I can see that its not going to happen. No money for such a trip.

Life is hell, I tell you.

Maybe next winter.

Maybe I will be richer then. And stronger. Grayer as well. Richer, stronger and grayer.

If so, then I will go to Hawaii and ride a wave.

Maybe not a 30 foot wave.

They don't get such waves every year, you know.

Nobody can know exactly when they will come.

And then when they're done coming, they're done.

There's nothing anyone can do about it.

You can't schedule that kind of surf.

It happens when it happens and only when it happens.

Taktuk's email regarding Interior's decision to allow Shell Oil to drill exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea

Please note: My regular daily post, including the final installment of Kalib Moves Out, will still appear Thursday, just a little later than normal. It is scheduled to come up at 10:00 AM.

Long time readers will remember Taktuk - Roberta Ahmaogak of Wainwright and her daughter, Cara, from when they danced at Kivgiq this past February.

On Monday, the US Interior Department announced it's decision to allow Shell Oil to drill three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea, which, to Taktuk, her family and community, is the garden that feeds them.

See that flag flying behind her?

That is the flag of Iceberg 14, the bowhead whaling grew started by her grandfather - her Aapa - the late Ben Ahmaogak, Sr. - the whaling captain who, in 1995, took me in and made me part of his crew and family. This year, due to poor weather and ice conditions, this was the only flag to be raised over a bowhead in Wainwright during the entire whaling season.

I took this photo shortly before midnight on June 27, towards the end of the whale feast that Iceberg 14 hosted that day.

Yesterday, I received an email from Taktuk that she sent to a number of people, asking all to pass it on, so that's what I'm doing.

In the Anchorage Daily News, Senator Lisa Murkowsi, top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said this about the decision to allow Shell to drill:

"This is progress... an encouraging sign that Alaska's oil and natural gas resources can continue to play a major role in America's energy security."

This is what Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was quoted as saying:

"Our approval of Shell's plan is conditioned on close monitoring of Shell's activities to ensure that they are conducted in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. These wells will allow the department to develop additional information and to evaluate the feasibility of future development in the Chukchi Sea."

This is the quote from Marilyn Heiman, the U.S. Arctic program director for the Pew Environment Group:

"Obviously we're disappointed. A spill could happen from an exploratory well just as easily as it could from a production well. They have not yet demonstrated they have the ability and the expertise to clean up an oil spill, especially in the darkness, the extreme weather and the icy conditions."

According to the Daily News, "Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby said that company executives believe their exploration plan addresses concerns they've heard in North Slope communities, 'including concerns around program footprint and pace. Shell believes the Chukchi Sea could be home to some of the most prolific, undiscovered hydrocarbon basins in North America.'"

To me personally, none of the above voices mean anything. The one voice that matters to me is that of the Iñupiat, because the Chukchi Sea is their home, their dinner table, their life. Their culture is thousands of years old and it was shaped by this sea. No development should take place in this sea without their consent.

But that is not how the power structure works.

It should also be noted that, right now, a difficult cleanup operation is ongoing for a "one of the worst" onshore oil spills at Prudhoe Bay. If it can happen onshore, it can happen offshore. Given enough development, enough time, it even seems inevitable. What happens when that oil spills, not onto frozen tundra but into the ocean, with the bowhead whales, the beluga, the polar bear, walrus, the big bearded seal and the small spotted seal, the eider ducks, the murres and all the seabirds?

Here is Taktuk's email, which she titled,

Pray for Our People

OK- So if you're a maktak eater, whale steak lover, paniqtaq lover, if you sew beautiful skins to make beautiful jackets or boots, an artist who scrimshaws on ivory of the walrus, if you eat urraq, fish, go duck hunting during the spring, if you eat that beautiful taste of nanuq meat.... Keep this message going! 

WE ARE INUPIAQ! We hunt for a living and for a lifestyle! This is our culture, and this is who we are. We hunt and we survive, this is what makes WHO WE ARE!

Who is Shell? Who WAS Shell? Do they have ears? Why us? Why our people? Why THIS precious culture?

To the people who work for Shell: If it were possible for you to live with us on a daily basis, go to work, make a living, go out hunting to feed your family, think like us, eat like us, live with us for an entire year- YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND WHY THIS HURTS US SO MUCH!!! But you can't understand, and you will never understand! You think that a brand new snowmachine every winter will fix our problems, a brand new truck will keep us above the snow banks, a new boat with a faster engine!!! You're WRONG! We can fix our broken snowmachines! We can pull you out within minutes! Our camping grounds aren't going anywhere and we'll make it to our camping grounds safely!

Spending money is so easy! Making people happy, you think? Read your numbers! Money kills! Money destroys!

We love our quiet village. We love sobriety! We are ALL Inupiaq! Soon there'll be MORE Inupiaq teachers in our schools!

Who's with Shell? Tell me what goods will come out of it! How many spotters will you pay? How many marine mammal observers will you have to look at their changing migration routes? Give me your plan! I want to see what's going out in our view!

What you're doing to us is Murder! My culture, my people has no choice but to face you! Don't you get enough bad looks?

Put your money into wind turbines for the whole nation, make energy efficent vehicles that work in the sub-zero temperatures...

Put your money into something that doesn't spell SPILL or DISASTER!

Why us? What power don't you see that's within our communities? What can we do to STOP you besides holding hands, forming a line with posters "OVER MY DEAD BODY!", or driving us to jail!?!? You're walking all over us. You look down at us. You're higher than us.

We know there is OIL out there. Why can't you simply put a stop to this? Simply, help our culture by keeping off "OUR" land and sea! It is rightfully ours because we hunt the sea animals and sea mammals. Forget the federal lands and oceans. Think about this culture that you're trying to kill!

Read it again and again and again.

What will happen if there happens to be an oil spill? What precautions will we see? What happens to the mammals of our sea? Die? How will you stop the oil spill? What happens to our next generation? Would they continue to hunt in our ancestors routes?

Don't tell me, "We'll do our best!"

- My name is Taktuk, and I'm a student at UAA (University of Alaska, Anchorage), a resident of Wainwright, Alaska, lover of all sea mammals!

Feed me, not your kind words nor your answers.

Listen to 1 more person! 1 can make a difference!

Another reminder: Our only option now is to say a prayer- to keep them at bay!

Half moon rises over Wasilla; black cat waits in the house; Kalib moves out, part 5: after a bit of exploration, he joins his family in the dining room

The half-moon was out this morning. I made a big mistake, though. I had just taken a picture inside, with the ISO on my pocket camera cranked up a bit and the shutter speed down to 1/40 of a second. When I saw the plane coming, I quickly twisted the ISO down to 80, but forgot to change the shutter speed. The plane was coming fast, so I had to lift the camera fast and shoot.

As a result, I got a bit of camera shake. And probably, I will never see an airplane fly under a half moon in quite this manner ever again.

Oh well. The picture is what it is.

This was the scene that I had photographed at 1/40 of a second, taking my time, trying to hold the camera steady. The other day, as Margie and I went through the drive-through at Metro Cafe to order our hot drinks, Carmen pointed to a sign that told us she was now serving breakfast sandwiches.

I promised her that, sooner or later, I would come in and try one out. So today, Margie had to go to Anchorage to see the dentist and get some teeth drilled and filled. This meant that I would be without a car, so I had her drop me off at Metro Cafe so I could try the sandwich.

She had sausage and eggs and ham and eggs, both with cheese. I ordered the ham. It is not the same as having ham and eggs-over easy, hash browns and mult-grain toast or pancakes at Family Restaurant, but for a coffee shop stop, particularly if you are driving to work, it's pretty good.

And the coffee is delicious - way better than Family Restaurant coffee.

When she found out I was going to walk home, Carmen was worried that I would get cold. She offered to give me a ride. But it is only about two miles, the temperature was a very pleasant two degrees above zero (-17 C), so I set out walking.

Pretty soon, I saw a man and a black dog ahead of me. They were moving slow. I quickly caught them, shot three frames, then walked along with them for about 100 yards, until they turned off on Mulchatna, were they live.

"What's your name and the dog's name?" I asked.

"I'm Brian, he's Bubba," he spoke in an accent that reminded me a bit of the Kennedy's - JFK, Bobby, and Ted.

"Looks like kind of an old dog," I observed.

"Yes," Brian answered, "he's getting old." 

"You sound like you're from the Northeast?"

"Massachusetts. I'm from Massachusetts."

"How long have you been in Wasilla?"

"Eight years," he answered. "I came here eight years ago to visit my daughter for two weeks and I never left."

"You must like it alright, then," I mused.

"I like it allright," he said. "I don't even mind the cold that much. There's nothing I can do about it, so what the f..."

I have spent enough time in the Arctic and the Interior that it always strikes me as a bit odd when people speak of Wasilla as if it were a really cold place - although for sure, from time to time, it can get pretty damn frigid, but today was not such a day.

We exchanged a few more pleasantries, then came to Mulchatna, where he and the dog turned right and walked away.

I continued on. Often, the half-moon was hidden from my view, but sooner or later it always reappeared.

Half moon.

And then, all too quickly, I was walking down my own driveway, toward my own house and there was my own, good, black cat-buddy Jim, looking at me through the window.

Once he realized that I was taking his picture, he tried to act indifferent, but I knew better. He was very pleased.

Now... I hope I am not drawing this out too long, but right now, these pictures are the only contact that I am having with my little grandson. So here I am, back to last Friday evening, continuing the "Kalib Moves Out" series. And here is Kalib, exploring his new house with his mom.

He observes as she hangs the curtains.

As mom cleans the refrigerator - which she plans to replace with a bigger one as soon as she can, Kalib tries to get her attention.

This is the dining room. They plan to replace the carpet, perhaps with the flooring that they all stand on here. They wanted to try it out. They liked it.

I will have two more entries in this series and then it will be done.

Then I must find an excuse to go into town and spend some time with my grandson.

Or he could come out here.

Royce, the elderly orange cat, misses him terribly.

Kalib moves out, part 4: he blows his nose, then flushes the tissue down the toilet; Wasilla today: At high noon, a short man casts a tall shadow

You will recall that Lisa used the big, red, inflatable ball to take away Kalib's tears. A bit later, he switched his attention to a small, Spiderman basketball. But the little fellow was very tired, had missed his nap and was more than a bit cranky. Soon, he was crying again.

Grandma invites him into the bathroom to help her place the no-slip bath matt in the tub. This pleases him. 

After the matt is placed, Kalib blows his nose into a Kleenix. Grandma instructs him to toss it into the toilet. Then Grandma tries to stop him as he thrusts it in instead. She is too late. His hand goes all the way down to the water.

Oh well. Soap and water will kill any germs he might have picked up.

Kalib flushes the toilet and sends the snotty Kleenix swirling.

"Bye, bye!" Kalib says, as he waves to the tissue just before it gets sucked under.

Today in Wasilla, I took my usual walk. Very quickly, I came upon this sign that marks our street as Sarah's Way.

When I was in India, come high noon, my shadow would completely hide beneath my feet. Here in Wasilla, in late fall, my shadow falls very long. You would think I was tall, instead of short.

As I walk down Tamar, a school bus passes by on Seldon.

Car passing by on Seldon. Hey! That face looks familiar! I can't be sure, so I won't identify or misidentify the person, but maybe.

I do not know this guy at all. I am certain of it - the guy driving, that is. I do know the shadow. That is me. I am The Shadow.

Having fun on a snowmachine.

Wasilla today: Three dogs act tough from the other side of the fence; Alaska awaits; car crash. Kalib moves out, part 3: Lisa amuses him with the big, red, inflatable ball

As I went walking today, these three dogs bravely threatened me from the safety of the other side of the fence.

Oh, was he angry!

"You're damn lucky there's a fence between us!" he barked.

And then I came to the muzzled dog, who bluff-charged me, then, growling, barking, ran a couple of circles around me, threatening that he would rip me to pieces, if only he wasn't wearing this muzzle!

But you know what? I don't believe any of these dogs. They just act tough, because they think they've got to. Take away the fence, take away the muzzle and they will be whimpering and wagging their tails lowly.

The good thing about living in Wasilla is that, even when you are trapped in a rut like I am right now and you are stuck in the midst of the overrun, wantonly developed, much-marred valley and town and you can't get out and do anything, all you have to do is just lift up your eyes and... there's Alaska, lifting itself up and stretching out in every direction.

Quiet, beautiful, harsh and still.

I can't tell you how good it feels - just to know Alaska is all around you.

As I neared my house, I saw that there are been an accident on the corner of Lucille and Seldon. It did not look that bad, but there was an ambulance, so I don't know.

They flagged me right through and I didn't have to wait at all. Maybe there are some people doing a lot of waiting, right now - maybe these kids, being ushered into the truck. I don't know.

Just another one of life's dramas that one passes by every day, sometimes seeing, sometimes not, not knowing how it happened, never knowing the outcome.

Now, back to Friday night, when Kalib moved out. You will recall that he was screaming and crying, but Lisa helped to cheer him up with this ball. He then followed his mother into the kitchen, but soon turned back toward Lisa and the ball.

He grabbed it and threw it to her.

As she propped herself up on the ball, he began to push his way beneath her.

He emerged with a smile on his face.

Then she lay flat on the floor and he put the ball on her ankles.

He rolled the ball up her legs.

She juggled it on her feet. You will notice a fog over Kalib. That is because as I was taking another picture of him, he reached out and smeared my lens with his finger.