Kalib visits us all day; I meet some friends on my walk; Melanie and Lisa come out

I can't remember precisely what time, but I think about 3:00 AM, I was suddenly awakened by what sounded to be a "thump," followed by the sound of Kalib screaming. I leaped out of bed in an instant and dashed for his room - even as Margie, who is still moving ever so slowly and always with a bad limp, did the same.

But all was fine in his room - except for the fact that he was sitting in the middle of the bed that Margie made for him and he was screaming.

It must be kind of frightening, that having been his room for as long as he can remember, to suddenly be in it by himself, with his parents and all their furniture gone.

He quickly settled down and went back to sleep.

Then, at 4:30, I heard him scream again and this time I heard the pounding of his footsteps as he charged through the door and down the hall. I jumped up again, but Margie stayed put. "He's going to Caleb," she said, as I charged for the door.

Caleb, of course, is a night-shift worker and although it was his night off, I could now hear what sounded to be him playing video games."

"You got The Little One, Caleb?" I shouted out.

"I've got him," she shouted back.

So I went back to bed and fell asleep and stayed asleep for too long, even though, totaled up, I feel significantly short of the eight hours they say you need.

When finally I came out, this was the scene that greeted me.

A bit later, I was sitting here, in my office, at this computer, when Margie brought him out to feed the fish. I always clean and rinse my hands real good before I put them into any of my tanks, but Kalib suddenly plunged his hand in and offered a pellet of fish food directly to one of my fish.

I suspect that all the fish will be okay. The fish in this tank are all eight or nine years old, so, if I were to find one floating tomorrow, how would I know if a germ got them or it was just old age?

I'm pretty sure they will be okay.

Not long afterward, I went walking. I soon came upon this car, stuck off to the side of the road. Judging from the deep, burned-in rut of a tire spinning, it would appear that someone tried to pull it out but didn't succeed.

A little further on, I came upon Danny, Becky and their mom. They had come out to go sledding. I am always happy to see them and they are always happy to see me.

So we did a New Year's family portrait.

Afterwards, mom mentioned that she was looking at the picture that I gave them of Becky and Danny with their bicycles, the morning after their grandfather Red - her father - died. It was the first picture that I had ever taken of the two together - although I had once photographed a little tiny Danny with his late grandfather, Red.

She looked at the date on the photograph and was surprised. "I couldn't believe that it has been five years already," she said.

Becky then asked what I saw when I looked down at the white snow and the brown snow. "I see white sugar and brown sugar," she said.

Then she showed me the new phone that she got for Christmas. She was very pleased. Her mother told her not to lose it, because if she did, then she would have to go back to having one of those generic "minute" phones that you can buy at Wal-Mart.

Everybody then set off to walk up the hill, but Becky set the fastest pace, so we walked together as the other two dropped back again.

"I'm the fastest walker," she told me.

She then told me how excited she was about an all-night get-together that her church was hosting for its young people. "We're not going to go to bed all night," she said. She said they would probably go bowling, too.

Once we got to the top of the hill, she climbed to the top of a snowmachine trail off the road - and then zipped past me on her sled.

Back home, Jim, my good black cat, came to see me, to get an affectionate scruff.

Jim and Kalib. A short time before, Kalib had been vacuuming the floor.

Melanie and Lisa came out late in the afternoon. The three of us went to Little Miller's for coffee and brought one home to Margie.

After we came in and sat down, Kalib put some stickers on himself. Here, he shows one to Lisa.

Then Kalib started chasing Melanie around the wall that separates the kitchen from the woodstove and the living room. Or maybe Melanie was chasing Kalib.

I am not quite certain.

Now, I am very sorry to say, there are three images left that I had planned to include in this post. I am unable to load them. The picture upload feature of Squarespace, my blog host, has frozen up. I cannot upload any more pictures. Over the past two hours, I have tried all kinds of things. I have cleared the cache, I have refreshed the page, I have closed down my browzer and opened it back up again. I have restarted my computer.

Nothing does the trick.

Nearly two hours ago, I sent a message to Squarespace support, where they promise to "respond to service related incidents immediately," hoping that they might help and solve this problem. So far, nothing.

So I am unable to finish this blog post.

Update: I just got a response. I have been informed that I am at 99.9 percent of my storage space and that is why the upload is stalling.

So I have to buy some more storage space.

I don't have time right now. This will have to do it.

Kalib blows out his own candle to become a "terrible two" - 2009 in review will begin tomorrow

I shot this about 3:25 PM, on the Parks Highway as Margie and I headed to Anchorage for Kalib's second birthday party. If we were on true solar time, this is what it would like at 2:30, but we are not. When we first arrived in Alaska, the state spanned four time zones - just like the Lower 48.

That makes sense, because if you lay the map of Alaska over one of the Lower 48, the Southeast panhandle is in Florida, the Aleutians reach to the California coast and Barrow is not far from Chicago.

There was a movement going on at that time to move the capitol to Willow, just north of here and one of the arguments was that Juneau was just too far away from much of Alaska, in time as well as in miles. Government workers in Juneau would be home eating dinner when Alaskans further west where it was mid-afternoon wanted to call them.

So, with the exception of Attu Island, which has been restricted to the US Navy since World War II, the entire state was crammed into one time zone.

The good news, of course, is that the days are getting longer now.

On the bad side, the weather right now is horribly warm - mid 30's here in Wasilla, just a little cooler in Anchorage. A warm mass of air moved up here from Hawaii and our cold air headed south, into the midwest. I just hope it doesn't get any warmer than it already is and that a cold front moves in, soon.

I hated this kind of winter weather.

Just about anytime a hard cold snap hits down there, it is because it got warm up here and the cold air had to go somewhere.

We found Kalib planted firmly on his little Spiderman throne, watching the animated film, Ice Age, for about the 90th time. He was riveted and did not want to be distracted by anything.

Out in the kitchen, his mom was breaking eggs to make a cake.

Yesterday, I mentioned Rex's buddy, Eddie, who now lives in Seattle but who grew up with Rex here in Wasilla. This is he. He was telling me about his new business venture, which I will not detail here, save to say that in the last few weeks he has sold product worth far more money than I have ever come close to dealing with.

To do so, he had to run up enormous debts, so he is holding his breath right now.

We used to go watch him and Rex play Youth League football together, and drop them off here and there to go fishing. Sometimes, they would go on long canoe trips.

Eddie served two years as a Mormon missionary and the letters he wrote were brilliant, like Mark Twain. Irreverent, like Mark Twain, too.

That may not be the kind of writing you would expect from a Mormon missionary, but it was the kind of writing he did.

But, like me, he doesn't really follow any particular religion anymore.

I kind of freaked out when I saw Melanie standing on this stool. That's what happens when you fall off a chair, shatter your shoulder, get it replaced and then realize you are never, ever, going to get quite back to where you were.

"Dad," she chided me, "at least this isn't on wheels."

Just then, a big "pop!" sounded beneath her. She gingerly climbed down.

Charlie and Rex eat their salad and mac and cheese. Kalib is still watching movies, but has switched to his other favorite, Cars.

Caleb went out to feed Kalib, just to make certain that he got to eat part of his own birthday dinner. Do you see why I refer to this little chair as Kalib's throne?

He did not want to leave the TV, but the cake finally lured him in. Anyone who has been with this blog for the past few months has seen Kalib helping to blow out other people's candles, but this one is just for him.

He blows it out.

And then he eats cake and ice cream. Sometimes, his dad is a bit over-indulgent.

Chock full of new calories, Kalib then went on a maddening spree, sprinting back and forth between the kitchen and the living room.

He received many gifts, but the most impressive was this T-Rex from his parents. This T-Rex walks. It opens its jaws and roars - as it is doing here.

Kalib is a little worried.

Kalib studied the T-Rex closely and bravely, but he could not be persuaded to touch it.

Let there be no doubt - Lisa came to celebrate, too.

For the remainder of the year, I will do a review of 2009. I won't call it "the best of" just "a review of." I will use some pictures that have already appeared here, and some  that, for one reason or another - usually lack of time - didn't.

As I do, I will also include something from the current day.

I pass by a lady Santa on a horse; the new house gets torn up a bit with Kalib in the middle; Jacob is named Employee of the Year by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

Today, as I was driving out of Wasilla to go to Anchorage, I saw a woman on horseback, wearing a Santa hat. It was a beautiful, wonderful day for a horseback ride, with the temperature at that moment four degrees above zero.

I continued on to Anchorage through what was another hoarfrosty day.

Someone had slid off the road.

As you can see, things are changing inside Jacob, Lavina and Kalib's new home. I told you that Lavina did not like that old rug. Kalib went about the business of taking measurements for the new one.

Kalib looks through the window as Melanie arrives to help.

Rex seals off the tracks for the track lights in preparation for tomorrow's spray painting. There was some discussion about whether those track lights should go or stay, because they do look kind of strange.

Yet, as a photographer, I could see a use for such lights.

Once again, Kalib got to feeling worn down and a bit cranky.

So Grandma took him into what I believe will be his bedroom once he gets a little older. There, she made him sweep the floor.

That cheered him right up.

He also enjoyed watching some Cars animation on Caleb's iPhone.

After that, Lavina and I headed over to the Denaina Center, where the 1800 people who work with Jacob at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium were having their Christmas party. Jacob is still in Washington, DC, so he couldn't be there.

We came very late but still just a little bit early and so they sat us down at one of the many tables and fed us halibut and a chocolate desert that was very tasty.

At the next table, I saw this lady concentrating on her phone.

This is why Lavina and I came, even though Jacob was not here. ANTHC gave out seven Employee of the Year awards. Jacob was named Employee of the Year in engineering.

Lavina accepted his award for him. They said that Jacob gets along with everybody that he works with, and with all the people in the villages that he travels to oversee the installation of sewer projects where there has never been sewer projects before and where, what with permafrost and all, conditions can be extremely challenging.

They especially praised him for his work in the Yup'ik village of Quigillingok and said that wherever he goes, he understands the peoples and cultures and works good with them all.

They said more after that, too, but I lost it because I was trying to figure out how to photograph Lavina receiving his award.

It was kind of tough, but this what I came up with.

Lavina with Jacob's awards, outside, on the way back to the car, beneath a hoarfrosted tree. The soapstone figure with the ivory face is an Eskimo dancer.

He also got $1000 - but, as he is now a Lieutenant in the Commission Corps, that check has to be sent to the federal government and they may or may not decide to let him keep it.

If you live in Point Lay, Anchorage is like a mad rush; hoar-frost at 65 mph (maybe just a little bit faster than that); Kalib begins the day at the end

This is Thomas Nukpagigak of Point Lay, and he is musing about the madness and rush of traffic and people swarming about in Anchorage. Thomas is the whaling captain whose crew I followed in 2008 and I might have been with them again this year, if I hadn't injured my shoulder and then gone to India. The day I left the Arctic Slope for India was the same day Point Lay caught its first bowhead in 72 years.

As for today, I picked Thomas up at the Embassy Suites in Anchorage and as we drove through the streets, he commented on the insanity and rush of traffic in the city. "The people never stop," he mused. "They just keep going and going and going. Always in a hurry to get to the next place. Point Lay is nice and quiet. That's how I like it."

Some of you who live in the country down in the Lower 48 might be nodding your heads knowingly, but, unless you have been to place like Point Lay - and there is no such place in the Lower 48 - you still can't grasp it. 

Point Lay has a population of about 300 people, maybe a bit less. If you go Northeast up the coast, the nearest village is Wainwright, population about 700, well over 100 miles away. If you go southwest, the nearest village is Point Hope, also about 700 and about the same distance. No roads link the villages. You travel between them either by airplane, snowmachine, or boat - sometimes, someone still makes the journey by dog team, but not very often.

When I followed his crew whaling, we set camp out on the ice 36 miles to the northeast, as measured by GPS. When you live like that for awhile, even Barrow, with its 4500 or so people, comes to seem like a big, bustling, city and when you first get there, you long for the quiet of the camp and the village.

So Thomas and I headed to Ray's Vietnamese Restaurant. We had a good lunch together and reviewed some material I had put together. He strongly urged me to come back to Point Lay for next spring's whale hunt. I felt a great desire to do just that.

Of course, my day did not begin in Anchorage. It began in Wasilla. And here I am, in my car, leaving Wasilla at about 11:50 AM.

The air has been foggy and still for the past couple of days, so there is hoarfrost on everything.

More hoarfrost.

The Alaska Railroad bridge that spans one braid of the Knik River.

About 30 miles still to go.

A car passes me on the Glenn Highway. It was speeding, but the driver did not get caught.

Shortly after I arrived in Anchorage, just before I picked Thomas up. I wish I had more money in that place. You can count every dollar that I have there now with just three figures.

Afterward, I dropped Thomas off at Wal-Mart by Diamond Center.

From there, I headed over to the Alaska Regional Hospital, to see a friend from Wainwright who was badly injured in a snowmachine accident last month. I found him in his room, alone, asleep. I called his niece and she said, go ahead, wake him up.

So I spoke his name, but he did not wake up. I placed my hand upon his shoulder - how thin and frail it felt, and he, always such a strong and vigorous man. I gave him a gentle shake. Still, he did not wake up. So I stood there at his bedside for awhile and then left. The first time that I went to see him he was still at the Alaska Native Medical Center. I could not see him because, due to fears of swine flu, they were only allowing two members of his immediate family to visit.

The second time, he was also asleep.

I might be in town again tomorrow. If so, I will try a fourth time.

Next, I headed over to the Captain Cook Hotel, to see my Iñupiaq sister, Mary Ellen Ahmaogak, of Wainwright. I was happy to find her daughter, Krystle, there, too. I had something in my computer that I wanted both of them to review, so that's what Krystle is doing here.

And in case you wonder about the little one...

...he is the youngest of her three children - Jonathan.

Krystle, Jesse, and Jonathan. Jesse was raised in Point Hope and that is where they all live, now.

I had meant to get Mary Ellen in a picture, too, but I devoted all my photographic attention to these three and forgot.

Remember how I said I felt a great desire to return to Point Lay next whaling season? When I see or talk to or even just think of any of the Ahmaogak's, I also feel a great desire to return to Wainwright next whaling season and to go back out with Iceberg 14, which Mary Ellen now co-captains with Jason and Robert.

And then speaking of Point Hope - yeah, I feel that same desire to go out there, too.

And then just a couple of weeks ago, a captain in Barrow invited me to get out of the south, come up north and go out with him and crew next spring.

The thought felt wonderful - tough - but wonderful. That's how it is. It is always tough. It is always wonderful.

Life gets very confusing, sometimes.

Who knows what will happen, come next spring?

And here I am, on my way back home to Wasilla, crossing the Palmer Hay Flats. People in vehicles are forever smacking moose on this stretch of highway and that is why they put in these fog lights.

Here is Kalib and Caleb, back at the computer, looking at dinosaurs. This is the very first picture I took today. 

You know what it says in the Bible: the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Well, the last wasn't first, but the first is last.

The Bible got it part right.

Kalib golfs, vacuums, gets under the weather, goes to the doctor, reunites with Royce; Various and insundry Wasilla scenes

Ever since Kalib moved out, the house had been a quiet and empty place. After he returned, he resumed his golf game. This made life in the house much better.

And then he vacuumed the floor. It really needed it and we were grateful.

Kalib and his vacuum cleaner.

It was a foggy day. I took only a very short walk - not because of the fog, but because I left at 11:45 AM and I had a phone interview scheduled at noon.

I hated to take such a short walk. I guess I should have left earlier.

After I hung up the phone, I wanted out. Caleb was awake to watch Kalib, so I took Margie to lunch. Along the way, we passed by this guy walking the shore of Wasilla Lake.

Regularly readers will instantly recognize this as the intersection that provides an excellent view of Pioneer Peak above the maddening traffic of Wasilla's main thoroughfare. But you couldn't see the mountains today.

We ate our lunch in the car, as these ravens flirted with each other nearby.

As we ate, this was the view through the windshield. The tower rises out of the Wasilla Police Station. I was a little worried that someone might come running out of there, think we were someone else and try to arrest us, but no one did. 

The radio was on and a restaurant reviewer was talking from Cleveland. He had moved there from the East Coast, where he said he had been a food snob and had not expected to find any good food in the Midwest.

Boy, was he wrong, he said. The dining in Cleveland was the height of gourmet sophistication. Not even New York City could beat it.

I thought maybe I should start doing reviews on all the sophisticated, gourmet, dining to be had right here in Wasilla, Alaska. I could start here, in the parking lot alongside Taco Bell.

So... Taco Bell has a new item on the meno called a cheese roll, or something like that. It is a flour tortilla rolled around a glob of melted cheese. I bought one, tore it in half, gave half to Margie and ate the other myself.

"What do you think?" I asked Margie.

"It's okay," she said.

"I find it quite excellent myself," I told her. "Nice, sophisticated, piquant, gourmet taste."

She said nothing more at all.

I also had two original crunchy tacos. Indeed, they crunched very well and, after I squeezed a packet of mild and another of hot sauce into each one, had just the right touch of spice to add a decent kick to the meal.

I also had a bean burrito with green sauce.

These are superb when done right, but this one was too damn salty.

The Pepsi was just right - not too sweet but pleasantly carbonated, so that I could be assured of a little burp later, the flavor of which would remind me just how excellent the meal was - except for the bean burrito, which could have been better.

Back at the house, Margie sits with Kalib, who was once again feeling under the weather. While we had been out, Caleb had observed something that frightened him terribly, as Kalib seemed to be disoriented and frightened. Kalib had reached for Caleb where Caleb wasn't even standing. Margie called Lavina at work in Anchorage and she made a doctor appointment for Kalib here in Wasilla at 4:30, but we were advised to bring him in a bit early.

We left the house at 4:00, but stopped to go through the drive-through at Metro Cafe to get Americanos. No, I don't buy Latte's and Mochas everyday.

We continued on toward the doctor's office. As you can see, Pioneer Peak was now visible in the twilight sky.

Lavina had driven up from Anchorage and was already there to meet us.

The rest went inside, but, as I had much to do, I headed back here to my office, slightly worried but pretty confident that Kalib was okay. Lavina would bring them all home.

This is what the Talkeetna Mountains looked like as I drove home.

I passed by a fence decorated with large, candy canes wrapped in green and red lights.

Kalib was fine - but better to be safe. Here he is, reunited with his buddy, Royce.