Thanksgiving in Scammon Bay

Many people have ask me if the Yupik Eskimo celebrates Thanksgiving. I can really only speak for my village of Scammon Bay and the answer is "yes!". The festivities begin on Wednesday and go through Saturday! There's no place to go shopping or out to eat but there's lots going on here during the week of Thanksgiving.

Our school hosts a Community Feast the day before Thanksgiving. Everyone is invited and many people come up to the school to eat with their kids and grandkids. It's a good time of fellowship and being thankful for our many blessings.

Our delicious meal was a blend of the "traditional Thanksgiving foods" and traditional Native foods. On the tray you can see turkey and dressing, creamed potatoes and cranberry sauce, apple crisp and agutuq sometimes called Eskimo Ice Cream.

Our wonderful cooks put in a lot of hard work to make our feast possible. Thanks ladies!

Then on Wednesday night, we have Turkey Bingo! It's a fundraiser for our ball teams to travel to a tournament in Anchorage. Lots of great prizes are won, especially the grand prizes of whole turkeys.

  

The young and not so young enjoy playing Bingo!

As you can see, we had a great turnout for Turkey Bingo!

The moon reflecting over the frozen tundra on Thanksgiving Eve.

Thanksgiving Day at our place.......

Thanksgiving morning. Sunrise over the tundra as viewed from our front door.

We had 7 guests for Thanksgiving meal. Allie's parents from South Dakota and her sister from Fairbanks, and 4 others from Scammon Bay. 

Our chief cook, Allie's mom, Lee. She prepared lots of wonderful food and it was enjoyed by all. 

Allie, Holly and Alexis. Did you know if you ever leave your phone unattended others will take selfies with it?

Allie's dad, Keith carves the turkey.

Holly and Drew from Kansas City.

Drew carves the swan. I wonder how many people down-states had swan and stuffing for Thanksgiving. Yep, we eat swan here! It's good. 

Allie's sister, Mary. (I kept leaving my phone unattended.)

Karen from Georgia.

Homemade goodies sent from friends in Arkansas. Thanks Terresia, Karen and Judy!

Wild Alaskan Berry Pie baked by Allie's sister, Mary. Yum!

We had creamed potatoes, hot rolls, sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, pumpkin pie and pecan pie, too. 

It was a very good Thanksgiving Day. 

In addition, Allie's family brought totes filled with lots of food and we feasted for the whole weekend!

Then on Friday and Saturday was the Family Volleyball tournament. It's a fundraiser for our kids who want to go to Bible Camp in the summer at Unalakleet.

Lots of good-natured competition in a double elimination tournament. Good exercise after stuffing on Thanksgiving Day. 

So, yes, we celebrate Thanksgiving in Scammon Bay. It's a time of family, food and fun. 

I am thankful for the Lord's blessings, especially my family and friends both far and near. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mouse Wars

About a week ago, as I was doing my morning devotional, I heard that tell-tale scratching of a little mouse in our boot room. I thought to myself, "Where did we put the mousetrap from last year?"

I felt pretty confident because last year, Allie and I made a great mouse-trapping duo. I put the bucket over it and she stomped. Team work in action.

But by the time I found the mousetrap and loaded it with peanut butter, my lovely morning quiet time was passed, and I was feeling a bit miffed at that "little rat." I headed off to school fully expecting to have caught the mouse by the end of the day.

When I got in from work, I was disappointed---no mouse in the trap. Also, no peanut butter. Licked clean.

Later that evening, he was at it again. But the annoying little scratchy sounds became loud gnawing wood sounds. He worked fast, I'll say. There were wood shavings all around on the rug. So I put the trap right in his work space. Then I left. When I returned he had moved the loaded trap to the side and continued shredding our doorfacing. Thinking it had to be a fluke, I put the trap back into his demolition area and closed the door. Yep you guessed right--he moved it and continued in pursuit of making himself at home.

Below is a picture of the doorfacing. I put duct-tape on it because I've heard that duct-tape will fix anything. He chewed through it, of course. 

My next move was to put the trap in the doorway so that he would have to walk over the trap in order to get into our house. He had no way around it.

A few minutes later, there was Mighty Mouse scurrying across our kitchen floor. I suppose he jumped over the trap because it was still blocking the doorway. 

When he saw me, he stopped in his tracks. I yelled. He ran---thankfully back out to the boot room. 

Next, I put a sledge hammer in his work place. My thinking--at least he can't move it.

I wanted rat poison but didn't have any. So I sprinkled Comet Cleanser all around because I thought, "I'll make the place very uninviting to that little varmint." This was becoming a war! 

Allie and her sister put together a trap they'd used at camp. It was a bucket of water with peanut butter just below the inside rim. They propped a stick up on it hoping the mouse would climb it, lean in to eat the peanut butter, fall in and drown. Did it work? nope. Well, for one thing he was already full of peanut butter. I'd been feeding him peanut butter for the last few days on the cocked and loaded trap.

The next day I was telling my co-workers about our genius rodent trying to move in and Inez says, 

"Put lots of honey in a little foil tray. That's how I always catch mice. They step in to eat the honey and get stuck. It works everytime."

I had my doubts but I did it anyway. I was getting desperate. He was starting to do some serious damage to the property. Plus I knew he was pooping and peeing nearby. If it wasn't so cold, it would've already been smelly.

Below is a picture of the honey trap. Yum!

So do you think it caught the mouse?

No. In fact he vacated the premises. We didn't hear him or see him for several days. But we left the instruments of war out just in case. You know. Maybe the Comet gave him a bellyache or something. Maybe he went to get his friends and family to join in the Thanksgiving feast. I had a feeling he'd be back.

I really wanted to clean up the mess because we had company coming for Thanksgiving. But decided to leave it and let them know of the dangers to their toes.

Sticky notes on the door as a courtesy warning to our guests.

Below is an aerial pic of our complete Mouse War strategy.

Two days later, I decided to give up and clean up. But I needed to run an errand first. Guess what! When I returned, there he was! Stuck. Dead stuck in the honey. It worked! Thanks, Inez!

So I hope this concludes our Mouse Wars. It feels good to be the victor. Oh the thrill of victory! Especially when defeating such a worthy opponent. 

Gee, I kinda miss the little guy.  Not.

My 2nd Annual Moose Hunt and Allie's First Catch

It was a cloudy, blustery day when we left Scammon Bay to head out for our moose hunt. Our 

hunting party consisted of Harley, Mak, Larry, Allie, Alexis, and me. Well, I wasn't actually hunting. I was going along for the ride in the beautiful wilderness.

Scammon Bay village as seen from the banks of the Kun River. Askinuk Mountains in the background.

Getting the boats loaded. Part of the load is the fuel. There are no fueling stations out there in the wilderness so we must take enough with us.  We had 3 barrels of fuel (seen in the pic below) which cost about $700, plus camping equipment, food, hunting gear, and 6 people. 

With Harley Sundown as our captain, we headed to the mouth of the Kun River where it empties into the Bering Sea, then along the coast for a few hours until we reached the mouth of the Black River. I was looking for Beluga whale while on the ocean but never saw any. We headed up the Black River toward Kuzi. Kuzi is Kuzilvak Mountain which is the location of important hunting and fishing grounds for the Yupik Eskimos of this area.

Below is a picture of Kuzi in the distance.

Putting out fish nets. 

We stopped early in the Black River and put out a fish net that we would collect on the way back.

The catch was interesting with several different kinds of salmon and a few flounder.

The meandering rivers and creeks of the tundra are grassy and shallow. So the guys had to get out and push a few times! Wet feet. We saw beavers and beaver dams. Harley ramped the boat over a beaver dam once and it knocked me off my seat! OK. Lesson learned. Hold on tight!

We spotted moose pretty early on! But it's a little more difficult to get a good aim in a moving boat. A few moose walked away. But we continued in our pursuit and finally caught two! The moose often just stand there staring at you with a curious look as they continue munching. Yupik Eskimo believe that the moose allow themselves to get caught. So they don't brag about being a good hunter or killing a big animal. 

Allie takes aim!  We hunted until dark which was around midnight.

Below is where we camped inside an old trading post with Kuzi in the background. It was good to be under a roof and out of the wind and weather. But when I woke, my feet were numb from the cold.

What a beautiful location!   The pink flowers are fireweed.

 

A tree on the tundra. Not a common sight. This tree conveniently marked the spot where the moose fell. They field-dressed the moose then carried it to the boat. That's hard work. Wow, moose are big-hearted creatures. Literally.

So my 2nd annual moose hunt was another success and a great blessing to be able to go and witness  God's magnificent creation. Thanks to Harley for his willingness to take others out for the thrill of the hunt and wilderness experiences.

Allie didn't catch a moose on her first outing this Fall. But she went back 2 weeks later and caught a young bull. It was her first catch and therefore she gave it all away in accordance with Eskimo tradition. It is believed that by giving away your first catch you will be successful in the future and you are doing your part to help take care of your community. Following are pictures from that hunt..... 

Credit: photos taken by Michelle Benisek, a friend and fellow teacher here in Scammon Bay.

When they got back that night our kitchen became the Butcher Shop. Lots of people pitched in to help and the job was done in just a few hours. Lots of blood and fur, though.

Above is the Ulu. An Eskimo knife. It works well when butchering a moose or slicing a pizza :)

The next day, Allie had good help (Ayla) grinding the meat for burgers.

And delivering the meat to elders in the village. Allie gives Irene a gift from her first catch.

And since I'm an elder, Allie gave some of the moose to me! 

Thanks Allie!

Pics of my first ever attempt at making moose jerky. It was fun! And tasty, too. 

I look forward to sharing it with my friends and neighbors.

Until next time, happy hunting and stay warm!  

Go Hogs!