Teresa's Alaskan Adventure: May to October--time warp??!!!?

Last time I looked, fishing season was just about to start and now, like someone who just had a colonoscopy, I look up and the leaves are turning and falling and the wind is biting and cold. How does that happen? At least when you have a colonoscopy you know it's the Versed in your veins that causes the time warp.

Sam is puzzled about that too

So how to sum up the last 4 months in one blog post?? Fishing season was everything I expected and more.

into the water

Just a few of the boats waiting to go out to the bay

Sunrise after a long night at the clinic

I got a lot of experience in emergency medicine, especially trauma. Naknek has all the canneries with each of the seven employing 300-600 people, the fisherman who number usually three to a boat and around 400 boats coming and going, along with the set netters who only come in the summer to fish with families who still live here. King Salmon has all the tourist traffic coming to Katmai National Park, the seasonal Park Service people, the lodges and fishing guides and generally well-heeled fisher folk. Add to that the extra employees needed for all the businesses in the two communities, the extra flights on Pen Air and the summer schedule when Alaska has several flights daily, and there are a lot of people who have a lot of interesting ways to get hurt. The injuries I saw ranged from the relatively humorous fishing guide who came in with a large fly embedded in his nose (he had just said to his client, "Remember I'm back here!")

to the really tragic: a lodge worker who was ferrying supplies up a remote river and was struck in the back of the head by the float of a plane taking off near him. I now know the medical billing code for finger laceration by heart, and am thinking I might as well take up quilting since I've had so much practice sewing now. I have a few pictures with all identifying information removed so that privacy laws aren't violated, and the one of the fishing guide is included with his permission.

This is a finger

This is a forearm that got caught in a hydraulic net reel

This is what the forearm looks like on the inside

This is an elbow that hit a rock in the tundra while it's owner was avoiding a bear

It was long hours day and night, many medevacs out to Anchorage, and never a dull moment. We had a good team here, with three providers working days and one who just did night call from 5 PM to 9 AM, and we rotated each week. We also employed extra medical assistants, billers, and front desk people for fishing season.

We had people from all over the world--Ethiopia, the Phillipines, Mexico, India, even the lower 48. Language was sometimes a challenge! I also met two people who live in the little town on the Mexican border that I grew up in, and two brothers from my Idaho home town that are cousins to a guy I used to date. And the uncle of my elder son's girlfriend from near my town in Idaho. Someone once said there are only 500 people in the world. They must have all made several appearances here this summer.

It's hard to say whether we got more business when the fishing was going hot and heavy or when it wasn't and everyone was in the bars and then doing stupid things. Sadly, I also had three instances of psychotic breaks in people for whom I had to get a court order to send to the mental hospital in Anchorage against their will.

At the end of July we had the annual celebration of the end (or almost) of fishing season, "Fishtival." It consists of all kinds of activities including a parade, a craft bazaar (probably more aptly called a bizarre), contests of all sorts, raffles, music, art competitions and a whole lot of other delightful tomfoolery.

Ann Shankel and her sled dog team in the parade

A community church float with assorted band-like instruments

Hmmm...never was sure about the origin of this float


Matt, Katmai Natnl Park employee and member of the Queen Salmon band at the bazaar


Camai's entry in the "put your face here" contest

So, what about that midnight sun you always hear about in summertime Alaska? Well, this far south it actually does get DARK, but only for a couple of hours. It's not hard for me to sleep with all that light, but it is hard to get yourself to go to bed! I mean, it's daytime! I could just do a little weeding in my raised bed before I go in (never mind that it's 10:30 PM). Here are a couple of pictures of the dogs at midnight on our walk:

In late July my niece, Samantha, came up to visit for a couple of weeks, but I will leave that for the next installment.

Here are a few gems from the Unalaska police report and some miscellaneous pictures after that:

June 26--Officers responded to the residence of two drunken brothers, wherein the two siblings were having a dispute about various minor issues. One brother asked officers to remove his SIM card from his sibling's phone, and take his sibling to his room. Officers told the brother to collect his own SIM card and that the sibling could go to bed when he wished.

August 25--Intoxicated adult male whined to police that his brother took his liquor bottle and wouldn't give it back. An officer, after speaking with the drunken caller surmised really, no police intervention was necessary.

August 10--Caller reported two "fishermen" clubbing salmon with rocks. Officers responded but did not locate the salmonid-slaying barbarians.