Hooligans!

Yay, the hooligans are here!  Once or twice a year during the summer season the hooligan fish arrive in Nome, but this year they came stayed for over a week.  This is unusual and we don't fully understand why they stayed so long.  There were some speculation that they were staying closer to shore to get away from large predators, who knows.  Also called cigar fish, candelfish, or eulachon.

They wash up onto the shore and wash back out with the waves.  This can go on from anywhere between 5 minutes to a couple of hours and then they are gone... usually gone till next year, but they kept coming back for days.

There were so many of them that I could grab handfuls of them and throw them into my bowl.  I had about 5 of them in my hand in this photo.  Typically I should have used a net but I thought this was much more fun.

By the way the photo above was entered into a summer photo contact that KNOM radio was hosting and we won!  The photo was featured on their website and FB page during the 3rd week of June here's the link http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/06/20/photo-of-the-week-hooligans/.

 The kids got involved in the process too and had so much fun catching them.

This is my daughter's friend with a couple of hooligans.

Addison was excited about seeing fish but not willing to touch them.  Hopefully that will change when she gets older.

Here's a video of Reese adding a hooligan to our bucket.

A hungry arctic tern grabbing some lunch.

So what do we do with all this fish?  We cook em and eat them :-).  Our favorite way to eat them is gut them, take off their heads and fins, dredge them in corn meal and fry them up.  My kids call them real fish sticks.  Eat them with bones too (they are soft).  I like to wrap mine in lettuce, mint, and cilantro and dip them in nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce).  Other locals will dry them, smoke them, or can them.

 Yummy deliciousness!!!

Summertime 2013

We had a great summer and I just wanted to post some photos representing Nome summer life.

 This is the road to a village called Teller.  We had heard the the reds were running in the Sinuk river.  We headed there on the 4th of July to see if we could catch any.

 Nothing.  Not even a pink salmon.  So we headed to the the Nome River.

 We caught one!  I know, I know, it's just a little salmon fry.  Don't worry he didn't die from suffocation we released him back into his little pond.

 Since we didn't catch anything we headed to Nome's only Firework stand which is a conex van just outside of city limits on east beach owned by Leo Rassmussen.  Leo has been doing this every 4th of July for as long as I can remember.  I loved going there as a child and I knew my kids would too.  Unfortunately the Bering Sea Gold film crew was in there so we had to wait outside for a little bit till they were done filming.

 

 Leo with my kids.  I wonder at times how many more years will Leo continue the firework stand.  Love that I have this photo.

Yes we are lighting fireworks in daylight.  Actually it's probably 9pm at night in these photos.  It doesn't get dark in Nome during the summer we are in the land of the midnight sun.

 Aiden is in the car because he is scared of the fireworks but doesn't mind watching from the back window.

Fourth of July Parade

 I love our small town parades.  Local community agencies get together to make this a great event for kids by tossing candy and small gifts to the children who line the streets.  The photo above just happens to have Nome's local entertainer/tour guide Richard Beneville.

 Reese waving "hi" in hopes that he will be spotted and candy will come flying in his direction.

 

 "Hi Jeremy!!!  He's trying to ignore us.  Last kid walking.

 Reese shows his technique and his loot.
After the parade the City of Nome sponsors some street races for kids and adults (sorry no pics) and free ice cream at the Fireman's carnival in the afternoon.

On July 13, 2013 it was a Saturday and it was 80 degrees outside.  It was so hot for this local that I just had to get into the frigid water.  After my body acclimated to the numb coldness.  I was swimming like I was in Hawaiian waters.

 

Aiden

 Reese and Addison

 Reese

 

Addison

 

Mom catching pinks

 

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming...

  Launching the canoe into the Bering sea since the sea was very calm.

 

 

Jeremy trying his luck in fishing... he didn't catch anything.

As this beautiful day continued we felt as though we needed to enjoy it with friends so we built a fire and roasted dogs, brats, and marshmallows.

 

Just what I needed after a long swim in the ocean

 

 So you'd think that after getting out, warming up next to the fire, and eating some brats that I would be done with being in the sea.  Nope, I just had to get back in there and this time Reese was willing to go with me.

 He even braved the sea himself.  See it's not cold (as his teeth chatters).

 Beautiful day!

About a week later I took some photo below of Musk Oxen accross the street from us out on the tundra.

Nome is a great place to live.