Yesterday's Weapons Forums

i cant find the frostbite post - im still keeping her in my prayers but want to know that she is improving , ive no experience with frostbite but i know its serious , update us here will you please ........thanks

Asquare10 here is a link to the post

Heyyyyyyy..........

Were doing fine, Now.....
Well, lemme see...... in this madness to attend her dads funeral, We ran outta luck..... ran outta $$ and are currently bogged down earning "Escape" $$$.
Im here in Kotzebue, with Agnes , Ting and Jon, who we are sending home, ( The 2 kids are in high school, and Agnes is driving back with me to Noorvik tomarrow)as they have missed ALOT of school.We have the 3 of the 4 youngers enrolled in Noorvik school right now, anmd were so broke, we dont even have gas $$4 to get back, though they are at her sister Aagan's house, and rolling about with her 7 kids,, and they know all of Noorvik anyways, so it should be working out.

Fact is, I was in Kotzebue when her father passed away, and I rode to Noorvik to heat up our house there, and get it ready for everybody.... and my oldest son, Douglas, had the flu....Crap weather was comming, and being low on $$$ for round trip airfares for 9, we flew Doug into Kotzebue, where he was immediatkly grounded due to weather....like 50mph gusts that afternoon.Agnes packed up the kids and got the snowgos going fine....
Sooooooooooooo, I rode the 58 miles to Kotzebue,to pick up Doug. Agnes was joined by an older lady going to Noorvik also, so she put the other 6 kids in the sleds, with her and 2nd oldest son Jon driving a machine each, and zoomed North to beat the weather.(I had the 340 Polaris I got for her, traded for here, in Kotzebue)
All was fine UNTILL they drove into overflow water, 2 1/2 feet deep, under th crusted snow (It rises from cracks, and the wind blew in a very high tide, wich made the water rise, unseen from below)
Waist deep in water, 15 above in degrees,having the rigs stuck in the water, under a crust of snow, they spent 3 hours unsticking them selfs and getting the rides moving again.
She made the little kids change clothes, took out the sleeping bags (We ALWAYS pack to stay out for over night, even on day trips) and made the little ones comfy and happy, as my kids are happy outside and inside...gave them snacks and such.

Then came the decision....go to Kotzebue for help, or carry on to Noorvik, both ways in 40 mph winds with 20 or so feet visability. Kotzebue was 25 miles closer, so thats the way they went. One machine lost its engine about 6 miles outta town, but they all piled on the sled.
They ended up in the hospital over night, with hypothermia (Agnes, Ting, and Jon), and froze their toenails black, but luckily that was all.
Me and Doug searched for her for all night that night and a crew from SnR too.Luckily, they called us in as we were gassing up for another run and Agnes gave me the skinny on it all.
The next day's weather was WORSE
I found this on our Search-n-Rescue statements and copy/pasted this;

Location: Noorvik
Case number: 08-4961
Type: SAR
Text: On 1/18/08, at approximately 2300 hours, State Troopers in
Kotzebue received a report of several overdue snow machines traveling
from Deering to Noorvik. Investigation revealed that Marlene Moto age
51 of Deering, Agnes Hailstone, age 37 of Deering, and six of
Hailstone?s children had left Deering on three snow machines at
approximately 1400 hours on 1/18/08. When they did not arrive in Noorvik
as scheduled and family members alerted the State Troopers who activated
local Search and Rescue Teams. The travelers eventually made their way
to Kotzebue where several members of the party were treated for mild
hypothermia at approximately 0530 hours on 1/19/08. The travelers had
serious difficulties along their route due to mechanical failure,
blizzard conditions, and overflow conditions on Kobuk Lake. The Alaska
State Troopers would like to remind all travelers in the area to file
detailed trip plans and to avoid travel during inclement weather
conditions.
Author: BAM0
Received Monday, January 21, 2008 7:21 AM and posted Monday, January 21, 2008 7:03 AM


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They missed the funeral.

The frost bites on her face are brown patches now, and by summer should fade....it sure looks like I beat her face with a bat, but luckily(?) people up here know what frost scars are and they tell her shes lucky to be "Country smart", and they were gained in "Action" not fighting...
I'll post a good pict with her brown cheeks and no swelling, when I get back to here in a week or two.
This whole ordeal has S U C K E D.

At least were working our way outta this mess. Thats when its good to have an artist on hand who makes $$ with materials on hand..

Cork....
Man, could we tell you true story's all night. Life here is what we make it alright, and staying home just isn't a part of that

That woman has had some serious BAD luck with freezing this January....I hope Feb brings something better for her sake.

Driving hundreds of miles with multiple machines, with gas at 6$ a gallon, and getting 10MPG, feeding everyone (9 of us) with bought foods because they tossed all the extra food when they lightened the load has a way of hemorrhaging $$$ away...so gos the $$$ it has no home.
"But" we have a solution...
We are building a dog sled , whip and gang line with dog harness's to sell, and already have a buyer, a request from The Museum of Northern Peoples, in Hokkaido Japan. (This is where paypal comes in handy, despite them being anti-gun) It takes time and lucky enough, we see light at the end of that tunnel. 8)
Really, its a lucky thing that there are trees right in Noorvik, ( I do leave town before I chop away) and Caribou close too, though I have been gathering Spruce poles and a birch log to split up, and have traded the caribou I caught this week for 2 seals (for skin rope and oil/meat), 20 gallons stove oil and the gas Ive been needing. I also traded for Coffee and Rice, sugar, flour with two loads of firewood to some of my in-laws as well
Really, Nature has all we need.....sure do miss the trees, as there are NONE near Deering....

She soaked up all our spare $ with the first frost bites and a trip to the Doc, but now were just looking forward to getting on with the work and getting "unstuck". The end of January , and generally "After X-mas" is a hard time to sell art, so we try to schedule our time toward working on inside projects that people have requested, or schools , or contracts.
Were lucky to have a warm little house that needed people waiting for us, so's I don't have to shack up with the in-laws
With the three oldest kids watching them selfs were not so crowded and the little ones see it as a vacation from Deering and the oldest ones see it as a vacation from us
My oldest son has a new job that starts in March, with Nova Gold in Nome, and no longer works at the Lead Zinc mine up north, so hell be home.....at 19, he can easily run the ship, and the two others are no problem for him.Hes sent us the necessary tools and skins we had at home. I will post the pix of the sled....and a ruger 10/22 that spent 11 years on the tundra,(not too bad!) the winchester 92 25-20 I picked up disassembled, and the box's of parts I have traded for as well.

A fellow can work his way outta anything I hope I'm just broke for tonight!!!!!

that was a close call , im glad all are safe , sorry to hear of the stresses of the ordeal , and keeping you in the prayers that all settlles out ok ,

The rig was recovered , Mike.......just iced up, and with Kotz sooooo close, they left it rather than clear it, then and there.
I came to Kotzebue and picked them up the eveining after the funeral, and Agnes had it a friends shop and running, so it was fixxed with thawing and running the moving parts and engine. It can be impossible to do outside sometimes, so we carry alcohol to de-ice, everywhere.
We can fix, build or "McGuiver " anything. Most snowgos last 3 to 5 years with constant use,like the cars you fellas get to drive...... Funny, Grubber was telling me about his rig, and I called it an"Antique" , 'cause thats what we call any machine that runs after 10 years
Hard use, Sea water and mile after mile makes a person very aware of what their rig is doing, and as with all tracked vehicles, they are High Maintainace.
She sure does love her "New" used rig I traded for, and now Im the one broken down .....ahhhhhh, oh well, thats whats on my plate tonight, undercarriage repair.

Ahhhhh, Cork my man, theres no state taxes here, only federal and local.
Local taxes are around 3%( )

Im thinking your referring to the Permanent Fund Dividend, which we recived in October, at 1,648$ for each Alaskan. They started out as an "Oil fund" that had diversifyed into the state sinking it's investments in to the stock markets game.

We sunk that into building materials, stove and new beds and new clothes for the kids.

Moneys not the problem, its just the inconviniance and the wasted time and efforts that were really no ones fault, but just "What happend"

Actully, I thank you VERY much for the good words.