Day 2 & 3

 It takes a lot of effort to get everything into the van and pickup every morning and evening.  We live two miles from the home builds and everything comes home at night.This morning the van had a flat tire - farmer, Wilbur was putting air in until it could be fixed.

 When we get to the project site, its a lot of unloading and setting up for work. Ricky is pulling one of the air compressors from the van into the work site.

 Yesterday, the crew got the ready for the floor decking, which will be put on today, even though it is the 4th of July.

 Another view of the 4 foot elevation above the ground.

 The construction foreman, Jim is going to check things out, for today's work. 

Wilbur and Margarita are getting ready to work.

It has been cool every day. We all wear sweat shirts and jackets and sometime parka's are added. We came last Friday , so we have been here, one week.  We have seen the sun two of those days.  It drizzles a lot but no hard rain.

The community is busy fishing, drying fish and then either freezing or canning. Daisy, one of our cooks, has been sharing some of her dried fish. YUM.  Today we are having fresh salmon for lunch.  We usually make our own sandwiches and take lunch to the project but since we have no place to get inside and mosquitoes are bad, everyone comes back home for lunch. 

Tonight we will be going with James, the city manager and his family to the Yukon for a hot dog roast to celebrate the 4th. Daisy, one of the cooks, loves making special cakes and she made one to celebrate the 4th.

Blessing and good day.

 FEMA helper Author, from Florida.  He and Mike, also from FEMA help get us to and from the job sites and take us to purchase groceries since our wheels worked for 1 day. All the materials for the 2 new builds and 1 repair where delivered and stored on the beach.  Now  they have been moved to the building sites.

 Jim Miller, construction foreman, is measuring and planning just how where and how to set the houses.

 Roger and Jim are setting posts for home #1.

 James Blowe, city manager, on his Argo,and Wilbur talking logistics.

 Lee and David are building shelves for the tools supplied by FEMA, in the storage container on our property.

Margarita is learning about MDS and enjoying her first project.  She says, she is getting an education on building. Her smile tells you, she is enjoying the job.

Alakanuk experiences a seasonal economy. 76 residents hold commercial fishing permits. Many have gill net permits, and set net fishermen sell their salmon to Seattle fish buyers. Poor fish returns since 1998 have significantly affected the community. Government employment and retail businesses provide limited year-round employment. Salmon, beluga whale, seal, moose and rabbit provide food sources. Some residents trap. Many residents travel to Emmonak to shop and attend social events and basketball tournaments. Emmonak is 20 - 30 minutes by boat.  There are two ways to get to Alakanuk : flying or by boat.

The young man is dip netting salmon and then his brother brought the fish to me as a gift.  It was a pink salmon or Humpy as called locally.

 Today our first group of volunteers arrive, ready to build.  Our group of Mennonite Disaster Service is planning to build two new houses and raise several in an effort to get above flood stage.

We arrived at Alakanuk Alaska on Saturday afternoon to cloudy skies.  We were met by the FEMA van and brought to our home of the next two months.

This is a town of subsistence living and everyone is fishing while the salmon run.  We enjoyed a fresh wild salmon meal yesterday made by our wonderful cooks, Daisy and Martha.
It is fishing