Elbow report

Dad's elbow is doing well. He didn't have to get surgery and the antibiotic seems to be clearing up the infection. We have been to the Clinic the past two days for blood work to make sure the infection has been cleared up.

Visit to the clinic

Mom and I made our first trip to the local medical clinic much to our dismay. After spending four hours there we were finally allowed to go home. Dad has a severely swollen elbow that has continued to swell for the past three days and it is warm to the touch so we thought it might be a good idea to check it out.

The doctor, yes an actual doctor, is indian and has braided locks down to his waste. He is pretty cool though but full of a lot of hot air. We did blood work, drained fluid from the elbow area, had and IV and X-ray. After all that time we found out that dad had a huge bone spur on the tip of his elbow. The doctor said no more throwing for you so I guess I can't plan in the over seventy league any more.

The part for concern is that there was some infection in the fluid and he was concerned about a possible staff infection so he took a pretty radical approach to the treatment in hoping to wipe it out before it got too bad which we thought to be a good idea. We go back early tomorrow morning for another IV and as long as the swelling hasn't spread we are okay but if it has spread he may send us to Anchorage to have some surgery done. We are hoping that is not the case. It made for an exciting day.

Walk on the spit

The first picture on the previous post is our home that we plan to purchase and remodel for our retirement here in Unalaska. The second picture is Skyler Williams graduating from the Head Start program. Just think next year Emily will be graduating.

Mom and I just took a walk down the spit. The spit is a piece of land that juts out into the bay that is a little over one half mile long from beginning to end and about one hundred feet wide. We saw some sea otters in the distance and lots of flowers that are just beginning to burst forth. This is the first time in my life that I can say that dandelions are pretty. After going for so long without seeing anything green or blooming even the dandelions look good and no one tries to destroy them. They are thick everywhere. It is about the only thing we have on the Church property that is growing.

It is a beautiful day and the ocean is really calm so there are a lot of boats out fishing today. I don't really get excited about fishing but maybe when the salmon start to run hot and heavy I might try my luck. One of the men in town that has a boat wants to take me out halibut fishing but I don't think I want to get on a boat after my first and last experience deep sea fishing with Carl Glassford in San Diego years ago. I enjoy eating what they catch but am not really interested in catching my own. We shall see.

Natalie Carter and her two boys in their new Sunday clothes. They are a less active family we have been working with from Beaver, Utah.

The weather is changing gradually.










You have to love those King Crab legs. Yum, Yum.




Baptism in Feb. in the Bering Sea















Looking out toward the Bering Sea on a sunny clear day. One of the few we have seen.

Well June had arrived but summer hasn't made it's appearance yet. Everyone tells us that it is coming but we aren't going to hold our breath until then. Someone said the other day it usually comes around July 4th and is gone by the end of August. Supposedly they have really heavy fog during the summer months also when we aren't supposed to be able to see across the street. That doesn't sound too good.

We had Zone conference today and it was the last one that President and Sister Lewis will have with us as they will be leaving the first of July. They are from Bountiful, Utah and will be returning there upon their release.

Grandma is cooking fired chicken to take to some less active members who haven't been feeling too well lately. They live on the hill above the Church building here. We can look our of our windows and see their house. We just wish that they would come to church with us on Sunday.

We are able to do a little more exploring now as the snow has melted in the lower elevations. We met a man this week who was here visiting from Florida. He was here during WW II when the Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor. He had some great pictures and was able to tell us a lot about how things were then. There were probably 10, 000 soldiers here at that time which is almost three times the number that live here now. There is lots of evidence of the troops having been here. There are numerous collapsed buildings and pill boxes all over the island. We hiked up one road for a couple of miles and wondered how they ever got across the canyons. He showed us a picture of a suspension bridge that they built over one of the canyons. It was two cables strung from one side to the other and then they placed wood planks between the cables and wired them to the cable. At first they were crossing without any hand rail of any kind. There is no way that I would have done that. It was way up over the canyon and the wind blew and would make the bridge swing according to him. Wow. In the winter time he said they would ski down and across the bridge. He was here for two years and one winter he camped on top of Ballyhoo in tents and they had over ten feet of snow.

The history of this place during the War is very interesting. sometimes it is referred to as the "Forgotten War". The native people were removed from the island for their protection but the camps they put them in were terrible and many of them died. When they were allowed to return to their native land many of their homes had been ruined by the troops. It was not a happy time for the Aleut people here and their families.