All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S02E19.The.Thaw.Last.Minute.Push.720p.NF.WEB-DL

NARRATOR: On this episode
of Life Below Zero,

the thaw is coming to an end
and the pressure is building.

SUE: Oh, God.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
have one last chance
at a summer catch.

That's a big hole.

NARRATOR: In Iliamna,
Erik and Martha's
quest for food hits a snag.

MARTHA: You're hitting bottom.

NARRATOR: Dreams for
a new home in Eagle
are falling apart.

You're going
to break the glass.

NARRATOR: And a
mechanical failure
puts Sue's camp at risk.

SUE: It's more than just me
that can die

if things don't get fixed.

SUE: You got her?
D: All set.

Well, you ready to go
get a cup of coffee,
and get your ticket

-and get on your way? Or...
-Absolutely.

NARRATOR: Kavik River Camp
is the only refuelling station
for almost 100 miles.

Pilots rely on Sue Aikens
for fuel, comfort,
and a safe landing.

In turn, they provide
the income that keeps
her doors open.

(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)

Hey, buddy, how you doing?

(D SPEAKING)

Hey.

Hey, do you got a copy on me?

(D SPEAKING)

Can you hear me?
You're breaking up, buddy.

All right, yeah,
see that's not good.

My generator's
having an issue. I got to go.

My generator is racing,
coming down,
racing, it's having an issue.

My air-to-ground radio
for pilot safety,
uh, depends on that.

I can't give them
the wind conditions.

They don't know if they're
going to be landing

in a 20-mile-an-hour
crosswind,
or head on or tailwind.

They don't know,
unless I tell them,
what the conditions are.

So I have to put
on the website,
"Gens are going down,

"it'll be down
until further notice.

"VFR, Visual flying
is going to be the rule."

Put the bright red notice
that you can't really miss

that I'm, uh, going to have
the power down,
air-to-ground will be off.

They've got their information
on exactly the degrees
and bearings.

The conditions
have been updated,
the timestamp is updated.

The longer I stay
out of communication,

domino, domino, domino.

They're all falling.
People can't get a hold of me.

Somebody's hurting,
can't get help.

Plane is circling around
in the fog,

doesn't know what to do.
I'm not answering.

It's more than just me

that can die if things
don't get fixed.

There's a whole population
of people up here
that have got to rely on me.

So time to quit talking,
shut the shit down
and get it down.

CHIP: This place has always
got some new little
secret to reveal

or some little surprise
to pull on me.

I really look forward to it.

It makes you wake up
in the morning and go,

"Wow, what's this day
going to be like?"

CAROL: Dad! Mom!

AGNES: Come on, girls.
Let's go fishing!

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
have spent their summer
in Kiwalik, fishing...

Nice little haul
we got going here.

...hunting...

CHIP: Hit him now!

...and gathering.

Oh, I can see eggs!

Six of them. Six eggs.

NARRATOR: But with limited
days left in camp,

they can't afford to let
any resources slip away.

AGNES: That's a good fish.

That big one sure
ripped that net.

Part of being a fisherman,
is taking care of your gear.

And what we're going to do
is necessary maintenance.

The webs get ripped.
It's just a fact of life.

Ugh, there it is.
That's a big hole.

CHIP: The fact is, if we want
to catch salmon,
we've got to use the net.

If we want to use
the net properly,
we have to maintain that net.

So we have to do
the work that we do

to keep the net going
so that the net
will keep us going.

AGNES: I'm just gonna
sew it back together.

I'm not gonna be making
new webbings or anything.

I shouldn't be
out here too long,

and I should be done before
the mosquitoes drive me nuts.

This is a fishing needle.

Some people
call them shuttles.

They're a real good,
handy tool.

All it does is pretty much
just going in loops and loops,

just making squares.

It's a long, slow process.

Nets are her area
of expertise.

She grew up fishing with nets,
making nets, hanging nets.

Everything you could
do to possibly fish,

my wife has extensive
knowledge and skills with.

And, Carol, this is how you
have to use your needle,
your shuttle.

Try to stitch the hole,
you just, um, keep trying
to go up and down,

and trying to make,
uh, little squares

big enough to where
the fish will get caught,

and just keep unravelling
your twine

and keep going around
and making knots and tie them.

Then move to the next one.

I'm not the best repairer,
but I know enough
just to get by.

My favourite part
about camping out here

was being with my family
and learning how to fish

and what plants to eat,
and what plants not to eat.

It's important
to learn these skills

because, when you're older,
it'll help you make food.

Should be good enough
to put back out.

Right on, we're done.
No more holes.

Let's, uh, go fishing.

ANDY: Can you handle
being alone?

Do you enjoy being alone?

Do you feel lonely
when you're alone?

If you feel lonely
when you're alone,

this could be a pretty
tough life to live.

All right, let this
project begin.

NARRATOR: With sunlight
dwindling, and winter
on the horizon,

Andy and Kate focus
on their passion project,
a new cabin.

ANDY: I have very little time
right now

to get this house winterised
and ready for the snow to fly.

First things first, I have
to get this place sanded
before I can get it stained.

Step one
is building a scaffold.

So I'm going to throw
some ladders up,

nail a few boards up
onto the sides of the house
to support the ladders.

And it's really hard to work
efficiently when you're just
one-handing it with a ladder,

so I want to set up a system
where I have at least a board

that I can raise and lower
and I can run my sander.

I've got two hands
and a stable platform
to stand on.

Nothing worse than trying
to sand off of a ladder.

(DRILL WHIRRING)

The time spent putting up some
scaffolding systems right now

is going to pay off
in dividends for me,

when it comes time to actually
start doing the job.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

This is so typical.
I mean, I started out today,
it was nice and sunny

and clear and warm,
I'm in a T-shirt.

I'm ready to go get
some work done.

Here comes the rain.

This has been what it's like
all summer.

At some point in the day
it rains, sometimes all day,
sometimes, every couple hours.

Give it another 10
or 15 minutes and see
what it does here.

I've never seen
a summer like this.

I'm going to run out,
hit that wall and see
if it sticks at all.

KATE: It's an unreasonable
list most of the time,

and he's, he's
a very hard worker.

And he's...
Daylight till dark,

he's just busy, busy, busy,

and he likes to just
get things done.

That ain't working.

Too wet.

Clogging up the paper.

I think this day is done.

I'm feeling like if I don't
get this house sanded

and get the windows in,
I've pretty much
failed this summer.

ERIK: I don't think
that the way I live

is the way to live

and that other people
are doing it wrong.

Each human being is in their
pursuit of happiness,
doing it their own way.

-You ready, babe?
-Yeah, I'm ready.

Let's go get some birds.

You jump in and I'll push out.

ERIK: And right now,
Martha and I are just doing

some subsistence
waterfowl hunting,

and hopefully putting up
enough birds

to keep us going here
for a little while

before the fish come in.

NARRATOR: Erik Salitan
and his new wife, Martha,

are spending
the summer in Iliamna,

in hopes of harvesting
the region's
hard-earned resources.

But navigating the river
is no easy task,

even for seasoned hunters.

Yeah, you want to watch
for rocks around here.

ERIK: I know.
I'm turning around.

Whoa. Slow down,
why're you going so fast?

I don't want to be
ejected from the boat.

Where are you... Yep.

Fuckin' turn.

I can smell it now.

-You can smell it?
-Yes, I can smell the motor.

We are literally
a floating duck,
a sitting duck.

(ENGINE SHUDDERING)

MARTHA: That doesn't
sound very good.

ERIK: No.

Oh, my God.

You know, whenever you're
running the river,

you need to read the water,
read the riffles,

read the colours and be aware

that there's all sorts
of submerged dangers,

and, uh, at this time of year,
the river's really shallow.

There's a lot of gravel bars
you need to watch out for,
with a boat.

I wouldn't start
it right here.

You're just going to do
the same thing you just did.

Paddle us out.

How am I going to paddle us
out in the wind?

That's not going to happen.
You've got waders on.

ERIK: There's more along
that shore there.

Let's go home
and look around down there.

-Okay, that sounds like
a good idea.
-Let's get out of here.

MARTHA: All right.

CHIP: I think everybody should
experience at least once
where food comes from.

My food comes from the wild
and we got to run it down
and kill it.

If it flies, swims, crawls,
grows underground
or towards the sun,

I'll probably eat it.

(COUGHS)

Wow, what a day.

Hi, sweetie pie.
You guys watching this fire?

Don't let it get
on the tundra.

If I'm over there working,
you guys don't let it get away
from you, okay?

NARRATOR:
With the net repaired
and back in the river,

Chip turns his attention
to building a new fish rack,

in hopes that the fixed net
will yield good results.

CHIP: I'm making
a fish rack for some salmon

and I'm going to make it
into a bit of a smokehouse
at one end.

Once I build this, I'll have a
place to put the fish.

The importance of smoking
is, number one,

to keep the flies
off the meat.

Because you don't want flies
laying eggs,

and making maggots,
and destroying your meat,

and making it putrid
and rotten.

Number two, it flavours it.

I'm going to make a smoke
shack at that end

by enclosing it, so that
the smoke drifts to this end.

I'll leave this end open so I
can walk in and out
and check on my fish.

Every summer,
we still salmon fish.

We want to have
a little bit of security.

This is food security.

This will get us through
the winter, hopefully.

This will be a lot
of trade goods.

This will be stuff
we can give away as gifts.

This is a really good
place to be.

And the reason why we make
so much effort to get here

is because it's going
to be here. Stuff is here.

We'll never stop coming here.

It's a great place.
The breeze is here,
the weather is here.

This is just like
a perfect combo.

It all comes together for,
hopefully, some good smoking.

We just got the net in,
hopefully there's going
to be a lot of fish.

The next tide, we'll see.
You don't know
until they're in the net.

This is going to be the part
that collects the smoke up.

It's going to be smoking
end of the deal.

So I've got it to where I can
slow down the wind

as much as possible
and allow the smoke

to gather before shooting out
the other side.

So, I'm just blocking it
all up except for the bottom.

The bottom will provide
a continuous breeze
through there,

even when the smoke is off.

Most of the time while
it's smoking,
we'll keep it shut.

When it stops smoking,
and it's night,
time to go to sleep,

we'll open it up
and just let the breeze
blow on through.

It's important to have it
facing the right direction,

'cause, uh, you want to have
the wind to do it properly.

So, if a north wind comes,
a west wind comes,

either way is fine with me.
It's going to work out.
And we want the breeze.

The breeze dries the meat,
dries the fish,
keeps the mosquitoes away.

This is all good.
This is all aligned properly.

This is going to get, to be
really good drying done,

some really good
smoking done,
get some good fish done.

The smokehouse is done.

I've got the stove, wherever
the wind is coming from.

Once I've got the fish
put in there,
I can move the stove around.

But now all I really need
to do is just
go check the net.

I'm going to have to put
a few hours into cutting fish,

then I'll set some smoke
on them and go to bed.

Going to be a full rack
of fish here soon.

ANDY: Glass half full
is way better
than a glass half empty.

And, uh, that's the way
we like to look
at life out here.

That's what living out here
is all about.

NARRATOR: A break
in the weather allows
Andy to continue his work.

But with winter looming,
each day is critical.

That's going to work.

Finally got a clear day,
so I'm going to go like hell

and try to get as much
sanding done today,
as I possibly can,

'cause I don't know
when I'm going to get
another clear day,

and the sanding is the part
that takes the most time

and it's by far
the most critical thing
of this whole process.

Yesterday, I ran into
a lot of problems
when it started raining.

As soon as the sander
clogs up, it just starts
burning into the wood

and that makes a pretty
unsightly scar in the wood.

I've got some coarser
sanding disks,

which I'm hoping is going
to speed the process up.

It's going to make
it to where it cuts
a lot quicker.

It's a little bit coarse
for what I really want,

but at this point in time,
beggars can't be choosers.

I've got a good day
of weather today.

I don't know if I'm going
to have any more good days.

All right,
let's hope this works.

When I go to do a job,

I want to be able to get in,
get the job done,
and move on to the next one

'cause the list
is long right now,

and the days are short,
so everything's coming
to a head,

and there's a definitive
timeline, and that's winter.

Feels pretty good.

Last thing I want to do
is take a tumble.

I don't have full-blown
scaffolding around.

Quite frankly,
I'd have a hard time
putting it up by myself,

it's generally a two-man job.

I have to keep things light.
I have to keep them mobile.

I have to be able
to do it by myself

and I want to be able
to do it fairly quickly.

The last thing I want to do
is spend an hour setting
scaffolding up

for five minutes'
worth of work.

That's gonna be
a million dollar sanding job

here by the time I go
through all these disks.

What I do is not something
I'd ask someone else to do.

I've done it, I'm used to it.
I know what I'm doing.

All the ground around
the house is a little
bit uneven.

It slopes away
from the house to drain.

That makes putting up ladders
a little bit tenuous at times.

An injury out here
is a lot different
than an injury in town.

There's no 911.
There's no ambulance.

There's nobody to come
in with a backboard.

This ain't gonna
fuckin' work at all!

When winter hits,
everything stops.

If you didn't get it done,
you wait another year
to get it done.

There's a ticking clock
going off in my head.

Shortcuts are
seldom shortcuts.

Lesson learned.

I've only got a 10-inch
board that I'm
walking around on.

So you've gotta
pay attention to where
you're putting your feet.

One step the wrong way,
one loss of your balance
and it's a long hard fall.

The stain I'm gonna
use on the cabin.

I don't want to move my
scaffolding a bunch of times,

so I think I'm just
going to sand and stain,
and sand and stain.

Let's see what happens.

It feels good to get
some stain on it, and get
this place closed in.

I'm really worried
about weather getting
in on my insulation

that's in between these walls.

It's not the most
glamorous job in the world,
but it's an essential job.

Man, this is almost done

and that's a good
feeling right now.

The idea for this house
is to make it as completely
weather proof,

completely efficient
as I possibly can.

By the time
this stain wears out,

I'll be burbot bait in
the bottom of the Yukon.

A sauna's gonna
feel good tonight.

That was a long day.

I'm not getting any
younger every day so

every summer is probably
going to be pretty full for me

for the next year or two until
we get this house completed.

ERIK: The lifestyle
that I get to live up here

as a hunting guide
and a subsistence hunter
and trapper is pretty unique

and there's a lot of work
associated with it,

but I think that there's more
pros than cons.

-Oh, yeah, this is pretty
good right here.
-MARTHA: Yeah.

NARRATOR: After ditching
their boat for dry land,

Erik and Martha change
strategies in their quest
to harvest food.

Depending on the conditions,
we use boats,
we use four wheelers.

We use our feet.

And sometimes we sit and call,
other times,
we spot and stalk ducks.

You got an empty shell?

You want to make
a call out of one?

Might be too windy.
Oh, you got it?

MARTHA: I took
a shotgun shell,
and burned a hole into it,

and it makes a very
simple goose call.

I've actually tried it before,
and only been
successful a few times.

It's really hard to do.

(CALL WHISTLING)

ERIK: Maybe the...
You better practise some more.

(GUNSHOT)

I'm kind of sick
of sitting here.

You want to go
and try to stalk up

some of those birds
that landed over there?

Let's just walk
in the woods and see
what comes our way.

SUE: It's a calculated risk
every time you
step out the door.

There's no guarantees
in anything.

The only guarantee is it's a,
you know, it's a limited
time engagement,

so why not pack it
full of experiences.

NARRATOR: Sue has shut down
her main generator

to find the source
of the breakdown.

Without it, she has
no direct contact
with inbound planes,

and clients in camp
are without power.

SUE: Best-case scenario,
something that I can
fix very easily

with something,
with things I have here.

Worst-case scenario is,
it's toast.

The longer I have it down,
my freezers are shut down,

people here
aren't getting heat,
there's no communications.

I can't run a lot
of my equipment.

You've got to find
the problem and fix it.

The generator is the
heartbeat of the camp,

to be able to have lights,
heat, services in your
quarters, hot showers.

All of that
magically disappears

if I don't have energy
to run that kind of a system.

That cuts into
my profit margin.

If I go into red,
you know, red is dead.

Okay, this isn't good.

I have got a problem.

That's not good.

You've got oil over here.

You've got little fuzzies.
Everything will stick to it.

When it sticks to that,
it's like creating
your own carpet.

The oil gets on there
in the back of the fan.

Any piece of fuzz,
any piece of dust,

any anything
is going to get stuck.

And now air can
no longer pass through
to cool things off.

That's not good.

That tells me that there
might be a seal blown.

I can take all of this off,
this bracketry, clean it,

pressure wash it, whatever,
get that cleaned up.

Clean everything else
around it.

Pull the radiator hose,
bottom, top.

Come on, you fuckin' prick.

This is our problem.

Oil leaking somewhere
gets flung through the fan

onto the back of the radiator.

Any dust, any dirt,
of which there's a lot here,

any of the tundra cotton,

that's mostly what this is,
gets flung onto
that oil and blocks it.

It can't breathe through this.

What I just scraped off,
there's your fins.

The air has to pass from here

through that to cool down
the radiator fluid,
which cools your engine.

When it's like this,

there's no danger any air
is getting through to cool it,

so you're sending
hot anti-freeze
through a hot engine.

It's a recipe for disaster.

So the machine
will shut itself off,
which it was doing,

and only a fool
keeps it running,

so, just have to do
our best to clean it out.

Um, we're going
to give it a diesel bath

and, uh, get it clean.

The cost of replacing it,
you know, 50,000 to
70,000 to buy it.

Anywhere 5,000 to
20,000 to ship it.

So you're talking
a $100,000 mistake

if you don't catch
your mistake right away.

Where it was
all crappy and creepy,

now you can see
all those fins.

Now, it's not a perfect job,

but you don't
catch the problem,
it's going to catch you.

CHIP: Truthfully,
every day is different.

It's half of what enthrals
me about this lifestyle.

I never have
the same day twice.

There's no
Groundhog Day out here.

-Look, the fishes. Ooh.
-Wow, yep. That's moving.

Summer's coming to an end.
When we can see stars again,

which will happen
in the next few days,
summer is over.

NARRATOR: The end of summer
is also the end

of the Hailstone
family's stay in Kiwalik.

Today, they will pull
their net from the river

in hopes of one
last salmon haul
before winter arrives.

I think today, we're going
to pull the entire net out.

We're gonna lay it right here.
My wife will be able

to work on the net
and I'm gonna cut fish.

CHIP: Time to get some
fish out here.

Carol, you get on
the side with your mum.

Qutan, you help me on my side.
I'm going take the lead line,
you take the top line.

The net is coming up on
this side right here, kids.

We're going to work
it right over here, okay?

You pull gently.
You don't pull real hard.
You pull gently and firmly.

-AGNES: Hee!
-Any more?

Little more, eh? One more.

This is a zombie fish here.
This one is spawned out.

See these teeth on the fish?
They can rip up
the net really bad.

They can poke
holes in your skin,

and this guy right here
has already spawned.

AGNES: Ow! The fish just
jumped and bit me.

Be careful.
This fish is alive
and I tried to grab it

and it just tried
to bite my finger.

Watch out for
the teeth, girls.
They're real sharp.

Carol, when you're
standing there,

waiting for somebody
to take a fish off

you have to try to clean
or untangle the net.

CHIP: It's a good feeling
to provide for my family

and it's a good feeling
to show my family how
to provide for themselves.

And that's really my goal.

I want my children
to live a good life,

and I want to take them along,
and not just tell
them about it,

or let them read about it.
I want them
to participate in it.

AGNES: This is a good one.

CHIP: There's
a hole right there.

This fish has taken
a small hole,

and with his teeth,
and his thrashing and
wrapping himself up like that,

look what he's
done to the net.

So it only makes
the holes bigger,
and fish will do that.

They just want to escape.

They don't care
about your net.
They hate your net.

-Whee, we've reached the end!
-This is the end.

CHIP: We got enough
to make smoke salmon

so we can have treats
throughout the winter.

It's a really different taste.

When you got the two
different flavours,

you know, you don't
get tired of it.
Variety is the spice of life.

AGNES: Not bad of a catch.

ANDY: Being self-sufficient,
being solitary.

Um, some people think
it's a lonely life.

It's never been
a lonely life for me.
It's exhilarating.

NARRATOR: In order for
Andy to install the windows

that will shield their cabin
from the brutal freeze,

he must travel 15 miles
up the Yukon
to their storage in Eagle.

You want to walk
backwards or you
want me to walk?

I can walk.

ANDY: We were
fortunate in that
we were able to tear down

a few buildings during
the flood and salvage
some of the materials.

When I was tearing down
those materials,

I was thinking
about this house,

and how I was going
to be able to use those
materials in our home.

I'm always nervous
when I'm moving glass.

It's really heavy,

and this has all been sitting
outside for four or five years

and there's a lot of moss,
and it's kind of
slippery and slimy,

so it's a little hard
to hold on to.

These are the atrium windows.

There's a lot of handling
involved and every time
we handle something,

all it takes is one trip,
one fall,

and we're back up
in Eagle trying to pick up
some more windows.

Probably...

I mean, these were salvaged,
we got them out of the hotel

that got destroyed
by the flood.

I'm guessing
something like this,

probably 300, 400
bucks a window here.

Why don't you get out?
I'm going to back down right
beside the anchor there.

Don't crack that thing in two.

If these things slide
through your hands,

they're going to slice right
through that leather glove

like a razor knife
through butter.

There's a lot of different
things that could go wrong.

The last thing
I want right now
is badly cut hands

or completely
shattered windows.

Kate, could you
please grab the boat?

-Yeah.
-Damn, you're going
to break the glass.

No, I'm not.

Look at how it's
sitting on the edge.

I know, I was trying
to correct that.

Move the boat forward,
please, like it was.

Right here?

Can't fuckin'...

It slid there on its own
when it got off the boat.

(ANDY GRUMBLING)

Will you take that glass out
of there, that Plexiglas out?

The window had slid
a little bit and edges
were grinding on edges,

and I was
waiting to hear a big crack.

Bottom line is this house
has to be weathered in
for this winter.

Putting these projects off
until fall time is always
really stressful.

I really don't like
it when I have
these projects that have

to get done that
they get put off
until the end of the season.

Better hurry up, we've got
some big black clouds
moving in.

ANDY: I'll measure them up,
do some milling,
do some cutting.

Hopefully, we can
set these windows

and that'll be a big
step in closing up our house.

SUE: Life can surprise me by
showing me my wall

and reminding me
not to get too proud
and too full of myself.

I am pleased that I still have
a mind that can come up with
the ingenuity of,

"Yeah, so I can't do
it your way...

"But I can do it this way."

NARRATOR: Sue has cleaned
the debris causing
her generator to fail,

but before she can fire it up,

a new problem
stands in the way.

There's a big crack there.

Bum deal.

So now my exhaust is not
going where it needs to go,
it's floofing everywhere.

That's not the way
you want it.

You want a solid piece
of tubing going
to the outside world and gone.

So I want to cut it here,
pull this end out.

Pull this out of the way,
slide that in, and see
what we need.

Because it all
matches together.
You know, it's...

All right, so you just want
to cut that off?

Yeah, yeah.
We'll cut it to length.

We'll cut everything
to length once you see
what we need...

All right.
What I'm going to do,
cut it, marry it,

make a new joint.

It's always good to have
a backup. I currently
don't have one.

Luckily, these are pieces
and parts out
of the bone yard.

Bone yard is an area
of currently
non-usable parts,

but it is something, you know,

you hear me say here
and there, repurposing.

By itself, it's not
a usable piece.

By itself, it's too short
to do me much good.

Together, it can
be a solution.

-Got it?
-Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

The most important tool
that you can have out here
for this lifestyle,

that's your mind,
your creativity,
your ingenuity,

and your ability to improvise.

Ta-da.

Changed out the exhaust pipe,

you know, cut it,
made a tundra fix.

Um, it is time to get
this thing kicked over

and see what it's going to do.

ERIK: I came to Alaska
as a teenager.

I was in search
of a sense of adventure,

and free and open places,
and wilderness.

I guess I found it.

NARRATOR: Erik and Martha
are stalking the woods
along the Newhalen River

to harvest waterfowl
before the birds migrate south
for the winter.

ERIK: All the meat that I eat
in my household is meat
that either I harvested myself

or meat that's recycled
to me via my hunters

that I guide
every spring and fall.

You know that's not
an unlimited resource up here.

You got to realise
that these animals
need to be respected,

and that you need
to really be careful about
how many you harvest

and what you do harvest,
you should use
to the fullest capacity.

ERIK: It's fish.

Shit load of them over there.

MARTHA: Bird hunting
is not easy.

It's different than caribou
or moose.

So when the season comes,
it's really exciting to shoot
that first duck

or first goose and eat it.

There's some out there.

(ERIK WHISPERING)

Okay.

(ERIK WHISPERING)

(ERIK SPEAKING)

MARTHA: Where'd it go?
Is it still alive?

There it is.

Who got it, you think?

Who cares? Let's go home
and eat it. You going
to make soup?

-Yeah, I'll make some soup.
-Nice, let's go home.

I'm going to head home,
and I'm going to have

some fresh duck, nice and fat.

We're going to chow
down on some
delicious table fare, so.

Go home, clean up these birds
and call it a day.

ANDY: My visions
are always big.

My plate is always full.

But that's what I wake up
every morning really liking.

If I had nothing
to do around here,

I would get bored
pretty quick.

ANDY: Double check that
and make sure
that's going to fit.

NARRATOR: Today,
Andy and Kate
will install the windows

in their new cabin,

to ensure their dream home
will be able to endure
the brutal winter months.

ANDY: This is a super
sticky material so it will
seal this window

right into place here.

So whenever this window
touches it, that's it.

That's where it's going to be.

Hold on, I've got
to get my fingers out.

-That should do it.
-Look at that, real glass.

Yay.

One window done,
three to go today.

So I've got to get this done
so he can get on with
the getting the windows in.

This kind of little jobs
I don't mind doing.

It's getting me closer
to getting me into
my new house.

(CHUCKLING)

ANDY: I love doing
all the things
I do around here.

I get up every morning,
and I do what I want to do

and I don't know
too many people that have
that ability to say

that that's the way
their life is.

Now, that's a kitchen window.

I'm feeling pretty good
about going into winter
with the project now.

The, uh, house is sanded,
stained, the windows are in.

None too soon,
the colours are changing
really quick.

We've had frost,
and, uh, we've had snow
on the tops of the mountains,

so, kind of, got it done
in the nick of time.

Now it's time
to go fishing and hunting.

SUE: You have to be dead nuts
about who you are,

what you want out of life,
and how the hell
you're going to get it.

You better have both hands
on the pistol and ready
to aim and shoot.

All right, so, took apart
the radiator guards,

cleaned the radiator,

degreased the radiator.

It is time to get this thing
kicked over and see

what it's going to do.

Green, yellow.

Cross your fingers.

(SPUTTERING)

That don't sound good.

-(GENERATOR TURNING OVER)
-There we go.

There it goes.
Well, you can see
that the wind is blowing now.

Before, it wasn't.

We got wind coming out
which means that it's cold.

So that means it's cooling
down the radiator fluid
again. Yay.

And I'm right in the middle
of making sure the gen
is back up,

and you can see,
I've got planes everywhere.

They need to be able
to talk to me.

This guy's been waiting
so I can get a break

to get the fuel
done so he can get in the air.

So, I mean, it's just all one
big, happy family, man.

-You ready to rock?
-Yep.

So, yeah, thanks
for being patient
with the generator.

But at least now,
I'll have air-to-ground.

-We got power,
I'm smiling.
-Yeah.

Planes only make money
when they're in the air,

but I only get money from them
when they get on the ground
and get fuel.

If we can't communicate
to each other,
it's a safety issue,

but it's also
a monetary issue
for both of us.

-All right, is that going
to do it?
-That's absolutely.

All right, $25.90.

Fly safe,
I'll see you later on.

Once D gets airborne,
I'll do a radio check
with him.

He can hear me,
I can hear him.

Then I'm totally back online.

You got a copy on Kavik here?

(D SPEAKING OVER RADIO)

All right,
you have a good day,

fly safe, and thanks for being
patient on the genny.

(D SPEAKING)

I just got confirmation
it's working.

Lights are on,
water's pumping,
back in business.

CHIP: The whole essence
of subsistence is to be able
to go in your local,

immediate area, utilise
the materials around you,
and have a good life.

And that's all we're up to.

I want to make these ones
into strips.

Mom, I have a cut right there,
but I want to cut fish.

Nope.

You'll get an infection.

CHIP: With this pulling
of the net, we're going
to have a full rack,

and the full rack is also
gonna mean that we're
gonna have a full boat.

So if we want to not
only to get it done right,
but we want to take it home,

we, kind of, gotta
limit ourselves
to what we got today.

Another good fishing season.

CHIP: Yup, it sure is.

This looks like a good final
amount to smoke.

If we had to have
a last amount of fish at all,
you couldn't get it better.

Oh, we always have
productive summers
when we come down here,

and that's why
we come down here,

and why we've been down here
for more than 20 years.

Cutting and processing your
own fish has always been

a really important resource
up here.

Because if you've got
salmon, you've got wealth.

That's energy, that's food,
that's trade material.

That's the good stuff.

AGNES: This has no salt in it,
and we just pretty much use it

to clean all the blood
and stuff off of it,

and then we put
them in this one,

and this is, um,
for salting and smoking.

So this one has
salt water in it

and, uh, this is just
regular water,
just wash and rinse

and then we just
go hang them up,

and they'll
just be non-salted,
but slightly smoked.

Almost done.

Good haul, eh? Just right.

CHIP: I want to put them
up in the smoke,

but for now, for drip-drying,
they need to get
all that salted water

off of them.

-Sure looks good, eh?
-Sure does, sure smells good.

This is going to be real good
snack during the winter until
next salmon fishing season.

We have pinks, chums,
and silvers here.

We don't usually
get silvers back home,

so this is going to be
a real good, different taste
during the winter.

CHIP: All in all, this was
an excellent investment
to come here

and spend the summer
in Kiwalik.

We've just basically
put a couple thousand bucks
into being here,

and I know we're going home
with a vast more amount
in, uh, potential money.

It's got to be a couple
of thousand dollars
worth of fish hanging here.

You can't get skunked
on fishing if you know
what you're doing.

We just don't get skunked.