This week on The Homer Alaska Podcast we sit down with Emily Riedel - gold miner, star of "Bering Sea Gold" tv show, opera singer, and outdoor enthusiast. We talk to her about dredging for gold, growing up in Homer, what life is really like in Nome, the case for opera music, and the pros and cons of being a reality television star. We also talk to Ashley Brasfield from South Peninsula Hospital Rehab clinic about tips for when to bring children in to see a speech language pathologist. (1:11) Intro (9:10) SPH Rehab w Ashley Brasfield (13:18) Emily Riedel TheAlaskaShow@gmail.com IG @AlaskaShow @AlexanderTrokey Facebook.com/TheAlaskaShow www.TheAKShow.com Interview Notes The name “Riedel” is German. Pronounced “r-eye-dell.” Opera singer, ice/rock climber, gold miner. Currently in Nome shooting a special season ice mining for Bering Sea Gold. The ice freezes in February and they can drill into the ice and dive under the ice. The craziest miners will take their equipment out onto the pack ice and dredge for gold underneath. A dredge is a boat that has a diesel or gasoline pump motor. Emily’s is diesel. Nome is tough to get equipment, things break down easily in a marine environment and you can’t just stroll into a huge hardware store. Supplies are limited. You have to wait a few days to get specialized stuff from Anchorage. It’s always a logistical challenge. Emily runs the Eroica - it’s not called the Erotica. Eroica is a symphony that Beethoven wrote to commemorate Napoleon before he was an emperor/dictator. Many people mix it up. Emily thinks in retrospect it probably wasn’t a great idea to go for the lofty, classical boat name. But she doesn’t want to change the name because she’s a little superstitious and it’s bad luck. For her ice operation she called her boat the “Job.” This ice season has had a lot of breakdowns and malfunctions and chaos. She’s been reading a book on the philosophy of faith and prayer and Job was the relationship between man and God. So right now they’re filming and diving under the ice. Because of climate change the ice there is really unstable and they have to be really careful with their equipment. In past years the ice is really thick and strong, but recently the ice has gone out quickly. There are leads that are opening up. They have to bring equipment in from storms. The Iditarod is there right now and people are worried about Coronavirus.  Emily’s brother Paul is one of her closest friends. She has a sister named Liz who lives in Homer. She also has another brother in Seattle. Emily’s dad was on the show and he did mining for a bit. Her mom lives on the east coast right now and teaches music.Growing up in Homer, Emily was partly homeschooled and grew up on the beach on Kachemak Drive. She spent her childhood on the beach. She would play pretend and build rafts and float around Kachemak Bay and build driftwood forts. Emily moved out at 16 to live with other families in Homer until she graduated. Her parents separated when she was 12 and her mom had a string of not great relationships and the last one was bad enough for her to leave. Then she went to college to pursue music. Homer vs. Nome. Emily is 31 and has been mining there for 10 years - working seasonally for a third of her life. Homer has tons of natural beauty and art and interesting characters in the community. There’s a wide spread of educated people and great thinkers and slightly insane people. The variety of people combined with natural beauty makes it very special. In Nome it’s easy to feel a sense of desolation. It’s pretty flat with low rolling hills and the ocean. The lack of trees and greenery in the landscape is a bit of a feeling of being on the moon especially in wintertime. It’s very isolated and lonely. It has a tiny population, mostly Alaska Natives. But the more you’re there the more you see its special beauty. It kind of looks like Ireland in the summertime. It has an incredible history of the gold rush as well. Nome has an i