American Christmas

Sunny getting in the Christmas spirit

Snowflakes down our hallway -
come to think of it, it started snowing
after I hunt these up - magic!

Mrs. Sonya showed me how
to make 3D snowflakes!





Few in the village celebrated Christmas this weekend so it was very difficult to feel like it was Christmas.  We ordered most of our gifts online and few of them would ship to Alaska so we told each other what was waiting for them in a box in Missouri as our "gift exchange".   We had a few friends over for supper Christmas night and I made an over-abundance of goodies I now must find a home for before I eat them all myself and that was pretty much our Christmas.  We had a white Christmas, but that was a surprise to no one.  We've had somewhere between 6 inches and a foot of snow in the last few days, but the wind has been so strong it's hard to know exactly how much.  Sometimes I'm not sure if it's still snowing or if the wind is just rearranging the snow that's already fallen.

 

   The school held a "Santa's Workshop" on Saturday to give the kids a chance to make gifts for their family members.  The kids made ginger bread houses, ornaments, jewelry, personalized wrapping paper, and snowflakes.  I'm sure most can guess that I volunteered for snowflakes given I'm known for my magic snowflakes.  I've told people here about them, but I'm not sure they believe in my 100% success rate, especially since there is no such thing as a snow day in the village.  Given the nasty turn the weather has taken the last few days, I may have to take Randy's suggestion and give magic sunshines my best effort.  We have flights scheduled for next Thursday and we will be very sad little critters if we don't make it to Missouri for Christmas break.



Jewelry making



   

Ornament making




Ginger bread houses



 

 

Winter Solstice

Today is winter solstice, a day I ordinarily pay no attention to and rarely even notice.  Today, however, winter solstice is not only noticed, but celebrated in my heart.  Night has peaked and each day will now bring a little more sunshine into our lives.  Today the sun rose at 10:00 and set at 4:00 on the horizon but our southern horizon is a mountain so we see much less of our yellow friend.  I caught my last glimpse of it at 2:00 as it lazily slid out of sight below it's stone blanket.  I look forward to watching it awaken from it's slumber and smile down on us.

While we know we'll be getting more sunlight, we also recognize winter has only begun its dance across our landscape.  We already get snow so often it almost goes unnoticed and we now keep a constant layer of ice in the village.  It may snow for a while, but it will then begin to melt and then rain joins in the symphony to become one with the slush as night falls and the temperatures drop.  Add a fresh layer of snow on top and it becomes a slippery, treacherous journey from the house to the school.  The temperatures seem content to stay in the 20s and 30s, and anything above freezing now feels like nice weather.  I don't know what else Alaska has waiting for us as winter deepens, but I'll be seeing it with more and more sunlight each day so I'm looking forward to it.

Christmas? Where are you?

December 25th is less than a week away, but I'm hesitant to say Christmas is less than a week away.  This holiday can be quite the source of confusion for newcomers into the village.  While the majority of the Christian world celebrates the birth of Christ on December 25th, the Russian Orthodox church celebrates it on January 7th.  This date difference doesn't bother me at all since I doubt Jesus was born on either day anyway (I know that's a brazen statement - please don't send me hate mail or stone me).  This is actually quite handy for us since we wish to travel back home for the two week break.  We'll get much cheaper plane tickets in January than we will around "American Christmas" as it's called in the village.  Many in the village can also get great prices on Christmas gifts since stores hold awesome sales to clear out their Christmas items while the village hasn't yet celebrated Jesus' birthday so the January date definitely has some advantages.

The date difference does make things a little difficult as well.  The majority of the school district is currently out of school right now while we are beginning second semester.  This means our students taking online courses through the district are currently unable to begin classes, but will start two weeks behind because classes will begin as we start our Christmas break.  There are several little quirks like this that must be worked around, but all is doable.  With this double Christmas and extended holiday one could assume we'll grow tired of Christmas and be eager for the season to end.  What I find, however, is quite the opposite.  On December 25th we will be in the village, a location where no one will be celebrating Christmas.  When everyone in the village is celebrating Christmas, we'll be in Missouri where Christmas will be well over and forgotten.  Somehow in the mess of two Christmases, I'm going to manage to miss them both!  I think I've been bahumbugged and there is only one appropriate response:  grrrrr!

Hoping for a Really Long Bridge



 I've often said that teachers learn quickly to dislike exciting days.  While there was little excitement in the classroom, today was an exciting day in the village in a very bad way.  We heard the plane take off after school this afternoon and thought nothing of it.  After hearing them come in and take off hourly, I really hardly notice them.  When the kids who had stayed after school to work made a comment about thinking it crashed, I dismissed it as kids being rotten (everyone knows I'm a big fat chicken).  A few minutes later when someone said the plane was in the water, I decided that was a little too specific to be kids being rotten.  Having heard of a pilot who drowned in a plane just off the shore in Nanwalek a few years ago, I had a pretty lengthy conversation with Jesus after seeing the plane bobbing in the waves.  Someone in the village had already helped the pilot - who cannot swim - to the beach by the time Mike got there to help people to shore.  One of the teachers and her sister - who is also one of our students - were on the plane as well as another person who works in our school several days a week.  All got out of the plane quickly but will be very sore and probably shaken up for a while.  We are very thankful that all are well, but I'm now thinking I may never leave the village as that will require getting in a plane.  

Eric getting his stuff out of the plane.
He didn't need to come to Nanwalek,
but was on his way home from elsewhere.



They tied a rope to tie it down
so it won't float away before they
can get it.



Oh the Times They are a Changin'

Okay, so the times aren't changing much, but just about everything else in our lives has changed.  A detailed list would be quite lengthy so we've come up with a short list below.

1. I now steal shampoos from hotels to use on future trips as I try to keep my luggage as light as possible so I can maximize the 50 pounds I'm allowed with my ticket.
2. Christmas now comes in January.
3. 45 degrees and sunshine make a nice day.
4. Groceries are delivered to my house by plane.
5. Deer crossing signs have been replaced with moose/caribou/horse crossing signs.
6. We have a freezer full of halibut and salmon instead of deer.
7. Tsunami drills have replaced tornado drills.
8. Instead of lightning we have the northern lights.
9. Sunshine sightings are now less common than bigfoot sightings.
10. "Honda" is now the word for all 4 wheelers regardless of brand.
11. We wear mud boots to work every day.
12. We wear ice cleats on our mud boots most of the time.
13. We literally live at work.
14. Snow now comes so often we almost no longer notice (and we don't get snow days).

My very favorite change:
I get to work with my husband!

A Bird of a Different Feather

I am a big, fat chicken.  I once referred to myself as a "mudpuddle duckling" but have decided I have more in common with a different member of the bird family.  Living in Alaska often results in a very real and physical fear response.  All know by now the opportunities for a conversation with Jesus that each flight creates.  (He was kind enough to distract me with an amazing sunset so that I did not quickly notice how long it was taking us to land this last time, so I know he listens).  So I safely reach land, to face the horrors of road travel in this state.  The fear of hitting a deer now seems silly after passing by two accident scenes involving moose this weekend.  The damage done by the moose who lived through the accident was enough to make me question how much one could do in an accident bad enough to kill one.

Those who followed our trip up here also know how I feel about driving alongside large bodies of water so you'll find humor in the fact the first 40 miles or so out of Anchorage follows the coastline.  And when I say coast I mean the highway is carved into the side of a mountain and the mountain meets the water just beside us.  We survive that danger, to face the next:  multiple avalanche areas.  To add to this new fear are snow piles just off the road from many small avalanches and knowing someone in the village was caught in an avalanche last week.  Complicating this fear are posts off the road to mark the snow depth.  While I appreciate the idea, I do not find comfort seeing they mark snow depth up to 12 feet.  Add in very slippery roads from all the rain and heavy snow we got today and I'm sure my physical response is reaching levels that would concern any health professional.

Slippery roads alongside waters of death, avalanches of doom, and moose of destruction . . . Really?!  Can much be missing from this recipe for disaster?!  Fortunately Jesus did take pity on me and allowed the wind and snow to be bad enough to prevent me from enduring another flight to end the day's adventures.  That'll give my heart and blood pressure a few hours to settle before I begin the flight tomorrow with  "Please, God, don't let me die today. . ."

Finished!!

After spending the majority of last weekend and every night this week working on our final homework assignments for our college class, we are now officially finished!  We met one last time in Anchorage to present our final projects and, of course, took the opportunity to get some shopping done.  I find it interesting the difference living in a village makes on our attitudes.  I've never been a fan of shopping, and like to go in with a list in hand, get my items, and get out.  Well, I do run through clearance before checking out - how else would I have a wardrobe full of $5.00 clothes?  Now I feel like going to a store - any kind, I'm not picky - is a rare treat.  I'm still a terrible cheap-skate and go in with my list, but now I take my time - when I'm not worried about catching a plane - and look around just to see what's there.  I probably still won't buy it, but I take the time to look now.  Being able to hand pick my own groceries, especially produce, is something I now fantasize about.  I also found my attitude about the hotel prices for snacks an interesting change.  Ordinarily $2.50 for a 20 ounce soda would be rediculous and we would walk away.  Tonight we paid the money and thought "That's not too bad compared to prices in the village."  I'm going to have to do some thinking to see what other details and attitides have changed.

Local Cuisine

This weekend a couple of the high school girls called the house asking if we wanted to buy peroskies they had made to raise money for a trip they were taking.  I'm not sure if it was courage or stupidity that inspired me to say yes to a food I knew nothing about and couldn't even spell or pronounce, but I said sure with a good deal of enthusiasm.  Peroskies are a type of pie that the crust is filled, folded over, and sealed along the edge before baking.  While my sweet tooth was hoping for some sugary, fruity concoction, I found the filling of rice and salmon to be quite tasty, especially after the addition of a little soy sauce.  This made me realize I've only discussed a few of the local food items so here's a short list of some I've seen or heard about (and a few I've heard enough about to know they should be avoided).

Salmon, salmon, and more salmon - Being in every fisherman's heavenly dream location for fishing, they eat lots of fish and prepare it in a variety of ways.  It's salted, smoked, dried, dried and smoked, canned, boiled, and I'm sure a dozen other things I've yet to hear of.

Other fish - They also have a huge amount of halibut off the shores.  Trout are all over the lakes and first hole and cods (which are pretty darned close to catfish in flavor) in the lagoon.

Fish Pie - Like any other pie with a crust on top and bottom, but has a layered filling of tightly packed rice, salmon smothered in mayonnaise with onions, and then more packed down rice.  I've eaten this a couple times and it's pretty good.  I think if I made it my recipe would include some soy sauce, lemon juice, or cheese.

Fish Rice - A type of rice salad with smoked, dried salmon, fish eggs, seaweed, and some seasonings.  I think I would have enjoyed it more had the salmon not been smoked as that flavor was a bit strong for my tastes.

Bidarki

Bidarki - An icky looking creature who lives its life suctioned to rocks in the ocean.  Some eat them raw, pickled, or in casseroles.  I summoned the courage to try some pickled.  I figured if I like to drink pickle juice from the jar, surely it'll be decent.  It wasn't terrible, but it also isn't something I'll be craving for later.

Caviar

Caviar - Salmon eggs still tight in the sacks and cut from the fish's body.  I took my turn at making this and I'm pretty sure if they made a fish extract for flavoring foods, it would have the same flavor - very strong.

Salted fish eggs - When the eggs loosen in the body right before the salmon spawn, they can be squeezed from the body (after a minor sexual assault on the fish).  These are rinsed and salted and become much firmer than the caviar.  The taste isn't as strong as the caviar, but the rubbery texture and popping is a little strange.  These are eaten in this state, included as an ingredient in many recipes, or pickled.  The pickled eggs are pretty tasty, but I have a hard time getting beyond the popping.  One of the members of the village took a jar with her when flying out so that she and her family could eat them with cream cheese on bagels in the hotel breakfast so I'm thinking they're pretty popular.

Stink eggs - Fish eggs that have been fermented.  I have not tried these or seen these.  I'm judging by the name, I also do not want to smell them.  I think the most common way to prepare them is to simply put them in a container and stick them somewhere forgotten for a little while.  Many in the village love the, but I've heard more than one who does not care for them so I'm a bit nervous about experimenting.

Stink fish - Fermented fish.  I'm assuming the preparation is about the same as with the eggs.  It also seems to have the same level of popularity and thus result in the same level of trepidation about trying them.

Agudaq - This is a revised version of Akutaq or "Eskimo ice cream" (a food with several entries in Anita's cookbook.  I'm hoping she's looking forward to trying it when she visits).  While I'm interested in trying the ice cream version, I'm very uncertain about the local version.  This is made with mashed potatoes, seal oil, and stink eggs.  I've met far more people in the community who dislike this dish than enjoy it.

Seal - We've eaten this a couple times - both in a stew with rice.  It has a very strong flavor that is what I would imagine the child of a monster buck on serious steroids and a monster fish who's lived well beyond his life expectancy would taste like.  The smell of seal oil is quite unpleasant and I've not tried it, but I hear it's supposed to be very healthy for the blood.

Mussels on French Bread

Mussels and snails - I've tried the mussels and they are yummy!  I've not gotten the courage up to try the snails.

Octopus - I've heard it's very tasty, but haven't seen or tasted it.

Porcupine - This prickly little woodland creature is a favorite among the elders.

Birds - Ducks, Grouse, Geese, Swans, Loons, and I'm sure a few others.

I'm sure I've left many out, but these are the main foods that stand out in my mind.  Obviously they eat bear and moose and make a lot of berry jams and jellies when they have a good year, but I figured most everyone would be interested in the foods they are less familiar with.

Stupid

Tonight we are very sad as we have received bad news.  Our faithful pooch of 14 years died this week.  He was old and I must confess we have checked for breathing several times over the past few years as he is a very sound and still sleeper.  While I suppose it's to be expected, we're still feeling very down.  He wasn't the brightest of animals (hence the name) but he was a very sweet dog who loved his family and watched their house faithfully - when he wasn't sleeping too hard to notice a small alien invasion.  We are very blessed to have had such a fantastic pet who has left us with many memories.

1. Eating an entire soda can.

2. Eating an apple because the goat wanted it.

3. Leaving teeth marks on the lawn mower during his puppy chew phase.

4. Trying to figure out how to eat an entire squirrel skin without chewing - he wandered around a bit looking quite confused with the tail hanging out of his mouth before he finally figured out a solution to his dilemma.
5. Prying him and another dog apart as they fought through a chain link fence.
6. Taking two days to figure out that, if one hind leg is broken, that should be the leg to hike while taking care of business.
7. Wagging his tail happily every time we were in the vet's office despite the fact he had been shot twice, had skin rotting and falling off of his chest, and lost all his toes on one foot.  They had doggie cookies so all was well.
8. Returning to the vet a few years later because he had eaten too many acorns.
9. His interesting cross between a Beagle bay and a kid muttering he would do every time we came home.
10. Getting soaked as he pawed half the night on the garage door to get out of the rain instead of laying on the porch or in his house.


Mostly we'll missed his unconditional love, constant cheer, and obvious enthusiasm each and every time he saw his family.  We'll miss our affectionate and entertaining little buddy.

White Rabbit

We have had the opportunity to see a lot of wildlife since our arrival in July.  We have seen bears, moose, sheep, goats, sea lions, seals, sea otters, eagles, beluga whales, humpback whales, wolves, coyotes, grouse, geese, ducks, swans, and squirrels too small to really deserve that title.  While we have seen evidence, we have yet to see a rabbit.  The first of each month, however, we hear about them very much.  A tradition exists in the village that requires you to be nice for the entire month to anyone who says "White Rabbit" to you before you say it to them and some people take this very seriously.  A chorus of "White Rabbit" can be heard in the hallway as the elementary classes leave breakfast and head to class in the morning.  The secretary at school has even received a few phone calls at 12:01 in the morning as someone made certain they said "White Rabbit" first.  She has a similar disposition to me when half asleep and they quickly decided to call no more.  My middle schoolers also greet me each month with a small "White Rabbit" chorus, but they are a little less energetic than the younger kids.  I think they are a little confused by my response: "I think you should be nice to everyone all the time."

Volcanoes

Augustine spitting out steam as usual

About 80% of all active volcanoes in the United States are in Alaska, so naturally we have a few close by here in the village.  Three are ever visible across the inlet: Augustine, Iliamna, and Redoubt.  Along the Southern edge of the horizon lies Augustine.  It is probably the least impressive to look at but it finds ways to make up for its humble appearance.  It seems that at least half of the days we can see Augustine, a trail of smoke rising from its peak also makes itself visible.  No one seems to notice, so we're assuming (and hoping) this is normal.  In 1986 it had a very large eruption that spewed ash as far as Anchoarage - a little over 300 miles - and wreaked havoc on flights, but hasn't seemed too aggressive since.

As you follow the shore north, Iliamna is the next volcano and it is very impressive to look at.  As the morning sun hits it (or should I say used to hit it considering our current daylight hours), the snow which covers this mountain year round glows a soft pink.  I, of course, always see this from the window at school when I do not have my camera handy so I have yet to capture it on digital film.  It has an impressive elevation of 10,000 feet and also spews a little bit of smoke regularly.  It's not had any major eruptions in recorded history, but I have mixed feelings about that information.  I cannot decide if that means it is unlikely to erupt any time soon, or that it has had a very long time to build up pressure and is waiting for an excuse to make its voice heard.

Keep traveling north, and you'll end with Redoubt.  He's as impressive as his southern neighbor, but has a much more exciting history.  It spewed ash an enthusiastic 45,000 feet in the air in 1989 and decided to relive its glory days a little over 2 years ago.  Redoubt has been relatively quiet since and I'm hoping it is still recovering from that adventure and hasn't gathered enough energy to to play just quite yet.  I'm thinking I'll be having some serious conversations with Jesus about more than just plane rides.

Thanksgiving

Fish rice

Our last night of Thanksgiving break is nearly over, drawing a close to that holiday and a small pause to our gluttony.  We've had several opportunities to eat more than we should beginning with the community meal the school hosted Wednesday.  They served the traditional American Thanksgiving foods as well as some traditional Alaskan dishes such as fish pie and fish rice (the rice has seaweed, fish eggs, dried and smoke salmon, onions, and cooked salmon).  We had a few members of the school staff to our house for more food Thursday and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to relax and visit.  The 3-5 grade teacher invited us to his house last night for some Mexican food so we again stuffed ourselves.  He's from Mexico so it was pretty hard to resist and we had another enjoyable evening.  The village store also gave us a food basket with a 20lb turkey and tons of fruit so we'll have more opportunities to eat.  We also spent time with James and Carol playing cards (I totally beat Mike in Phase 10) and Mike helped them cut wood today.  They got to use the wench several times as the deep snow caused problems and the ice across the creek broke under one of the 4 wheelers.  While the 4 wheeler is embarrassed, no one was hurt so all is well.

We've had never ending snow for over a week now.  I'm reminded of my dad who tells of 3 separate times it started raining and never stopped - he has some great logic to it, but I can never remember it.  We're beginning to wonder if this will be the time when it started snowing and never stopped.  We've had over 40 inches of snow according to a weather site on the internet and it's still coming down.  Being the season of giving thanks, I am reminded to be thankful that I enjoy snow because I know I would be quite unhappy right now if I didn't.  We have also thought of some other things we are thankful for.

1. Ice cleats and whoever invented them

2. Given how much of it there is, we are thankful that we like eating fish.
3. The Wright brothers for inventing the airplane - even if it does encourage conversations with Jesus
4. A shelter that always finds its way home after wondering away late at night
5. That our answer was "Yes" to the first interview question we had for these jobs: "Do you like each other?"  We get a lot of together time here and enjoy it very much.
6. A Ranger that has a wench to pull us out of deep mud holes and icy creeks
7. The Internet without which we'd have little connection to all our friends and family back home.
8. Back up generators to keep us warm during power outages.
9. We'll be thankful to the phone company when they get our phone lines fixed - but they didn't get it done in time to make the Thanksgiving list.  Maybe by American Christmas.


And last, but certainly not least:
10. We are thankful that God provided us with such wonderful friends in the village.  We are truly blessed to know such great people and have the opportunity to spend time with them.  We have much to be thankful for, but great friends make the inconveniences sometimes experienced living in the Alaskan bush much less painful.

Getting Prescriptions in the Village





Sunny exploring the great white
mystery that is constantly
landing on her porch.

There is no pharmacy in the village so getting medicine can be a little tricky sometimes.  If we are out of the village when it's close to refill time, then we can simply call ahead and our prescription will be waiting for us to pick up at the pharmacy.  Since we are not always able to schedule a trip around refills we depend on the couple pharmacies that will fill prescriptions and let someone from the airport pick it up for us.  The pilots will then bring it over on their regular flights at no extra charge - something that is very much appreciated.  This seemingly simple process can become quite complicated at times.  The "airport" in the village is a simple shed with no attendant - or door for that matter - so one must meet the pilots on the runway to pick up the prescription.  If no one is there the pilots cannot, for obvious reasons, leave prescription medication at the airport so they take it back to Homer and try again later.  Of course they call before they bring it over, but scheduling is sometimes difficult since we do not leave school until 4:00 and the last flight lands at 4:30.  This doesn't leave much wiggle room for bad weather days when flights are few.  This got even more complicated for us this week because our phone has been out for two weeks so we didn't have the luxury of a phone call.  Luckily our good friends, who do not live in the teeny tiny portion of town still out of phone service, let us use their phone number.  Thus we did not spend the last two days waiting on the runway in a snowstorm just in case a flight made it over only to find out the prescription was coming on another flight. 

Thanksgiving Pie = Fish

Mike making fish pie

I am discovering some advantages to being the entire middle school and high school this week.  Since we teach the core subjects and there are no other teachers, the students do not have certain classes like art and music.  This means I have a legitimate excuse to occasionally sneak an art activity into the lesson plans when it works out well.  The school hosts a community dinner on Wednesday for Thanksgiving and much of our class time this week has been given to its preparation.  Monday the high school students made fruit pie and today Mike got a chance to accomplish two things, a homework assignment for our culture class and help with preparations, by making fish pie.  It's made much like any other pie, but is filled layers rice, butter, fish, mayaonaisse, and onions instead of the fruit filling we're accustomed to.  We tried some when we first arrived in the village and I must admit it's pretty tasty.  All of the staff members are also responsible for cooking a turkey to serve, so we've spent much of evening preparing ours.  Tomorrow morning we'll be preparing foods such as mashed potatoes that need to be cooked the day of and decorating so we can eat somewhere around 12:30.  Time is a little less specific in the village sometimes, so we'll see when food actually gets served.

We've also had much more snow!!  I'm thinking we're at least halfway to the 20 inches of annual snowfall that is average for Nanwalek, so we're either in for an unusual year or January, February, and March are very dry months.  The heavy snowfall combined with persistent high winds have led to some very impressive snow drifts.  We had to wade through knee deep snow to get out of the school building this afternoon.  Sunny, being the big fat chicken of a cat that she is, has very little experience with snow and was quite curious today, but faced some difficulties.  As she stood in the slightly open doorway (to our upstairs deck where she cannot be eaten by a dog or the wolf that's been perusing the village this week) she  wanted to go outside, but the wind kept blowing snow in on her face.  By the time she built up enough courage to venture beyond the door, she was busy shaking the snow off and then had to again build her courage back up.  She never did make it past the doorway so she still has little experience with snow.  We'll try again another time.

Still Talking to Jesus

The weather cleared up enough to allow me to make it back home yesterday and I am very much enjoying being home with my honey and my kitty purrs.  I'm not sure if I noticed the bumps less on Tuesday because I was expecting them or noticed them more yesterday because I wasn't expecting them, but I'm pretty sure the flight back in "good" weather was a little rougher than the flight out in bad weather.  And, as usual, we had to stop off in one of the towns along the way before getting home.  Considering take offs and landings are where most small plane accidents occur around here, I find all of the extra landings and take-offs that seem to always happen on my flights a little disconcerting.  So as we're heading for the runway in Seldovia, already tilting at a pretty good angle to make the turn, a nice little gust of wind caught the plane increasing that already uncomfortable angle.  At this point I remember continuing my usual ongoing conversation, "Jesus, you can't let me survive a flight in terrible weather only to kill me off in a flight during good weather.  That just doesn't seem right at all."



The picture's not the greatest in quality, but you can
see how high the sun gets.  It's noon and barely over
the top of the mountain.



Fortunately, I survived the flight and was able to return with all my goodies for Thanksgiving in tow.  I also learned an 18 gallon tub will hold much more than one would initially think.  I had two turkeys, 6 packages of cream cheese, a gallon of peanut oil (to supplement the larger 3 gallon container of peanut oil I did not put in the tub - you would think since it usually takes 4 gallons to fry a turkey, they would sell it in that size, but they do not), 2 pounds of cheese, a couple large containers of seasoning, a box of stuffing mix (sorry, but I hate stuffing so Stove Top's the closest I come to making it), a jar of cherries, a couple cans of evaporated milk, a turkey injector, 3 pounds of apples, a couple bags of walnuts and coconut, a couple boxes of tea, 2 Big Macs, 2 orders of fries, and a chicken sandwich from McDonald's and still had some room to spare.  And thanks to those Big Macs and fries, I am now the awesomest wife ever.

When it's springtime in Alaska . . .

Okay, so we're not in the springtime, but it definitely feels 40 below.  So I'm beginning to think the title for our blog was very appropriate.  The temperatures have been in the teens and the winds have been terrible making the wind chill below zero - I'm freezing my little tushy off!  The winds also gave me another opportunity to grow close to God as I had to fly out of the village on the last flight they would be taking due to those extreme winds.  I'm sure God had a sense of humor or I wouldn't find myself in these strange predicaments and I'm certain He gets a good laugh out of our conversations on those excruciatingly long plane rides.

The theme of our trip here - the unexpected - still seems to be hovering overhead, gently reminding us of its ever present self.  I planned to fly out at 4:30, but had to throw things together quickly and simply give up on my lesson plans for the last class because the high winds meant the last plane was leaving at 3:15.  About 45 minutes after arriving in Homer I decided to quit fighting with our truck and get a rental (for which I am thankful the district will be reimbursing).  I am also thankful I remembered the GPS as the directions "turn at the big rock" are much less useful in the dark - as it is right now until 9:00 on cloudy days.  A power outage greeted us at our assessment location.  Downed power lines close to the building encouraged us to find a new location, but it wasn't a serious delay as some of our tests arrived late.  The person who had them could not leave her house as she was surrounded by live, downed electric lines so we'll not complain about any inconveniences we suffered.  We worked in the basement of district office until noon, then moved to one of the area's high schools.  We're still waiting to find out where we'll be in the morning as electricity is back up and schools will be in session tomorrow.  Since we don't know what to expect for tomorrow, can the unexpected happen?  We may break this cycle yet.

My recent adventures have offered a few more valuable lessons:
1. High winds and dry snow make it very difficult to see the road well through headlights.

2. Roads covered with packed snow and ice are even more difficult to see any time of day.

3. When all else fails, make it up as you go.

Snow, Wind, and Furry Monsters

 For the past several months I have been living with a furry monster - and I'm not referring to a very cranky kitty.  Mike decided when we arrived that he was not going to shave his beard or cut his hair until we came home for Christmas in January.  As time progressed he looked less and less like the military man I married and more and more like a "mountain man".  Who knows, a few of the local bigfoot sightings may have been my husband on the back trails scoping out bears.  This weekend, however, he decided he could no longer stand all the scruff.  We did take some pictures before any trimming occurred so that our friends and family back home can sneak a peek at what I've been waking up to daily.



The wind has been on the assault for several days now.  I had mentioned previously that I was nervous about getting my groceries and am happy to say that they arrived safely on the only flight that came into the village on Thursday.  Friday also saw only one flight into the village as the wind speeds did nothing but increase.  Friday's winds brought more snow to the village so we've probably had a total of a foot in the last two weeks, something I'm enjoying very much.  The power outage that began Saturday morning, however, I am enjoying a bit less.  And since the winds are so strong no planes are coming into the village so no one can get here to fix the downed lines to get the electricity back on.  We do have a back-up generator, so things could be worse.  It powers most of the lights, the fridge, heater, microwave, freezer, and a couple plug-ins so we're not freezing or hanging out by candle light.  We are, however, trying to figure out what exactly we can cook with a microwave, crock pot, and waffle iron.  Considering all I've ever used the microwave for is reheating left-overs or heating water for hot chocolate that has been quite challenging.



On another note, I'm beginning to wonder if our shelter "garage" isn't happy to be a part of our family.  After getting it out of the creek a few weeks ago, we attached 4 pecker poles to the bottom frame, staked the frame to the ground, and lined the pecker poles with more stakes to keep it in place.  Last night it attempted to run away from home yet again.  So at 1:00 in the morning we're in the dark on snow and ice trying to fight the wind to get it back in place and tie it to the Ranger to keep it from going anywhere.  I'm not sure if it feels unloved or if it's just going through a rebellious stage, but it had better get over it quickly.



Furry Monster



The beginning of a very large snowman



Shipping to the Village

Sunny sits and watches the front
loader washing machine work all
the time - I guess she finds it pretty
cool too.

Being a in a fly in only location, we try to do most of our shopping online.  It saves us some time, trouble and money . . . most of the time.  We have discovered in our stay here that shipping is not always as simple and easy as it may seem.  First, you have to find a business that is willing to ship to Alaska.  This is much harder to do than I had expected and it's even harder to find places that will honor their "Free Shipping" promotions.  Next, you have to get it here.  This can sometimes be even more difficult than finding a business that ships to Alaska.

The US postal service will only deliver to a PO Box in the village, but this works out very well for us.  It goes from the plane to the post office, where it is picked up and brought to the school - nice and simple.  UPS and Fedex insist on a physical address, though and will not deliver to a post office box.  While we do technically have a physical address, no one in the village actually uses them and neither business rides the plane into the village to actually deliver the package to our door.  We've tried to explain this to them both, but they will entertain no other approach.  When all goes well, UPS and Fedex deliver the packages to the airport in Homer, the planes drop them off in the shed by the airport, and we go down to pick them up.  Not as nice and simple as the post office, but it works.  Sometimes, however, UPS and Fedex use the US postal service to deliver items the last stretch of the journey.  This means when I place my order I have to give a physical address for UPS or Fedex because they accept no PO boxes.  UPS/Fedex then brings the items most of the way and drops them off at the Homer post office which only delivers to a post office box.  Thus they get a lovely stamp on them, "Return to Sender."  I had a conversation with Homer post office about this system but their reply was "It's not our problem."  I'm a little confused that the very location which refuses to deliver mail with a physical address to Nanwalek will accept payment for a service they already know they will not provide, but I suppose that's one way to keep postage rates down.

Sun, where did you go?

The end of daylight savings time brought its usual extra hour of sleep which we took advantage happily.  Unfortunately it took away the sun in the process.  Last week the sun was setting at 6:00.  Now with the time change it's setting at 5:00 and will only continue to get earlier until late December.  While it does mean the sun is also rising an hour earlier, it's really hard to notice the difference between 9:30 and 8:30 when we're already at school in classrooms with no windows.  So today I went to school in the dark and came home after the sun had set - yuck!  I guess it's going to be a long, dark winter. 

If it continues to snow regularly, I think I may survive the darkness.  We woke up to another 3 inches yesterday morning and it has decided to stick around a little bit longer than our Halloween.  It's not too hard for the snow to stay around when the high for the day is 27 degrees.  Right now our temperatures are ranging between the low 20s to upper 30s, but it wouldn't feel so terribly cold except for the terrible winds we're getting.  The planes are supposed to come in every hour, but it's hit or miss with all the wind.  Some days we get no planes at all because the winds are so bad.  I'm planning on making a grocery order Wednesday, so I guess we'll see if I actually get it.

Snow!!

Halloween morning greeted us with a blanket of snow in the village!  We woke up to about 2 inches on the ground and it continued throughout the day to finish off at around 3 inches.  Little Miss Sunshine seemed to enjoy investigating the snow from the porch and the kids at school very much enjoyed the opportunity to declare war on Mike after school.  The village doesn't get as much snow as many would expect with the average year bringing only 24 inches so we won't be needing snowshoes to get around.  Ice cleats, on the other hand, are a necessity.  The snow comes heavy and wet - perfect for snowmen and snowball fights -  and looks beautiful.  Then the sun comes out and it turns slushy only to freeze solid during the night to cover a very hilly terrain with a solid layer of ice.  Unfortunately our snow did not last long.  We were supposed to get quite a bit more on Thursday, but someone didn't get the memo so we got a whole lot of rain instead so I'm anxiously waiting for the next snow.  

Most of the snow has melted in the village
but Bede's not letting his go as easily.



Snow coming down Halloween morning
You can see how much light we have
at 7:00 in the morning - none.



Coversations with Jesus

We had a meeting to explain the Alaska Teacher Retirement system so we got a paid trip out of the village this weekend.  The workshop was very informational, the speakers were very good, and the subject was very depressing - Alaska teacher retirement may once have been number 1 in the United States but that is most definitely no longer the case.  Despite the unpleasant news, our trip was still very enjoyable.  We got to check out a couple new restaurants and add Fat Olives to our list of favorites.  Moose were along the roads everywhere munching away at the grass - I think we saw a total of 10 this weekend.  The trip also gave us a chance to get studded tires on our truck (and miss Missouri prices at the register) and not a moment too soon because we had our first snow this morning!!!!  Loving winter and snow as we do, this was a very exciting sight to wake up to.  How awesome is that - snow in October!!

The weather decided to bring excitement into our lives in a couple ways today, actually.  When we arrived at the airport in Homer they weren't sure if we would be able to fly back to Nanwalek because the winds were so strong.  There was a very slight reduction in wind speeds, however, so they decided to take us.  Now I always start each flight with a small conversation with Jesus which begins with "Please, God, don't let me die today."  but considering the increased risk with high winds, I had a much longer conversation than usual.  I  continued with, "Wait, I can't die today.  We don't have a will yet.  I knew we should have gotten one written out before we came to Alaska.  Why didn't I get that done?  I need to get that taken care of as soon as possible.  I wonder if they have a notary public in the village?  I wonder if they'll laugh at me if I ask if there's a notary public?"  And so the conversation continued.  I'll not lie and say the flight was smooth when it wasn't and I really did not enjoy the extra landing and take-off we had to make to drop off a guy in Seldovia, but we survived so I'll also not complain.  Our pilot did his job very well so I'll have another opportunity to start out a conversation with Jesus by saying "Please, God, don't let me die today."

We're Blown Away

I'm not speaking figuratively either.  The weather for the last several days has been rain, wind, rain, rain, and more rain followed by wind, wind, wind, wind, and maybe a little more wind.  We can't really get an accurate gauge of our wind gusts because all of the weather sites actually report Homer's weather instead of Nanwalek's so we're just giving it our best guess.  Since Mike enjoys storm spotting in his spare time, I'm sure he's pretty accurate with his estimate of 60/70 mile per hour gusts.  We came home from visiting friends to find our new "garage" - it's metal-framed and covered in a tarp material - missing in action.  After a little investigation we discovered it took a small 30 yard stroll to visit the creek behind our house.  Fortunately, a tree decided traveling wasn't safe in such bad weather and kept the shelter there until we returned.  After much wrestling with the shelter, the tree, and the still gusting wind, we were able to get the shelter repositioned and the Ranger happily parked out of the elements - and tied to the shelter.  I don't think it will be going anywhere again tonight, but I think a very serious conversation about the dangers of wandering around late at night may be necessary.

We were a little disappointed when we moved here to find out Nanwalek doesn't get thunderstorms, but tonight it's really very hard to tell the difference between the sound of real thunder and the sound of the wind gusts.  Back home such wind would send Mike out in the late hours to spot tornadoes and cut trees off of roads and houses.  I, on the other hand, would be moving my shoes from the bottom of my closet so that I could curl up in the floor under the bottom shelf and sleep comfortably knowing I was surrounded by 8 inches of concrete and several feet of earth.  I'm sure its an unusual approach to the situation, but that's where I would go if I knew a tornado was coming so it seems to make sense to just go ahead and get there and get a full night's rest.

First Kill Down



Snow!  How lucky are we to get to see this off
our front porch!



This weekend has been a mixture of work and play.  Since our professor discovered the button that adds us onto blackboard we are now able to begin the college course we enrolled in over a month ago and have been playing catch up this weekend.  It's been a bit time consuming, but the work isn't hard and the information is interesting so we won't complain.  The fact the course is also saving us $1000 helps us to see things positively as well.  First quarter has also finished so we are wrapping up the last grades before they are due tomorrow.  This is the point where I begin to question why I insist on giving writing assignments - it's like I teach Language Arts or something.  Ah, well.  Such is the price of living in such an amazing sample of God's creation.



Our last hint of a sunset - the sun is now
setting behind the mountain and
moves further south with each day.



Despite the work we were able to sneak a little bit of fun into the weekend.  We hiked up to Horseshoe Lake yesterday, but I didn't think to take my camera so I missed an opportunity for some amazing scenery photos.  The lake appears to have a grass sidewalk along the edge that one would assume is solid ground, but it sank a little with our footsteps and we could watch it move around us if we jumped on it.  What appears to be solid ground is actually the edge of the lake where the grasses are so thick they can be walked across.  We also snuck away today for a short excursion to the lakes and managed to bring home a couple spruce grouse for supper.  So we have our first Alaskan kill!  (fish apparently do not count)   We are looking forward to frying up some tasty tidbits - well, hoping they're tasty anyway.  We've never eaten grouse so we'll just have to hope we do not regret our afternoon's activities.

Rednecks

So, I never thought I would say this but I really miss rednecks!  We're not complaining about our location - it's beautiful and God has brought some wonderful people into our lives.  However, it's a very different culture, and we sometimes find ourselves longing for some good ol' boys from back home who understand farm analogies, say things like "Jeet yet?" and "Y'ant too?", and know what it is to go floatin'.  I often find myself explaining something I've said in class in further detail because the kids aren't familiar with the same type of country living we've experienced growing up in Missouri.  So we've come up with some things we miss (besides family and friends of course):

1. DEER SEASON!!!

2. 4 wheelers being for farm work and weekend fun

3. the river

4. living in a place where Mike can pee off the front porch

5. living around people who appreciate #4
6. pickin' and grinnin' (and singing too)

7. everyone showing up to family functions like Christmas & Thanksgiving wearing camo

8. camo being it's own "color"

9. cool breezes on hot, sticky summer nights

10.living in a place where my hair is considered brown (who knew you could go blond simply by moving to a new location?)

11.hearing words like "dagummit" and "dernit"
12.people who know the Second Amendment better than the First . . .

13. . . and people who think it's part of the First Amendment

14.oak trees (and maple, hickory, or anything else that branches outward and upward)

15.kids who associate acorns with fall (or even know what they are)

This is really the short list, but I'm sure everyone gets the idea by now.  We might be a little home sick.

Annual Basketball/Volleyball Tournament

Kids lining up to serve

This weekend Nanwalek held their annual Susan Tanape Basketball/Volleyball Tournament.  Mrs. Tanape was clearly very respected and loved by many in the community.  After she lost her battle with breast cancer her family began a foundation in her name to support children's activities in the village.  They begin the events on Thursday with a community banquet in the school gym.  Everything about the banquet was very nice, but to me the most touching part was a poem reading in their native language, Suq'stun.  I enjoyed the opportunity to see the community come together is such a beautiful way to remember one they cherished so dearly and continue on a cause she felt was so important.

It was clear from the number of teams in the tournament and the number of people who came to watch that this community really gets into sports.  The games begin on Friday and continue throughout the day Saturday.  As a reminder of their reason for gathering, the basketball used is pink for breast cancer and they use two volleyballs, one pink for breast cancer and one purple for domestic violence awareness.  Mike played both basketball and volleyball in the tournament and also did a little refereeing in between his games, but this coordinationally challenged girl sat out the games.  I still managed to get clocked in the head with a volleyball and barely dodged several basketballs.  In a small space, I am reminded quickly why I never played team sports (besides the total lack of hand-eye or any other coordination).  Simply put, my head is a ball magnet.