Bears!!



Pinks at the waterfall - there are a lot more than this now



The pink salmon are still coming in full force and the silvers are just starting to come so the creeks are full of salmon racing upstream.  The first salmon to arrive are now beginning to die off in the lakes and creek and the bears are beginning to make themselves visible as they continue to seek food to put on weight for the winter.  I finally got to see my first one a couple nights ago across the lagoon!  James (the school janitor and village store manager) and Mike have game cameras out at James' cabin looking for bears that they are checking every couple days.  Mike is beginning to get bear fever and is hoping for a chance at a large bear that keeps trying to get into a family's fish house just past the cabin.

Last night nearly everyone in the village could be seen on the road by the beach watching a rare event unfold.  A bear was on the reef - something no one has seen before.  They usually don't venture that far away from the lagoon on the ocean side of the village and there is only a small window of opportunity with low tide to even get on the reef.  We watched for quite a while as he piddled and wandered around on the reef.  I was concerned the tide would come back up and he would find himself trapped on the reef, but that apparently wasn't something to be concerned with.  Instead of following the reef back to the beach, he just walked into the water and swam back to land.  He had a bit of trouble swimming through a small section of kelp, but eventually made his was to land and took off around the corner - I'm assuming to hide his embarrassment from begging caught in such a predicament.

We also got a chance to taste our first seal!  It tastes like a cross between strong venison and strong fish.  It's a bit different in flavor but not at all bad.  We've also gotten to see a couple wolves and a coyote across the lagoon so the last couple days have been full of several exciting firsts for us.

Browning's Adventures

"Hi!  This is Browning and I get to write in the blog tonight.  Mommy and Daddy brought me to Alaska a month ago and I have had bunches of fun.  I wasn't very sure about it at first.  I don't know why humans every thought flight was a good idea for anything other than birds and insects. It is NOT fun!  Once I was safely on the ground as God intended puppies to be, Alaska turned out to be great.  I got to meet bunches of new puppy friends but mommy wouldn't let me play with very many of them.  I don't know why but every time we played tag she would pick me up and take me inside (in front of the other dogs, how embarrassing!).  I never once got a chance to be "it" and chase the other dogs back!  I got to meet a really nice family and now have a new uncle and grandparents.  James, Carol, and Christopher let me come visit them while mommy and daddy were out of town and it was awesome!  They are super nice and let me play with all their stuffed toys.  I even have my own food and water bowls at their house when I visit.

I got to do lots of helping while I was in Nanwalek too.  I helped redecorate in the house and found along the way that many items in the house were too hard and could be dangerous.  Luckily puppy teeth are great tools for softening such items and I devoted many hours to taking care of that problem.  Mommy and Daddy really should pay closer attention to their trash can because a lot of really good stuff accidentally gets thrown into it(I suspect the cat's behind this mischief).  I cannot tolerate waste and happily rescued those items from the garbage before it was too late.  Another very important responsibility all dogs have to their families is to protect them from danger.  I took this very seriously when mommy went running.  You never know what kind of dangers could be lurking in the grasses so I always investigated thoroughly to make sure my mommy was safe!  I found a serious safety concern around our house that required immediate attention.  There are many dogs who don't seem to understand that the area around my house is not theirs, and tried to claim it as their own.  I could not allow such activities to continue, but without a ready supply of purple boundary marker paint in the village I had to be a little more creative marking the boundaries.  Let's just say I got the job done.

I had so much fun in Alaska, but am glad to get back home.  My grandma picked me up at the airport (more time in those terrible machines!) and took me to some parks on the way home.  I missed my grandpa very much and Stupid and Sid were totally lost without me there to play with them.  I am looking forward to sniffing out some rabbits and squirrels and viciously protecting my mommy's yard from the deer.  Those flowers are mine to eat so they had better watch out!"

First day of school!

As I type this I can view the sun shining lazily through clouds and silhouetting mountains across the bay.  I listen to the sounds of the ocean - the seagull's squawk, the eagle's weaving unique melodies in the trees, waves crashing against the beach as each wave brings with it a small increase as the tide approaches it's peak for the evening.  A picture may be worth a thousand words, it cannot capture feelings and the sense of awe a scene inspires.  How blessed can a person feel?  I'm not sure if there is a limit to that feeling, but we feel very blessed indeed that God chose to weave an intricate tapestry with our lives and began preparing us for this journey long before we conceived it.


We have enjoyed Nanwalek immensely since arriving a little over a month ago, but play time is over - at least until the weekend - and school has begun!  As the day began I realized I had an entirely different group of challenges for the first day of school than I ever expected.  I expected more preps and recognized I would be challenged with new courses, but I never considered the simple differences the class rosters would create.  I am accustomed to teaching 1 course to 5 different groups of kids.  We now only have 2 groups of students.  As far as introductory activities go, what used to take 3 days can now easily be accomplished in 1 because I will see each group of students more during a single day.  This will allow for more opportunities to get to know my students individually, having less than 35 in a day verses the 100 typical of my career thus far.  So I find myself looking forward to this new classroom scenario, but trying to wrap my brain around it and rearrange my whole approach to planning.

Classrooms

I have to apologize for not posting lately.  With students coming next Tuesday we've practically lived in our classrooms for the last week.  Getting everything arranged and decorated the way we want has been time consuming.  We are very excited to see all the fantastic technology and supplies the school has.  We both have smart boards, smart slates, a smart document camera, and clickers - woot! woot! - and sat in some presentations showing great ways to use them in the classroom.  Teaching is going to feel like play time with all these nifty gadgets.

We also have our schedules for the year and are preparing lesson plans.

       Mrs. Crain                                                        Mr. Crain
1.  Ancient History 6-8                                          Biology 9-12
2. Reading 6-8                                                      Pre-Algebra & Algebra I
3. Language Arts 6-8                                            Geometry & Algebra II
4. Alaska History/Government 9-12                      Vocational Skills 9-12
5. Alaska History/Government 9-12                      Vocational Skills 9-12
6. Speech/Journalism 9-12                                    Math 6-8
7.Speech/Journalism 9-12                                     Science 6-8

All teachers have a prep period from 8:00 to 9:00 and the students come at 9:00 and go home at 3:30.  The school is also introducing the students to service projects this year so we are excited to be a part of encouraging the kids to help improve their community.

Pinks!

The red salmon have finished their run, but the pinks (or as the locals call them, humpies, for the large hump the males get on their backs) are here in full force.  They come in such large numbers the water seems to boil with fish.  One can follow the movements of groups by watching the ripples in the water above them and the air is filled with the sounds of the salmon as they break the water's surface because there are so many there isn't always enough room.  It is amazing and tragic to watch them fight and struggle to make it upstream to their spawning location.  Amazing to see their determination and surprising success, tragic because they will achieve their goal only to die when spawning is finished.  Their efforts to create life will end with the loss of their own.

 

Caviar



No one in the village will eat the pink salmon.  King salmon are considered top of the line followed by silvers and then reds.  If they catch a stray pink while the reds or silvers are running they just throw it back.  I suppose growing up with an abundance of salmon, they can tell the difference between the varieties and have the luxury of being choosy.  We, however, cannot tell the difference and eat them happily.  I was finally able to catch my first salmon yesterday, so I am very excited.    I also made my first successful batch of salmon caviar.  I tried a couple weeks ago but had trouble separating my first batch and ended up with nothing more to show for my efforts than little salmon egg yolks all over my hands.  Many in the village make caviar and the kids will bring the eggs in little baggies to school and eat them like candy.  I will not be ingesting them in quite the same fashion as they taste much like fish smells so I will be looking for recipes to find something a bit more tasty.

Babies!



 

Sunny in her new sleeping place -
my dresser



We have babies!!  Just so no one misunderstands, they are of a canine and feline nature.  We brought them home on our way back from the new staff orientation.  They had about as much of an adventure getting here as we did.  We could only find one airline that would transport pets if temperatures were above 85 degrees and being August in Missouri they got our business.  Unfortunately the only way that company could get them from St. Louis to Anchorage was going to New Jersey and Seattle first.  Needless to say they had a very long day and were a bit unhappy with us when we picked them up in Anchorage.  They were even less enthusiastic about the plane ride to Nanwalek.  The longer Browning spent in the plane the more his little beagle body shook.  All was forgiven as soon as we landed and both settled into their new surroundings very well, Browning perhaps a little too well.  He wants to explore everything, everyone, and every puppy.  Since most of his canine peers are much larger and could probably consider him an afternoon snack so we've not scheduled any play dates just yet. 

Details, details, details

We've spent the last two days in orientation for new members in the school district taking care of details.  We had the standard state mandated training for child abuse etc.  I was terribly nervous it would be the same, terrible video I've been forced to watch EVERY year (all you DHS staffers know what I'm talking about and I'm sure had to watch it yet again this week).  Instead we completed an online training module so no more creepy teacher on the motorcycle stories for me.  We spent the rest of the time making sure our small forest's worth of paperwork has been turned in, all the information in the system is correct, and that we are familiar with how everything works in the district.  Not super exciting stuff, but still very important and useful information. 

Had it been a total waste of time and terribly boring we wouldn't have complained too much.  It was a free trip out of the village that allowed us to take care of some personal business as well.  We took care of very important priorities and purchased a bear tag.  We are also now licensed drivers in the state of Alaska, (the tests are given on touch screen machines - super cool!), will hopefully have truck insurance tomorrow, and got a chance, check out supplies in Homer.  I'm sure we looked a bit strange going through the grocery store with a note pad taking notes.  I think one worker asked three times if we needed help with something.

John Denver again

So I've been humming John Denver again - and rewriting.  Instead of "Leaving, on a jet plane.  Don't know when I'll be back again"  it's "Leaving, in a small plane.  Hoping that I'll be back again."  Our scheduled flight was for 9:30 this morning, but it was too windy so the plane didn't make it until 11:30.  I'm not sure which made me more nervous, the windy conditions of the day, the dead plane they recently shipped out of the village that met it's demise due to wind, or the fact that the plane took off toward the mountains.  (Really?  That's the only way to take off?  Where there is NO room for error, you either make it or you fly into a wall of death!)  Whichever was the cause of my concern I was already fully in prayer before we ever left the ground.  "Please, God, don't let me die today.   .    .  or be seriously injured .    .    .  Well, okay, if you have to choose between one or the other, obviously I'll take the serious injury  .    .    .  Well, I don't know, I guess that depends on the seriousness of the injury.  Death might be better.  If you could avoid both, I would really appreciate it."

Once we survived the ascent and were safely in the air I began to examine the plane.  Our pilot was very professional and went through the standard instructions about seat belts and emergency exits before we took off, something I appreciated, but which also made me nervous.  Since he had pointed out the emergency exit, I thought it would be best to read the instructions posted before an actual emergency arose to ensure a speedy response.  After reading the instructions four or five times I decided it was hopeless.  If we go down in the ocean, I'll just drown.  They really should have pictures beside the instructions for those of us who learn visually.  I can't make sense of the exit door instructions when the flight is going well, there's no hope for me in the event of a real emergency.  I wonder if they would be willing to start practice drills?

Sunshine

I've been thinking of John Denver's song about sunshine a lot lately.  It seems to me it needed some tweaking and since I am, as some of you know, the next Weird Al, I've been tinkering with it to reflect the Alaskan experience.

"Sunshine in the morning makes me happy,

Sunshine at noontime makes me smile,

Sunshine in the evening is so lovely,

Sunshine at midnight makes me want to cry"

Okay, so the sun isn't still up at midnight.  It's setting at 10:30 right now, but it's still pretty light outside well into the night.  It's got our whole sleep cycle thrown off balance.  We are generally pretty much early birds rather than night owls so we usually go to bed at 9:00 (and I am not admitting to how many times I've gone to bed earlier than that).  With the sun being up so much longer than we're used to, we're going to bed at 11:00 or midnight and then sleeping late into the morning.  I'm sure in a few months I'll be missing the sun and attempting to make magic sunshines, but for now I'd just like my sleep schedule to go back to normal.

On the Reef



The reef





Bidarki, the row of shells
can be seen along their back

 We braved the tide and ventured out onto the reef today.  Low tide was more than three feet below sea level so we figured we were less likely to join the ranks of those who have been stranded and required rescue.  Being the super nerd that I am, investigating the life that can be found on the reef was a great deal of fun.  Mussels are everywhere as well as barnacles.  I've seen barnacles before, but they must not have been nearly as well fed as those that live on the reef.  They're much bigger here than what I've seen before.  We also got to see the famed bidarki everyone in the village keeps telling us we need to try eating.  I've always said I'll try anything once, but I'm rethinking that since seeing it.  The reef is home to another food favorite in the village, snails.  I might be willing to try them, but it seems like a lot of work for a small amount of food.  We also found a sea urchin and some spongy looking stuff growing over barnacles. 

 

Sea Urchin



Most of the really cool stuff can be found underneath larger rocks.  There can be found lots of centipede-like water insects (ick), little creatures that look much like baby eels (who knows, maybe they are baby eels), snails, several different types of little crabs, cute little snail like creatures they nickname "China caps" because the shells resemble their hats, and lots of small, six-legged starfish.  I'm not sure if it's a specific type of starfish, or just a mutated version that has become common, but every single baby starfish we saw had six evenly spaced and sized legs.  We are planning on making a return trip some time to collect some classroom mascots since we have a salt water aquarium in one of our shared classrooms.

  

Another mystery blob

 

Six legged baby starfish



   



Hermit Crab - he was much more shy
than the one's in the pet store



Crab trying to hide in seaweed