Newsflash!!!!!!!!!

It's September 29th and we have snow!!!!!!! (Not much but it is on the ground... probably only until the sun comes up.)

Saturday Beach bonfire

Saturday evening we hopped on the Hondas and headed to Stebbins. We met up with a bunch of the teachers over there and had a beach bonfire. Songs were sung, stories were told and we were able to do some bonding with our neighboring teachers. It was great fun. After leaving the beach, Patty and I joined the Stebbinites back to Terri and Linda's for games.

Patty and Jodi - the ornery duo

Linda, Ernie, Jeri, and Heidi (All Stebbins people)

Hanging around the bonfire.

More whale pics

Holy Barnables Batman
I found it quite interesting to watch the barnacles popping in and out.







Joe just had to check out the teeth of this great monster. You can see him in some of the other pictures... he is the Eskimo in the Pickford sweatshirt. ;)




This is a close-up of the baleen. I don't know what color the baleen actually is but it appears to be white. I've only seen black baleen so I'll have to check with Susie. I'll let you know what I find out.





Tonight SMK is having a dance. The Student Council is trying to raise money to attend a workshop in Valdez. They had a cupcake sale earlier in the week. They were great cupcakes - Thanks Betty! Tomorrow night the teachers from Stebbins and SMK are having a cookout. Praying the weather stays decent! We're heading over to Stebbins for a beach barbeque. Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

California Gray Whale gets lost in Alaska...

You know what happens when a California gray whale gets lost in Alaska? Damian Tom catches it in his net, that is what happens!

Here the guys are working on cutting the munduk (blubber) from the whale. The kids are all watching with much interest.

Once the munduk was cut from one side, they had to flip it over to get the other side. They cut holes in the whale's skin, tied ropes to it and then heaved until they were finally able to flip the great beast over.

Once they got it flipped over, they could begin to cut on the other side. Once the munduk was off, they began to cut the meat. I've not tasted the meat from a California gray whale yet, but Beluga meat is actually pretty good!

Susie and Damian Tom... the mighty netter! Damian makes his own nets and has had much success this year. I asked Susie if she had enough room in her freezer for this one. She smiled and shyly replied, "I don't think so."

Father and son out working on the whale. This is my eskimo brother in law Tony and his son Alex.
I love the way the village pulls together to work on the whale. Each person was invited to take whatever portion of the whale they could use. It really is something to experience!

Back from the beach...

Hello again! I am still alive and surviving in AK. I've been reminded that I haven't posted in awhile (thanks Nancy!). Well let's see what has been going on...

Mark left last Friday. It was great having him around. We did get the "garage" done and it is working pretty well. He was also able to get quite a few days of hunting in. I think he left a goose in the freezer. I have no idea what we are going to do with it but it's there.

Tuesday (12th) I left for Anchorage. I am going to be the BSSD Alternate Assessment Mentor so I needed to go get some training. Rebecca, our big boss, and I spent Tuesday - Friday in ANC. The training was great and the shopping was fantastic! I really haven't been in the bush long enough to really miss Walmart but nevertheless, it was good!

I am also taking another college class this semester, so that is going to keep me busy. I have a feeling this year is going to just fly by with the amount of activities I have going on. Here's a fine example: Today at 3:30, I am supposed to be meeting with Jeannie. I am also scheduled to be in a coach's meeting at 3:30 - AND - Patty and I have elementary basketball practice at 3:30. Not exactly sure where I am going to be... but my guess is that I will be in the gym with about 20 little tots.

My life here contines to be one adventure after another... until the next time...

Long weekend...

If you ever get the opportunity to go camping by the Bering Sea... DO IT!!!!
Sunday afternoon Joe and I headed out across the tundra, packed with sleeping bags, blankets, food, and a tent. We were going to do our beach camping!


After taking our sweet time crossing the tundra, we finally reached our future camp site. Joe got a fire going and we set up the tent.

It was so completely peaceful sitting and listening to the ocean waves rolling onto the beach. The heat from the fire helped keep us fairly toasty. (I knew I was going to be glad I had that -45 degree sleeping bag with me.)
It wasn't as cold as I had thought and I managed to get a great night sleep. The next morning I got up, went out to sit on the log with my Mountain Dew. I'd been out there about 5 minutes and I could see something out playing in the water. As I watched it came closer to shore and I could tell it was a porpoise. Joe finally crawled out of his slumber and joined me on the log. There were at least two porpoises out playing in the cove. It really was a fun display.

As we were climbing back up the beach to the tundra, I was suddenly shocked by the next sighting. Somewhere between 30-50 reindeer were standing there staring at us. I was a bit nervous, we were blocking their path to their water supply. We took time for a couple of quick pictures and then headed homeward. On the way, we met two other herds heading in the same direction. (All I can say is, "Thank God I was awake when they got thirsty. I am not so sure how I would have felt to have awaken to about 150 reindeer surrounding the tent.)
Solitude... it does a body good!!!

If you have a long weekend... take advantage!!!!!

Our visitor arrives...

Mark got here Friday evening and we immediately put him to work. Actually we did give him that evening off but the next day... he got right to work. Patty and I attempted (unsuccessfully) to build a garage last fall. We did have one really good wall, one the guys thought might actually be worth using. (It's the wall on the left.)



Patty, Mark, Joe, Ryan and I went out to show Mark the tundra. We went down by North beach and out to where Patty and I picked our berries.








You know, you really probably should never let a man do the driving! We were going to go fishing out by little canal, however, once we got the Honda "unstuck" we were running out of time! The video to this whole incident is much better than a still but it will have to do.





So we knew we weren't going to make it to little canal, we decided to throw in a few lines at Dredge Point. No success there either. We are going to have to find a few new spots to fish. Mark went out goose hunting with Smitty Saturday evening, again unsuccessful.

Another week gone by...

It's Friday morning. Time is going by so quickly... seems like I've said that a time or two before. We now have two weeks of school completed. The first couple of weeks went fairly smoothly. Of course, we had lots of little kinks to straighten out but for the most part, it went well. The kids are still having a hard time getting into the habit of going to bed early enough not to be really crabby in the morning. (I am getting there...) It's a hard thing to settle down and go home when it is still light out. It's only a matter of weeks and we will probably start losing our daylight.

Patty and I are having our first Michigan visitor today! Mark, Patty's husband, is flying in this afternoon. I personally can NOT wait until he gets here! He has called almost every morning before 7:00 and am looking rather forward to waking up to the sound of the alarm and not the phone. I am just excited to have someone from home actually experience all that we do on a daily basis. I am sure he will adjust fine and I know he will enjoy his visit to St. Michael! Sure we will have stories to tell and pictures to follow!

Last Saturday evening Danny and Victor speared a beluga whale. They took the meat they wanted and welcomed others to take what they could use. Our friends Drew and Candy were lucky enough to be down on the beach to score some meat. They called and invited Patty and I over to try munduk (whale blubber - also called muktuk) and black meat. I was a bit apprehensive but tried it all. The munduk wasn't too bad... although I really didn't seem to taste any coconut! It is eaten raw, however; some prefer to have it fried. We tried black meat from the whale, which wasn't too bad. It was fried and seasoned. Dad, you'd like it! Patty compared it to liver. Well I hate liver and really did like the black meat. It wasn't mushy like I remember liver to be. We also tried seal oil. Many natives use seal oil as a salad dressing or dip. We dipped our dried fish in it. (Let's just say I liked the raw whale fat better than seal oil.) Drew has some photos of that memorable occasion that I will post when I get them... until then, use your imagination.

Hope you all have a splendid weekend!