Such is Life!

My 31st year

2012-02-02T11:05:00.000-09:00

I completed 22 out of 31 goals on this years birthday list. That means that there were 9 things that I did not accomplish. This is not as good as some of the previous years. There were some things this year that I could have accomplished, but just didnt. I am going to roll those goals onto the next list along with some other new ideas. Next list will be out soon!!!

Number 17: Read at least 5 more books from this list

2012-02-01T22:41:00.002-09:00

One more thing to cross off the birthday list before moving on to the next year...

1984 by George Orwell

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Les Miserable by Victor Hugo

Some I read in print and listened to some on my ipod. I'm loving listening to some of them on the ipod because i can put it on and listen to it while I'm cooking in the kitchen. And sometimes I spend all day in the kitchen on the weekends which means i listen alot. And it frees up some of my "reading time" for reading other print materials. Win/win.

Number 26: Go completely vegan for a week

2012-01-08T19:26:00.000-09:00

Over the course of the last few years, I have incorporated alot more vegetables in my diet. I have continued to eat meatless at lest one or two days a week after I made "Meatless Monday" one of my birthday list goals a few years ago. The difference between vegetarian and vegas is subtle, but huge at the same time. Essentially, vegetarians dont eat meat (with some varying opinions on eggs and fish), but vegans dont eat any animal products at all. At first thought, that doesnt seem like a big difference, but in practice it is much different. No animal products means no animal lard/fat, no cheese, no eggs, no diary at all. Some vegans even go as far as to not use animal animal products like silk or leather for clothes either!

This ended up being much more difficult that I had envisioned only because so many processed foods include milk, cheese, or eggs even in small amounts. I did three days, then skipped a day because holiday food and that last day of school celebration tempted me, then I did three more days and made up the skipped day later on. In the end, I really dont have any desire to become vegan (or even vegetarian for that matter), but I wanted to give it a try. And now my vegas days are over :)

Number 25: Make all my yogurt, jam, and bread from scratch

2012-01-07T19:11:00.000-09:00

I havent bought a jar of jam from the store for nearly 2 years. Or loaf of bread for well over a year now. Yogurt...I may have bought a few here and there especially in the summer when I wasnt home or while travelling, but when I'm at home I'm making in all myself from scratch. My jam has been a big hit for myself and also for my friends, especially the flavors that use tundra berries that I've gathered myself in the fall every year. I've been experimenting with yogurt flavors and have found that I really like adding honey and peach. Or just making it plain and mixing in some tundra berry jam when I'm eating it. The bread making has been a much longer, more complex process. I've been making sourdough bread about once a week for over a year. My bread making skills have improved with practice, a new oven, and better bakeware. I've expanded out to try bagels, cornbread, cakes, pastries...all with sourdough. I think I'll be a sourdough baker forever now. It's become a part of my life and I like it!

Number 22: Complete a 30 day challenge on EA active

2012-01-06T19:01:00.000-09:00

Back in 2008 after I had first bought my Wii, I used this game along with some other methods to lose about 30 pounds. I never did finish the 30 day challenge though. Over the last couple of years, I've wanted to buy new workout games for the Wii, but I've always talked myself out of it based on the fact that I had never really "fully" played the ones that I already had. So this September, I buckled down to lose some more weight and complete the 30 day challenge. I got to day 18 before I decided that this game is just not for me. I could have finished the challenge, but I didnt because I dont like this game anymore now that my physical fitness has increased and I've been working out more during the last couple of years. The game is just too slow. I get frustrated with it because I dont want to wait in between exercises...I just want to DO IT. I'm crossing it off as complete anyway because I decided that I dont want to do the 30 day challenge. Not because I cant.

Number 30: Play frisbee golf at a course I've never played at

2012-01-05T18:54:00.000-09:00

This summer I looked all over for frisbee golf courses close to the places where I was visiting/travelling. I did find several, but never got a chance to play any of them because I was always so busy with friends or sometimes because it was sooooo dang hot! Finally on the second to last day of summer vacation, I made it a priority to go play a course that was down the street in Highland, Indiana. Avery, Adam, and I went to go check it out. We loaded up and got over there to find that the course did not have any baskets. The tees were marked and you where supposed to just "land" the frisbee at a certain spot sometimes near a post or a tree or some other random marker. We played a few holes, but we never really knew if we were following the course correctly or aiming at the right thing. After about 3-4 "holes", we called it quits and went to get a slurpee :)

Number 8: Fix my IRA and other retirement accounts

2012-01-04T18:42:00.003-09:00

After the "powers that be" decided to start screwing over teachers in Ohio, I decided to get my retirement money from my first few years of teaching outta there. I opened an IRA, set up a monthly contribution, and rolled all my Ohio money into it. I also adjusted some of the beneficiaries on some of my retirement and life insurance policies in addition to updating my will. It's a difficult thing to figure out what to do with your money when you dont like your closest relatives...when your extended family doesnt need it...and when your friends really are your family. Well, it's all set up one way or another. What difference does it make to me? I'll be dead. Do I really care about what happens to my money after I die? Yes and no.

Number 27: Reduce my credit card debt by half

2012-01-03T14:40:00.000-09:00

It's too embarrassing to tell you how much credit card debt I had at the beginning of the year, but let's just say that it was equivalent to about 50% of my yearly income. In order to pay off half of it throughout the year, I would need to pay well over a $1000 per month and stop using my credit cards completely. The $1000 per month was easy because I already had scheduled monthly payments of $500 on autopay for both cards. It was the not using the cards that was the killer. It is really unrealistic to say that I'm not going to use my credit card, because of where I live. Much of my shopping is done online and I use my Alaska Air credit card for just about everything so that I can accumulate milage points for free flights later.

Anyhow...with my scheduled $1000 per month, plus about other 400-500 a month extra to cover my monthly spending, a few thousand from my tax refund, another couple thousand from my pfd checks, and the use of some of my savings...I was able to pay down my credit card debt by nearly 60%!!!

Number 14: Buy an exercise trampoline and kettle bell weights

2012-01-02T18:09:00.000-09:00

Earlier this year, I was going strong with a workout routine and had at one point lost about 20 pounds. During that time I had bought this adjustable kettle bell weight. I worked out with it a few times, but never got in the habit of using it. I made a deal with myself that I would wait until I hit a certain weight loss target before I bought a trampoline. I got within three pounds of that goal and then summer came. With summer comes travelling and friends and food and messed up routines. I have gained back most of what I had lost last year, but I'm back on the bandwagon starting tomorrow :) I'll still be working toward that trampoline, but for now the kettlebell will have to be enough.

Number 2: Take an exercise class

2012-01-01T17:54:00.003-09:00

Here in Bethel, my friends and I have been doing a Bethel Biggest Loser challenge for the last year and a half. As part of our BL activities, we've had "last chance workouts" every sunday. This fall, I didnt attend workouts very often, but back in the spring, I pretty much went to every workout. These workouts are not a class, but more of a group. Group or class...whatever...I did it every week and took it seriously from Jan-May, so I'm counting it for my list.

... Public information statement...

2011-11-07T18:21:00.000-09:00

A rapidly developing storm located about 600 miles southwest
of Shemya this afternoon will intensify into one of the
most severe Bering Sea storms on record as it moves northward
across the chukotsk peninsula Tuesday night. This storm
has the potential to produce widespread damage.

The storm will produce widespread winds of 40 to 55 mph
with higher gusts over the West Coast Tuesday night into
Wednesday evening. Strong west winds are expected to continue
over St Lawrence Island Wednesday night. Gusts to 70 mph can be
expected along the chukotsk peninsula and in areas near Kotzebue.
Winds of 60 to 75 mph are expected over St Lawrence Island and
the Bering Strait coast. Winds are expected to approach hurricane
force over the Chukchi Sea and northern Bering Sea. The strong
winds will generate seas to as high as 20 feet over the Chukchi
Sea... and to 15 to 25 feet over the northern Bering Sea.

The strong winds will push large amounts of water into Norton
Sound... raising sea levels to as high as 8 to 9 feet above normal
Tuesday night through Wednesday night. The high sea levels
combined with high waves will produce severe beach erosion and
major coastal flooding along the northern and Eastern Shores of
Norton Sound and along the Bering Strait coast. High water
levels will produce coastal flooding along the southern
shore of Norton Sound. Strong winds and wave action may push
ice in Norton Bay on shore.

Moderately elevated sea levels and high waves will cause
severe beach erosion and major coastal flooding along the
south and west facing coasts of St Lawrence Island Tuesday
through Wednesday night.

Along the Chukchi Sea coast from Cape Krusenstern northwest...
southeast winds gusting to a high as 70 mph will produce high
waves and some elevation of sea levels... resulting in severe
beach erosion and major coastal flooding. The Village of
Kivalina will be highly vulnerable to damage caused by
beach erosion and coastal flooding.

The storm will also produce significant snowfall and blizzard
conditions over almost all of the West Coast Tuesday night
and Wednesday. Snowfall amounts of as much as 14 inches
are expected along the southern Seward Peninsula coast and
in parts of the interior Seward Peninsula.

Again... this is an extremely dangerous and life threatening
storm which will be one of the worst on record over the Bering
Sea and the West Coast.

Number 11: Collect 5 new sand samples

2011-09-12T21:38:00.002-08:00

I spent quite a bit of time on Lake Erie and Lake Michigan this summer. I collected 3 sand samples from our trip to the sand dunes at Silverlake. I collected 1 sand sample from near Montegue, MI when a few of us Alaskan teachers met up in Michigan. I collected 2 sand samples from Lake Erie.

The sand in the front right was collected by my friend Angie on her trip to Australia the summer. Usually my rule is that I only collect sand from places I've actually been, but I couldnt turn down the bright red sand that she was thoughtful enough to bring back for me. I looks like paprika :)

Number 13: Visit a National Park or World Heritage Site

2011-09-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

It just so happens that Christy lives in the heart of the Smokey Mountains, which is not only a National Park, but also a World Heritage Site! So, I guess I did both of these things all in one shot.

Christy and I hiked a small portion of the Appalachian Trail in the rain. It was a pretty strong electrical storm with thunder that roared. It felt like we were right up there with the thunder and lightening. It was a big scary for a few minutes!!!

Seems like my kinda place.

Number 12: Visit a friend I havent seen for over a year

2011-09-10T20:03:00.001-08:00

Oh, my dear friend, Christy...

Christy moved from Bethel to North Carolina about three years ago (has it really been that long?) I finally made it to NC to see her this summer and what an amazing time we had!

I really spent a great deal of my time at Christy's laying in the hammock, reading, and enjoying the view. And what a splendid view it was!!!

Christy's garden was producing enough zucchini to allow us to throw some on the grill nearly every night. We had delicious meals off of the grill and it was wonderful.

The neighborhood was so amazing and Fontana Lake across the street was beautiful. I've decided that this is the place that I want to buy a house near Christy.

It's like paradise up in those Smokey Mountains and I want my piece of paradise. Not to mention...I hear the neighbors are nice :)

Number 29: Be able to run or bike a half marathon

2011-09-09T19:03:00.002-08:00

After only a few days in Indiana this summer, I discovered that Kassia owns a really nice bike. I decided to take it for a ride and got a little too far from home one night with Adam.

This little adventure led to the discovery of a bike trail. Further online research told me that this bike trail was about 12 miles one way from Highland, IN to Crown Pointe, IN. A couple mornings later, I got up early and made it my mission to ride the trail.

Here I am hot and sweaty in Crown Point. The trail was amazing and the ride was refreshing. It took about 50 minutes each way and I ended up back home before noon. And since the trail was 12 miles long, I actually almost did a whole marathon rather than a half. I know there's no marathon for bikes, but I'm happy with my accomplishment nonetheless.

I even saw a turtle crossing the bike trail. Good times.

Number 19: Clean up a section of town

2011-08-14T21:33:00.003-08:00

In the spring, when the snow melts in Bethel and reveals all the trash underneath, we have a community Clean up, Green up. Every year, I tell myself to go out and clean a section of town, but somehow all of the responsibilities of wrapping up the end of the school year get in the way of that plan. This year, I finally did it! A couple of friends and I cleaned up the path that we like to walk on along the river. We got one big bag full of garbage off of the beautiful path.

Number 18: Try ear candles

2011-04-20T12:54:00.002-08:00

Thanks to a little help from my friend, Erin, I finally tried ear candles. It was kind of a cool sensation, but really didnt do much as far as cleaning out ear wax. I had never heard of ear candles until about a year ago when Erin mentioned them during a spa night that we were prepping for. I said I would pick some up in Anchorage next time I went to town, but I could never find any until this year during spring break. I went to a store in Anchorage called Natural Pantry. I picked up a box of 12 and have several left, so if you want to give them a try, just let me know.

The huge flaming end piece did burn the bottom of my shower. Ooops. Next time I'll put some water in the bottom of the tub. We had to fan the smoke alarm in the apartment the whole time we were doing this. Good thing there were lots of people over to help :)

One more checked off the list.

2011 Ice Classic

2011-04-10T11:47:00.002-08:00

I bought my tickets for the Kuskokwim Ice Classic yesterday. It has been really warm lately (although we're back down to zero today) and I think that the river is going to break early this year, so here are the dates that I choose...

May 2nd 1:01 pm

May 4th 11:06pm

May 5th 2:47am

May 6th 9:42 am

May 10th 4:11pm

To learn more about what the Ice Classic is all about, you can read my posts from 2008 here, 2009 here, and 2010 here.

Number 23: Seriously look into (and possibly buy) a timeshare

2011-04-07T10:21:00.003-08:00

For a long time, I have liked the idea of having a timeshare. I have been considering buying one for many years. I liked the idea of having a place to go on vacation once a year. I liked the idea of paying about the same amount for a resort that I would pay for a cheapo hotel. I liked the idea of having the timeshare to give as a gift. I liked the idea of travelling all over the world and always having a place to stay. I liked the idea of letting Avery using it. I liked the idea of owning my vacation and passing it on to my kids.

After some research into timeshares, I discovered that that's just it...I LIKED THE IDEA.

Once I got into the research, I discovered that the cost is not really worth it for me. First there's the cost of buying it, then there are the yearly maintenance fees that run around $1000 per year for the type of timeshare I was interested in. Some of them you couldnt even use every year, but you still had to pay the fees. Also, most timeshares lock you in to a specific week of the year and I dont want to be locked into vacationing the same week every year. I found out that it is difficult and a process to "share" your place with someone else. So that if I wanted to travel to some other timeshare for a week instead of going to mine, I would have to find someone who would trade there place with mine during the same week. Some timeshares made this a long drawn out ordeal, some just made it more expensive. I also found out that you generally dont own a timeshare indefinitely, you only own it for a certain number of years.

In the long run, I think it is better for me to do my travelling on my own time and under my own guidelines. I think a timeshare would be great for people who want to travel to the same spot for the same week every year, like a tradition type of thing, but that's not for me. I want to do things my way. So after some long thought, I decided that a timeshare is NOT for me. Which is kind of a bummer, because I really liked the idea of it. I almost feel like I've killed one of my own dreams.

Number 15: Find a good sourdough cookbook and try at least 5 recipes

2011-04-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

I finally bought this book after weeks of holding my friend and neighbor's book hostage. I also bought a second book and have made several of the recipes out of it, but we'll focus on this one. Last time I was in Anchorage, I picked up about 7 different kinds of flours so that I could try my hand at baking various types of bread.

Here are the recipes that I have made out of this book so far...

Caraway Rye Bread

Cheese Onion Bread

Cinnamon Raisin Nut Bread

Cranberry Nut Sourdough

French Bread 1

Herb Bread (white and rye)

Oatmeal Bread

Seven Grain Cereal Sourdough

Rosemary Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

English Muffins

Yukon Flapjacks

I have been baking all of my own bread for several months now. I cant even remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread, but it was probably before Christmas. I've been getting better at it and I generally bake about 4 loaves per week. In fact, there are two loaves of French Bread in the oven now. I think the next one to try will be the Malt Beer Bread. Oh yes, I said Malt Beer Bread. Or maybe the Sunflower Bread or the Banana Batter Bread.

Numbers 9 and 21

2011-04-05T10:13:00.006-08:00

This past weekend, on April 2nd, there was a 9K Human Powered Race that was hosted by a teacher in the village of Kasigluk. Participants could run, walk, ski, snowshoe, bike, or basically complete the race anyway they wanted as long as their mode of completion was powered only by them. I choose to walk/jog (waog). In the end, I think I walked about half and jogged about half. The race was alot of fun and the turnout was great with about 20 or so people showing up. The race gave those of us in Bethel an excuse to go out to visit some of the other villages. We left from Bethel on Saturday morning and arrived in Kasigluk at around 1pm.

After the long ride to Kasigluk, one of the first things that I needed to do was use the restroom. The race host, Kyle, lives in a housing unit in Kasigluk that has an incineration toilet. I finally got to use one. This was a strange treat...something that not many people can say that they've done. The incineration toilet is a step up from the honeybucket that villages used for a long time. The honeybucket was just a bucket that people did their business in and then had to take out an dump in a designated area when it was full. The incineration toilet is a toilet that burns the waste right there in the bottom of the toilet. It is interesting and shocking to some people that there still are places in the U.S. that still dont have running water. Something to think about and appreciate next time you are feeling like life is dealing you a bad hand.

The 9K that we raced was a triangle between three villages that are close together. The race started in Kasigluk-Akula, then went to Nunapichuk, then to Kasigluk-Akiuk, then back to Kasigluk-Akula. The picture above shows the first leg of the race to Nunapichuk. On the way to Nunap, the wind was in our faces and it was strong. I walked alot during this first section.

The picture above shows the second leg of the race to Kasigluk-Akiuk. During this part of the race, the wind was at my back so I ran alot more and made pretty good time. The trail was clearly marked with pieces of bushes. We just followed the bushes most of the way. Below shows the third leg of the race to Kasigluk-Akula. The village is split into two sides because the original village (the Akiuk side) is sinking. People started moving their homes to higher ground on the other side of the river (the Akula side) because they were worried about the sinking. Later they discovered that it was not sinking as fast as they originally anticipated so the movement to the other side of the river slowed down. Eventually all Kasigluk residents will need to move over to the Akula side, but for now the village is divided.

We had the intention of camping out on the tundra after the race, but as you can see in the last two pictures, the wind continued to pick up and eventually was had an all out winter blizzard on our hands. Some other friends from Bethel tried once to head back to Bethel, but turned around and decided to wait out the storm. They ended up leaving a few hours later. We ended up spending the night on the Akiuk side at a fellow teachers house. We had a huge dinner with lots of food and lots of good company. It was a fun weekend and I feel great about waoging that 9K. My foot barely hurt at all the next day! It's so good to finally be healed.

Number 31: Try cross country skiing

2011-03-20T01:47:00.002-08:00

On Thursday, I tried cross country skiing for the first time ever. It was a perfect day for outdoor activity, although the snow was a little more crusty than I think would be preferable for skiing. My friends, Chris and Erin, took me out and lent me a pair of skis. They were patient with teaching me the ropes and watching me fall down.

The sun was shining brightly in the clear, crisp sky. It was about 20 degrees, which is a nice temp for a spring day here in Alaska. Because the sun is up now until about 9pm, we have many hours after work to go out and enjoy the day. It the picture above you can see the evening jet in the distance coming in for a landing over Bethel.

Then some more friends lent me skis and took me out for a night ski. It was a really great time. The original plan was for moonlit skiing under the super full moon that was happening this month, but the sky was overcast so we skied by headlamp instead. There were 7 people and two dogs along for the ride. I only fell down once this time, but earned myself some pretty intense blisters from the boots that I borrowed. I'm still debating whether I like cross country skiing enough to invest in the equipment. It's definitely a nice way to get out and get in some exercise. Number 31 on the birthday list is done.

Numbers 1,8,9,12,14,15,18,21,23,25,27, and 29 are all in progress as we speak.

Number 5: Update my photo albums

2011-03-20T01:29:00.002-08:00

Since 1999, I have kept a photo album for every year. It used to be really easy back in the days of film. I would get a roll of film developed in 4X6 glossy and slide the pictures in order into a photo album. This way my photos were always accessible and organized. Since I've gotten a digital camera, this task has gotten more difficult. Now I have to sort through all my photos, upload them to a photo printing site (I use Snapfish), then have them printed and shipped. The last time that I had taken the time to have any of my photos printed was the summer of 2009.

I've been working on sorting the photos and uploading for a couple of months, but really wanted to wait until I could finish 2010 before I placed the order. The shipping costs are the about a third of the cost so I figure I might as well just ship as many at once as possible. I ended up printing about 900 photos for about $85, plus shipping which was another $35 or so. I had the second half of 2009 to finish and all of 2010. I also printed many extra photos to share with other people, put in frames, or add to Avery's school memories book. As of now, the photo albums are caught up, but of course they're still 2011 to get around to.

Number 16: Cook Paella from Scratch

2011-03-16T00:17:00.003-08:00

paella |päˈāyä; pəˈelə|

noun

a Spanish dish of rice, saffron, chicken, seafood, etc., cooked and served in a large shallow pan.

Each region of Spain has their own unique version of paella. When I lived in Spain during the summer of 2002, I lived in the Valencia region and paella was one of my favorite foods. It is cooked in a huge pan and meant to feed many people. So when I decided to try my hand at cooking paella, I knew I wanted to try to find a recipe similar to the paella that I knew and loved from the Valencia region of Spain. Paella requires some very specific ingredients, so I made a list and went shopping while I was in Anchorage over spring break. Since the clams were live, I had to cook the paella the very next day to prevent them from dying. So I spend a Sunday cooking up paella and halibut tacos, then invited some friends over to enjoy the feast. The paella turned out great and tasted just like I remember it. I just cooked it in the oven, but other than that, I pretty much followed the recipe. The most difficult thing to buy for making the dish was actually the paella pan itself. Now that I have it, I can cook it up whenever I want as long as I can get my hands on the ingredients. Here's the recipe and here's to crossing number 16 of the new birthday list...

Seafood Paella

Seafood Paella is probably the most famous and popular Spanish dish around the world. It originates in Valencia, a region on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, between Barcelona and Murcia that is known for its rice dishes. There are as many versions of paella as there are cooks in Spain!

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Total Time: 105 minutes

Ingredients:

· 1 yellow onion, diced

· 2 medium tomatoes, diced

· 1 whole chicken or 8 chicken drumsticks

· 1 1/2 lbs pork loin (fat trimmed), cut into ¾ inch pieces

· 1/2 lb calamar (squid) cleaned and sliced into rings

· Medium grain or "pearl" rice *

· 4-6 cups chicken broth

· 1 large pinch Saffron

· 1 1/2 lbs raw mussels in shell (frozen or fresh)

· 1 lb small clams (frozen or fresh)

· 1 1/2 lbs raw shrimp, medium or large - shell on

· 1 red pepper seeded and sliced

· 1 10 oz. pkg frozen peas

· Olive Oil, Salt to Taste

Preparation:

* The exact quantity of rice will depend on the size of the pan, so have at least 1 lb of rice on hand.

If you prefer to use a step-by-step recipe with photos, Seafood Paella Step-by-Step Recipe.

This seafood paella recipe makes approximately 12 servings.

Before you start preparing paella, it's best to check you have all ingredients and gather the equipment that you'll need.

· 17 inch (144cm) paella pan

· Round charcoal BBQ

· Medium sauce pan

· Sharp knife for chopping meat and vegetables

· Meat cleaver (if you use a whole chicken)

· Aluminum Foil or Large Tea Towel to Cover Paella

Cut the Chicken and Pork into Serving-Size Pieces - You'll need one whole chicken, cut into serving-size pieces or 8 chicken drumsticks. If you use a whole chicken, use a meat cleaver to cut the chicken into pieces small enough to easily mix while sautéing.

With a sharp knife, cut the pork into 3/4" pieces.

Clean the squid and remove the tentacles. Make sure to remove the innards and the "spine" and discard. Then, cut the squid into rings.

Tip: Try to buy fresh squid whenever possible. If fresh squid is not available, look for packages of squid in the frozen food section. The squid should NOT have batter or coating on them, since that type is used for frying.

Slice red pepper and chop onions and tomatoes, set aside.

Now that you have the ingredients cleaned and chopped, it's time to start the BBQ and begin cooking. When the coals on the BBQ are covered in white ash, cooking can begin.

Assemble all the ingredients on a table near the BBQ, so that you can stay in the area and monitor the cooking.

Place the paella pan on the grate and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom and allow the pan to heat up. When hot enough, sauté the onions and tomatoes in the olive oil. Add olive oil as needed to prevent sticking. Once the onions are translucent, add the chicken and cook, stirring constantly – about 15 minutes. Add pork and squid and cook, stirring often.

Add the rice, sprinkling in the form of a large cross on the pan. (Have approximately 1 lb of rice on hand for this.) Stir for 2-3 minutes to thoroughly coat the rice with oil and mix with the other ingredients.

Add saffron threads to the chicken broth and stir. Slowly pour broth into pan until pan contents are covered. Spread ingredients evenly over bottom of pan.

Arrange mussels around outside edge of pan, pointing up. Place clams and shrimp in pan, distributing them evenly around the pan. Add slices of pepper on top.

Allow to simmer, cooking rice. Add more broth if necessary. (If fire becomes too hot, raise the pan up, away from the heat.) When rice is almost cooked, sprinkle peas over the pan.

When rice is cooked, remove from heat and cover with aluminum foil or large tea towel, allowing paella to “rest” for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Slice lemons into wedges and serve.

[blockquote shade=grur]Guide's Response to User Reviews
The exact quantity of rice depends on the pan and number of people you are serving, so it is best to be prepared and have at least 1 lb of rice on hand.

Lisa & Tony Sierra, Your Guides to Spanish Food

31 things to do before I turn 32

2011-02-04T02:44:00.020-09:00

Another year, another list. I love writing lists. Seven of these are roll overs from last years list. The rest are new.

Lose 30 pounds
~~Take an exercise class~~
Finish reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species
Volunteer at the local senior center
~~Update my photo albums~~
Attend a city council meeting
Finish at least one Rubicon curriculum map
~~Fix my IRA and other retirement accounts~~
~~Go on an overnight snowmachine trip~~
Visit the southern hemisphere or go on a cruise
~~Collect 5 new sand samples~~
~~Visit a friend that I havent seen for over a year~~
~~Visit a national park or a world heritage site~~
~~Buy an exercise trampoline and kettle bell weights~~
~~Find a good sourdough cookbook and try at least 5 recipes~~
~~Cook paella from scratch~~
~~Read at least 5 more books from this list~~
~~Try ear candles~~
~~Clean up a section of town~~
Finish reading the bible or listen to an audio version
~~Snowmachine to a village that I havent been to yet~~
~~Complete a 30 day challenge on EA Active~~
~~Seriously look into (and possibly buy) a timeshare~~
Publish my book
~~Make all my yogurt, jam, and (most of) my bread from scratch~~
~~Go completely vegan for a week~~
~~Reduce my credit card debt by half~~
Take a steam
~~Be able to run or bike a half marathon~~
~~Play frisbee golf at a course I've never played at~~
~~Try cross country skiing~~

21 done, 9 to go

2011-02-02T22:04:00.002-09:00

Since my birthday is tomorrow, I took the opportunity today to cross number 29 off the Birthday List. Avery took me pull-boarding for my birthday.

Pull boarding is where you get pulled around by a snowmachine while riding a snow board. We had a fun time and I only fell a couple of times. Avery is pretty good at it because he does it all the time with his friends.

It was nice to spend some time doing something fun with Avery.

Christmas in Paris: 20 done, 10 to go

2011-01-31T22:01:00.000-09:00

The view out of our hotel room the first night. It was Christmas Eve and the snow was swirling all around us.

We drove up to the north of France on Christmas day and stayed two night in a castle in Sedan. The next day we drove over to Belgium just because we were so close. We bought lots of chocolate, ate mussles, and walked around the quaint little town.

This was our castle.

Notre Dame in Reims was surprisingly more grand and impressive than Notre Dame in Paris. But it was very cold inside so we did not stay long as my gma couldnt handle the cold.

The hall down the side of the church.

Some of the stained glass had a very modern feel to it.

Nan and I under the rose window. She was cold.

Denette and I walking down the streets of Paris with our baguette just like all the other French people.

The Garnier Opera house in Paris. We saw the bartered bride.

The artwork on the ceiling of the opera house.

The hall of mirrors at Versailles.

The outside gate of Versailles after the lights came on.

Napoleon's apartments at the Louvre museum.

The glass pyramid entrance at the Louvre.

Nan and I with the Venus de Milo.

The street that our apartment in Paris was on.

Statue on top of the opera house.

Rose window on the front the Notre Dame in Paris.

The rose window from the inside.

The Eiffel Tower between two lamp posts. I feel in love with all the lamp posts.

Sun shining through the tower.

The back of Notre Dame in Paris.

Nan and I in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Ornate bridge.

Christmas lights in front of the mall.

Nan being serenaded by an accordion player.

City hall.

Notre Dame of Paris at night.

A beautiful stroll by the river Siene.

The river was flooded due to the snow so I couldnt walk down next to it.

The city streets all decorated for the holidays.

The arch at the end of our street.

The street we lived on.

The Arch De Triomphe.

View of the Effiel Tower from the Arch.

News stand.

Sacre Coure.

The gargoyles.

Inside Sacre Coure.

Entrance to the metro, which I learned how to use pretty effectively.

Notre Dame and the city by night.

Number 1 on the birthday list is done...vacation in another country. Christmas in Paris, what more can a girl ask for?

19 done, 11 to go

2011-01-26T21:26:00.003-09:00

Avery and I started reading the Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman about a year ago. We read the first book, The Golden Compas, last spring. Then read the second book, The Subtle Knife, in the fall. We started the first few chapters of the third book, The Amber Spyglass, before Christmas break, but it was like pulling teeth. Really. Avery has grown out of reading aloud together. Being a teenager, he provides me with plenty of opportunities for battling, but reading is not a battle that I'm willing to fight. He does plenty of his own reading without me needing to drag him into a reading situation that makes him dislike reading. So, I have chosen not to fight the 'read aloud' battle and have waved my white flag. I am going to finish reading the last book on my own because it is a good series and definitely worth finishing. Since we did, in fact, read most of the series together and I am going to finish it on my own, I am counting Number 21 on the birthday list complete.

18 done, 12 to go

2011-01-25T21:41:00.002-09:00

It's my birthday list so I'll count it if I want to, count it if I want to, count it if I want to...

Number 7 on the Birthday list is to take a family photo. I didnt get around to taking an official family photo (which would have been of just Avery and I because he's really my only immediate family), but I did take this picture the other day. I like it so much that I am going to put it in a frame after all. I love, love, love this pic, so I'm totally counting it as being our family photo and I'm crossing Number 7 off the list.

17 done, 13 to go

2011-01-19T20:56:00.002-09:00

My birthday is coming soon so I have to try and wrap this list up in only 2 weeks. I have a feeling there might be quite a few carry overs onto next year's list. Oh well.

For now, number 22 on the birthday list is complete: Ban (almost) all Christmas spending. I really did not BUY anyone (except Avery) a single Christmas gift this year. I did send out some Alaska Bird calendars as gifts to some people, but those were free :) I didnt even send Christmas cards. I know that some of you might be thinking "Ba humbug", but really it is about time I banned Christmas spending. It was getting out of hand. I would much rather go somewhere (Paris) and do something (ok, lots of things) and enjoy the company of the people I love (gma), than spend a bunch of money on stuff. So, this year instead of spending a bunch of money on Christmas stuff, I took my grandmother to Paris instead. Post to follow soon, because that was number 1 on the list.

Merry (belated) Christmas everyone. I hope you got to spend yours with the people that you love rather than the stuff that you got. Joyeux Noel!

16 done, 14 to go

2011-01-13T21:24:00.002-09:00

On my way back to Alaska this year, I brought home some of my stuff from Ohio. Number 14: Ship more of my belongings from Ohio to Alaska is complete. I brought a couple suitcases and a box filled with the important stuff. So, what made the cut?

All of my purses (about 10)
My cordless drill
My good camera
Champagne flutes
Wine goblets
Another coat

Yes...Important stuff.

BBC Book List

2010-12-05T15:28:00.006-09:00

Book List...this is from facebook.

But I thought I would post it here and it will end up in my notes that way.

"Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. BOLD those books you've read in their entirety, ITALICIZE the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds."

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Divine Comedy - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Looks like I've read 20. I've got several more on my bookshelf just waiting for me to have some free time. Maybe I can keep track of how many I read on here.

Maybe we'll get some snow outta this...

2010-12-02T07:49:00.003-09:00

This doesnt look good for our Robotics competition. If the village teams cant make it in, our competition will be postponed. At least then I'd be able to watch Avery wrestle. Oh wait, the wrestling tournament will be cancelled too if the teams can't make it in. Maybe I'll just have a weekend filled with relaxing and riding the snowmachine through. That sounds ok. But first, the blizzard must come...it's not even here yet.

Blizzard Warning
Statement as of 4:30 AM AKST on December 02, 2010 ... Blizzard Warning in effect from 3 PM this afternoon to 3 am akst Friday... The National Weather Service in Anchorage has issued a Blizzard Warning... which is in effect from 3 PM this afternoon to 3 am akst Friday. The blizzard watch is no longer in effect. A strong low pressure system and associated front will move across the Bering Sea today. Temperatures will be below freezing around the Kuskokwim Delta as the winds and moisture arrive this afternoon. The combination of falling and blowing snow will reduce visibility to less than one quarter mile this afternoon and tonight. Conditions will improve late tonight as the front moves inland. Precautionary/preparedness actions... A Blizzard Warning means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring. Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely. This will lead to white-out conditions... making travel extremely dangerous. All travel and outdoor activity is strongly discouraged.

15 done, 15 to go

2010-11-27T09:32:00.002-09:00

Number 5 on the birthday list is complete, read 5 books from the top 100 books list. Well I guess I read more than 5 and I have quite a few more that I am going to try to read over the next few months.

Animal Farm by George Orwell
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Anthem by Ayn Rand
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin

Avery and I are also almost finished with the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman. This is also on the top 100 list and also number 21 on the birthday list. We're not quite done with it yet, but should be able to finished it before my next birthday.

I am also currently reading The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. I'm hoping to finish that one before Christmas break. That one is also on the top 100 list and also number 11 on the birthday list.

Flood watch and broken records

2010-11-26T20:18:00.001-09:00

Areal Flood Watch
Statement as of 11:30 AM AKST on November 26, 2010

... Flood Watch in effect through Saturday afternoon along the
lower Kuskokwim River from Kalskag to Bethel...

The National Weather Service in Anchorage has issued a

* Flood Watch for the lower Kuskokwim River from Kalskag to Bethel

* through Saturday afternoon

* significant rainfall occurred in the Kuskokwim basin over the
last several days with total amounts ranging from 1.5 to 2.5
inches over a four day period. This event was accompanied by
warm temperatures that have melted much of the low lying
snow pack. Ice has moved at various locations along the Kuskokwim
River with reports of ice moving steadily Thursday at Aniak
before stopping Friday morning and open water at Stony River. A
resident of Sleetmute reported that ice had moved in various
locations from Stony River to Kalskag. Ice has lifted at Bethel.
Ice thickness has been reported to be from 6 to 10 inches. This
will mitigate the chance of a prolonged ice jam. Temperatures
are expected to fall below freezing through the weekend which
will greatly reduce inflows to the river. However... if an ice
jam were to occur on the lower river... low-lying communities
are at risk of flooding. This is a very unusual event.

* Travel on the Kuskokwim River in places where breakup has
occurred will be very dangerous until a significant ice cover
has reformed. If a significant ice jam forms below a Village that
is flood-prone... flooding is possible.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A Flood Watch means there is a potential for flooding.

You are encouraged to closely monitor this weather situation.
Preparation for this potentially dangerous weather event should
begin now.

Record Report
35 5 akst Fri Nov 26 2010

... A new record for precipitation and snowfall...

A new record of 0.64 of precipitation was set yesterday. The old
record of 0.57 was set back in 1936. There was also a new record of
6.7 inches of snowfall set yesterday. The old record of 5.9 inches
was set in 1965.

2010 BRHS haunted house

2010-11-01T11:03:00.004-08:00

The haunted house this year was a huge success. The 10th graders had a very ambitious plan this year, but it all came together in the end. The first hallway was clowns, then there was the stranger.Then there was a big spider web with a person caught in it and a big spider that dropped down in people's faces. Then they walked down a pitch black dark hallway to meet a person with a electric saw who chased them out of the hallway.Then they had to say "Bloody Mary" three times. Bloody Mary came out from behind a black curtain.Then they entered the blood bath area where the person rose up out of the bloody bathtub and stood dripping and look at the people all creepy. They splashed around some too.

And a person in a body bag squirmed around on the floor as well.

Then this guy in a coffin jumped out to scare you!And these monsters shaked and rattled this cage trying to get you as you walked past.And this person locked in the closet rattled another chain and begged you to let him out.

Then finally when you thought it was over, one more person with a mask on jumped out and scared you one last time.

I lost count of the number of kids that left crying. Good stuff!

Warrior Art

2010-10-31T20:37:00.002-08:00

We had a new piece of artwork installed above the main entrance of the high school this year. It was a community art project where the kids got to submit quotes to go on the pieces that where installed to make up the whole big picture. I think the question was, "What inspires you?"It is a really large piece and it spans one whole side of the building and then curves over onto a second side above the main entrance where it says, "Home of the Warriors".

The big warrior head at the end lights up at night with LED lights. It glows pretty brightly, which is cool to see when you get to school on a dark winter morning.
It is so big that I could not fit the whole thing in my camera lens. The art teacher and I are thinking of applying for a grant to do a similar project inside the school. It wouldnt be quite this large though.
Really makes the front entrance of our school look great. I'm proud to be a Warrior!

The Sky is on Fire!

2010-10-27T10:39:00.002-08:00

I am fortunate to have a classroom at the end of the hallway in the east wing of the school where I can frequently witness amazing sun rises such as this one. There was a massive snow storm moving in from the north and west this morning, which you can see as a huge dark cloud at the top of these pictures.
The storm has completely covered us now and it is snowing fiercely, but while the east was still clear, we got to witness this amazing sunrise. These pictures were taken around 10am.

What's the opposite of break up?

2010-10-23T03:35:00.002-08:00

Freeze up? Well, I've shown plenty of pictures of break up (here, here, and here for example), but I've never really posted about the other end of the phenomena. I woke up bright and early on Friday and went for a walk down by the river so that I could see the progress of the ice on the river. The river is slowly freezing. There were chunks floating on the river making a clinking sound.
I had a nice walk and enjoyed watching the sun rise over the river around 9:30am. I stopped by the dock and watched a commercial fishing rig being pulled out of the water. Avery took a boat down to the village downriver for a wrestling tournament on Friday afternoon and had to take a plane home on Saturday afternoon because the river was even more frozen.

It's been fun to watch the river freeze since we put so much emphasis on watching it break up.

The other side

2010-10-19T01:35:00.003-08:00

Here is the rest of the moose video. The part where he makes it to the other side. It was so awesome to watch him. He just took his sweet time too. He wasnt scared at all.

Moose crossing the street

2010-10-17T16:12:00.003-08:00

Not sure if this video is going to work....

I saw this moose standing on the side of the road in Anchorage over the weekend. It came within about 5 feet of my car. He crossed the street, then climbed up the hill into the woods on the side of the road next to where I was parked.

Of course, watching this video just makes me want to ask...why did the moose cross the road?

Advice to Myself

2010-10-08T00:23:00.003-08:00

For the first two weeks of my summer I took a science class. It was the Alaska Science Consortium class. It focused on teaching physical science.

IT. WAS. AWFUL.

HORRIBLE.

really.

On the last day of class, we were asked to write ourselves a letter as part of a reflection on the course. We enclosed the letter in a self addressed stamped envelope with a promise by our super terrible instructor that the letter would be mailed in the fall to remind us of all the things that we had learned in the course.

I got my letter in the mail today. It made me smile. Here is what I wrote to myself, word for word...

Warning: Content may be graphic and/or offensive!

Alisha,

This class really sucked a big fat one, but you have to learn to be more patient and take things in stride. Be more accepting of people and their flaws. Like Chris said today, "Don't be so judgemental." You also need to be careful about the way you say things and approach people. You're body language says alot and so does your tone. Be careful about how you express yourself. People stop listening to you after awhile when they think you're just a BITCH!

Chill out,

(signed by me)

Like Elizabeth Bennet says in Pride and Prejudice, "We can only teach what is not worth knowing." It turns out that I learned something in the class after all. :)

14 done, 16 to go

2010-09-30T22:28:00.004-08:00

Number 23 is done. Between January and August, I took 12 credits. The is enough for me to move over a column on the pay scale. I turned in my transcripts today. Which means, I'm getting a raise...oh yeah!

September Snow

2010-09-30T05:48:00.002-08:00

For as many years as I've lived here, we have always had our first snow sometime around the first week of October. This year it has come early and in full force. Usually the first snow just consists of a few flurries that dont really stick around for very long. Usually the flurries go on for several weeks before we actually get any accumulation, but not this year!!! First snow of the year is already sticking. The ground is about 50% covered this morning and it is still snowing. And there is snow in the forecast for the rest of the week. The wind is coming straight out of the north at 23 mph. The forecast right now is blowing snow and it sure is blowing. It wont be long now until people are getting out their snow machines. It makes me wonder if there will be more snowmachine fatalities early this year because there is already snow, but the ground/river/slough/lakes/tundra is not frozen yet. The snow may just do a good job of covering up some unsafe conditions. I hope everyone stays safe and I hope the ground does freeze up soon and we can go riding soon, because last year there was barely any snow and we hardly got to ride at all. Come on mother nature, bring on winter!!!

Art Retreat

2010-09-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

I spent Friday and Saturday attending an art retreat and it was so much fun. I have really been enjoying doing art ever since I went to the art institute in Juneau. I have even been considering joining the Bethel Art Guild. We learned more about incorporating art into our classrooms and I immediately went back to school and taught my homeroom kids how to do ZenTangles (AKA ZenDoodles).The ZenDoodles seen on the cards above were the ones we did in the art class on Friday and they turned out so good. I've been addicted to them ever since. One of the kids in my homeroom class called it Doodle Therapy. Exactly.
We also used oil pastels which I've been dying to do ever since I started in with the art stuff this summer. We made watercolor abstracts to learn about the art elements. Loved them, but would love them even more if we had used good watercolors and good watercolor paper.

Here is all of the art that I made over the course of the two day institute. I am thinking between my homemade paper that I've gotten into and the ZenDoodle cards, I wont be buying anymore store bought cards...I'll just start making my own!!!

I am seriously considering joining the Bethel Art Guild, but I just dont know if my schedule can handle anything else. It just seems like I already have so much to do and not even time to do it all. But I would really like to explore the artistic possibilities.

Mounted with homemade paper

2010-09-27T15:39:00.000-08:00

I finally put my homemade paper to good use. I've been wanted to mount this old west style photo that Avery and I had done, but I wanted to put it together in a frame and mount that would look authentic. I found this stained wood frame at Fred Meyer on sale this summer in Juneau. Then I made a few pieces of homemade paper with bits of tundra grass in it. The blue paper turned out really pale and pretty, very rustic looking. I mounted out picture on it, then framed it and it turned out just like I had envisioned it. Perfect!

Full Moon

2010-09-26T13:14:00.002-08:00

The recent full moon was absolutely amazing here in Bethel. The moon is up all the time lately and is so big that it is hard not to gaze at it in awe. This picture was taken on the way to school at about 8am a few days ago. The position of the moon is quirky right now. The moon rises at around 8pm in the northeast, stays up all night, then sets at around 2pm the next day in the northwest. So in the morning the moon is high in the west and in the evening the moon is high in the east. It's strange, interesting, and awesome.

Cranberry picking

2010-09-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went cranberry picking for the very first time ever. I've done alot of blueberry picking here in Alaska, but never cranberries. The cranberries are ready much later that the blueberries and usually by the time the cranberries are ready, I'm all berried out. But this year, their were not that many blueberries and I didnt do much blueberry picking, so I finally got around to picking cranberries.
I went with my friends, Chris and Erin, and Erin's little puppy, North. We enjoyed a nice sunny day out on the tundra. I thought picking cranberries was much easier than picking blueberries. It just seemed as if they came off so much more easily.

North was so cute running along the tundra and getting lost in the bushes. Right before we left, she took a few nibbles from my berry bucket. On the way home, she was so sleepy that she had a hard time walking. She's so cute!!!!Then next day we used some of our berries to bake cranberry nut bread from a sourdough starter. It was delicious.
The tundra is already changing into some fall colors...October is right around the corner!

Record High

2010-09-13T07:42:00.001-08:00

Statement as of 1:25 am AKDT on September 13, 2010

... New high temperature record set for Bethel...

New high of 67 degrees was set at 510 PM on Sunday the 12th at the
National Weather Service office. The old temperature of 65 degrees
was set back in 1979.

It just adds up to a really great weekend!

2010-09-13T01:11:00.000-08:00

1 new DVR cable box +

2 hour friday night nap +

2 hour movie on the big screen at church +

1 bag microwave popcorn+

1.5 hours chatting with friends+

4 teenagers happy to have a movie night+

5 chapters pride and prejudice read+

8 solid hours of sleep+

70 minutes of quiet, peaceful, foggy morning walk with

1 awesome friend and

2 cups of coffee+

1 attack dog+

40 minutes yoga+

5.5 pounds lost+

1 facial with my new MK mask+

1 trip to the post office+

20 minute walk+

2 sourdough recipes chosen+

2.5 hours on the tundra with

2 great friends and

1 adorable puppy picking

100's of cranberries+

1 new woodfrog friend caught+

8 episodes of LOST+

2 reservations made for trip to Anchorage+

1 happy brother who got to help cut moose+

5 shows programmed into DVR+

30 minute Sunday morning walk+

1 church service+

2 funny church conversations+

1 birthday party attended+

1 trip on the

6 wheeled ARGO amphibious vehicle+

1 Green Bay Packer WIN+

2 pounds moose meat given by a friend+

1 new friend +

24 pieces of homemade paper made+

45 minute walk with

3 wonderful friends and

3 funny dogs+

6 loaves of sourdough bread made from scratch+

4 loads of laundry+

30 hours of gorgeous sunshine and

70 degrees

One amazing weekend in Bethel, Alaska!

Foggy and Fabulous!

2010-09-12T01:14:00.006-08:00

I woke up around 9am Saturday morning with plans to do Saturday morning yoga with a friend. When I looked outside I was enthralled by the glorious calm and quiet of the dense morning fog. So, I called my friend and suggested that we go for a foggy morning walk before our Saturday morning yoga. She agreed, I brewed some coffee, we grabbed our cameras, and we were off for a stroll through Bethel.Not far from home, we noticed what we came to call a fogbow...a rainbow made of fog that has no color. It was very cool. I wonder if such a phenomena actually has a name. It stuck around for the majority of our walk.
As we got closer to the river, the fog got thicker. It looked as though the hill down to the river wall was just a sheer drop off.
We enjoyed the absolute quiet of this amazingly calm and foggy morning. The air was quiet and still. There were no people out, no kids running around, no dogs barking. It was as if God had sent a message that this was meant to be a quiet morning.
We walked down the river wall and along the beach enjoying the quiet foggy view. The sun was large as it continued to rise above the town of Bethel.
The fog was beautiful and the quiet was oh-so-peaceful. This duck is enjoying a foggy little float down the Kuskokwim river.
Shortly after that, our peaceful serenity was interrupted by a huge aggressive dog that charged across the street and attacked Suka (Sadie's dog) as we were walking. Sadie threw her hot coffee on the dog and yelled at it to get it to back off. Then she went to talk to the owner.
From there our walk was no longer quiet and peaceful, but it was just as foggy and beautiful. Bethel is filled with unleashed dogs that terrorize all parts of town.
We did a loop around the Bethel boat harbor. There were many people getting ready to go out on the river. Even though there was a heavy fog, it was clear that this day was going to be gorgeous. The sun was huge and shining, the sky was blue, and there wasnt a hint of wind to ripple the water.
Even as the town came alive around us, the calm fog continued to give everything a bit of a surreal feeling. Almost like walking through a dream.
On our way home nearly 45 minutes later, the fog was just as thick, if not even a bit thicker. The mean attack dog was tied up now, but still capable of ruining the peace with its bark. We enjoyed the way the tug boat looked tied up to the river wall in the fog.
People finally tired of waiting for the fog to lift, were getting out on the river in an attempt to make the most of this day that was clearly intended to provide amazing weather.
And just then as we turned the corner away from the river and back toward our apartments...
as picture perfect as the thick fog had been, there was Mission Lake, crystal clear and calm like glass. It was amazingly clear. It was perfect.
As we stepped out of a foggy little dream world, we stepped into a perfectly clear one that was equally amazing. We stood in awe for minutes in front of this little lake and enjoyed the perfect mirror images of the houses reflected in the stillness of the water's surface.
It was an amazing start to an amazing weekend. More on that later...

The End

2010-09-11T23:34:00.002-08:00

The fireweed has bloomed to the end. This is the sign of the end of summer and on one of the nicest days we've had all year. Today was amazing! It was 70 and sunny. It was calm and beautiful. Welcome sun, so long summer!

The Big Apple

2010-09-09T22:11:00.003-08:00

New York's got nothing on this apple! This is the biggest apple I've ever seen in my entire life! It came in my Full Circle Farm veggie box today, along with 5 others. It was the size of a small melon. Of course, this picture does it absolutely no justice what-so-ever. It's like the goliath of apples. The five others were nearly as big, but this one took the prize.

Pluck, Pluck, Goose!

2010-09-06T02:36:00.000-08:00

I had my first experience with Alaskan birds this weekend. My friend, Danielle, invited me over to teach me how to pluck ducks and geese. We started with plucking the ducks. We plucked 4 ducks. You start by plucking the belly of the bird and pull the feathers up against their direction of growth.The ducks were difficult to pluck because the feathers dont come off very easily. The ones we plucked were blue bill ducks. After plucking them, we also gutted them and cut them into pieces. I traded Danielle some of my halibut for the birds. Our bird cleaning station consisted of a piece of card board to pluck on and a trash bag or bucket to put all of the feathers in. I did keep some of the really small, fine feathers from the goose head to use when I'm making homemade paper.
After we had finished with the ducks, we plucked 4 geese. Two of the geese were black foot geese and 2 of them were orange foot geese. Clearly this is not their scientific name, but this is what Danielle called them. Most likely they are Canadian geese. Danielle said that she likes the orange foot geese the best. It has the best flavor. The geese were much easier to pluck. The feathers came off much easier, although for this goose, the skin cam off as well.We also had a couple of swan to prepare, but these get skinned rather than plucked because they are so big, have so many more feathers, and much thicker skin. I was amazed by how large the swans were. It probably weighed 30 pounds.
Danielle's mom came over to show us how to skin the swans. She started by removing the ends of the winds from the last joint. Then she cut the skin up the belly and began peeling it away from the meat a little at a time using the ulu knife.Here's what it looked like after it was completely skinned. It was a big bird with alot of meat. Almost all of the parts of the birds were saved to be cooked, even the feet, neck, hearts, gizzards, tongue, and brains. Danielle told me that different members of her family like different parts of the birds, including the butt.Last night, I cooked a couple of the ducks for dinner. I was expecting them to taste very gamey because Danielle had warned me that they were and also told me that she liked the flavor of the ducks the least. Avery and I both ate them last night and thought they were delicious. I took some over and shared with my neighbor who also thought they turned out very good. It is a little bit different because the meat is soooooo dark, but the flavor was really very good.
We even ate the hearts!!!You should have seen the look on Avery's face when I told him that he had just eaten a duck heart! Priceless! The other ducks, geese, and swan parts were put into freezer bags to be frozen and cooked up later this winter.

I feel so fortunate that Danielle was nice enough to invite me in to her home, teach me how to pluck, and give me so much meat. Hopefully, I will be able to cook up the rest of the birds as successfully as I did the first couple. Traditionally the birds were used in soups with root vegetables. I told Danielle's mom that I would invite her over when I make my first bird soup so she can try it and tell me if I made it right!

Windowsill gardening

2010-09-05T14:44:00.004-08:00

I've been putting my green thumb to work through the use of some old plastic containers and my windowsill. I've got some fairly thriving parsley going and I've been trying to use it as much as possible before it gets too cold and it starts to die off.
I've got some more parsley along with rosemary and basil going on my kitchen window too. It sure it nice to have fresh herbs to use while cooking. I'm hoping that they will keep growing into the winter, but with our lack of sunlight and intense cold, I am doubtful about that possibility.
I've also been growing a few small tomato plants. They have not produced one single piece of fruit all summer. Then it occurred to me the other day that the problem might be that the flowers are not getting pollenated since they are not outside with the breeze and the bees. So about a week ago, I tried shaking the plants to simulate a breeze in hopes that the plants would pollinate each other and create fruit. And guess what? It worked! Today I looked at my tomato plants and found several small little tomatoes in progress. Exciting!!!

Jam session

2010-09-02T06:35:00.000-08:00

I had a jam session last weekend. I got together with a few other friends who were interested in making jam and together we made 6 batches of jam. We made rhubarb, blueberry, peach, blueberry rhubarb, peach rhubarb, and plum. It was alot of fun. We ended up with about 30 jars of jam in total. They all turned out really yummy, but the ones with the rhubarb were the best. I've been on a rhubarb kick lately after I picked up a huge batch of it from the store. I bought out the entire stock! Since then I've made rhubarb crisp, jam, and rhubarb sourdough coffee cake. They've all turned out great.

Quote of the evening... "Wine and jam making; I think this is going to be a lifelong partnership!"

Tolerance Banners

2010-09-01T10:44:00.002-08:00

According to NaBloPoMo, this months blogging them is art. So, what better inspiration to share this awesome art project that we did in my homeroom class to kick off the year. You might remember that I attended the Basic Art Institute in Juneau this summer, where we learned how to incorporate the arts into our classroom. I came home with many ideas and a ton of inspiration. Most of my ideas revolved around my homeroom class. Our homeroom class is a time for working with kids on positive actions and behavior. It is a time for those students to have one adult that they can connect with on a daily basis. This seemed to me to be the most fitting place to incorporate some art into the school day.
The very first art activity that I brought in was Tolerance Banners. We did a lesson revolving around the UN's 1995 Year of Tolerance. We discussed the ideas of tolerance and looked at the 6 pieces of artwork that were commissioned by the UN in 1995. Then, we learned about the Notan Japanese papercutting method. We used this method to create our own tolerance banners. They turned out great!!! The yellow one is the one I made and the others are the students. I really liked this project because it was easy enough for everyone to be successful, but looked really cool when it was finished.

13 done, 17 to go

2010-08-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

Number 12 on the birthday list in complete. I stayed in the state of Alaska for the entire summer this year. It's actually kind of weird to think back on the summer and realize that I never left...not even once...not even for a minute. Here's a recap of my super insanely fast paced summer...

weeks 1/2- took a class in bethel

week 3- prep for summer science camp

week 4/5-taught summer science camp

week 6-travelled around alaska with Kass

weeks 7/8-taught summer science camp

week 9- half relaxing in bethel, half having fun in juneau

weeks 10/11-art institute in Juneau

Summer seemed ridiculously short this year, but I think it was because I was so busy. When I look back on it, I actually did quite alot! Now it's time to start making plans for next summer!

12 done, 18 to go

2010-08-30T15:25:00.000-08:00

Number 30 on the birthday list is complete. The goal was to visit at least 3 Alaskan villages/towns/cities that I've never been to before. First, I visited Nome back in April with the music kids. Second, I fell in love with Whittier back in July when my friend Kassia was here visiting. Third, I attended the art institute in Juneau and caught two huge halibut that I will spend the rest of the winter eating.

I have plans to visit several more places this winter once the ground freezes up and we can snow machine again.

Tundra Plants

2010-08-29T11:33:00.006-08:00

A couple of friends and I went on a flower walk. We collected many different kinds of tundra plants. Then we came home and pressed the flowers while having a glass of wine. It was a really good time. Some of you might remember this summer, when Sadie and I took a papermaking class. The class was fun and the paper that we made was really neat. So, we ordered a couple of papermaking kits and are waiting for them to come in the mail.

We collected a lot of tundra cotton to use in our homemade paper. The cotton gives the paper an interesting texture. We also collected many different kinds of tundra grasses to use in our homemade paper as well. I'm looking forward to the kits getting here. I have a couple of projects in mind involving pressed flower and homemade paper. I think they will turn out nice!

Just what I needed...another hobby!

Through the Tunnel

2010-08-27T08:11:00.002-08:00

This summer, I took the trip through the tunnel that leads to Whittier, Alaska. Kassia and I only spent one night there, but I fell in love with the quirky little town with less than 200 permanent residents. According to the locals, the population swells in the summer during fishing season.
While in town, we stayed the night at The Inn at Whittier. It was a cute little place that was comfortable and nice with plush towels and bedding. The view out of our window was amazing, as were all of the views from anywhere in town. The town is nestled into a beautiful little nook in the mountains on the edge of the ocean. According to Wikipedia...

After we finished our day cruise around Prince William Sound, we walked around the town, checked out all of the little shops, and had dinner at a quaint little family fish fry restaurant. We sat on the patio over looking the harbor and cloud covered mountains. In the peacefulness and serenity, my rolling rock seemed to taste better. And the fresh fried halibut was pretty yummy too.
I could really see myself having a boat in this harbor someday. I could live and teach on the road system north of Whittier and keep a boat in the harbor for fishing in the summer. I think this little fishing town would be an interesting place to spend the summers.
Being there just felt so peaceful. And the town was kindy quirky. And the people all seemed really great...just felt like my kind of place.

Future Politician

2010-08-26T03:56:00.002-08:00

I have a deal with Avery...I will support him in all of the sports that he would like to participate in as long as he also participates in at least one academic club at some point in the school year. Our school has a decent number of choices including academic decathlon, speech meet, battle of the books, yearbook, science fair, student newspaper, student government, pep band, and robotics. I even suggested AWANA as being an option. AWANA is the church youth program.

Of course, as we were going through the list of choices, none of them appealed to him at all. Eventually, it become of a conversation about which choice was the least unappealing. He had settled on academic decathlon. Student government was the one I was trying to talk him into because I think he would enjoy it. Avery loves to debate/argue for how things should/shouldnt be or things he should be able to do. I think being in student government would have him to see that there are more sides of the argument than just his own.

A funny related story... the other night, we were having dinner and he told me that he was thinking about being a lawyer when he grows up. I asked him why and this was his response..."Because I like to argue about things, even sometimes when I dont even agree with them myself." Yes, that's what lawyers do...and politicians. Student government could help you refine your debate skills. But he still refused to consider student government even though several of his friends are in it.

So, today was the day for the kids to nominate people for class officers during class meetings. As I stood in the 10th grade class meeting and watched the chaos of nominations and seconds unfurl, I knew there was going to be NO WAY that Avery would escape from his 9th grade meeting without having been nominated for something. And knowing how susceptible to peer pressure he is, I knew he wouldnt decline his nomination. Sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing :)

With a few minutes of the school day left, he tracked me down and told me that he was running for 9th grade class representative. He then proceeded to describe his plans for his campaign posters and asked if he could go over to a friends house to work on them. Sure. About an hour later, I got a call from him asking if I would drive him out to the sand pit so that he could do a photo op for his campaign poster. Sure. And could I bring him a laptop from school to work on it? Sure.

By the time he went to bed last night, he had used the picture above to create a champaign poster to hang around the 9th grade hallway. He worked on it for several hours. Elections are next week, but given the competition he's pretty confident that he'll win. Joining student government also means that he'll have STUCO homeroom, which I think will be another good opportunity for him.

Sometimes getting want I want is pretty easy. Things have a way of working out just the way that they should.

Just busy and tired

2010-08-19T23:00:00.002-08:00

School has started. So far it has been great. I did two really super fun science activities for the first two days and the kids enjoyed them very much. Things are moving fast again. I have so much to do and not enough time to do it. Once I get home, I am beat. I've tried to blog a couple of nights this week, but always end up nodding off at my computer. I'm working on building my teaching stamina back up again. Right now my stamina is still pretty low. I'm still getting into the swing of regular day to day life again. I'll try to get back on the blogging band wagon soon. I have alot of blog posts in mind. Lots to share, just to busy and tired to sit down and write.

3 years already

2010-08-15T01:41:00.001-08:00

Such is Life! is 3 years old today. It's hard to believe I've been blogging that long and that I've been in Alaska even longer. Time does fly. The blog sure has morphed over the years, but it has been a constant throughout my Alaskan adventure. It will be interesting to see where the blog will go from here, especially now that I've joined facebook. If anyone has any ideas for the blog, let me know.

In 3 years, the blog has seen about 20,000 visitors from about 75 countries. It has 31 followers, but an average of about 45 readers each day. This will be my 748th post in 1095 days, which makes out to be an average of 1 post every 1.5 days.

Thanks for reading everyone!!!

(Sure would be nice if you started commenting again...I havent gotten a comment in the last 5 posts. If you are someone who reads regularly but doesnt comment, today is the day to come on outta the commenting closet :)

Bethel fun

2010-08-14T13:48:00.002-08:00

I know I've been slacking at blogging these days (you guys wanted me to join facebook). The first week of school was hectic and I am enjoying the down time of my first weekend. It's 3pm and I'm still wearing my PJ's. I didnt have to wake up to an alarm clock this morning...it was great. I got up at about noon. Anyway...we have a BUNCH of new teachers at our school this year. And I have a BUNCH of halibut to cook up. And Sadie bought this dance game for the Wii. So....some of us got together last night, ate, drank, and danced on the Wii.
It's funny how things that wouldnt necessarily be fun or funny in the lower 48 become the friday night entertainment here in Bethel.
Oh yes...the dancing got a little bit intense for a little while. And a little bit competitive too.
It was great to see some friends that I havent seen all summer. It was also good to meet and get to know some of the new teachers in town, two of which are part of the science dept at my school and I'll be working closely with.
All in all we had a really fun friday night...Bethel style...just the way I like it.

Cold and Wet

2010-08-12T07:18:00.000-08:00

	Public Information Statement
Statement as of 4:00 am AKDT on August 12, 2010 ... Cold and wet pattern continues for southcentral Alaska... The overall weather pattern for much of Alaska this Summer has been cool and wet. Alaska as well as portions of the western conus have been reporting below average temperatures for much of the Summer while upstream in eastern Siberia and downstream in the central and eastern US have been experiencing warmer than average temperatures. The abnormal weather is a result of a long wave pattern that has remained stagnant since early June. A large upper level trough has been positioned in the central and eastern Bering Sea. Areas of low pressure develop at the base of the trough... tap into the subtropical moisture... and move northeast toward the Gulf of Alaska. The result is increased cloud coverage and periods of rain. Similar patterns have occurred recently during the Summers of 2006 and 2008. Both Summers saw higher than average precipitation and temperatures below climatological norms. Here is how the Summer of 2010 is shaping up... June 1 through August 11 average high temperature ------------------------------------------------ 1. 1971 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 60.2 degrees 2. 2008 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 60.6 3. 1987 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.0 4. 1917 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.1 5. 1973 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.3 6. 1982 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.5 7. 1980 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.7 8. 1970 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.8 9. 1939 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.9 10. 2010 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 62.0 (normal high temperature during this period is 64.3 degrees) July 1 through August 11 average high temperature ---------------------------------------------- 1. 1971 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.6 degrees 2. 2008 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 61.8 3. 2010 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 62.5 1959 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 62.5 5. 1970 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 62.6 (normal high temperature during this period is 65.5 degrees) Precipitation June 1 through August 11 ---------------------------------------------- 1. 1958 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7.89 inches 2. 1981 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7.24 3. 1980 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6.28 4. 1989 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6.18 5. 1979 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6.15 6. 2010 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 5.98 (average precipitation during this period is 3.54 inches) Consecutive days with a trace or more of precipitation ------------------------------------------------------ 1. 1951 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 27 consecutive days 2. 2010 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 25 (as of Aug 11) 1946 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 25 4. 2008 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 24 1989 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 24 1950 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 24 7. 2008 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 23 8. 1947 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 22 Outlook... this pattern is expected to continue through this week... and possibly beyond. There is an indication that a ridge of high pressure will build from the northeastern Pacific late this week which will likely bring an end to our consecutive days with a trace or more of precipitation. Any break will be short lived as the large trough settles back over the eastern Bering Sea allowing the moisture to return to southcentral early next week.

Rain, rain...go away

2010-08-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

Record Report

Statement as of 4:07 am AKDT on August 8, 2010

... Record rainfall...

Record rainfall of 0.82 inches yesterday August 7 2010 broke old
record of 0.47 inches in the year 2001.

Our Art Show

2010-08-07T12:52:00.005-08:00

On the last night of class, we had an art show. We displayed all of our visual art. We wore our new kuspaqs. We sang. We danced. We read poems. We played drums. It was awesome.
Above are our self portraits. Mine's not in this pic. I forgot to take a pic of the wall where mine was hanging. Below is my self portrait painted on silk. It doesnt look anything like me, but it was a super fun project.
This is us doing our Yup'ik song and dance.
Below is the K-3 group doing a dance about liquids, solids, and gasses. Our theme was integrating art and culture into science.
Next is the 4-7 group doing a WED dance. WED stands for weathering, erosion, and deposition.
Here we are singing an African song.
And here is my group doing a dance about the 4 macromolecules of life...lipids, carbs, proteins, and nucleic acids.
This was our ending...the double helix.
Here is another song we learned. During this song, I was drumming.
Here is our whole group, including our teacher leaders and Tlingit guest speakers.
This was a community art project that we completed as a group. All of the teachers worked on this silk painting that will be displayed somewhere in Juneau. It turned out awesome!!! I totally want to do silk painting with my students.
These are the teachers that I shared a dorm with over the two week course. Erin was my roommate and the other two, Pam and Mary, were in the other room in the suite.
These were the teachers from our school district, LKSD. We have the largest group because LKSD is the partner in the grant the funds the art institute.
These were our teacher leaders. They are represented in the silk painting on the totem pole. We came up with Alaskan animals to symbolize them on the totem. The base of the totem was the lady who organized and kept track of the whole institute. Next up was the lady who taught about brain research and music. Next up was the guy who taught us about movement. Next up was the lady who taught us visual art. And on the top is the lady who taught us about native culture.
The institute was amazing and I learned soooooo much. I cant wait to go back and do some of what I learned in my classroom with my students. First day of school is about 10 days. My first day back to work is on Monday. Can't believe summer is over already. It went by soooo fast.

Adventures in Sewing

2010-08-05T11:22:00.003-08:00

We had to sew a qaspeq for our culture class. A qaspeq is a traditional shirt that the Yup'ik women wear. There are men's qaspeqs as well, but they generally only wear them when they dance.
I had a hard time with the sewing. I've never used a sewing machine before so this was a new experience for me and I struggled with it in the beginning. After I got the hang of it, it was fine, but even then I didnt enjoy it.Sewing is definitely not a hobby that I plan on taking up soon. I made my kaspeq blue and yellow for our school colors (blue and gold). I didnt follow the traditional pattern. Usually it would only have one fabric, but I used two.I have a new kaspeq to wear and it turned out really nice. I have to wear it tonight for our cultural performance. We will be singing, drumming, dancing, and displaying all of the artwork that we've completed this weekend. Fun!

Marimba Time!!!

2010-08-04T02:22:00.000-08:00

As a part of the Art Institute, a local art studio set up a marimba workshop for us. So, we spent 2 hours on Saturday learning how to play these African instruments. We learned a song from Zimbabwe. It's kind of like a xylophone, but with wooden bars. Above-I'm playing the big bass marimba. Below-learning how to play the lead.
Learning, learning, learning...doing art, art art. I've learned so much about the arts over the last week. And I've had a TON of fun doing it. Can't wait to get back to school and start sharing all I've learned with my students.
I wanted something more challenging, so she taught me the lead. It was more challenging, but I got it eventually. I sure would love to have these instruments to teach with in school. It's about $10,000 for a complete set.
Take some time to goof off too!!! Here's the song we learned....enjoy!

Makin' the news...

2010-08-04T01:42:00.000-08:00

I managed to make the newspaper while here in Juneau. Here's the scoop...

http://www.juneauempire.com/slideshows/080110/689270903/slide1.shtml

We had so much fun learning 3 Tlingit songs and dances.

They take their trash very seriously around here

2010-08-03T07:40:00.004-08:00

All of the trash here in Juneau (and in many parts of Alaska, but not Bethel), is locked up securely to prevent the bears from coming into the populated areas. It is an effort to keep the people and bears separately. The trash cans above are found all around the city. There is a little lever under the handle that you lift to open the trash can. There is also a chain that prevents the lid from opening much farther than about 6 inches.
Here in the dorms, I spent awhile trying to figure out where to take my trash. Then I finally figured out that these little shed looking building actually had dumpsters in them. They are locked up like a fort with multiple levers, latches, and locks to keep the bear out.
Speaking of bears...I have found myself having conversations with nonexistant bears these last few weeks. There are bears that live in the area and the trail from the dorms to the campus runs right through the woods. So, the few times that I've found myself walking down the trail alone, without someone to talk to, I've just talked to the bears instead. It is safe practice to make noise while you are walking through bear country so that they know you're there and will run away.

Heat wave!

2010-08-02T18:43:00.002-08:00

This morning when I looked at the weather there was a "special public announcement". It said that there was a massive high pressure system moving over the Alaska panhandle (SE Alaska). It said that the temp was expected to reach 75 on Tuesday and Wednesday. It warned that people should take precautions to not got overheated. They recommended wearing light colored clothing, drinking plenty of water, and not leaving kids/pets unattended in cars.

So funny! A 75degree heat wave with a warning! You know you live in Alaska if...

2 days, 2 fish

2010-07-31T12:11:00.001-08:00

On my second day in Juneau, I went out halibut fishing. Halibut are fish the live on the bottom of the ocean and are very strange fish. When they are babies, their eyes are normal with one on each side of its head. As they grow bigger, their one eye migrates over to the other side of their head. Since they live on the bottom of the ocean, this allows both eyes to face up toward everything that's happening in the ocean and doesnt waste 50% of its eyesight looking down at the mud. The picture above shows me reeling in my first big catch. It took 20 minutes to reel in 400ft of line with this huge halibut on the end.
It weighed 80 pounds!!! The captain of the boat, Mike, filleted it for me and cut it into meal sized portions. Then we shipped it over to the meat processing company where it was vacuum packed and flash frozen.
The next day, Mike invited me to go out fishing on his day off with some of his friends. I couldnt believe it, but I caught another HUGE fish! Everybody was shocked that I caught two huge fish in two days. The second one weighed 102 pounds!!!
Here is the 102 pounder being filleted. You can see that the cheek has already been removed. The cheeks are considered the delicacy.
The second one took about 15 minutes to reel in and came from about the same depth. The next day, my whole body was sore and I had bruises all over the tops of my thighs from where I had dug the rod into my leg to get leverage to help reel it in. One of my friends asked, "What you do, get in a street fight with the fish?"

This is what I really meant by touch a glacier!

2010-07-29T21:41:00.000-08:00

The next day after arriving in Juneau, I did the helicopter glacier trek. I got all geared up with a group of other tourists and made my way over to the awaiting helicopter.
On the way to the glacier, we had many splendid views of the scenery.

Below is Auke Lake and Auke Bay. The university that I'm a attending is the group of buildings in between Auke Lake and Auke Bay. On the left middle of the picture. The dorms are the group of buildings on the far right middle edge of the picture. Everyday we have to walk through bear infested woods to get down to the university for class.
Before we went to the glacier that we were hiking on, we went to Herbert glacier. It was beautiful. The dark line running down the center is called the medial morraine. It is the spot where the ice from the two glaciers that combine come together. It is all the dirst and rocky material that the two glaciers scraped on the edges of the mountains as they move down the ice field.
Here you can see the waves in the ice from the movement of the glacier. Pretty cool. The ice field that makes up the glacier is the size of Rhode Island. There are 38 named glaciers that make up the ice field. The average depth of the ice is 1000ft.
A beautiful mountain valley.
another great view of the ocean
I got to ride up front. It was awesome!
When we got to the glacier, the first thing we did was put on a helmet and the second thing we did was put on crampons. Crampons are metal spike that are strapped to the bottom of your boots. They did a good job of keep us from falling on the ice.
Just to give you an idea of how big this part of the glacier is....can you see the people hiking up the left side of the glacier? No? Take a closer look...They are the little dots right in the middle of the picture about a third of the way up. Pretty big glacier, eh? This part of the glacier is called an ice fall. It's like a water fall, but with ice. There is a cliff right here and as the ice moves down the mountain, the ice falls over the cliff.
This is the base camp...the area where the helicopter lands and the tent for basic supplies is set up. You can see part of the city and the ocean from this view.
These extra blue parts are the parts where the white frosty ice on the top has melted away to uncover the more densely packed glacier ice underneath.
This was a crevass that we hike through.
There were pristine, clear little streams and waterfalls all over the glacier from melt runoff.
Glacier ice is 10 times more dense that regular ice. That is why blue is the only color that is reflected off the of the ice. Blue light has a shorter wavelength and, therefore, more energy and is the only color that can escape the crystalline structure of the ice.

This is actually a hole filled with water. The water is so clear that you cant even see it in the picture. It was so much more amazing that it looks in the picture.
We got to fill up our water bottles with this amazing, perfectly clear water.
I did it!!! I conquered the glacier. and completed Number 3 the way it was intended to be completed when I wrote it.
As we take off in the helicopter, the next group prepares to hike the glacer ice flow.
The glacier from the air.
The Mendenhall Glacier and Mendenhall Lake below it
What an amazing experience!!! I'm glad I choose to do this for one of my activities. If you come to Juneau, you should do it!!!

Record rainfall in Bethel (not Juneau)

2010-07-29T07:30:00.003-08:00

	Record Report
Statement as of 1:30 am AKDT on July 29, 2010 ... New record rainfall for yesterday... Bethel had a new record rainfall total of 1.24 inches for Wednesday July 28th 2010. The old record rainfall was 0.69 was 1996.

Do you think I'm happy not to be in Bethel right now? Yes. We've actually had sun here in the rainly west coast. Yesterday I wore shorts and a tank top. I sat on the grass listening to the stories of the Tlingit elder while basking in the sun's rays.

Swimming Eagle

2010-07-23T23:47:00.002-08:00

I was standing down by the boat harbor this morning in Juneau waiting to go fishing. There were bald eagles everywhere. They were having breakfast. It was about 6:30am. This eagle was attacked in the air by another eagle. For what reason, I dont know. The eagle fell into the water. It sat there stunned and confused for a minute or two. It tried to fly away but couldn't take off. So, as a last resort it started swimming. I asked my fishing guide who has lived in Juneau his whole life if he's ever seen that before and he said no. Pretty interesting sight!

Juneau, here I come!

2010-07-20T22:28:00.005-08:00

I'm on my way to Juneau tomorrow, the capital of Alaska. I get in at about 2:30 on Wednesday. I think I'm just going to drive around town and check things out the first day. Get to know the place and maybe do a little bit of shopping. Then on Thursday, I'm going on a helicopter glacier hike. Should be amazing.
Then on Friday, I'm going halibut fishing. Hopefully I'll catch a big one. The limit is 1, so the first one I get is the one that I keep. We will also fish for lingcod and rockcod.

Then on Friday, I'm going to do the zipline over on Douglas Island. It is up in the rainforest canopy and should be a great view. I'm really looking forward to my trip to Juneau. I'm going down 5 days early before my class starts so that I can have some time to do some fun things and see the sights. This trip will also finish off number 30 on the birthday list. There are plenty of other things I'm planning to do while in Juneau, but those three are my major fun events while I'm there. It's supposed to rain everyday, which is typical for SouthEast Alaska (it is a rainforest, after all), but I'm really hoping for at least a few days of sunshine before I have to head back to Bethel and kiss my summer goodbye.

Wool Socks Are Good

2010-07-20T00:43:00.002-08:00

It's a cold, rainy day here in Bethel. It's one of those days that makes me want to curl up on the couch with a good book, take naps, drink warm drinks, and wear my pj's. Cold feet can be a problem on a day like today. Regular socks just dont do the trick for cold feet, but wool socks are great. My feet have not been cold all day. The great thing is that these socks arent big and thick like what I used to think of when I thought of wool socks. These are just like wearing any other pair of socks. LOVE, love, love them!

Summer Science Camp

2010-07-16T14:49:00.011-08:00

Here are just a few glimpes into the Summer Science camp. We did 9 lessons in all...rockets, flame testing, health/guts, salmon anatomy, cake chemistry, soil analysis, seasons, lego car competition, and forensics.

Dog Salmon

2010-07-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

I grabbed these two beasts from the free fish bin yesterday. The one on the left is definitely a chum (dog) salmon and I think the one on the right is a sockeye (red), but it may be a coho (silver). Or maybe even a really small chinook (king), but I doubt it. I'm not an expert at salmon identification yet, but I'm getting better. Below is a close up of the chum salmon, also called a dog salmon.
In all of the online info I found about dog salmon, it says that they are nicknamed dog salmon because of their sharp canine-like teeth. It's hard to tell where the origins came from, but around here they're called dog salmon because these fish dont taste quite as good as the rest and are commonly throw to the dogs for dog food. Ugly little monsters, arent they?

Alaska sand

2010-07-11T15:40:00.002-08:00

I collected a few more sand samples while on my vacation last week. I got a sample from the little beach along the Nenana River behind our hotel in Denali. I got a sample from a little beach down river on the Nenana near Healy. The last sample came from along the banks of Prince William Sound in Whittier. At first glance, they may seem the same, but when you look closely you can see that each sample is, in fact, quite different. You can click on the picture to take a closer look. I'm excited to add these samples to my collection in my classroom and hopefully I'll get a few more while I'm down in Juneau later this month.

A sunny day on the Kuskokwim

2010-07-10T11:58:00.006-08:00

Thursday was a gorgeous day here in Bethel. Being such, I talked my friend, Mike, into going fishing. We headed upriver about 30 miles or so to some tributary that I forgot the name of.
He brought along a friend who brought along an extra fishing rod for me so that we could go rod and reel fishing for salmon. Salmon are not big rod and reel fish, but we wanted to give it a try. Below is a large fish camp that we passed on our way upriver. This fish camp had about 10 camp all strung along together on the bank of the river. It looked like a fun place to spend the summer, as many families here do. People go out to their fish camps in the summer to harvest, cut, smoke, dry, and otherwise prep enough salmon to last the winter.
Next we rode past the village of Kwethluk which is the largest village within our school district. I think it has about 800 people.
You know it's warm when the kids are out swimming the the 45 degree river.
Village life includes getting things done by boat and 4-wheeler.
Whenever I'm out on the river, it always seems that I'm on a lake instead of a river because of how immensely huge the river is.
My friend, Mike, and his crazy fishing lure experiment. I didnt work. :(
Mike boat...we had to stop for a potty break.
I dont know what this plant is called but it's very cool looking. It kind of looks feathery. It grows in the shallow water near the river bank.
We stayed out on the river until about 11:45pm, then it was time to head home before it got dark. None of us caught anything, but I was just happy to be out in the sunshine. I was actually the only one who got a fish on the line, but it got away. The river got very still right before we left because of the slack tide caused by the tides changing. The sunset reflecting on the smooth water was very pretty.
The rest of the pictures speak for themselves. Have I ever mentioned that we have the most beautiful sunsets? Don't believe me? Here's proof...

Sunset over the Bethel Boat Harbor at about 12:30am.

Funny Close Up

2010-07-08T13:27:00.003-08:00

Ok...this picture has a story. We were on the cruise ship and we were just getting to the place where all the sea otters were. The pilot of the boat told everyone to be very quite because the otters are very easily scared away and will dive under the water if scared. We were floating there with all of these sea otters all around us. The boat engine had been turned way down and everyone on the boat was being completely silent, even the kids (and there were quite a few kids). Kass and I turned around to take a picture with the sea otters in the background, so I took a picture at arms length. When I turned the screen of the camera around, we busted up laughing when we saw this picture because I had forgotten that I had used the zoom to take pictures of the otters. When we started laughing, many of the people around us gave us dirty looks because they didnt want us to scare off the otters. I can understand that and we didnt mean to laugh, it just happened because the picture was so darn funny. It even makes me laugh now looking at it...Kass, your face is so scrunched up :)

11 done, 19 to go

2010-07-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

We went on a day cruise around Prince William Sound. It was all beautiful, but when we went through this section with glaciers all around, there was something majestic about it. Or maybe it was just the cold. It did get noticably colder when we were closer to the glacier.
The glacier that we got the closest to was called Surprise Glacier. It is a tide water glacier, which just means that it comes all the way out to the sea. The blue color is caused by the color being refracted from the layers of ice. It looks like someone sprayed it with blue food coloring.
There were chunks of ice floating all around the boat. Some were hitting the side of the boat pretty hard. While we were there, a few very small pieces of the glacier calved. It did make a very loud cracking and booming sound..
The cruise boat people netted a piece of glacier ice out of the water for us to look at and touch. Therefore, number 3 on the birthday list (which is technically from the last birthday list) is finally finished. I touched a (piece of) a glacier. And dont I look happy doing it?If you ever get a chance, you should definitely go on this day cruise. It was alot of fun and very well put on. The staff were very nice, helpful, and knowledgable. It was also fairly inexpensive. And it left out of Whittier, which was a little town that I enjoyed very much.

Maybe when I'm in Juneau I'll actually get a chance to walk right up and touch a whole huge entire glacier. We'll see.

I knew this would happen...

2010-07-05T14:08:00.002-08:00

Well, I've uploaded all of my vacation pics to facebook. You think I want to spend the time to upload them again here? NO! Facebook tells me that you can use this link to see all of the pictures even if you are not on facebook. I'm not sure if it will work or not. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

We had a really great time on our trip, but it seems as though it was mostly defined by the strange people that we encountered along the way. Let's see how many I can remember and hopefully Kassia will fill in anyone that I miss.

The hotel receptionist who told us to take the "covered stairs" down to the train station from the hotel when there was a little side street that led right down to the station. Couldn't she see we were both carrying huge pieces of luggage? Glad we didnt follow her instructions.
The loud, obnoxious family with the loud obnoxious kids who sat RIGHT NEXT TO US on the nearly 8 hour train ride up to Denali National Park.
The actress in the Cabin Nite Dinner Theatre who nearly cried through the whole thing. Everytime they sang a song, she had tears in her eyes.
The red headed guy at the front desk of the resort that didnt know any of the answers to any of my questions, but tried real hard to make up some stuff that sounded good. And he just had this freaky smile on his face the whole time.
The lady on our rafting trip that was OBSESSED with taking pictures of the whole family. She kept switching places with people to get new "angles" and she kept asking the raft guide to let her know when there was going to be a big splash....like he could really predict the waves, lady.
The hostess at the restaurant who took us to our table who had a fading black eye, looked like she was about to burst into tears, and told us that she was having a rough day.
The saleswoman at the Alaskan Bowl Company who was obnoxious and annoying and just a little miss know-it-all. When I told her I lived in Bethel, she started going on and on about the town. When I asked her if she had ever been there, her response was, "Well, no, but I know people who have." Shut up then.
The same loud obnoxious family and their loud obnoxious kids on the nearly 8 hour train ride back to Anchorage. You've got to be kidding me!!! This time we didnt bite our tongues...we let them know that they were being disruptive. And it was better, but not much.
The young girl who worked on the cruise boat who, when I asked if the boat had and upstairs, said no. Then a few sentences further into the conversation told us that once the ship got moving we would be free to walk around upstairs if we wanted. Uggg.
The guy at the dance club who looked like a serial killer with his eyes buggin' out of his head. He kept staring at the music videos on the screen while he was dancing like the whole sea of people standing in between didnt even exist.
The chic in the bathroom that got rude and snotty with Kass. She was wearing a boot on her foot as if it were broken. Why would you start shit with someone when you have no means of backing it up?
The hostess at the fancy steakhouse who was wearing a skimpy little black dress that was barely containing her breasts. My God, this is a eating establishment, put some clothes on.
The Lowe's employee who tried to give me his employee discount because he wanted my phone number, then walked away all sad when i told him that I didnt even live there. Awwwww. The funniest part was when he asked if he could help me and I asked, "why, do you know something about hose?" Then I started laughing and he didnt even notice.

And to top off all the crazy people...
The guy who almost jumped off the roof of the parking garage next door to our hotel. I heard yelling outside and looked out of the window to see a man hanging onto the railing of the roof across the street. We called 911 and the cops came about 3 mintues later. After that, it was about 10 minutes before he finally climbed back over the railing. There were a few times when it looked like he was really going to jump. It was intense!

Train to Denali

2010-07-01T21:49:00.006-08:00

Pictures speak a thousand words, right? Good, cause that's all you're getting. No time for typing right now.

Denali, here I come!

2010-06-27T00:29:00.002-08:00

Tonight I'll be getting on an airplane headed to Anchorage. Tomorrow I'll be on a train riding up to Denali National Park. My friend, Kassia, and I are staying two nights at a lodge just outside the park (there is no lodging in the park). I was reading in a guide book that Mt. McKinley is only visible about 25% of the time during the summer. Here's hoping that Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday fall into that 25%. I would love to see the 20,000+ peak, North America's tallest mountain!

10 done, 20 to go

2010-06-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, I spent the day out on the river fishing. We used a net to catch 15 salmon. We were only out on the river for a couple of hours. It was a fifty foot net which is actually pretty small for around here. Most serious subsistance fishermen around here use a 150 foot net.
Even with our little 50 footer, we already had a fish in the net before the whole thing was even all the way out. Getting the fish out of the net was the hardest part, but we got the hang of it pretty quickly.
I also got to learn how to gut the fish. We gutted them right there on the boat and dropped the heads and guts right into the water. It made for pretty easy cleanin'.
Back at a friends house, I learned how to filet the fishes. We had a nice huge stack of filets before it was all over. I really sucked at cutting them, but I got better as I went along. Cutting the first side is much easier than cutting the second side.

Then, I went home and cooked up one of those fine filets for dinner that night. All in all, it took about 7 hours from river to mouth.
Number 16 on the birthday list is complete. Filet, cook, and eat a salmon that I caught...done!

It was a beautiful day out on the river. Sunshine, 65 degrees, no bugs, no wind...it was perfect!

It's fun to watch and wait for the top of the net to bob. Or like in the video above when a fish gets caught near the top of the net and flops wildly all around.

Good fun!

After all the crappy weather we had last week, now...

2010-06-21T16:52:00.001-08:00

	Record Report
Statement as of 4:10 PM AKDT on June 21, 2010 ... New record high temperature for toady... just after 4 PM today the temperature in Bethel hit a record 75. This reading breaks the previous record 74 set in 1957.