Really amazing, beautiful, warm, sunny days

We have had a string of really amazing, beautiful, warm, sunny days lately. Saturday and Sunday this weekend were both wonderful days. Saturday it was almost 70 degrees and sunny enough for avery to wear shorts and me to sweat while wearing a sweatshirt. Last weekend we also had one or two of these really nice days. At this time of year, the nice days dont really come around all that often. We are in the middle of the rainy season. It has rained almost everyday for 2-3 weeks now, except, of course the few days in between that have been really amazing, beautiful, warm, sunny days. I took advantage of one of the nice days last weekend to go for a walk out in the tundra to see if I could find either some blueberries hanging on or some cranberries that were ripe. See the little hill off in the distance of the picture above?
I've always wanted to walk out there to see if you could see anything from the top on the other side. These pictures are from my walk. I saw this 4 wheeler coming back up the trail presumably after dropping off the two berry pickers that were way out in the tundra on the other side of the hill.
The tundra is full of fall colors right now and is very beautiful. It is also very marshy and muddy because we've had alot of rain lately. After wading through the soft tundra, I got the the little hill and followed the little trail up. I THINK this trail actually leads to a village called Atmautluak (at-mouth-luck) (that's a rough pronunciation, but better than nothing, right).
Below is the trail leading down the other side of the little hill. You can see that the landscape on the other side of the hill is pretty much the same as the rest of the tundra. There are actually two berry pickers out there somewhere in that picture.These next few shots are just pictures of the various tundra plants. It always amazes me when I walk through the tundra that it is so colorful and there are so many different kinds of plants that I'm sure I've never seen anywhere else.
This one I know is tundra tea. I dont know what the name of the plant really is, but the native people brew it up for tea and it is actually pretty good. I made a big batch of tea with it last year.
This white stuff looks like what imagine a plants skeleton would look like if plants had skeletons. It is hard and crunchy. I have no idea what it is.
Here is a variety of various plants which are all different and unique and not like anything I've seen anywhere else. See the black wispy looking stuff? I think it looks cool.
Below is the last of the blueberries hanging on. I love the way the blueberry bushes turn colors in the fall. The leaves even turn blue sometimes.
There are hundreds of different types of grasses out on the tundra. This one is interesting because it looks like the hair of a little tundra gnome that you could pull up from its resting spot by its hair. Can you tell how boring it gets here sometimes?
I took these sunrise pictures a few mornings ago. Every year we have a couple of really amazing sunrises.
I love the colors and the mountains in the distance. Of course, the pictures do it no justice.
The people have an amazing garden. When I walked by I asked the gardener what he does with all of his vegetables. He said he gives them away. That's nice of him.
One more pic of the tundra turning colors. It really is quite beautiful, but it will all be covered in snow before ya know it.
This is looking in the direction of my house. The blue building on the left is BABS (Bethel Alternative Boarding School) and the tan building on the right is my apartments. See the pretty little pond? I wish I actually had a view of it. I dont...my apt is stuck in the middle of the apartments. All I see out of my windows is my neighbors.
In other news...
It looks like we are in for another beautiful day, which is good because I'm flying today. Yep, that's right! I'm going out to one of the villages for the inservice training tomorrow. I get to take my first bush plane out to a village on the coast of the Bering Sea. Of course, I'll take my camera and take lots of pictures and tell you all about it later. I'm excited! I leave in a few hours.

I did end up making peach jam the other night and it turned out really good.

I am making good progress on the birthday list. In fact, I have completed a few things that I havent gotten a chance to write about yet, but I will do that soon.

I've lost another notch in my belt and 3 more pounds. I am hoping to have met Number 5 on my birthday list by the end of this month. I only have about 7 pounds to go.

The days are warm and the nights are cool, which makes for some pretty thick fog these days. I hope I dont end up getting stuck out in the village.

Taboo has been feeling better these last few days. I ended up having to call the vet and get him some medicine. The doctor gave him an antibiotic and something for diarrhea.

When I got those salmon last weekend fishing with the Scout master, I also got some salmon eggs. Since I tried that salmon egg salad a couple weeks ago and had the opportunity to get some salmon eggs last weekend, I decided to keep them and try my hand at making salmon egg salad.

Gotta run...my flight for Quinhagak (quin-a-hawk) leaves in about 3 hours.

Blueberry Jam

Number 25 on the Birthday list is complete. I made blueberry jam last night using the berries that I've picked over the last few weeks. I had to use them all to get enough for the recipe. Luckily, I had just enough so that I did not have to use any of the frozen store bought ones. The process was easier that I had thought it would be and didnt really even take that long. I followed the instructions on the box of pectin that I bought at the store. The only ingredients necessary were the berries, the pectin, and some sugar. I got canning jars and a big stock pot to boil them from a friend (thanks, Sheila). Since I used up all of my blueberries, I had to go out today and pick some more. Sheila took me to an awesome blueberry picking spot and I was able to pick enough to replace pretty much the same amount that I had used for my jam. Four cups of smashed berries made three big jars of jam, plus a little bit extra. It turned out really yummy. I had it for breakfast this morning on some toast.I stained my counter and a couple of kitchen towels in the process of making my jam, but I think it was worth it. I got a bunch of peaches in my full circle farms box this week, so I think tonight I'm going to make some peach jam. I'm going to try to find some smaller canning jars though so I can send some out to friends as gifts!

Camping at Fish Camp

Avery's Boy Scout troop went camping Saturday and invited me to go along with them. Originally, I had said no because I went with them last time and because I was looking forward to some quiet time alone. Then, I went to pick up one of the other boys to give him and his dad a ride to the boat harbor. His mom asked me if the 'moms' were allowed to go and said that she would like to go. So I decided to go with her. With all the boys and all the gear, we needed two boats to take two trips in order to get everything out to the campsite. It was an absolutely glorious day and the short boat ride to fish camp was pleasant.
That boat is full of Scouts and you can see the oil tanks that store all of the gas that we need for the winter. On the way upriver, we passed through a slough that I had never been up before. It was like a graveyard for old barges and tugboats. There had to have been about 15 as far as I could see and one of the guys was saying that there were plenty more back in the trees and some that were completely submerged by now. They were also saying that some of them date back to the 1800's. I just thought it was kind of cool, but kind of eery how they were all lined up along the banks, skeletons of the sea.They had a garden that they had started out at their fishcamp, but it needed some tending. It definitely had potential. I thought I saw some rhubarb in there and I got all excited, but it turned out to be something else. I have been having a craving for rhubarb. Not sure why. I think I'll get some and make some jam with it or some rhubarb crumble or something.
This is the boat that we rode up there and the beach that I collected my fourth jar of sand for Number 22 on the Birthday List. Beautiful scenery, eh? It's really nice to get outside of Bethel were to there are trees all around. It's one of the things that I miss living here. Trees.
I took a long walk up the beach with the other scout mom and even did some yoga on the beach. It was a beautiful day and even though yoga is not much of a workout, at least it's something and I felt calmer afterward. It was kind weird doing yoga in boots though.
This is the direction that we walked down the beach. You can see our footprints and by the time we turned around and headed back, one set of prints was already covered with water because of the rising tide.
The boys hangin' around camp. There were a total of 17 boys and 6 adults. Quite a group. The is the fishcamp of one of the scout masters. A couple of other visitors showed up for a little while including the daughter of one of the scouts masters who ended up sleeping in the girls tent with me and the other scout mom. I showed her some of my yoga moves.
One of the Scout masters and some of the boys workin' on their requirements.
Lined up to work on water rescue using a rope.
The boys learned how to tie the correct knot and then through the rope out like a lasso to a person who has fallen off of a boat. They had some fun seeing if they could drag each other "into the boat" (they were practicing on land).
Avery's turn to be pulled in and saved from drowing.

They fish camp across the river.Me lounging in the sun. It was really warm that day...probably around 55degrees.
One of the Scout masters offered to take a few of us out on the boat for some drift net fishing since some of us had never been out fishing before.
The family dog chased the boat part of the way down the beach. She was cute.
Here's the drift net out in the water. I was surprised how big it was. I had never done this before. I am happy that I finally got a chance to go out fishing. It would be a shame to have lived in Alaska and never have gone salmon fishing.
And we actually caught one...
And we actually caught two...
Catching two was pretty good because the salmon are at the end of there run and we talked to a couple of other people out on the river that day that hadnt caught any. Two nice pretty Coho or Silver salmon.
Here's our fish camp host teaching us how to filet a salmon.
We ended up throwing two filets on the grill for dinner that night and I got to take the other two home with me. I cooked them up the next day and had some friends over for dinner.
That night, one of the Scout dads decided he wanted to burn the brush pile out by the river. It went up in a blaze that amazed everybody. The burning leaves were flying off and floating into the sky. It was very pretty, but maybe a bit dangerous for the surrounding wilderness.
Luckily it had been raining for about a week straight before that so there wasnt much chance of fire. And the fire chief is one of the Scouts dads, so I'm sure he could have directed us in putting it out if we needed to.
It was a pretty big fire and kept the boys entertained for about an hour.
Then they decided to camouflage with tree limbs and go run around in the woods playing some game or another. It sounded like they had a good time. They adults sat around the camp fire and had some nice adult conversation.
It was a bit dreary the next morning. Here we are cooking up our breakfast...eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes. I had a yogurt.
Getting the morning campfire going...
This is what 20 scouts eating breakfast looks like.
And then it was time to go...

I headed home around 11am with the first boatload of people. The rest of the Scouts hung out there all day working on merit badge stuff. Avery got home that afternoon around 4pm. It sounded like they had a good time. We all did!

It's something

I received this by email this morning...

NEA’s Health Information Network has teamed up with The Clorox Company to ensure educators are prepared to combat the spread of the H1N1 virus in America’s public schools. Starting Sept. 2 through Sept. 5, 2009, educators nationwide can visit [ http://www.cloroxclassrooms.com/ ]www.CloroxClassrooms.com and get a free coupon for Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes, while supplies last. For more information on how to maintain a healthy classroom visit - [ http://www.nea.org/home/32002.htm ]www.nea.org/home/32002.htm.

Open to parents and teachers.

It says my coupon should be here in a week. We'll see if the local store who's prices are at least double of the usual will accept it.

15% is all it takes...swine flu rant

We've reached 15% absenteeism which requires us to report it to the district as per the new swine flu safety guidelines. We've been directed to sanitize everything as often as possible. Although there definitely are some cases of swine flu around town, it is hard to tell why kids are absent right now. The state fair is going on in Anchorage and moose hunting season opened yesterday for the first time in 5 years (there was a 5 year moratorium to allow the moose population around Bethel to grow). I would wager that there are more kids absent due to moose hunting than swine flu, but we still have to report it.

Here are some of the things that the CDC is saying about swine flu...

• Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) were highest in February during the 2008-09 flu season, but rose again in April 2009 after the new H1N1 virus emerged. Current visits to doctors for influenza-like illness are down from April, but are higher than what is expected in the summer and has increased over the last two weeks.
• Total influenza hospitalization rates for adults and children are similar to or lower than seasonal influenza hospitalization rates depending on age group.
• The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was low and within the bounds of what is expected in the summer.
• Most state health officials are reporting regional or sporadic influenza activity. Two states (Alaska and Georgia) and Puerto Rico are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. Any reports of widespread influenza activity in August are very unusual.
• Almost all of the influenza viruses identified were the new 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses. These 2009 H1N1 viruses remain similar to the viruses chosen for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine and remain susceptible to antiviral drugs (oseltamivir and zanamivir) with rare exception.

Speaking of swine flu.....I'm soooooooooo sick of all the hype. It's just the flu! JUST THE FLU! The flu virus changes EVERY year. That's why we have to have a new version of the flu shot every year. More people die every year from the regular flu than have died from the swine flu, but we dont have press releases and flu safety guidelines for the regular flu.

The thing that bogles my mind the most is the people who are in a big fuss over the swine flu, but will STILL sit there and say that they dont believe in evolution. The swine flu IS MODERN DAY EVOLUTION IN ACTION. If you dont believe in evolution then you cant believe in the swine flu.

Which then leads me to say the this whole idea of "believing in" evolution is ridiculous too. Evolution is not a belief system. It is a scientific process that can be observed and tested. Saying you dont "believe in" evolution would be like saying you dont "believe in" gravity. You can't see gravity or physically hold it in your hand and yet we all know that it exists. It is not a belief system, it is a testable scientific theory. So is evolution!

Also, since people always want to bring the topic of evolution around to monkeys, let me just say that there is NO SCIENTIST ANYWHERE that says that humans evolved from monkeys. That is NOT what evolution says. People in general have a HUGE misconception that according to evolution, humans evolved from monkeys. THIS IS NOT TRUE! What evolution DOES say is that monkeys and humans shared a common ancestor. My advice to people who still think that evolution says humans evolved from monkeys is to go out an learn what evolution really is and what evolution really says, because it seems to me that most people who dont "believe in" evolution dont really know much about it.

Another thing that evolution DOES NOT say is that God did not create everything. Science doesnt address "who" made living things, it only addresses HOW. There really is no conflict between science and religion (unless you view the Bible as being a literal account of fact). Evolution fits nicely with the idea of creation if you just take the time to learn about it.

I could go on and on about this topic. I would have liked to dedicate an entire post to this issue, but I havent gotten around to it and now is as good a time as any.

My old dog

We dont feed Taboo many table foods, but popcorn is one exception. He LOVES popcorn. It all started with feeding him the couple of random burnt ones in each bag and now he comes to expect that we share our popcorn with him.

You know your dog is getting old when he started pooping his pants! Today when we got home from school, he had had diarrhea in his cage. It was really awful and it was EVERYWHERE. I still havent gotten up the courage to clean the cage yet, but Avery bathed the dog and I bathed the dog blankets. It was all very gross. I am beginning to wonder if he is going to be having trouble controlling his bladder/sphincter in his old age. I am seeing a day on the horizon where I might have to put him down and it makes me sad. He'll be 12 soon and his age is really showing. Not to mention that he continues to get more and more crotchety in his old age. He barks at the neighbors all the time now whenever he is out on his chain. It really is just kind of a hassle anymore to have him, but he is such a huge part of our little family that I cant stand the thought of NOT having him around. Any advice from people who have dealt with having an aging dog?

In other news...
I went out camping with the Scouts at the last minute this weekend. I got to go fishing for the first time and caught two salmon. I have pictures and more to come once I get some time to sit and write about it. I cooked up the fresh salmon yesterday and had a few friends over. It was great!

I was told today that I am going to be going to some SIOP training on Friday and will be have a sub in my room so that I can miss the day. I am happy to get some more SIOP training, but not too thrilled about being told 4 days before it is happening. Now I will have to change my lesson plans to prepare for a sub. I was also informed that I will be helping with the district wide SIOP training for our sight (BRHS) on Tuesday. Lots to get ready for.

By having Avery as a student, I am seeing even more what a great kid he is and how intelligent he is. He really picks up on things easily and then once he has it he retains the information. So far he is a great student in my class and is doing very well in his other classes.

It has been cold, rainy, and dreary these last few days. It got down to 34 degrees F a couple of mornings ago. The wind has been pretty persistent. I am anxious to see what this winter has in store for us. The last two winters have been so different from each other. I hope we get lots of snow because it sounds like the shop boys are going to be fixing my snow machine after all.

Thank goodness this weekend is a three day weekend. I need to catch up already. There is just always so much to do. I know there were other things that I wanted to say, but it really is time for bed already.

I cant believe it's September. How does it go so fast?

My new camera

I got my new camera in the mail yesterday. YAY! It's a canon sx110. I love it already. Except for the flash takes forever to recharge(4-5 seconds) and you cant do anything while the flash is recharging. Here are a few shots I took just fooling around with it yesterday...
It's got 10X optical zoom, which basically means it can zoom right up on stuff. it works really well. This is a picture that I took of Avery's room while sitting on the couch in the living room. See the books on Avery's bookshelf?
Here is how close I was able to zoom up on those books. I tried a couple more later and got them to turn out more clear. Great zooming capabilities though, eh? I do feel like I have improved my photography skills over the summer. I spend alot of time using my old camera to take pics of fireworks, which is the area that I wanted to improve. I got alot of great shots. My new camera is pretty much the same as my old camera, except better so I feel pretty comfortable that the new skills will transfer over to the new camera. Not to mention that I am going to read the owners manual for the new camera and learn how to do more with it. I am looking forward to playing around with it and taking some really great pictures. Number 21...check!I have FINALLY finished the book that I've been reading for the months of June, July, and August. I had read a different book during June and another during July, which I will count as my June (a Jeffery Archer book that I wrote about here) and July book(called The Wednesday Letters) for Number 2 on the birthday list. This one will count as the August book. I figured since I live in Alaska, I should read Micheners book entitled Alaska. I had enjoyed Hawaii so much that I started this one without thinking twice.
I really enjoyed the book. It was a great read, but next time I pick up a Michener book, I will not do so lightly. Over 1000 pages and three months later, now I can read other things. First and foremost, I will be reading a book that was written by a friend of mine from when I was younger. I cant wait to read it! I'm so excited and proud of him for accomplishing the goal/dream that he made for himself of writing a book. I'll share more about it once I've read it and have his permission to write about it online. He is in the process of finding a publisher now, so I dont want to do/say anything on here that would interfere with that process.
You can see how beat up my Michener book is...I've been dragging it around everywhere I went for the last three months. Now it can take its place back up on the book shelf.

In other news...
meatless monday is back. We had grilled cheeses and tomato soup for dinner on Monday night.

I'm making pretty good progress on my birthday list. Hopefully I'll be making it out of Bethel and cross off several during Christmas break. If I cant get out of town, I might end of with alot of things not done on the list. Either way, it's been fun. And I've still got 5 months to go.

My neighbor has two very overweigh little kids who run and stomp like crazy all day, everyday. They stay up late every night. I have noticed it every day/night that we've been here, but last night it got so bad that I actually had to go over there and ask them to be quiet. It was 11pm and they were stomping so hard that the whole house was rocking and swaying and the shelves and lampshades were rattling. Annoying!

It is a beautiful day out today. 60degrees right now and sunny, which is wonderful considering that it was 40 and really frickin' cold this morning. I was shivering. Now that first frost is past, hopefully I'll get some cranberries this weekend. Although the person who said they would take me cranberry picking to teach me how to do it is sick. Alot of people have been sick lately. Teachers and students alike. Even Avery wasnt feeling good last week. So far, so good for me.

I watched my first football game last night. I love football season! There's a game on right now, so I'm going home! Later. Have a supertastic weekend!

Salmon eggs for dinner

Tonight I attended a chili and corn bread benefit dinner. In addition to the various assortment of chili and cornbread, there was also(in classic Alaska style) some salmon and some salmon egg salad. I've never tried salmon eggs before, so I took the plunge and shoveled a spoonful into my mouth. Contrary to what you might think (and to what I was thinking), they were quite good. They tasted just like salmon itself, but with a completely different texture. They werent squishy at all, which was what I was expecting. They had the texture of beans. Maybe like slightly undercooked baked beans. They were firm and waxy around the outside. It was interesting, but good. The salad part was quite spicy with cucumbers, some herbs, onions, and some kind of creamy white sauce. Surprisingly tasty!

I've been meaning to blog these last few days, but have been super busy and just not in the mood. Not sure why. Second week of school and things are going very well. I enjoy teaching so much. I've got the next few weeks planned out already and it makes me feel good to know that I have prepared good lessons for my students' learning.

A couple of events passed that I would normally have mentioned....First, my blogs bday passed on the 15th of August. I've been blogging now for two years. It has been fun and interesting to keep a record of my Alaskan adventure. Not to mention, that during the long, cold, dark winters my blog has saved my sanity on more than one occasion. Thanks to all of my readers for sticking with me. Now that I'm back in Alaska, my comment rate has gone back up again. Also, I wrote my 500th post not too long ago (this post is 503). I cant believe I've written so much on here. If you have a chance to go back, read some of the posts from my first year in Alaska. There sure are some interesting stories!
I think Taboo is rebelling. He has been being bad lately and just really whiney and annoying. I dont think he's happy to be back.

Avery started Boy Scouts back up tonight. They are out right now collecting trash from around the local park area as a part of their community service project.

I finally got my camera ordered. It should be here soon. I cant wait until it gets here...writing on the blog is just not as much fun without pictures to go with stuff. There are so many blogs that I've wanted to write, but didnt because I couldnt put up pictures to go with it.

We had the first frost this morning. It was so thick, we had to scrap the windows on the truck. Now it's cranberry picking season. Last time we were out berry picking there were alot of cranberries, but I didnt pick them because everyone says to wait until first frost to get them. People say they taste better after first frost. I've never picked cranberries before, but I'm going to try to this year.

Today was picture day at school already. Avery wore a nice white collared shirt with blue strips. He looked very handsome. He's doing well in school already. He's taking Algebra this year with the high school kids, so hopefully that will go well. Although, his science teacher told me that he was nodding off in class the other day :) He has been staying up late reading lately. I have a hard time telling him to quit reading to go to bed. And he is getting to that age where his natural clock keeps him up later and doesnt require quite as much sleep. I will be getting on him to get to bed a bit earlier tonight though. He is also going to be playing the trumpet in band this year rather than the sax. He asked me today if we could go to school early on Friday so that he can attend a private trumpet lesson with his band teacher. He is really looking forward to wrestling season starting. He will have a new wrestling coach this year so we'll see how that goes. I think he's hoping to add quite a few more medals to his collection.

Well, I think that's it for now. I'm going to do some reading a probably fall asleep on the couch. Good night!

20 out of 30 ain't bad!

I have officially lost 20 pounds now! YAY! My graph on the Wii fit just keeps going down, down, down. I am really feeling the difference in my clothes. Everything is too big. I can't even wear the belts that I was wearing during summer because they are too big now. I am back into my smaller belts. I am down 5 belt loops now! I have been making losing weight a priority and it has been paying off. I have no doubt that I'll meet my Birthday list goal Number 5, which is to lose 30 pounds. Right now, I'm planning on meeting that goal within the next month or two, so by my birthday I should be down even more than 30. AWESOME! Everyday when I get on the Wii, I weigh a little less than the day before. Seeing that graph dip down is sooooo motivating!

In other news...
Number 6 on the list is also complete. I finished updating my photo albums and then left them in Ohio at the end of summer, rather than dragging them back here. Although now I kind of wish I would have brought this year's book at least so I could keep working on it as the year goes on.

It was cold enough to turn on the heat today. Blah...

Have you heard the Jack Johnson song 'Banana Pancakes'? If not, you should check it out. Good song. Great artist. My cousins got me into him this summer and I just bought his full album the other day. I've been listening to it alot these last few days, so I decided to make banana pancakes for lunch today. Yum!

Still no camera. I've picked out the one that I want, now I just need to figure out how to get it shipped here. That is one of the hassles of living here...shipping can be extremely frustrating. Best buy will ship to Alaska, but the website will not accept my address when I go to checkout. I tried 20 variations of my address and none of them will work. So today I called the Best Buy in Anchorage because they have a bush order department. I placed my order, but got a call a few minutes later saying that although there should be 6 of the camera that I want in stock, they are missing. Missing! Go figure. So, she's going to try to track them down and in the meantime I'm going to try to call the main bestbuy number and see if they can figure out a way to get it to me.

The first week of school went very well. The students are always so well behaved the first week. Week 2 coming up. I've pretty much got my lesson plans done for the next two weeks and have a good idea of what I want to teach for the next 4 weeks. That makes me feel good...knowing that I'm prepared...that I've prepared good lessons for my students learning.

100 letters

Avery and I played a really great game of Scrabble the other night on his request. It always amazes me how diverse an assortment of words can come from those 100 letters. Out of all the board games in the closet (we have many), the game that he/we most frequently play is Scrabble. Even when Avery has friends over to spend the night, they usually will play a game of Scrabble. How cool is that? I think it is so cool that a 13 year old boy likes Scrabble so much.

I have a love of words. I have for a long time. I think words are cool. In fact, when we recently received our new teacher laptops that the district provided, I made my screen saver words of the day. It's AWESOME! Ever since I started playing Scrabble, I have loved it. And now I have passed on that love to Avery and that makes me happy. And proud!

Take a look at the words that we ended up with the other night. Most of them you probably know, but here are a few that you may not...
fagot:
a bundle of sticks or twigs bound together as fuel.
squib:
1 a small firework that burns with a hissing sound before exploding.
• a short piece of satirical writing.
• a short news item or filler in a newspaper.
2 a small, slight, or weak person, esp. a child.
3 Football a short kick on a kickoff.
• Baseball (also squibber) a blooper or infield grounder that becomes a base hit.
goober:
a peanut