Ah Alaska!

I'm back

2011-07-22T20:28:00.001-08:00

Hallelujah Everybody!!!

2010-12-20T16:02:00.001-09:00

Eric's new toy

2010-08-11T14:35:00.003-08:00

Meet LKSD's new Teacher-of-the-Year....T-T-T-T-t-t-t-immmyyyy Debilt our very own jedi teaching master. He recieved his award yesterday at our district wide in-service. He went white(some say green) when Eric approached the podium and announced his name. It was awesome and well deserved!! Way to go Mommy!!

News and Notes

2010-02-13T23:28:00.002-09:00

1. Tomorrow smoking salmon...jerking(haha spellchecker) caribou - Full day

2. No snow - 40 degrees today...easy to complain about the lack of snow, but too nice to sit in the house. No fish, we tried.

3. Here's a new one for you: I blew a tire on a 4-wheeler oil drain plug. It was sticking out of my back tire about 2 inches. Tim's question: Who's machine doesn't have any oil? We were 5 miles from town. Made it home fine, plug fell out after about a mile. I had just enough air to make it home. The low air pressure kept the front end of the car low to the track. Had some good handling and the bump draft with Tim was more effective. The car handled real good.

4. Ball team is still without a "w" - last chance is this weekend. If we don't chalk up a "w" then we are done. Team has already decided to go sledding, skiing, snowboarding up in the mountains. That depends on #2.

5. Store has Apple butter again. This probably deserves its own blog entry, but I'll put it here. I brought four. Two for me and one each for Tim and Eric. My apple butter memoirs: Methodist church parking lot - for what I believe was called "October fest" - homemade apple butter. Only time of year we had it. That was a long time ago. I was a very small. Probably 4'0". One more: Junior/senior year high school - lunch time - One personal microwave pizza, 1 plain bagel/butter, banana, toast/apple butter. Everyday. I was 6'2"

Hallelujah and Jesus...That's all I got.

2010-01-07T16:22:00.007-09:00

Here is a song that my 5th graders sang today in their Yupik class. They sang for 40 minutes and at the end I said, lets record that one. You know. That one. I have a limited Yupik vocabulary, so they went back and found the right one. I wanted this song, because they genuinely seemed happy to sing it and sang it louder than any other. The pictures are from last winter. Right know we have zero snow. zero.

Hallelujah Maligciqaq

(Chorus)
Hallelujah maligciqaqa Jesus tumikun
Elliin maryarciqanga (ciunerkamnun)
Ayauciqanga nunakamnun-llu-pakmavet
Hallelujah maligciqaqa Jesus

1st verse
Alainat pelluciqut mani nunami
atunqigngaunateng yani
iquani atumangailameng,
Hallelujah maligciqaqa Jesus.

(Chorus)

2nd verse
Jesus qanellruuq tumkauniluni
ilumulria yuullerkaq
kina taingaituq wangkun taugaam
Hallelujah maligciqaqa Jesus

(Chorus)

3rd verse
Jesus qanellruuq qanerluni
ataam whi taiciqua
teguyarturluki wiinga yugkanka
Hallelujah maligciqaqa Jesus.

(Chorus)

Timmy's famous!!

2010-01-02T00:07:00.002-09:00

Here is the story the Tundra Drums newspaper did on Tim. It was hilarious watching him read it for the first time last night. First, he made sure they didn't have a picture and then glared at me. lol

http://www.thetundradrums.com/article/0953village_life_attack_of_the_frozen_feces

Great title - they even linked the story on the adn.com newspaper in village section. Eric spent the day sending this link to everyone he could think of, including the superintendents. hahaa

Happy New Year - NOW DUCK AND COVER!!!

2010-01-01T00:55:00.006-09:00

Pictures from the end of Sammy's display. I missed the really good stuff.

Quinhagak rang in the new year this morning much like the rest of the world, but with its own little twist. After a few of us teachers finished watching "Public Enemy" with Johnny Depp, as John Dillenger. We stepped outside, just five minutes before the stroke of midnight. Much like the shoot em' movie we just witnessed on screen, Quin was ablaze with gunfire. I got to admit the gunfire raised the heart rate a little, because it sounded like 5 opening day deer hunts wrapped in one. I sank into the shadows and watched a most impressive fireworks display put on by the corporation store and our neighbor Sammy. Sammy owns the video store and according to reports had $4,000 of the "good stuff" as I like to call it. As a guy who blows a lot of money of the 4th, I got to say I was more than impressed. Maybe jealous?? idk. One thing the fireworks did do, was distract us from gunfire that was accompanying it. Kids kept wanting to know why aren't you shooting Jim. I didn't tell them the real reason. I was hiding. Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a great 2010!

2009-12-19T15:02:00.003-09:00

Never one to pass up a fecal story...I bring you yet another. Here are a couple of paparazzi shots of my neighbor, co-worker and probably former friend T-t-t-t-immy Debilt. What is he doing you ask? He is chipping 500...500 gallons of frozen crap.

Let me give you the backstory leading up to this very dirty job...so you know this not something he does every week. About 4 weeks ago, his family, as they do about every month, filled that tank chuck full and as they do every month, called the guy in the village that hauls over a 500 crap tank on wheels with a pump to pump Tim's tank dry. Expect this time the pump truck was broken down. A part was on order. So Tim's family would have to do like the rest of us and use a honeybucket and dump dirty wash water out on the front step.

Now, if it was anyone else, we would all have felt really bad and tried to console them. But Tim has always liked to brag about his flushing toilets (he's the only teacher with a flushing toilet). Many times flushing it just so we all remember the sound.

Now, that brings us to today. 4 weeks later, many below freezing weeks later. I will admit, I do feel bad for the guy and after today I really feel bad. Because today, Tim decided to be proactive, maybe a decision he regrets. Fearing the tank was completely frozen in a huge 500 gallon ice cube. Tim got out his trusty ice chipper and starting trying to chip out chunks of flavored ice to pull out. He had boiling water ready to aide the melting process, but as it turned out water was not needed, as about 5 inches down he broke through the crust and the unimaginably happened. Like a geyser from hell, liquid sprayed out of the newly formed hole and sprayed about 10 feet up the side of the house. You can see the water spots on that first picture. To make matters much worse, Tim was at the time on that side of the tank and he was covered. I came out to check on progress, Tim was not excited as I laughed very hard. Someday, he will find humor in this story.

***Update***

Tim got everything melted 2 days later just in time for the poop truck guy to come. The poop truck guy said that the part had not come yet, so he tried to fix the truck himself and it started right up. So...Tim got sprayed for nothing, which makes it all funnier.

***Update part 2***

The "Tundra Drums" called. They are a newspaper for out here and wanted to ask a few more questions for a story. hahaaha

River Running

2009-11-09T16:15:00.002-09:00

Remember the video camera that fell in the river and sunk. Well the camera is ruined, but the video tape was still in good shape. So I did my best and made this little video for ya's. Enjoy

A little Marvin Gaye please...

2009-10-09T19:14:00.005-08:00

Fishing is always better in the rain right? Some brave souls from Milt's class tested that theory with a trip up river this afternoon. Tim and I acted as school bus...I mean school boat drivers. First field trip I've been on with a boat. It was about 45 degrees and raining pretty hard. But we managed 5 or 6 miles up river to a good sized slough that was holding 30-40 spawning silver salmon. We caught 6 silvers ranging from red to rotting red, almost dead fish. Why you ask??

Milt has a big fish tank in his room with a compressor rigged up to keep the whole thing pretty cold. The last 4 years they have caught spawning silvers and harvested their eggs to grow in this tank. We got 2 male and 4 female salmon for today's love fest. We only used 2 males and 1 female for the harvest, but they will all be dissected on Monday by the class. If you think they go to waste after that, shame, shame. We had requests to catch more dead dying salmon for drying racks. When I got permission to publish the picture of the kids, a parent said to give her anymore salmon we catch. I can't imagine what those salmon taste like, but to each their own. hahaha

I am going to have Milt let me know when different stages of the eggs occur. I'll try to keep you all updated to the health of the fish. Last thought, if you were wondering, the surviors are released back in the river in the spring, no worse for the ware. Milt has this all ok'd with the Alaska Fish and Game and the kids just love watching the progress. Pretty cool class project.

Enjoy this little video. Put some slow music on...turn the light down low and watch the fertilization.

1st Annual Quinhagak Salmon Run 5K

2009-10-05T18:25:00.004-08:00

Last Friday Quinhagak held the 1st Annual Salmon Run 5K. Despite the weather the run came off as a success. Aproxiamaltely 100 participants finished the course in the rain with a smile on their face. In addition to fun and prizes, the race strived to bring awareness to healthy habits. Big thank you to Sherry and Rachel for organizing the event. Big thank you to Quinhagak for coming out to support the cause. Start training for next years marathon!! jk

Camera Trouble

2009-10-05T17:22:00.003-08:00

This video should be about 10 minutes longer, but we have a problem. Let me explain. Last Thursday, Quinhagak was experiencing one of its nicest days of the fall. Just gorgeous. Blue skies, warm, all you could ask for. Seeing as I don't have after-school on Thursdays, I decided it was a great day to make a video for everyone. I wanted to make a cool little video of the river and a red silver salmon. So I chronicled the whole nine yards. Emptying the 4-wheeler, loading the boat, bailing the boat, starting the boat, all things boat. Things were going very smoothly. I headed up river with the camera perched on a tripod filming the river as I headed up. I got tremendous, smooth video. I caught a fish, landed the fish. Filmed some underwater footage (which is above) and headed down river. I was super stoked to show everyone. Now, I should have packed up the camera and called it a day, but I thought some video of the boat riding downriver into the sun would be pretty sweet, so I left it up. About 5 bends down the river, I don't know what happened, but the tripod starting tipping and rocking back and forth. I tried to slow down, but it was too late. The whole kit fell into to river, and sank in slow motion.

I then spent about 45 minutes trying to fish the thing out of about 6 feet of water. I tried the oar, anchor, fishing from the bank, a huge stick, nothing was getting close. The current was pretty strong and I just couldn't keep the boat, retrieval device, and tripod in the same spot. Very frustrating. I knew the camera was shot, but I really wanted the tripod/ball back, so I kept trying. Finally, I hooked one of the legs with a fishing rod. I pulled the kit up and in the meantime, broke my fishing pole. haha. All I can do now is laugh. Worst trip of the year, but I got to get back on the horse. Hopefully this weekend will be dry, for a long trip up to the mountains. No need for condolences, I'm over it, please just enjoy my misery :-)

Last Weekend of September

2009-09-27T22:04:00.004-08:00

The month of September ended in a good way. Steph and I made our way up the river for a night of camping. I doubled my personal mile best driving the boat. Pushing my self, Steph and the dogs up about 10 miles. No bottom dragging (the boat - not the dogs). The only mistake of the night was my forgetting the stove. So no Mountain House, only jerky and granola bars. It got pretty cold, my guess would be around 25. In the morning while packing, the snow actually started falling. The dogs were wet and shaking in the tent. They were a pretty sad sight. We didn't have any animal encounters, but Steph swears she heard hooves on the rocks around 3 in the morning. Moose?? There was huge beaver lodge on the opposite bank of the river and they sounded exactly like someone was throwing big rocks in the water when they slapped there tails. At first, I honestly thought someone was messing with us. But, you then quickly realize you are in the middle of nowhere, no stretch.

This morning then, Eric and I got up at dawn and made our way back up a mile or so higher than the place we camped (another personal best). We glassed for caribou or moose and then floated down with the boat real quite like, calling for moose. The moose season ends on Wednesday, so this was kind of a last chance day trip. We saw a few sets of cow tracks, but didn't see anything. They are in there though. Maybe a evening hunt is in store. Bear sign was everywhere. Really surprised we didn't see bear with all the sign. Sitting in some of these amazing places though, waiting for a big bull to show, I am constantly in awe. We feel blessed to be here and hope to stay a while.

Beautiful Fall Day

2009-09-23T21:29:00.001-08:00

Goodbye Fall

2009-09-22T19:24:00.002-08:00

That was quick. Wore the down coat this morning for the first time this fall. Tonight it's suppose to get down to 29 degrees. At least the bugs will be gone.

2009-09-20T18:34:00.002-08:00

I took the boat out 2 times this weekend. No motor or boat issues, so it was a good weekend. Feeling more comfortable with the river. Gonna try going up a little higher this week. Maybe in a week or two, I'll try to follow someone up to the mountains. Here are a couple of shots for ya's.

Oops

2009-09-18T21:42:00.004-08:00

A gas barge ran a muck here in the river. Actually about 100 yards into the river. They have to a make a right turn up the old channel to the loading dock and it looks like it got stuck making that turn. No real worries though, as things are pretty muddy down there. No big rocks or anything. I noticed it a couple of days ago and yesterday the coast guard flew right over the school. The kids thought a plane was hitting the school, they must have been pretty low. Well tonight the Anchorage Daily News was running a story about it. Read about it here.
http://www.adn.com/rural/western/story/940335.html

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner...Jerky

2009-09-18T21:30:00.002-08:00

I turned down a moose hunt to finish this batch. Actually, I had to do it, the meat can't sit in the frig forever. Tim asked if I wanted to spend the night in the refuge, so we could do a few floats in the morning. One never knows, moose/grizzly are usually sticking close the river. Quiet floats are sometimes a great approach.

Turns out Tim decided not to go. He came over to watch the game and eat jerky. haha

Boat is a GO

2009-09-17T22:42:00.003-08:00

Look out rainbows (fish that is). The boat is setup properly and ready to hunt/fish. Bought time Jim.

I spent about an hour trying to move the stupid thing about 6 feet this afternoon, after someone (alaska west/random floaters) pulled my boat completely out of the water and then didn't push it back in for me. The sally I am, couldn't move that thing much at all. I had to use the winch and reverse on the 4-wheeler to get it half way. Then some locals gave me a hand. Thanks fellas. Going downstream feels really fast.

Wet waders and decoys

2009-09-17T21:55:00.003-08:00

For the last 4 years I have been saying, "Decoys would really work out here, I mean no one is using them, they have to work". So...I finally bought a few and have been hitting the ponds with the ol' 2 shot. The fellas and I have probably gone 7-8 times and done alright. There is not much to hide behind out on the tundra or the edge of the lakes, but we have manage to decoy a few in. Alot of birds have come in locked up to see us and flare. I let the guy at the store, talk me into 2 3/4 shells over 3 inchers and still haven't used up the 2 3/4's because not much has fallen from the sky with those. A lot of shots over 30 yards and that small of shell/shot is probably just tickling them. If you would like to go, come on up.

Berries - Lots of Berries

2009-09-09T23:24:00.002-08:00

Steph wants me to blog about all the berries she has picked. She is very proud of them all and neatly puts them in gallon bags and then into freezer. She slaps my hand when I try to take just one blueberry. Pictured: Cranberries. Nice job Steph...now make something with them.

News and Notes

2009-09-09T22:01:00.003-08:00

1. Silvers are almost done. They are getting pretty reddish out there. Haven't fished for them in while. The freezer is half fish, so that should do. "Trouts" as they are called are next. For a hilarious fishing video watch Rachel's video on her great blog. http://alaskaatlast-rach.blogspot.com/

2. Our good boss, Eric got all of us Lil-Stankers. That's what they are called. They are for sucking the life and smell out of the honeybucket. Work pretty well. Just don't take too long or the vacuum created might leave a hickey on your butt.

3. The 4-wheel trailer is 98% repaired. Only took me a few months. lol. Eric helped me fix the flats on two wheels tonight. A first for me by the way. I have grease in my fingernails. All we needed was a little slicky-slick (soap) as Alexie so hilariously pointed out. We had lots of opinions on what we were doing wrong. Soap was in the majority, so we got out the slicky-slick.

4. School Story:
Note: Little old, but pretty funny.

This year the district flipped the bill to have all the teachers come to Bethel for inservices. Quinhagak had 16 teachers and Eric in attendance. We got the schedule opening night and to Eric's surprise he had talk about SIOP(school thing...it's complicated), we are all newbies at this thing so he was mad scrambling to put something together. In addition, it was his first official meeting of the year. We have 3 new teachers...so he wanted to impress. Naturally. What he didn't anticipate was we are all jerks. That morning I threw out the idea to give Eric the silent treatment at the meeting(I'm must be getting comfortable). To my surprise everyone was on board. Like, over the top on board. It was good to see. Quality staff. To me, it shows our adoration for our leader. So that afternoon, Eric was the last to arrive. Big mistake. We quickly finalized our plan and put our game faces on. We just stared off into space, looked at the floor, or looked the other way...while Eric came in and asked how the day was going. He mentioned we looked tired and said lets take a 5 minute break. We sat quiet. He wrote some things on the board and then again commented that we looked tried. We sat quiet, 16 strong. He tried to get us to take a break, but no one moved. So then he just started the meeting. He was obviously getting flustered that no was paying any attention or offering anything. Finally, Tim had to tell him, it was getting painful. He was not happy, but we were laughing so hard, all of us, that he quickly found the humor. Eric is very good at that. In all seriousness though, we have a tremendous staff. I don't want to say "best in the district" (I don't know who all reads this), but it may have been mentioned. We have a great time together. One big family. I have been around just long enough to know how unique this thing is.

Good technique Eric!

Bluegrass!!

2009-08-31T20:15:00.005-08:00

JT and I got in a little practice last week, just in time to perform at church. Unfortunately, his grandpa had passed away and he asked if a couple of us could play at the memorial service. I have had that mandolin for about a month and was trying to look up chords. Mac played guitar and sang, Rachel sang, and JT and I provided some foot-stomping. We played "I'll Fly Away". Folks at church seemed pleased we came and invited us to play in the future.

I hope to mix some guitar and mandolin together to use with videos in the future. So stay tuned.

Saturday Night in Quinhagak

2009-08-15T21:59:00.005-08:00

Rachel, Steph and I went out for a night on the town and river. After Steph caught a rainbow and declared herself a master fisherwoman, I took the night off to learn from her fishing skills. Instead, I took pictures, picked raspberries, and cleaned the catch.

The two of them had a good night, catching that nice rainbow and 10 silvers. Plus, to top it off they found 9 lures in the snags along the river. Pretty decent night for them.

View from a riverbank

2009-08-07T22:21:00.003-08:00

Photos by Steph in this post (Jim forgot to mention that)

New Toy

2009-08-07T22:11:00.003-08:00

For my birthday I picked up a gift for myself. It is a cheaper fisheye lens, for your viewing pleasure. So to kick things off, a few fish photos with the new fisheye.

photo by Steph (above)

Smoker

2009-08-05T23:38:00.002-08:00

Here are a few pictures of the refrigerator that we turned into a fish and meat smoker. Tonight we did a batch of 4 silver salmon. I think in the future we could fit 6-7 fish in this thing at once. It takes about 9-10 hours to soak the fish in a brine, dry and heat the fish up, and burn 3 pans of alder chips. But it is worth it, tasty treats.

Silver First!

2009-08-05T20:39:00.007-08:00

This morning we brought home a few more silvers for the smoker. Steph caught her first silver on a fly rod, which is pretty cool. She ended up with 2 on the day and fought big chum that was snagged in the dorsal fin, the worst place to snag one. She battled courageously, but it tore out too much line and broke her off down river some ways.

Sweet Corn!!

2009-08-05T20:34:00.002-08:00

Wow, I was not expecting to eat sweet corn this year. Steph showed up on the 2nd and wouldn't you know it she carried on 6 ears of corn. Mercer's Candy corn to boot. Thank you honey!

2009-08-03T15:12:00.002-08:00

Silvers are in!! Got these in an couple of hours this afternoon. Steph and our new teacher Rachel dominated, while the guiding company boys watched from the other side of the river.

School Lobby

2009-07-27T19:29:00.003-08:00

I volunteered my painting skills last spring, in an attempt to make the lobby of the school look better. So, while the silvers are waiting to invade the river I have been taping, patching, sanding walls. Today, I finally got a chance to trim and roll. I must say the walls look sweet. Painting is like mowing lawns (which are both jobs I have held down). Things just look really good when they are done and I guess that is why I enjoy doing them.I also have aspirations to make the lobby even better with a couple of other projects. Like in Kipnuk, where we took 60 elder photographs, I would like to do the same in Quinhagak. I hope to start making rounds once the walls are totally finished. My thought is we enlarge the photos to 8x10 or something and do a little display. With the other trophy case, my hope would be to get native art donations from the village and display them in the case.

These improvements should make a big difference. I hope it will bring a sense of pride for our students. I will keep you updated with the elder photographs and art as it comes in.

2009-07-26T01:40:00.003-08:00

Does anyone else think chocolate-chip cookies are good, but cleaning the mixer thingys is a total pain in the butt. I took a chance and washed the dishes with the bad back and all tonight. Every time I wash those things they are annoying. Cmon' Eric hook us up with dishwashers. We would be the toast of the Delta. Good recruiting tool.

1. Dishwashers
2. Hot-tub

Constantly post pictures on the District email. Awesomeness.

Back Troubles (Honeybucket Content)

2009-07-26T01:15:00.005-08:00

Week and a half ago, after my dad took went back to Nebraska, I was under the house running cable to the second tv. Not a huge thing. Houses are on stilts anyway. I am doing the crab crawl, trying not to get dirty (just took the bi-weekly shower :-), and my back went out again. Since then the back has gone three more times. Each time worse than the previous. I get to feeling better and bam! Now don't go feeling sorry, it's my own fault moving all that rock 2 summers ago.

Now a funny situation has come up in the midst of these episodes. The honey bucket which has been filling up slowly with Steph not here and all, kind of snuck up on me and got full. I was thinking the night before the last episode that I was going to take that thing out in the morning. I got up, ate some toast, went to toss the toast I wasn't going to eat and bam!

That was yesterday morning. The honeybucket reached critical mass this morning. Luckily, JT's kid came by to check his email. In return for using the computer, he lifted the bucket out of the wooden box it is built in(a guarenteed back-breaking lift). He had a "Your messing with me look on his face" when I asked. I felt bad just asking. At least I tied the bag up. It is still sitting in the bathroom smelling, until tomorrow or the next day when hopefully I will be back at full strength.

So, I guess this is a funny story and thank you wrapped up in one. You knew I wouldn't let this gem slid. Hopefully they don't run it in the Anchorage paper. Goodnight, goodmorning, good-day, when ever you read.

New Music Friday (early Sat.)

2009-07-25T01:28:00.004-08:00

Three women get play time on the Ipod. Lucinda Williams, Lisa Hannigan, Gillian Welch. Nothing against women musicians, there are plenty of fine singers, songwriters and musicians. I just prefer men, haha. These three for some reason have squeezed in.

Gillian Welch is lucky enough to play with the fantastic, master David Rawlings. What a stud this guy is. There best effort in my opinion is the song "Caleb Meyer". A chilling, women empowering, murder ballad. Two things work on the this song.. Storyline, DR on guitar. ---Nice hair
Sidenote: Guitar is a 1935 Epiphone Olympic archtop

Buy

Not to be outdone, Lisa Hannigan just has a tremendous voice and absolutely no desire to be famous from all of this. Really, she just sings because she enjoys it. I think you can see that in this performance. Enjoy this feel good.

Buy

oh, oh, I almost forgot before publishing this thing. Zoey Deschanel. #4 women on the ipod. #1 in Steph's disdain. I don't think my wife doesn't like her music, she just doesn't like that I likey. Totally different from the other two. She and Him have an old school sound to them. You might remember Deschanel from the movie "Elf" where she sings in the shower with Will Ferrel.

Buy

Deadliest Catch

2009-07-22T02:13:00.004-08:00

Remember this video? I think that I mentioned that later in the day the wind kicked it a up a notch.

Well, tonight I believe this was the same storm featured on Deadliest Catch. Pretty positive. I remember sending everyone at school a picture of the radar from that day and it looked just like a Gulf Coast hurricane. I cannot imagine being out in that ocean. Don't miss next weeks episode, they finish up on that storm.

I'm Back...

2009-07-22T00:37:00.005-08:00

My dad and I made it back to Quinhagak on July 6th. We spent 10 days fishing and working on the new house. Many mornings we got up at 4:15 to hit the King spots early. Tim was our gracious guide getting us into many nice fish. Like everybody in Alaska, I have pictures for you all to enjoy. Quinhagak is sweet in July and I am very glad I came back a month early.

2009-04-29T08:08:00.004-08:00

Here is another Kipnuk video that I shot with my good friend Andy. He was here in Quinhagak this last weekend for a Singspiration at the church. So, it was fun to see him. Now a disclaimer on this video, this is not the smartest thing to do on a snowmachine. Really, this is probably one of the worst things for safety and engine longevity. I am not recommending it to anybody, kind of like jumping off bridges, am I right buddies??

Music: Willie Nelson
"Crazy"
Buy Now

Jimi Hendrix
"Voodoo Child, (Slight Return)"
Buy Now

Plane Flight - Kipnuk

2009-04-28T10:27:00.002-08:00

This short video is a from a bush flight out of Kipnuk. It is a couple of years old and I am posting it mainly for my friends and family down south, who haven't had the pleasure of flying in one of these state of the art flying machines.

2009-04-27T08:20:00.003-08:00

Wow, I have had this MacBook for about 4 years now. Wow???You say?? Well, it took me 4 years to figure out how to import movie from our Panasonic PV-120GS video camera. For 4 years, I have been under the assumption that the cord was bad, the port was bad, the camera was broke or that it only worked with the old PC. This weekend the case was solved. The operator was bad. It took a simple Google search and iMovie, and 6 tapes worth of comedic gold was unlocked and is now ready for your viewing pleasure. Over the next few days, I will upload the videos. Stay tuned.

In addition to that news, I am looking for ideas. Pulling a Mike "Dirty Jobs" Rowe on y'alls and asking you to leave a comment on what you want to see, watch or read. I am running out. Please, I beg you. Isn't that what he says?

Caynon Lake - Togiak National Wildlife Refuge

2009-04-24T13:27:00.019-08:00

Last Saturday, when the weather was still cold and the snow was not making chocolate slushies. Tim took me for a little adventure. First of all, thank you again Tim. Can't say it enough.

The goal of the trip was to venture by snowmachine to Canyon Lake, which is about 45 miles south of Quinhagak through the Ahklun Mountains. There we would try our hand at catching Lake Trout. A species that neither Tim or myself have had the pleasure of catching. We started out at 8:00 am and traveled across the tundra, as the Arolik River was spotty and we didn't want to deal with open water. The trail was a little rough as you can see. We picked our way along, stopping to shot Ptarmigan when they wouldn't get out of the way.

As we made our way through the pass, the scenery just kept getting better and better. The amount of Ptarmigan got larger as well. They were in the bushes, on the sides of the hills and sometimes right on the path, just everywhere. Thousands. We brought 18 home.

Around 11:00 am we crossed the Arolik and headed up the south side. Now, the mountains that I have pictured at the top of this blog are like the first layer of a cake. After that layer, their is a large, flat valley. Beyond that to the south is another set of mountains- that are a little more rugged and amazing. Together with the flat valley, they look like a dream with low clouds and these island like mountains. The snow got better as we crossed the river and that made snowmachining easier. We still stopped a few times though to gaze and rest our eyes. Snow blindness was a slight concern.

After a little while we came to a decision. Tim knew the lake was up one of two valleys. We couldn't see the lake from our vantage, so we chose the valley on the right and worked our way into a very nice area, void of any discernible lake. All was not lost as we got more good photos. We then back tracked and took the other valley to the east.

We had found the lake (Above to the right) and then set about trying to find a decent place to fish. We picked a spot, thought it was probably about 20 feet deep and started drilling a couple of holes. As you can see from the picture, the ice was really thick. We seriously almost didn't have enough drill. I dropped a line and didn't reach the bottom. I had 75 feet of line on that pole. We fished out of those holes for a while with no fish. Tim went to look for any old holes that might give us a better idea of where to fish. He found some that were really close to the shore and about that time some other folks from Quinhagak arrived and said we were in a good spot. We struggled to get a few holes drilled in this new spot. We kind of decided right there to not do anymore drilling. We spent the next 5-6 hours jigging in those holes. They proved productive as Tim came through with his first Lake Trout, in his 19th year in Quinhagak (Congrats, buddy!!). Not long after, I got my first one as well. They weren't giants, but genuine Lake Trout in one of the most remote places on earth. Extreme ice fishing was the term we coined. We caught another couple of really nice Dolly Varden later in the day before heading home.

The ride back was just unreal. The dream-like mountains were...I can't describe them and pictures seriously don't do the scene any justice. The scale of the area is what a camera can't reproduce, not by me anyway. A need to see it to believe it situation.

We got home about 11:00 pm that night and right in time for another Bering Sea sunset. All in all, this trip was one of the highlights of this Alaska experience.

Click on the all pictures for larger formats.

Spring Flood - 2009

2009-04-23T09:04:00.003-08:00

Things are getting a little messy. We had a warm-up a few days ago and it is amazing how quickly thing melt. Now this is no Fargo, ND, not even close, but you get to see what happens every spring in the north country.

Artist: Lightnin' Hopkins
Song: Backwater Blues (That Mean Old Twister)

Order yours today

10:00pm Sunset

2009-04-15T20:47:00.003-08:00

Last night, we hit a 10:00pm sunset for the first time this spring. We are getting 14 hrs. and 34 minutes of sun presently. When the sunset was setting up to be a good one, I snapped these couple of pics for your viewing pleasure. They are from the beach, looking out over a still frozen Bering Sea. Winter errrrrr...I am sick of you. Enjoy

Country Magazine Update

2009-04-11T19:35:00.002-08:00

So the "Country Magazine" article with my pictures is scheduled for next year in the Feb/March issue. I talked to the editor the other day and she was happy with everything and a check came today. So it wasn't a prank. Hopefully my agent Eric aka "The Boras" will set me up with a few more opportunities. Thanks again Boss.

http://www.country-magazine.com/

2009-04-11T00:18:00.003-08:00

Might make a new video of this sometime this weekend. The crappy camera kept going in and out of focus.

Music is by Tom Cadaret - song is called "Water Song" Enjoy!

2009-04-08T21:35:00.004-08:00

This was going to be my fishing hole, until after 10 minutes of chipping ice, we broke through and water started gushing out. It looks very dangerous, but that ice is over a foot thick. Give it a few minutes and this guy is not going very close. Don't worry Mom.

2009-04-06T17:00:00.005-08:00

Finally set the hook on a Arolik Leopard Rainbow. I was jigging with a stick in one hand and the line in the other, so I could feel the jig. Felt like a brick wall when he bit.

He is a couple of other pictures from Saturday. These folks were catching some nice Rainbows as well.

Ptarmigan Hunting

2009-04-05T10:56:00.002-08:00

Milt, Michael and I enjoyed a beautiful day of Ptarmigan hunting yesterday. Barely a whisper of wind and about 20 degrees, you can't ask for much more. We saw so many birds it was ridiculous. I reloaded the .22 three or four times and only hit 5. It holds 25 shots. Not good shooting. Later that night, I took the gun over to the beach for a little sighting in. The first 4 shots were within 1/2" at 50 yards. So, it was not the gun. Embarrassing.

Furnace on the Fritz

2009-03-26T21:39:00.005-08:00

hOur furnace(boiler) may be down for the count. Hopefully not, but it is not looking good. Just look at the pictures - the thing does not look good. It's like a rusty dinosaur.

About 2 weeks ago we had a cold snap that has tried its best to hang on. A few nights it dipped down in the -10 to -15 range. We kept waking up cold and the boiler was not catching up during the day. We had the thing turned up to 80-85, but it wouldn't break 60 degrees. It had a funny smell too. Smelled like wet paint. After a long weekend(spring break), we had the maintenance guys come by to smell "the smell". They filled the glycol tank (the stuff that runs through the registers) and then the glycol started flowing out the bottom of the furnace. That is not where it is supposed to flow.

A gasket is on order and hopefully that is the fix all here. If not, they have to replace the whole thing. That may be the best thing to do, but let's do that in the summer huh? In the mean time that brown thing is spitting out tons of heat. Making the house boiling hot, but it is not a water heater, so no showers. For that, the maintenance guys said they would fill the glycol tank and get the furnace running for few hours, until the glycol runs all out the bottom. Ahhh, the joys. haha. I'll keep you all updated.

Spring!

2009-03-24T21:43:00.003-08:00

Well...not exactly. I took this picture on the first day of spring. Here's to hoping it comes soon.

NCAA Tourney

2009-03-24T20:22:00.003-08:00

Screen shot here from my espn.com bracket. 99.4% ain't too bad!! Better than Obama. Now if those 27,799 other people would get out of my way.

Simms Fishing - Kanektok River - Quinhagak, AK

2009-03-24T19:57:00.002-08:00

Here is a video that I found on youtube. I'm sure they won't mind the link here - more advertising for them. This is the river that is about 100 yards away. It's rough, I know. The guide service that is being interviewed is called Alaska West. There is another one is called Duncan Brothers. Give them a look on the google, there are some good pictures.

In other news, Leelando (my dad) will be making the trip up with me in July. We are coming early to hopefully hit the end of the King salmon run. We will be enjoying 20 hours of sunlight and 24 hours of fishing a day for the 10 days he is here.

Side note: I like how the guy calls Quinhagak "Strange, God forsaken, end of the earth". While it does seem like the "end of the earth" sometimes, I wouldn't say "God forsaken". Fishing is too good. ;-)

Mold!

2009-03-22T16:34:00.002-08:00

Not really, those are nails in our arctic entry. Frost is just coming through the outside wall. I licked one just to be sure. jk

(TMI) Too much information - I used to say "Don't go there", but that was so yesterday

2009-03-20T09:37:00.005-08:00

Here is our new communal honeybucket. Nice huh? What happened to the old one, you ask?? Well, it was really full and froze on one cold Alaskan night. You know what happens when liquids (some solids) freeze, they expand and crack their old disgusting containers.

We didn't have this beauty for about 2 weeks after that. So...I was hauling the goods down the road, maybe 4-5 hundred yards away. I didn't want to walk that far, so I drove the 4-wheeler. The bucket was in the rack on the front of the Big Bear. So I was wafted with that the whole way. Lovely.

(You know what's in those buckets...popsicles)

(New car shine...but a new car smell???...no)

2009-03-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

March 20, 2009	Rise:	Set:
Actual Time	8:44 AM AKDT	9:00 PM AKDT
Civil Twilight	8:03 AM AKDT	9:41 PM AKDT
Nautical Twilight	7:14 AM AKDT	10:30 PM AKDT
Astronomical Twilight	6:21 AM AKDT	11:24 PM AKDT
Moon	7:30 AM AKDT	1:33 PM AKDT
Length Of Visible Light:	13h 37m
Length of Day	12h 15m Tomorrow will be 5m 23s longer.

Jerky

2009-02-21T23:07:00.002-09:00

Made up some jerky today and I am waiting up for it to finish. Should be done by about 1 am. Should taste really friggin good.

19 pounds of caribou jerky.
1 jerky shooter.
1 jerky elbow, forearm, and shoulder.

Tomorrow we are going to try for another Caribou. This time I feel more prepared, so if Lord willing...more jerky!!

2009-02-15T11:04:00.002-09:00

Here is the blizzard we had last Thursday. At the time of this video, I would say it was a 5 on a scale of 1-10. Later that night a 8 or 9 was hitting us and left quite a bit of snow in huge drifts all over the place. This is not quite a "white out", but if you were on the tundra you wouldn't be seeing much.

Howling

2009-02-15T10:31:00.003-09:00

Here is Bela' and Marley letting it fly. They do this only when we howl. Our own little pack. I like when they just stop at the end.

Caribou Hunt

2009-02-11T21:24:00.007-09:00

I got a caribou. That is the short of it. Here is a picture. Sorry it is not glorifying the animal in the field. I tried. I will explain.First of all it was cold. I know I say that a lot and I probably sound like a little girl by now, but it was frost bite cold. Just ask my fingers. I know I say that a lot too, but just ask the skin that peeled off my fingers. There, haven't said that before. My nose might have something to say on the subject too. He too lost some skin. It was cold enough that the guns wouldn't work. The oil used to make things smooth, was making things stick. It was cold enough as soon the camera opened to take a picture it froze and wouldn't even shut.

I took Steph that morning up the south side of the Kanektok river, hoping that a few would have crossed the river. It was calm out, and thus felt somewhat warm near the house. I don't know what we were thinking because it was too cold. We work our way maybe 7-8 miles up the trail. Didn't see a dang thing and just gradually froze our entire body. Kind of just worked its ways up the arms and legs to the organs. By then we were stopping every little bit and doing jumping jacks and running sprints. Hands hurt, feet hurt and running was not helping the situation. We made it home and immediately fired up the stove and thawed.

I ate lunch and geared up for a trip up the north side of the river, where there were reports of a few herds. I didn't get two miles from the village, before I spotted a herd of maybe 30. They were half bedded up and half eating. I crawled for about 150 yards as there was a stretch that long with no cover. I cozed into some brush and got the scope on them. A nice bull was in the group, but was behind some brush. I was prepared to wait them out as they had now idea I was there. But...another snow machine came along and they went on alert. I thought they may run, and tried to move for another angle on the bull. This time they saw me and took off. At first they were probably only 100 yards. Now they were all running. A few stopped at 200 yards and I lined up a shot and got the one in the picture. All in all, much easier than I anticipated. Will never again be that easy, I know. Tim and Eric came by later and helped me get it home. Thank you guys.

Some of the stuff we were hunting:
Eric looking like snow:
A couple over here, a few hundred over there.

Now taking donations...

2009-02-11T21:02:00.003-09:00

not really, but seriously, what's up.

The need to buy right away if we are going to stay here for a long time list:

Bear Gun (protection)
Yamaha 40 Jet
Aire Travler

This motor is designed to run in shallow water. It has no prop. Sucks the water in and shoots it out the other end, pushing you to a little slice of heaven. Upriver that is. This is #1 on the list at the moment.This is the Aire Traveler. Floating down the Kanektok or Arolik seems like the ultimate to me. I don't know why. If enough of you would come up, I might consider a larger raft.
Now if Steph would stop buying stuff...these would be real pictures, like on our porch real.

Book your reservations now for prime dates. I have almost bought the plane tickets for coming up a month early this summer. So anytime after July 6th and you got yourself a vacation. I'm not joking on this...we would love to have visitors.

2009-02-11T20:30:00.003-09:00

KRSI

I'm sorry. I took a month off there. I'm back, keeping you in the loop with village life. February 11th already! February, March and even January are tough. Not a ton of light in Jan. Cold in February and January for that matter. By March I just hate snow. I want a more liquid form of the crap by then. In fact, even now, all I think about is fishing...fly fishing.

The guys keep telling me about spring trout fishing. The river opens up and the trout go crazy eating everything that hits the water. Can't wait.

About two weeks ago it got warm for like the third time this winter and everything melted. I took the 4-wheeler upriver a ways, to place called KRSI. It is an abandoned fishing camp that the village ran. At least that is what some have told me. There are a few buildings and metal frames left. It is situated on the end of a gravel bar right were the river splits. That gravel bar is loaded with fish. JT, Milt, Michael and myself have all enjoyed fishing up there this year.

I drove up there two weeks ago by myself and tried to find some running water. I had to walk in off the tundra trail as the ice on sloughs leading in were covered with standing water. Most of the gravel bar was covered with ice, but there was a nice 75 yard long chunk of deep water. I had to cross some other questionable stuff to make it out there, but it was worth it to just get a few casts in and work on the double haul. Albert at school asked me if I could double haul and I had to admit "no". So it is now my mission to get that thing looking good. haha.

Well welcome back and thanks for reading. I have got a few more in mind.

M&M fighting the wind:

First Grayling:

One more bedtime story...then it's lights out

2009-01-09T23:56:00.003-09:00

We have not been using the 4-wheeler is these temperatures. So we have been walking, which may be even stupider than abusing the Yamaha. Walking requires the following:
Boots
Insulated pants
800 down coat
800 down gloves
face mask
fur hat
800 down coat hood over that.
Ski goggles over all that

It also requires that I take off my glasses, because they just immediately fog up and I can't see a darn thing. So I go blurry, rather than blind.

Well Wednesday night, after basketball practice, I am walking home by myself. It is dark and I can't see to much just blurry things. Just past the store I can see there is a 4-wheeler in the road about 50-75 yards ahead of me. I am walking with the head down like usual, when it sounds like gun shots are be fired at me. Honest to goodness, guns shots. Not just a couple, but repeated for like 30 seconds. The sound is echoing off the store behind me, so I know it is in my direction. I am totally wondering in the first few shots, what it feels like to be shot. Now this is where is gets funny. There is a telephone pole in front of me. I decide that makes perfect cover. I totally turned sideways behind it and frantically dug for my glasses. I got them on and realized it was a 4-wheeler back firing. Relief, but also embarrassment. One of the look around times, did anyone notice what I just did. In hindsight, I am glad I didn't go running around in zig-zags trying not to get shot. Would have been funny though.

It turned out to be a few teacher and I helped him push the machine off the road. We had a good laugh.

Caribou are here

2009-01-09T23:46:00.002-09:00

That's right. Flying in last week we saw about 500 maybe about 5 miles from town. They were in a long line that we could see out both sides of the plane. Since then they have been even closer. Many reports of small pods less a than a few miles away.

Eric and I went out on Tuesday after school. Got all dressed up and ready. Didn't help much. The weather was bitter, if you haven't heard. 15-20 below and wind blowing. We found the caribou, but at the moment of truth the bolt of the rifle was froze. Probably the oil, from what I have been reading. Eric had his glove off too long and the top of my nose was exposed for too long and both of us had some minor frost bite. So no caribou, but it was tons of fun nonetheless.

Steph has agreed to go with me in the morning. We'll see what we can scrounge up. Hopefully, I have some pictures of Comet or Cupid tomorrow.

Country Magazine

2009-01-09T23:28:00.002-09:00

So...our principal Eric set me up. He came in the last month and said he had a job opportunity for me. Not knowing what to expect (could be ugly, just kidding, Eric been great) he told me of a photo taking job that needed a photographer. I don't for one second think of my self as a photographer. Seriously, seriously it is a total hobby for archiving this last 4 years and for times of total boredom. I would much rather think of my self as something to do with music, than a photographer. I'm totally not creative with music or photographer either. I am consistently jealous of my sister's or student's photos. Way better than mine.

Eric apparently disagrees with my thinking and told this editor lady that I take "amazing" pictures and she emailed me about doing a few photos for a journal that Eric is writing about living in the country. He will journal for a week and I will take a bunch of photos of Eric doing what he does, mushing, hunting, principaling, etc. Should be a lot of fun actually.

I sent the lady some pictures from the last couple of years and she replied that I was hired. Hired, I thought that was funny for some reason. She is even sending me a contract. haha. They will have rights to the photos and everything. Real official. The whole thing is totally a chance type of thing and total thanks to Eric for thinking of me. I appreciate it. Someone this Christmas said this is how careers get started. Well see about that. Would be a fun retirement though. Remeber that's only 16 years away. I better get better at this picture thing.

Music Friday

2009-01-09T22:26:00.004-09:00

Welcome 2009. I glad you're all here. Thanks for reading.

Steph and I netflixed the Dylan movie "Other Side of the Mirror" tonight. It highlights his performances at the Newport Folk Festival from 1963-65. He starts off as a almost shy performer in 63' and it is amazing to see the transformation in just two shorts years. The film concludes the performance where Dylan goes electric. This was extremely controversial at the time. To many Dylan turned his back on the folk community and their causes. It was very cool to see that "moment". Hindsight is 20/20 of course and this moment was needed for him to evolve into a what he became, a true legend. It was just crazy to hears those boos after "Maggie's Farm" and cheers when he came back for an acoustic encore.

Here are few songs from the movie for those interested.

1963:
With God On Our Side - with Joan Baez
Only A Pawn In Their Game

1964:
Chimes of Freedom
It Ain't Me Babe - Joan Baez

1965:
Maggie's Farm - The "moment" perfect song to change to...listen to the last verse
Mr. Tambourine Man - to make them happy.

Our your own:
Research the Dylan "Judas" incident for another piece of Rock and Roll history. Youtube works nice.

2008-12-13T17:11:00.002-09:00

1. Head Start Building
2. Playground
3. Yupik Kindergarten
4. School- back
5. School - front

Walking Tour of Quinhagak, AK - Part 4

2008-12-13T17:07:00.003-09:00

Sorry, I'm back. Had to go fishing.

1. Second Street.
2. Water Plant
3. Village Police
4. Road to the Airport
5. First Street

The store continued - it's that big

2008-12-13T13:07:00.001-09:00

Walking Tour of Quinhagak, AK - Part 3

2008-12-13T13:03:00.001-09:00

The store which is really well stocked.

Walking Tour of Quinhagak, AK - Part 2

2008-12-13T12:52:00.000-09:00

Hardware store - located right next to the store.

Walking Tour of Quinhagak, AK - Part 1

2008-12-13T12:42:00.003-09:00

These pictures in order:

1. Bingo Hall
2. Church
3. Post office
4. NVK building - villages offices
5.Washateria sp?? - wash you clothes, take a shower, take care of business in the many offices upstairs.

Saturday Morning 12/13/08

2008-12-13T12:04:00.002-09:00

Couple of shots from this morning.

New Music

2008-12-12T20:28:00.004-09:00

Took a week off. Got busy, but back with some tunes for you all. In fact, let's just make this Jack Johnson and Friends Hour.

In honor of us coming home.
Heading Home - Donovan Frankenreiter and Jack Johnson

In honor of Marley our beloved Husky. Got to love the Weisenborn guitar and Ben hitting the high notes.
High Tide or Low Tide - Ben Harper and Jack Johnson - (Bob Marley Cover Song)

A little Matt Costa for good measure. Sunshine just feels good. Especially when we only see it for 4 hours.
Fall Line/Sunshine - Matt Costa and Jack Johnson

Rainbow- This song has special meaning to us. See the first time we drove up here and drove back the 7,000 miles round trip, we had an issue with the registration and insurance card for the car. We couldn't find it. All the guide books said to be sure to have it traveling through Canada, especially at border crossings where they ask to see them. Being travel worn and 9 months in the Bush, we don't look necessarily look like clean Americans. More like dirty hippies. Anyway, as we worried and worried and got closer and closer, we didn't know what they would do if we couldn't produce the info. Not let us by?? Well, as we got closer to the the boarder, there is this typical mountain road with twists and turns and as you come out of it there is a vast plain with Canada straight ahead and the last look at Alaska Range. Breathtaking view from this spot and as we come out of the trees and get this look, we see this rainbow arcing in the sky. On my ipod which we listen to the entire trip on comes this song. The ipod had about 5,000 songs on it and it was on shuffle. Randomly playing songs. This song comes on. Talk about comfort, as the song said "That was God telling me, every thing's gonna be alright" and it was. They let us by with little more than a couple questions.
Rainbow - Jack Johnson and G-Love

Finally,
Breaking away from Jack, we have the Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama. I have to put this on here. Gave me chills. If you don't smile at the end of this song something is wrong. Please don't stop listening until the end. Look at how the band reacts. Even if to you this music is terrible, that ending is inspirational.
Take My Hand Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama

Take Care,

Jim

2008-11-30T16:47:00.004-09:00

This was just a pig Dolly Varden. Milt and Michael took me out, so big thanks to them. 23 inches long and 12 around. Biggest trout I have caught. Look forward to more.

2008-11-30T16:42:00.001-09:00

Hot water pipe froze??? This was last week. Lucky for us, there was a panel that gave access to the pipes. I think this has happened before :-)

2008-11-25T21:39:00.002-09:00

This is the name of the school if you were wondering. Don't ask me how to say it. We are the Seahawks and this is our territory. I try to get a picture of the school up this weekend, maybe a tour if your nice.

Sundog Update

2008-11-25T21:12:00.003-09:00

Per Grace:

In Yup'ik, akerta-gguq aliimatengqertuq (the sun has gloves on).

nengllipiaqatarluni (both hands).

Per Emma:

Interpretation: Get your parka out, it's going to be cold.

Two days later we had the exact same scene. So maybe they are not that rare. Fog mixed with sun low on the horizon: Sundog weather

Also, it was cold.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-25T20:43:00.003-09:00

Even though the economy is in the crapper be thankful it's not this one :-)
Let's hope this economy doesn't kick the bucket, that would smell. I'm sorry I'll stop.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...wish we could be there. Nobody makes apple pie for me Grandma.

2008-11-22T12:24:00.002-09:00

This is our thermometer. That much frost is about -20 below. Took this picture on the door of our arctic entry way. Notice the snow that has not melted all week. You can hang meat in there. Not joking. Our water distiller was out there, (was) it froze.

Gas

2008-11-22T11:48:00.003-09:00

I don't think I have mentioned this yet. Gas is $6.22/gal. Toys are expensive and then worrisome in the cold. $1.90 looks beyond belief at this point. They set the price each fall right before freeze up. So that price is not going anywhere until the spring. By that time it will probably be back up to 4-5 bucks a gallon down south. Hope not, but lets be realistic. Quinhagak does have 15 miles of dirt roads to travel and when the ground freezes there are many miles of trails. Plus, I come home at lunch everyday and let the dogs out. So the machine is needed (I keep telling myself).

Been quietly looking at boats and jet prop motors too. haha. Digging into the frozen tundra -Don't tell Steph.

Weather

2008-11-21T21:14:00.002-09:00

Always a theme. The weather has turned cold and I have a new appreciation this year of its effects. Starting a 4-wheeler in -15 weather is not fun. We give it 15 minutes in the morning and 5-6 minutes at lunch to warm up. The Big Bear has been running really good the last 2 weeks though and good thing too. I don't think the weather is going to warm up anytime soon. We have a new cover, a oil pan heater, and battery wrap heater on the way. So things will hopefully be toasty warm under the ole Yamaha soon. I feel bad for her.

New Music Friday

2008-11-21T18:28:00.003-09:00

-Bela' Fleck - Bach
- Virtuoso playing and our dog's namesake to boot.
-Hear

Ryan Adams - Carolina Rain
-Much different than last weeks song. This classic is Steph's favorite song. Great storytelling.
-Hear

Jack White - Wayfaring Stranger
-Different side of White here, nice version of a classic. Some say this guy will be who we talk about 50 years from now from this generation. We'll see.
-Hear

One from the Vault:

Hank Williams - Lovesick Blues
Very nice song here. I have another version from Ryan Adams, but no video. So with the original we will go. I also like in Shawshank Redemption when the guy sings this in the library.
-Hear

Sundog

2008-11-18T13:11:00.000-09:00

A sun dog or sundog (scientific name parhelion, plural parhelia, for "beside the sun") is a common bright circular spot on a solar halo. It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon primarily associated with the reflection or refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals making up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Often, two sun dogs can be seen (one on each side of the sun) simultaneously. - Found that on the internet, sounds about right

2008-11-16T19:12:00.001-09:00

Bela does this every time we eat. Just fixates

- New Music Friday -

2008-11-14T22:48:00.004-09:00

Because music is a huge part of my life and a huge part of my sanity and this blog is about how we live, I have decided to start a "New Music Friday" post. Just stuff I want to recognize as good to me... maybe not necessarily good to you...so in that case disregard Fridays. Music however is how I spend a lot of Fridays...so I share...enjoy

By the way, all this music is not going to be playing on your top 40 or late night mtv, when they sometimes play videos. "That" music, is not music...I feel very strongly about this and will stop now...because this is a positivie post, for positive thoughts. Do a little digging and find the good stuff - luckily it is still out there.

The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
-Nice little bluegrassy, old timey, acoustical trio - discovered them last night - video looks like fun.
-Hear - Will you return

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cardinalolgy
-Latest album from my numero uno at the moment. Pretty decent record- no Cold Roses though.
-Hear - Fix It

Ray Lamontagne - Gossip in the Grain
-Latest album from the man, the myth - I need a few more listens to pass judgment. Sidenote: I would trade a lot for a beard like that - good looking beard - in the most hetro possible way
-Hear - You Are the Best Thing

One from the vault -

Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
-Not all that old, 98', but she is the one of very few women in my collection - probably because she sounds kind of manish. Beyond good guitar by Doug Pettibone there - lyrics are dark, but don't get hung up on that.
-Hear - Joy

2008-11-14T22:34:00.002-09:00

My mom sent us a box of leaves last week . Just leaves. Fourth year in a row too! I took them around today and let everyone have a smell. Many good memories were brought back - Thank you mom

Tomorrow morning John Teddy Roberts is taking me upriver a couple of miles to Ice Fish/Fly fish depending on how the ice is. Dolly Varden and Rainbows are the prize. Should be interesting if we get a chance to fly fish in the snow. I will take the video camera and try to get some video.

John took me out the other night ice fishing right here next to town. Fish were not there, but learning the techniques was good. The first step is to find a big rock. Next, put that rock in a sock and put some salmon eggs from the summer in the sock on top of the rock. Tie the sock at the top and attach a length of string. After chopping some holes drop the sock into a hole and tie it off at the top. Albert our secretary and professional fishing guide during the summer calls it "cheating" not chumming.

That's all for now. Later

Room with a view...

2008-11-07T08:29:00.001-09:00

This is the view from my classroom window. I love clear days.

Nov. 4

2008-11-04T17:16:00.003-09:00

Man the lines were long here. I think I waited in line for 10 seconds or something. lol

2008-10-31T20:49:00.002-08:00

"Yep, I make my own meats, I make my meats. I mix different stuff...chicken n' burgers n' sausages n'. You guys like sausages n' burgers and everything?

2008-10-26T22:53:00.002-08:00

1 pound cayenne pepper my nemesis you expire in 1 week. Yet, you are only 1/3 gone. I will battle through the tears and finish you...these are things I think about in Quinhagak...seriously

Caribou

2008-10-26T12:29:00.002-08:00

Milt and I heard about a herd of 30 caribou about 7-8 miles from the village last night from some students. So we got up early this morning and headed out with the 4-wheelers. We drove to the end of the road and then took the trail for about 4 miles up the river. The trail and ponds we crossed were frozen really well. Now, Milt is self-diagnosed as blind and as we were moving up the trail there was a caribou just standing off the trail about 150 yards to the south. Milt was in lead and didn't see it, so I threw the 4-wheeler into 5th gear and raced to catch up with him. As I got closer I yelled and he slowed down, looked back at me pointing and realized there was a caribou right there. We got off and and watched as the caribou just trot right up to within about 75 yards. Milt took one shot, dropped it and we were done. Probably about as easy as it gets. I likened it to going to the grocery store easy. Shoot, we were home by noon. It was a young caribou and should be really tasty too.

Gonna try this again next weekend.

4wheelering

2008-10-25T19:43:00.002-08:00

Chalk up another first for me today...changing oil on something. To make it a little more enjoyable, I waited for 15 degree weather. Thank you Yamaha for putting the oil filter in a near impossible location. Oil filter... I look forward to getting you out again next spring. On a happy note, nothing broke...nothing is leaking...things seem to be working fine...am I now a mechanic?

On another note. I read this story on msn http://www.newsweek.com/id/165478?GT1=43001

Speaking from experience (last spring we flew in to Ketchikan) that landing on an island was extremely confusing. As of now, you have take a ferry across...which they don't tell you...and you have to pay for it. The article is also correct about Ketchikan being built on mountains. The town just goes straight up.

So I agree with the mayor...build a bridge...or tell people to take the ferrry. (We tried to call a cab, first. Would have been over a hundred dollars to come get us, I guess.)

2008-10-23T22:25:00.003-08:00

Weekend Plans -

Volleyball - 3 teams flying in - no fog please
Halloween Dance - Should be funny to watch no one dance
Husker Football
World Series
Gold Fever episode catch-up
- Looks like it is shaping up nicely. Maybe a trip to Target and Arby's for kicks!

2008-10-23T22:14:00.002-08:00

"Wash your hair" - Bela

Snow!!

2008-10-06T20:43:00.003-08:00

Well, last Friday it snowed. Didn't stick, but lots of white stuff was coming and going. Big flakes, small flakes, the whole nine. Ground was not quite cold enough for accumulation. In the mountains it was a different story as they look pretty nice right now. First time in my life I have lived close enough to a range to see the changes. very nice. enjoy...

The Caribou Are Safe...

2008-09-24T20:32:00.008-08:00

So...I got my first chance to see the mountain up close and personal this last weekend. My fellow Jr. High warrior Tim asked me if I wanted to take a camping trip up to the mountains near Quinhagak here. Of course I jumped at the chance, even though I didn't have much of my gear. We took off Friday night around 5 pm and headed up river with his flat-bottom boat and 40 horse Yamaha jet engine. Jet props suck in water and propel it out the back pushing the boat thought the water. They run in really shallow water, which is need the farther you go.

We ended up going 40-45 miles up river to the real middle of nowhere. Kipnuk, Quinhagak, they are close to the middle of now where, but this was right in the middle. It must have taken 3-4 hours to get that far. It rained off and on, but that has been the norm the last few weeks up here. We took a couple of breaks to gas up and listen for other boats coming down river in a few tight spots. Tim asked me my first impressions of "Her" when we were using the facilities and I commented "she" was gorgeous and totally different than in town. The river that is. The trees get bigger, they change colors. Salmon were all over the place, red and spawning, really cool to see. All Tim said was "Just wait".

Get this, once we hit the 40 mile mark and came to one of Tim's favorite camping spots there was someone already there. We kept moving on, remembering that there is a lot of mountain up there. We stop at the weir, where they count salmon during the summer. It was abandoned for the winter and we decided that the tundra would play fits on my back, with just a sleeping pad for comfort. The tundra is rather bumpy up close, not totally flat, I think I have mention this before. Anyway, we drifted downstream a couple of bends and found a sandy spot next to the river and set up the tent, ate a mountain house, and tried to get some sleep. The .375 H&H, was right next to Tim all night ready to light up any bear that tried to join the party. I was almost asleep, when I thought I heard footsteps in the river, I woke totally up and listened real hard, before determining that it was the same sound over and over and over and not a bear. Tim was snoring. I should mention real quick my bear fear was well founded. Every time, we got out of the boat, there were tracks, some fresh, some not so much, but every time tracks. Tim said in fact, he believed that bears were over populated on the river. We ended up seeing 8 in two days. Nothing close.

So the next morning, we set out looking for caribou herds. After locating 4 different small herds and trying to cover as much ground as we could with binoculars, we got some lunch and headed for the closest herd. Problem was, a sow bear with three cubs had moved over lunch and was now right between us and the herd. They laid up in some brush. We decided to make a huge arch around them upwind, so they would smell us and go the other direction. This worked and she took her cubs away. The caribou were moving our direction and as we got closer they finally noticed we were getting closer. When they looked up at us, we raised our hands up in the air and tried to look caribou. It seemed to work and they are naturally curious and came within probably 150 yards. I was set up for the shot, but we thought they would get closer so we waited and finally they spooked and ran over the hill. We chased and got within a 150 yards and this time I let one have it. Except I missed and they jumped a few yards to the right. I re-loaded and shot again, and a caribou fell to the ground. Legs kicking, good shot to head we thought. Tim said nice shot and I ran back up the hill to get the packs. As I came back to my surprise, the caribou had gotten up and ran off. I didn't hit it in the head. Probably just grazed it, or maybe hit an antler. We followed the heard another couple of miles. Exhausted and watching the caribou running around healthy, we decided there was nothing we could do. We hunted the rest of the day, with gorgeous weather and also the next day. We never got close again and headed home Sunday.

It was a great trip and I was impressed with the magnitude of the mountains. The pictures I took are terrible and do no justice to the area. A true wilderness, with a few Quinhagakers sprinkled in favorite camping spots. It is just so different out there. So large, I felt very small, very isolated.

New Toy

2008-09-05T18:55:00.002-08:00

Here is our new-to-us 4-wheeler. Next, on the list is a motor. Boats are laying around everywhere.

There you go mom. I even added the house

2008-08-30T12:16:00.002-08:00

Whale bones scavenged from up the coast a few miles.Cemetery with a view. Mountains are about 17 miles away.
Silver salmon drying.

FOOD!!

2008-08-25T19:12:00.003-08:00

Our food came today. 50-70 pound boxes. My back is okay. Old favorites, old friends they are all. side note: Like the paint job? Art work is coming soon. I will update.

Spaghetti cubboard...yum...sidenote: close the Parmesan lid before shaking and it makes a good movie snack. Cover two holes and shake into mouth.

24 cans of olives, 12 boxes of cheeseburger macaroni hamburger helper, 12 boxes of granola bars, 11 instant chocolate puddings (3 years old, terrible with powder milk)
Chili cupboard, and Ramen snacks for Steph - are we still in college?
There's more, like 24 boxes of Stovetop stuffing, and 2 dozen cans of pineapple and chicken soup. Other things include 900 rolls of toilet paper. side note: Honeybuckets don't plug up, good thing for me, huh Mom and Dad. Get that toilet fixed.

So in Review: whole family room full of groceries and nothing to snack on.

Ocean gathering

2008-08-24T00:12:00.003-08:00

Steph and I took the 4-wheeler we recently bought and took a trip up the beach that is about a mile from our house. We drove until the Arolik river where you can't cross and then came home. We stopped and picked some blueberries, honest to goodness blueberries, like the ones in stores. There are also real raspberries around here, but we didn't find any of those. It was a nice little trip and I tell you what, it is sure nice to get out and do something. That is one thing we really like about Quinhagak.

Life is Good

2008-08-22T22:30:00.003-08:00

Dying Chum SalmonSilver Salmon - good eating
Silver Salmon
Once school settles down, I hope to get back on here - probably when the fishing lets up too. lol