School's Out Platinum Trip

Friday marked my final contract day for the 2011-2012 school year.  An hour and 45 minutes later, I was on a Cessna 207, bound for Platinum with a couple gallons of water, noodles, meat, pilot bread, my Remington and plenty of 3" #2 shells. 

You don't need to take a plane ride in order to get birds here, but it was worth it to me to be able to hunt with a good friend in a really neat place and get out of town for a few days.

The weekend didn't disappoint.  Weather was quite cooperative, and while the hunting wasn't fast and furious, it was steady enough to mostly keep a person interested.  The highlight was bagging a double of sandhills with Paul on the last hunt. 

Prior to that I heard some snoring in the field.  After about a half an hour Paul woke up and said "I feel sorry for those who haven't experienced the pure joy of falling asleep in the sun on the tundra with a shotgun across their lap." 

Ditto.

Up next for me, I am working on (right now taking a break from) moving into a new apartment, and then I will be going up to Donlin Creek for an industry externship.  It should be interesting, I'll be sure to take some pics and post an update.

Sun Dogs

Tuesday I was riding with my parents after storing my pickup at my great aunt Peggy's farm in Wisconsin, getting ready to head back here to Bethel for the spring semester. I commented on a faint sun dog I could see and my mom asked what that was.

Returning to Bethel in the midst of a heckuva cold snap, the sun dogs are common. Yesterday I came home early from work-evacuated home, to be precise. You see, some of the water pipes had frozen at the LKSD buildings, and an effort was underway to remedy it before the kids come back to school next week. Then all of a sudden came into the building a smell of wood and other unknown smokes. Some of the stuff by those frozen pipes got a little too "unthawed" so to speak. It was time to get out of there and call it a day.

When I got home I snapped this photo for Mom off our porch. It's not the best, but I couldn't move the neighbor's house out of the way, and it was a tad chilly to go on a true photo safari.

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday season.

Doo Doo Doo Lookin Out My Back Door

HI EVERYBODY

Wow have I neglected this blog...For so long that I'd have to imagine that all but the most stubborn, hopeful, or bored of my friends and family probably don't bother checking it anymore, probably haven't for months now. It's ok...I'd have quit looking too. I don't know what it is. I know I'm not alone on this though. Every so often I'll check in on MY OWN blog and not bother to write anything. I'm checking to see if any of my friends have anything interesting to add to the web. But the little monitor of friends' blog at the side remains silent. Has blogging died? Have all generally available internet announcements been reduced to inane tweets and facebook status changes? As compelling as all that is, I decided on the commute to work today that when I got home I was gonna sit down and have myself a blogging. So if you're still reading, here's a little something for you, a little update.

So I guess I should be telling everything that's happened since I left Tununak...

But I've worked all day and I left Tununak in May, so I'll abridge things a bit. A lot, actually. I know friends and family like to know about fish I've caught and hunting I've done. I never did get out on the water this fall, not one bit. I did however fly out to Platinum and do some bird hunting over Labor Day weekend. It's become kind of a tradition to find myself hunkered on the tundra or on the edge of a slough with my friend Paul and his dog Stella so it seemed fitting to fly on out there for a solid weekend of waterfowling. We had a pretty good amount of action. We got to see probably 10-20% of the world's population of emperor geese, and at pretty close range, which was a treat in itself, even though they are protected. There was the BIG DAY on Labor Day, where the planets aligned and Paul and I teamed up to each fill our daily limit on geese. And let me tell you they have been delicious :-) Flying home I saw a giant bull moose somewhere in between Platinum and Quinhagak too.

We're getting settled into the new digs here in town. The TO is no more, sad to say. Last year was the end of an era on that one. This year myself, Lee from the TO, and Eileen are living in a 3 bedroom home on the outskirts of town. Slowly we've been coming up with furnishings. The neighborhood is nice, and I appreciate the relative quietude. And we added this little girl to the household...

The dog, Bailey’s her name, really likes the futon. She’s a rescue dog, and I don’t think she’s really sat on much furniture in her life. I don’t know her background story at all, where she’s from, what she’s seen, or how she was cared for. She’s got a scar by her eye where fur won’t grow, she’s timid, sweet and a little dopey at times.

I’ve been doing a bit of traveling lately, but not to villages like in the past, but instead to training and conferences over to Anchorage. I’m taking on a bit of a different role this year, and I’m preparing to provide instruction via two way video teleconference, broadcast out of our district office. I have no idea until it starts whether or not I will like it more or less than the classroom, but I’ll give it my all and see what it’s like.

Today we’re having our 2nd blizzard of the year. In fact, the 2nd this week to be exact. No need to cringe though. With the snow comes winter, and with winter comes tundra mobility, opportunity to cover some miles and put tracks behind me. And when the weather outside is frightful, I can stay in and brood over the Milwaukee Brewers off season.

It's Tununak Time

HI folks. Yes I still have a blog. I actually let a whole site visit pass without a post, how negligent of me. I was out in Kasigluk-Akula, (home of the Tundra Foxes) in late March through mid April. Since then, I took an awesome little trip to Anchorage, spent a little time in Bethel, and then this past Monday flew on out here to Tununak.

About that flight out here....The pilot came to get me to leave for Tununak and then called the village agent to check on conditions before we headed out to the plane. He came and told me that the Tununak runway was closed but they were working on it. Although we had very little remaining snow in Bethel, evidently they had lots of it out in Tununak. After a little more checking by the pilot we decided to fly out here, circle the runway and decide if it was ok, and if it wasn't, land at nearby Toksook Bay instead. It was a warm day so I would have been ok with a village to village snowmachine ride, but I was hoping against it.

So, we were off. I took my customary 1/2 hour Cessna airplane nap, and woke up when we were getting near the mountains of Nelson Island. I perked up then, knowing there's always a chance of spotting a musk ox out here, which I did spot two way off in the distance. Still have yet to see one up close enough to look like much more than a distant black blob. Anyways, soon we were approaching Tununak Int'l and came down for a closer look. Sure enough, there were tall drifts along the runway. We decided to go for it, and it was a pretty interesting landing. Slush flew all over the place, and we were keeping a close eye on the wings to make sure they'd clear all the drifts. The pilot had to make a couple tricky little moves to avoid clipping them. But, we made it.

So here I am at TNK, Tununak, Paul T. Albert Memorial School, home of the Coasters. I have a LOT of students here and for the most part they are great. It's beautiful out here and I want to get out on some hikes and maybe bag some birdies to eat. Here is the view from in front of the little tiny house I'm staying in.


Directly in front of the village is the bering sea, and people have been dragging boats out to the edge of the ice and are on the ready to shoot/catch seals. I don't know how long the ice will last out in front, or how deep the water below it is, but maybe I'll find out before I leave in two weeks. Hopefully I'll get some more photos and stories to share from here.

I Not Human, I Robot

What the heck is that title about?

Well this past weekend I traveled to Fairbanks to be a chaperone, photographer, chauffeur and referee at the FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) state competition. It was quite a fun and exhausting time, and our teams represented LKSD well, both in their demeanor and in their performance. We were all quite proud.

The students got to tour campus, which was especially cool since a couple students are planning on attending UAF. They have a great campus, with great opportunities, a really cool museum, and campus dining that I must say is quite good, way better than anything I remember from my days in school. I think it would be a pretty neat school to attend.

Some shots of the museum...


We got in Thursday night and basically rented vans, checked into the hotel. The students were much more full of energy than I.

Friday was campus tour, robot inspection, and pit day.

Pit time...


Saturday was the big day. The competition was impressive, and it was great to see our kids hold their own with "the big boys" from the Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau schools.

After competition, we all went out to eat as a big group, and then went to see the World Championship Ice Carving display. The pictures won't do it justice, but let me just say, this was super cool. And pretty cold, too...
There were things they could touch, sit on, and slide down, like this cool slide

And this big multi slide we raced down, fun!

And this big halibut chair thing

And artwork like this...



Amazing stuff. I would have taken more pics, but I thought my fingers might freeze.

Unfortunately, all this fun and lack of sleep left me exhausted and vulnerable, and I came down with some flu after coming back to Bethel. But, like Buddy Ryan used to say on Night Court...I'm feeling MUCH better now. And good thing, with spring break just around the corner. Stay healthy, friends.

First Catch

Well I made it out of Toksook Bay and back to Bethel.

Myself and coworker Marc had schemed up a little Saturday trip to go up past Three Step, a mountain up river past Kwethluk, on a mission to put meat in the freezers.

I rose early that morning to get ready and have a good breakfast, and at 7:45 set out. It was a bit on the chilly side at -18F, so we were all dressed for the weather when we met at Crowley to gas up the tanks and jugs for the journey.

By the time we hit Kwethluk we were getting first light and it wasn't warming up at all. Towards Three Step we started to see tracks and sign so we knew we were getting somewhat close to the herd. The trail got fresher and eventually we spotted the herd about 4-5 miles in the distance, they were on the move.

We came up with a plan to get up ahead of them so as not to scatter them out on the run. I wish I had some pics or video of this huge group of caribou, it was pretty cool seeing and hearing them move through the draw. The sound of all the hooves in the ice crusted snow reminded me of the sound of a class II rapids in a small river, only a little crunchier. As it was, it was a bit cold to be digging out the camera, and plus I was kind of busy at the time.

Despite it never warming up, it was a gorgeous day in some pretty country. It was a bright day, with ice haze and the sun, as one friend once put it in their blog, had its mittens on. (sun dogs to either side)





Fortunately we found a good ambush point and Marc and I were each able to bag an animal.

I opted for this cow because she presented a decent shot where I wouldn't have an accidental hit on a 2nd animal, and the word was that a cow would have a bit nicer meat this time of year than a tired out bull. That wisdom proved true from what we saw cutting her up.

We set to work on the animals and then had a couple of hangups getting back to Bethel. First, Marc's snowmachine wouldn't start. Luckily there was another man with us, Glen, who could tow Marc back, and I hooked up the sled to mine. But then we got to the meeting place where we were to meet another friend who had gone up that way with us to go check his trap line. He didn't show and didn't show, and we were running out of daylight. At temps like we had yesterday, we were getting worried about him and decided he must have bagged it and headed home, so we did the same. We got him on the phone once we got near Kwethluk and had cell service, so all was well.

It all made for a long day out in some cool temps though. It was good to come back with a catch for the freezer.

Next up, I start teaching in Napaskiak this week, so I'll have the daily ice road commute, and my own bed to sleep in at night.

And some tasty caribou to eat up...

Payback From Wayback

Wow have I neglected this thing or what? Last time I posted I was on the verge of getting a really nasty cold, the Chefornak strain. Since that post, my travels have gone like this:
Chefornak>Bethel>Anchorage>Chicago>Madison>Los Angeles>Madison>Chicago>Anchorage>Bethel>Toksook Bay.

There's alot I could have said about each leg of that journey, but I've let it slide. Sometimes once a memory isn't so recent, it's hard to elaborate upon it. Especially in a blog.

From Chefornak all the way to Chicago went smoothly aside from being sick. For those not in the know, going up and down in an airplane when you have a bad sinus problem makes it feel like your ears will explode out the side of your head.

Once I got to Madison I began feeling better. Maybe it was a big bowl of homemade chili that did the trick. As always, Christmas break was terrific. I spent time with not all, but many of my friends and family that I love and miss. Ate many tasty meals. I got to bowl a few nights in my old bowling league. I got to see the Badgers play basketball, hockey, and football. That's right, football.

The Rendall family took a little trip out to Pasadena to watch Bucky lose to the horned frogs. We had a heck of a nice time being together as a family on a trip for the first time in about 20 years, and yes, saying that does indeed make me feel old. Some things we did out in LALA land were: took a tour of the city, where we saw many star studded sites including this one at the Chinese Theatre.

And down the streed a spell was this gigantic macaroni noodle...


Of course, it wasn't all noodles and concrete out there. We visited Universal Studios, which was much cooler than I had hoped. We went to the Rose Parade, where we saw many things, including this thing:



I'd post a pic from the game, but, well, you probably saw it on TV, and we lost, and it's still...it's just too early. But here we all are before the loss:

And we did get to see this guy:

So all in all, a good time. Last two pics, to give credit where it's due, were stolen from sister Janine's facebook.

Not long after the return from LA it was time to fly back up here to AK. That meant getting up really early, along with Dad (thanks Dad!) and putting the truck away, catching a bus to Chicago, and having another long plane ride to Anchorage.

There in Ted Stevens Int'l, watching the Packers trounce the Eagles, I ran into John, a former TO resident who has since retired and moved on to greener pastures. So neat to catch up with an old friend unexpectedly like that.

My plan was to head right on out here to Toksook Bay (Nelson Island School, home of the Islanders) a day or two after getting back to Bethel, but the weather just wasn't having it. The plans got all bumped back a week. Fortunately I had built into my schedule some flexibility for such weather related events, as they are a simple fact of life out here as an itinerant. Here's a little example:

After I got out here, I decided to head in for the next weekend, as a coworker and I were scheming a caribou hunt, probably the last opportunity for the year on that endeavor. But the weather had to go and change, thwarting those plans. I watched the Packers that Sunday dispatch the Bears, knowing I wouldn't be heading to Toksook Bay that afternoon as I had planned. Wanna know why? Because the weather in Toksook had a SMALL CHILD WARNING!! No, not as in the context of raining cats and dogs. Oh no, the warning was against having small children outside because it was so windy, they could be blown away. I can't make this stuff up, folks.

Things are going ok here at NIS, although schedules are full of bumps and unforseens. A good night's sleep is hard to come by, too. This week I will head to Bethel to judge for FIRST robotics competition, then head back here to conclude classes. Oh, and don't worry, I will be watching the big game in Bethel. And I will be putting on a Wisconsin spread for the occasion. You know....cheese, Johnsonville brats. Go Packers.

Following that, I'll do a little ice road truckin', and then be a daily commuter to Napaskiak. I'm looking forward to that stint, as it will afford opportunities to put some miles on the Ski Doo, and put some ptarmigan meat on the table. Mmmmmmm, ptarmigan.

Waq-aa From Chaputnguak School

So here I am in Chefornak, CYF, Home of the Shamans with what could be the last post of the semester. It's flown right by just as they all do.

I'm enjoying being back in Chefornak, and have really enjoyed catching up with the people I met and taught here two years ago. I have a couple of small but hard-working and dedicated classes of students to work with in my short time remaining.

I haven't made it out to get any photos lately due to a littany of excuses, ranging from it being pitch dark out, it's a blizzard, it's cold, or my latest and greatest excuse, I don't feel good. That's right, I finally caught the crud and hopefully I get it shook before heading home.

Hopefully too I can get out to take in some of the sunrises/sunsets here, because Chefornak has some of the best around. Likewise, I'm looking forward to the meteor shower Monday night. AND most of all, looking forward to seeing friends and family in Wisconsin!!

Turkey and Ketchup

So hopefully you all enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast as good as what we had yesterday. You wouldn't suppose that a bachelor pad like ours would put on a such a good Thanksgiving spread. Some folks assume a house full of bachelors doesn't even have Thanksgiving dinner but of course we do, and we do it up well. The trick is to have many pitch in and make what they are good at, and have guests that can make dessert. This year I decided to call up Mom and get a couple recipes from her to help our feast seem more like what I remember from back home. The corn hot dish was great, and my first crack at making real homemade gravy was a big hit. Add to that a carefully made 20 lb turkey with bratwurst stuffing, persimmon pudding, pumpkin desserts, green beans, garlic bread, locally grown mashed potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce, and it all adds up, we ate like kings. No ketchup on the turkey of course. That's for the after dinner conversation, catching up....

I came in from Newtok with a sore back, empty camera and heavy heart. Sore back just from sleeping on an air mattress for weeks. Empty camera, much to my dismay, because I thought I'd forgotten it at home. Here it turns out I put it in the pocket of a pair of blue jeans I never got around to wearing. So there were lots of pics I would have liked to take but it didn't work out. Too bad because I could have shown the difference 2 years worth of erosion makes from last time I was out there. Walking out to The Point is a lot shorter of a hike these days. And there would have been what I think is a hilarious photo session in the school kitchen, but once again, you can't take pictures with a camera you don't know you have.

The heavy heart came from a total disaster there where a man and his two sons lost their lives when their machine went through the ice near the village. Although I didn't know the man, and the little boys I'd only met in the halls, nobody with an ounce of humanity in their heart wouldn't have felt anguish at the thought of what had occurred. I don't know how else to put it other than it was a sad, sad deal.

Back in Bethel it seemed winter had officially arrived, and I got the Ski Doo ready to ride. I got to take it to work 3 times before the weather got warm and it started to rain, wrecking all the snow and turning the close-to-being-safe Kuskokwim into more of a pre-breakup state. The hoped-for Thanksgiving caribou hunt wasn't to be, and as such, I see no opportunities on the near horizon. I don't mind winter weather, but I'd like for it to make up its mind and simply be winter, freeze up solid and let the fun begin.

From here, the next step is to make it to Chefornak this Sunday. It proved a challenge this past mini-week which is why I'm still here. With luck I'll get out Sunday, work classes in high-gear, and make it back to Bethel in time to catch my jet home. It won't be long at all now before I get to share big hugs with dear family and friends. If you're among those I'll be seeing soon, then I'm looking forward to it more than you know. I'll try to have another ketchup from Chefornak before heading back to Wisconsin. Hopefully with pics next time.

Take care, be safe, and as always....Go Badgers.

Return of the Itinerant

Yes, people, I am back in Bethel. Back from Goodnews Bay, GNU, Home of the Bears. With my job, time really does fly. It feels like I just got out there, and that was 3 1/2 weeks ago. Already I'm back, with much work to do, and looking forward to my next journey, a return to Newtok.

Classes went decently, despite the fact that it's "Dividend Season" right now. Local readers will know what I mean, while people from Outside may not. October 7 was the magical date when the PFD dividends came out. When that happens, any number of things start to happen. For a teacher, it means that you're bound to have people missing from class sporadically because they go travel with the new money. You also may have students who are tired and sleepless because the dividend money was being drank in their house the night before. Despite these distractions we made some positive headway in class. Here are some of my Bear students working on a class project last Saturday. We welded a railing back into place in the school which had been cut out previously to allow room to move a large object up the steps.


Of course I found time to get out and do things outside at Goodnews too. Myself and Paul made several trips out on waterfowl hunts. We never had a big day, but never came back skunked either. Here's his dog Stella, having dutifully fetched for me my first mallard, a drake.

He's thawing out downstairs along with a few other ducks. I'm going to try out a tasty recipe involving duck breasts and jalapenos tomorrow, and am looking forward to it.

Last weekend my friend Dirk came and joined us out in Goodnews as well. He's a fly fishing aficionado and had contacted Paul and came out to experience the Goodnews River. Saturday I had to sit out, since I had classes going on. Sunday however, we had a great (albeit a bit chilly) trip up river quite a ways. It was a crisp morning boat ride, with shell ice on some of the banks, ice gleaming on low hanging branches from dipping/spray in the river. We saw lots of birds zipping around, deciding if it's time to stay or go, several eagles, and a brute of a brown bear. Once we arrived at the fishing hole, we were all stoked about the great boat ride, and agreed that the trip was worthwhile even if we got skunked fishing. (Which of course we did not!) We brought back a pile of dolly varden, and a few random rainbows and arctic grayling were also caught. I caught this beauty of a "dolly" on that day as well as 11 smaller ones. Looking forward to seeing them on my plate soon too.

My departure was Friday, and I wasn't so sure I'd get to Bethel at all. Bethel was fogged in most of the day. Saturday was forecast to be super windy, which held up it's end on that deal. I was a little worried, not that I didn't want to be out there anymore, but I really wanted to make it back so I could watch the Badgers beat up on Ohio State. Luckily I made it and didn't miss a play. And in my PO box was waiting for me my very own dividend check from Governor Sean Parnell. Quyana, Sean!!

What am I going to do with it? Buy plane tickets, of course.

The Right Place At The Right Time

So this past Tuesday I flew back out to Goodnews Bay, this time on LKSD's dime, since I'm out here to get work done. I started classes on Wednesday, so we're basically just getting the ball rolling. I'm already excited about a couple of projects that lie ahead for my welding class. Some of my students are more excited about it than others. A couple are so excited they follow me around the school asking all kinds of questions, anxious about when they'll get to do this or that sort of welding activity. I hope that enthusiasm holds up when I put them to work on some metal fabrication.

I'm making an effort to eat better "itinerant food" this year. Packing up 3 weeks worth of chow in a box can mean taking in tons of salt, preservatives and lots of other not so good things. There's no getting around some of that, but I'm thinking that with a little smarter shopping and prep-ahead, I'll be doing the body some small favors.

Of course, me being me and all, it's not all work and no play out here in Goodnews. Thursday evening my friend Paul and I took his boat a little ways up the Goodnews River and set out a spread of goose, duck, and swan decoys. Unfortunately, that night the birds were moving, but we only got one to come within range. That one flew off safely, although he might have soiled his feathers for fear of the racket and steel balls whizzing past him.

When we got back to the village and were trailering up the boat, Paul apologized for the evening's lousy hunting. But check out these pictures I snapped from where I was sitting waiting for birds, and you'll see why I laughed and said the hunt was fine with me. And these you can click for bigness.

To one side was the river's mouth and the small ridge of mountains lit up by the low-level light of the setting sun, hovered by flying-saucer clouds.



To the other side was a real eyeball exploding event...the setting sun chasing, catching, and hiding behind Beluga Mountain. (named so because from the side it is shaped like a...)






So yeah, we didn't catch any birds Thursday. I'm kind of glad, though, because if the hunting had been good I wouldn't had time to sit back, take in and ponder the beauty the evening had to offer.

Don't Die With A Quiver Full Of Arrows

This blog has been a quiet place for months. I suppose most readers I had have given up on me and moved on. It's not that I haven't had stories to tell, just none I really felt compelled to broadcast to the world. So if you're still out there reading, here's a story for you and a simple thought to ponder.

For those not in the know, I flew back here to Bethel, AK on August 8th, landed in the cool rain and got to work the following day. It was awesome to see all my friends back home at the Tundra Oasis, and equally good to catch up with the friends I've made throughout the school district over the past two years at our district-wide inservice. I learned that all summer long, the weather was pretty much the same as I was seeing-rain, wind, and gray skies.

Soon enough, the two-day inservice drew to a close and I ran several sorties in an LKSD Suburban, transferring teachers out to the air carriers where they could embark on another (or their first) school year here. It was kind of bittersweet, knowing it would be some time before I got to see these fine folks again. It was time to get to the real work. The rain continued...

The "real work" is starting a bit differently this season. Normally I'd have shipped off to this or that village and started doing my itinerant routine after a week or so in town. This fall I've been positioned in Bethel, where I'm assisting with a building project at the local high school. Additionally, I've been teaching a welding class at the Bethel Youth Facility, the place where I ended out last school year putting on a Drivers Ed class. It's all well and good, but it's a change. I'm not used to spending this much time in Bethel, or in a town this size at all for that matter. City life just isn't really my thing.

I came to town this fall with aspirations of filling up a freezer with fish and birds, enjoying the harvests and our beautiful late summer days. But, not many people I knew were going out. Due to high waters and a reported "strange" run on the coho salmon, fishing reports were poor. Due to limited Bethel contacts, and some with malfunctioning equipment, fishing and bird hunting opportunities were scarce. Meanwhile I toil on in my work, feeling like I should be "out there" in the villages, doing what I do. Increasingly on my mind with each day are the friends and family I left behind back in Wisconsin. Could it be homesickness? I had a terrific summer and I miss it already. I become restless, tired from sleeping poorly at night and anxious with thoughts questioning the validity of this early autumn. And of course, it rains.

Closing in on Labor Day weekend with no plans besides rusting in the Bethel rain, I converse with my friend Paul out in Goodnews Bay, and we hatch a brilliant plan: I'll pack the gear, guns, and fishing rod, and fly on out there for a nice long weekend of hunting and fishing. The words "just what the doctor ordered" probably never fit so well.

I climbed aboard the Cessna 207, just the pilot and I, my gear, and a plane full of cargo being delivered to the village. The wind was really ripping on the coast, so the pilot opted for a different flight path bringing us up over the mountains that are to the east of Quinhagak and cutting over to Goodnews Bay that way, instead of taking a beating in the coastal winds on the usual bay cut-across route. He tells me this when he notices me peering over at the altimiter and watching it tick higher and higher. Eventually we reach a height of 4,600 feet, and are still not above the clouds where I know the mountains lurk. It was smooth sailing though, and soon enough we were over goodnews bay, where the pilot banked hard and corkscrewed us down towards the water to set us up for a landing. Approaching the airport, I could see my friends Chris and Amanda walking with their dogs and their baby boy, waving to me as I swooped in. I could see Paul on his four wheeler waiting to pick me up at the airport. I was already feeling good to be in a friendly place, and I wasn't even off the plane yet. Talking about the flight later on the river, Paul reminded me of the Far Side comic where they talk about the funny clouds with mountain goats in them. Fortunately, no rocky clouds today. As an aside, I have to say The Far Side has got to be bar none the funniest comic of all times.

After a little time to unload gear and settle in to my little shack, myself, Paul, and a student headed up river and got into some dandy salmon fishing. I don't want to make this a bragging board but I might as well show a picture of this brute coho I landed that day.


Later on as we gutted and cleaned the day's catch, we reminisced about the aggressive brown bear that harassed us last year. I pondered whether the borrowed .45 I had on my chest would be enough gun to dispatch such a bear if it became necessary. Paul's advice was "well, as they say, don't go die with a quiver full of arrows."

The next day we decided to focus on the waterfowl instead of the fish. We set out a spread of decoys and waited for the geese, Canadian cacklers and white-fronts. I'm happy to have finally bagged some, instead of having the birds fly off laughing at my efforts. It was a great hunt for me, despite the fact that we were sitting in the rain getting soaked, and didn't catch a ton of birds. It was a thrill to be out taking in the scenery, and watching Stella (Paul's Chesapeake Bay retriever) work on fetching us birds.


Sunday we decided to head back up river in some iffy weather and work on putting up some more salmon. Our perseverance was rewarded by calming winds, clearing and partially sunny skies, warmer weather and a nice catch of salmon. We even got a nice look at a good sized brown bear on the ride back to the village.

On Monday I caught the last flight into Bethel in gray rainy skies and dodgy flying weather. On that bumpy plane ride, for some reason I got to thinking back to our river discussion...that one about the quiver of arrows. I started thinking more and more about how it doesn't just apply to battlefield enemies, or throwing chunks of lead at an attacking bear. It's life. Everybody's got a full quiver of arrows. The real battles in life are in the day to day trenches, the challenges you face in your professional and your personal life. Your arrows are the good things that get you through it feeling whole and well on the inside. But they don't do you any good on your back...

For me, I was starting to feel kind of down and out, missing my loved ones, missing out on what I wanted to be doing, so I knocked an arrow and aimed for a weekend of hunting and fishing, "river therapy" in some pristine land.

And you know what? Despite the fact that it's a cold day here in Bethel, so windy that the rain is blowing sideways, and I spent the whole day in an inservice, and my truck is sitting at the office with a flat tire....I feel pretty darn good about things.

Thursday Night Sympony

Last night at around 130 AM I took a trip out to the outhouse. The air was as still as gear oil and about 55 Fahrenheit. My ears picked up on the faint call of loons on a distant lake. Soon the song was joined by calls from another pair on another lake. The song built to an eerie echoing crescendo that would have to be heard to be believed. As the echoes repeated and died away, responses came from two other directions, two other lakes. Before long there was a long distance, 4 way instant messenger filling the still night air. The calls gained intensity until the woods was ringing, absolutely ringing with the loon song. After reaching an apex of sorts, the residual echoes hopped through the forest as though on pogo sticks, leaving behind complete silence. I’ve heard plenty of loons in the night but never anything like this.

Summer in the Northwoods, life is good.

Breaking Up, Breaking Out

Here I am in Bethel on the eve of my last day of work for the 09-10 school year. Every year of life comes with it's ups and downs but overall I'd give this one high marks. AND HOW FAST!! We always say how fast a year has been but this truly was light speed most of the time. It seems like I just came to Bethel to start work a month ago. Now it's in the books.

Things wrapped up in Tuntutuliak peacefully and quietly. Attendance started to get a little touch and go towards the end as the waterfowl started showing up, but some dedicated students had a very positive experience in class with me.

After that I worked here in Bethel, teaching at the Bethel Youth Facility. This is a youth detention center for people who have made a bad decision and are paying the price for it and trying to get things going in the right direction. I taught a drivers ed class there to a group of young men and it was a good experience for all of us. My hope is that I have set a good example for them, and that they are able to utilize some of what I have taught them to open some doors later on. Class concluded today and the boys were appreciative of my efforts on their behalf, and as a teacher, that's about as good as it gets.

Monday the lower Kuskokwim broke up and we said bye bye to the ice. I was starting to wonder if it was going to happen before I left. Here are a few photos of what a May 17th river breakup might look like.




We've been getting some dandy weather here in Bethel this week. Warm temps, sunshine, nice bike rides to work. Yet part of me misses the nice cool bite of the crisp morning air.

Saturday afternoon I'll begin the long journey home. I'm looking forward to being there, and seeing all of you family and friends who may be reading this. Not looking forward to the hours I'll be spending in close quarters breathing re-breathed air, but worthwhile of course. Looking forward to seeing the sun set over Wisconsin waters this summer. Will it be as pretty as Alaskan sunsets such as this one late last night?


I don't know. These are hard to beat.