Bonfire

I needed to get out yesterday, so instead of finishing my homework, I decided to put it off for a day and head out! I was just procrastinating and finding just about anything to do besides my work anyways. So, I packed a backpack with a thermos of boiling water, some paper, a book, some dried foods, my camera and some tea and got ready to spend a few hours outside. I stopped and told a few people I was going out to Nex Crick to see if they wanted to join me, and Mary said she would (the first grade teacher and my neighbor)...so we headed out together and started a fire on the beach by Nex crick. We took Sadie (Mark's black lab) with us, and she had fun eating dried humpys and chewing on sticks. When she got tired she came over and slept by me. The weather was a little colder- starting to wear sweatshirts now, and I wore wool pants out yesterday, but it was perfect by the fire....the bugs weren't too bad being on the beach and by the fire. A few hours later John and Katie joined us, and John brought his guitar and sang a few tunes for us. Mark came out a while later, and he was the last one to stay up with me....we headed back about 1, and I got a ride with him on the 4-wheeler. I did have a headlamp and could have walked, but my bed was starting to sound good =) A lazy day today, need to get online and finish my homework now....so I can get outside again tomorrow....we will see...maybe even go camping tonight! I love Labor Day! I had the light setting not set right for outside on my camera, so my pictures didn't turn out all that great...

Jam!

Arghh! Just lost my blog I was going to post, so now I need to do it over again...will make it shorter as I don't have the patience to re-write everything!
I made jam on Friday after school- it turned out great, and I have been eating it on biscuits the last couple of days for breakfast. I made it with a little bit less sugar than recommended, as I like a little bit of the tart taste from the blueberries coming through! I still have quite a few blueberries left and would like to make more, but don't have many jars left....should have shipped more from Anchorage =) Oh, well...this will get me through. I have been eating the rest of my blueberries making smoothies.... healthy- and taste great! I am very glad I splurged this year and bought a blender....haven't had one in 5 years- forgot how great they are!!! I also bought a small crockpot and a mixer this year.....oh the small joys! I have been cooking and baking a lot more! I like to share with others, as I can't possibly eat everything on my own, so I am sure no-one else minds, either!

Not much...

I really don't have much new to post....feeling a little bored and not wanting to start my homework just yet. Here are a couple of pictures from my class though. This week we looked at same and different, so they were going around the room finding things that were the same or different, and we are going to use the pictures to make a class book. Tomorrow is Friday already...can't believe my second week is almost over....I am looking forward to the long weekend, though!

The barge is back in town, bringing us all our needed supplies....this also means a 25% off sale at the Native Store next week! After school I had a teleconference about Kindergarten testing, which was wonderfully entertaining, and then Di and I took off to go pick blueberries. The tide was too low to paddle back to the spot we had gone to before, so we went to a spot across the road from Petochek. The berries were not as fresh as I have seen other places, but they were sweet and good- I am going to try making jam out of them anyways, so it really doesn't matter what they LOOK like =) For the first time, I actually remembered to bring my berry comb- and I am glad I did! It went a lot faster, and I was able to wear gloves, to keep the bugs off my hands. Added to my armor was a hankerchief around my neck, where the bugs crawl up inside my headnet, and the gloves, which did help. All the same, I did get a few bugs inside my net, and my wrists look like they are swollen because of bites. I am not complaining though, as this is probably the best I have come away after berry picking so far this year. I did begin to wish I had left my gear on as we packed up though, and headed off on the 4-wheeler, as we weren't able to generate enough wind to keep them away until we got to the road....there was an unbelievable swarm. Poor Miles (puppy) had had to deal with it longer than us....no wonder he had been getting really antsy and wanting to leave. He jumped up on the 4-wheeler pretty fast when we were leaving! Now I am back at home and need to start homework....oh, and I forgot that I had a class for my Masters tonight, so I guess I missed that.....and we missed voting- the City building was already closed by the time we got back into town at 8:30. Oh, well. My Masters class, at least isn't required that I attend- I can go back and read everything that was said on the seminar. Well, time to get something done tonight!

Heeere musk ox, musk ox!

Today after school, I sat around and got a little bit of work done, figuring out what I need to do for my projects for my classes....it was pretty boring. But then Mark came by and said that he had just seen a musk ox on the Nex Crick Trail....usually we don't see too many close to Elim- as they tend to be out more on the tundra- and this one was very close to town! So we hopped on the 4-wheeler and headed to the top of the Nex Crick trail to try and find it, but even after poking all around, we never did see it. We took a new trail I hadn't taken before, towards Elim hill....I had always assumed that it was just a woodcutting trail that didn't go very far back, but I now I want to go check it out further. The bugs are VERY thick right now, even in the wind...crawling inside your ears and just about anywhere they can. Tomorrow I made plans to go berry picking...I will have to do some better planning on what I am going to wear this time....and remember to bring my berry comb to try out!! In the pictures above, you can see some of the berries we have around here. The first ones are NOT cranberries, and you do not want to eat...too bad because there are tons of them! The second one shows cranberries, and the third one shows our "blackberries"- or crowberries. These do not have a lot of flavor, but mix well with blueberries and cranberries.

week 2

I'm on my lunchbreak right now, but we are starting our second week of school. Things are going really good- and I really enjoy my students this year. For some reason I wasn't able to view my blog last night after I posted, so more or less I am just posting something right now to see if I can get it to work again =)

Well, another perfect day! I tried to beat the kids out of the house this morning, so they wouldn't follow me, but ended up putsing around the house too much, doing dishes, etc, so didn't get out until noon....the kids were all out playing already and wanted to follow me. I told them I was going off by myself today, though and headed down to the beach and out past the big tall rocks, to blow up my kayak (figured at least there I would be more alone). I did figure out how to blow up my kayak- I had rigged up my pump with a funnel to accommodate the larger hole, and finally figured out that the side panels had two different ways of opening- one way to let air OUT and one way to only let it IN. I tried to frustrate myself for awhile trying to get a full boat of air while pumping it through the release air hole....While I had started out with a perfectly calm ocean, by the time I finished, the wind had picked up a bit, and the waves had white caps on them....but- why come all that way to turn around before trying my new boat? I tried to get my boat a little further out, so it wouldn't scrape on the rocks so much, but the waves kept knocking it into shore before I could push off...and there was no way I was going to get far without putting on my spray skirt first- so I wrestled with that just a little bit, then used my hands to try and lift the boat from under me a little and push myself off....once I got going, though, it was smooth sailing! The waves went right over my kayak and didn't tip me at all. That little boat is quite steady! The only thing I really had to watch for were some rocks that came up and scraped my boat if I was on the down part of a wave.....i stayed pretty close to shore, as I didn't want to have a hard time getting back to shore- so I only went a couple hundred yards out. Surprisingly, the ocean was quite shallow there. At least in the little bay that I was playing in- quite a few spots my paddle could still touch! I hadn't been how sure I would like the ocean waves, as I had only really kayaked on the rivers- with few boats during flooding times to make waves- and Lake Superior one time, but on a very calm day with only a few big rolling waves. Surprisingly, I REALLY enjoyed playing in the waves, though! It was exciting and fun. I did get pretty wet, but the sun was pretty warm out and it didn't bother me. I wasn't sure how far out I should go though, so didn't go too far my first time, and then landed back where I had started. I put the carrying bag that my kayak came in, inside my kayak, took apart my paddle and tied it to my backpack, and carried my boat over my head back through town and home again. It wasn't very heavy...just a little bit like a sail though =) On the way home I saw Mark, who invited me over for pizza, so after washing the salt off my boat, I headed over to his house to visit and play with Sadie. I took a couple self-timer pictures with my camera to share...I couldn't take any out on the water with me, as I definitely would have lost another camera due to water damage! My O-Ring, water-proof box kept it safe and with me while I went, though! That was definitely a good investment for me =)!!!!!

Plants

Well, I did it! Finally! I figured out how to take better close-up pictures on my way home from berry picking today. I was excited, so I took a bunch of pictures of plants along the way....they are far from great, but at least they aren't a blur of color...I will work on it some more and figure out how to take better ones. Here are some plants (mostly flowers) from around this area. I wish I would have figured this out sooner- so many pictures would have turned out better....

pink, silver and blue

I woke up today bright eyed and full of energy! I think the weather had a lot to do with it. Not a cloud in the sky, and sunny and warm out! I did my dishes, laundry, and picked up my apartment, then wired my bike rack on (as I was missing some bolts needed and the piece that was supposed to connect to my bar wasn't long enough), then sat and drank coffee while sitting out on my porch and looking out over the ocean. I am very glad I bought a couple of camping chairs to keep out on my porch- I love sitting out there! I then headed out to Moses Point with John to go fishing. I caught two, and then on my third fish, my pole snapped!! Usually I just lose the line if the fish is too big, but my 20# test line didn't break, and my pole did! Oh, well. I tried to shove the broken part inside the thicker part and keep fishing, but it came flying off again. Perhaps with a little glue and duck tape....at least I have another pole up here. 3 fish is a good number to clean and wrap anyway. One of the fish was a pink- and was surprisingly still good at this time of year! Most humpys I would have thrown back three weeks ago already! This one was sleek and fresh looking- with lots of pretty coloring. I took some close up pictures of the back and tail.... I cleaned them out at Moses Point, as it is much easier to do out there than at home- especially with the cutting table right there. We then headed home, drove by some people we know looking for gold out at the beach, and drove by Iron Crick, though I didn't see too many fish. At home I wrapped my fish up and tried to find room for them, but had to put them out in the freezer in the hall that we share....I am using my full share of that by now! I worked on my classes for a little bit, sorted through my rocks from the other day (tossing the ones the kids had just thrown in my bucket) so I just had green ones again, then headed out towards the end of the airport to go pick some blueberries. I picked enough to open a big can of peaches and mix them in- will serve me as a snack for at least the next two days. I didn't stay picking too long, though as the noseums were very thick and biting me all over. They are much worse than mosquitos, as they leave big red welts that last much longer....and itch too. Next time I go, I will have to wear better armor. Supposed to be nice out again tomorrow! I hope so, though I really do need to do at least a little bit of school work this weekend, also!

Out to Rosemary

Well, today John and I went on a 4-wheeler ride out to Rosemary- a big tall rock sticking out on the tundra, on top of one of the mountains- it has a great view of the surrounding valley and nearby mountains- many of which also have strange rock formations on them. The sun was bright, and it was another day where I was feeling almost hot...yet I'm sure it was probably in the 60's. A perfect day to be outside. There was just enough breeze to keep most of the bugs (noseums) off, also, which is always appreciated! I got a little bit up when I was berry picking, but that was because I was too stubborn to put my sweatshirt back on- it felt good to wear a sleeveless shirt again. This week has been PERFECT weather wise. Supposedly it will be nice this weekend also, but I wonder how long it can last. I am pretty much happy, no matter the weather, if I can head out of the village and just be out in the country for awhile, though. Tomorrow is Friday already- and I am glad! The kids are doing well adjusting to Kindergarten, but the first week of school can be a little tiring. I am ready for a weekend and time away. I think it will be a good year though. I started my Masters classes again yesterday....yay. I have a writing class this quarter, which is not my strong suit, but hopefully it will help me a lot. The other one is about Assessments....ugh. Oh well- some classes you just have to take. I am half way to my Masters though- I will finish in March (I can't wait). Here are some pictures from around RoseMary- I didn't take any along the trail, as I found it better to hold onto the 4-wheeler than my camera. We did see fresh bear tracks on the way back, but again...no bears. Once we got home I made a homeade pizza, which turned out alright- and I ate like a pig. I had eaten quite a few blueberries but only had peanut butter and crackers for lunch, so I needed some real food. So, another day where my house didn't get cleaned....I don't care. I need to enjoy the fall while it is here! This is truly my favorite time of year!