100th Day of School!

Well, yet another week of teaching over- the year continues to fly by =) The kids were a bit riled up this week, but we had fun. On Thursday I almost went home sick, but then I realized it was the 100th day of school......and the kids have been really looking forward to this. I didn't want to leave it to a sub, so I stayed. We read books about 100 throughout the day, made necklaces with pony beads, in groups of 5's with different colors, so that we could count by 5's to the 100 beads on our necklaces, and then in the afternoon we had a party. We made place-mats that said 100 days of school, blew up balloons and wrote 100 on them, and I gave then animal face plates and crackers with peanut butter and dried cereal (which they love), and turned on music and danced (I taught them how to disco). I also surprised them all by spraying them with silly string....which I thought was hilarious. The looks on their faces was pretty priceless. I don't think they had ever seen silly string before! The end of the day on Thursdays is our gym time, so we finished the day by taking our balloons and some scooters into the gym, which worked out pretty good as they were pretty wild by then! I then sat on my butt during ski practice and timed them for a race, then let them take their skis home for the weekend, and I went home and went to BED. I slept until 1 am....spent a couple hours reading, and then went to sleep again. I am feeling better today though.

Making my Parkie

Well, I started sewing my parkie together on Wednesday. It is a lot more work than I first thought, but it is going, and I think I am going to like it. I had a couple ladies come over and work on projects with me, and I am glad I did! I was about to start cutting my first rabbit skin, when one of the ladies warned me not to use a scissors. Doing so cuts the hairs, and then it looks funny where you sew the two parts together. Instead, she told me to use an ulu or a razor blade and cut from the skin side, so that the hairs aren't cut. This makes perfect sense, but just hadn't occurred to me. I had to sharpen my ulu to get it working better, but I am getting better at cutting the way I want to with it. I have sewn 4 rabbit skins together so far, and one little scrap onto it as well, making the top half of the front of my parkie (minus the sleeves). The little part matched up really well, and I was excited about this and sewed it on to fill in a needed piece, but wasn't paying enough attention I guess. I was getting better at sewing it by then, and it turned out good, with no wrinkles in the leather, but then I noticed that while all my rabbit hairs are pointed down, I accidentally sewed that one little piece with the hairs going up! Oh well. The furs are going to be on the inside, so nobody should notice, and it is a pretty little piece anyway. I learned from my mistake, and I am starting to figure things out more. That is the main thing. I know I won't do a perfect job on this, as it is my first attempt and I don't really know what I am doing. I was really glad to get a few pointers from my friend Grace though, and it is turning out good enough for me! I have never been the really picky type =)

Snowmachining and Skiing

John and I got out and enjoyed the nice weather this weekend. I slept at the school Friday night, chaperoning a girls Basketball team, and woke up to some nasty winds and drifts, but by the afternoon it had cleared up and was warm and great out! So, we went for a snowmachine ride....tried to get up to haystack, but got stuck and had to turn around, then we went around Elim hill and to the back side of Baldhead. The girls basketball team wasn't able to fly out, so I spent another night at the school, then the next day we went out skiing to the back side of Baldhead. Going down the hill was interesting, as the tracks didn't allow for much room to snowplow, and your skis got locked into tracks going straight down- so I ended up purposely crashing, and one time just really toppling on the way down! Always harder to get up when you go off the trail and end up in the deep stuff! I had fun. Ski practice starts on Monday....I had 5 kids show up for the meeting today...and I had boots that fit them all!!! I have one more kid that wanted to join and one more pair of big boots....my biggest ones, but I hope they are big enough!

Beautiful Morning!

One of my favorite things about my apartment is the view I have from my living room. On Sunday, when I woke up at 10:30, I was greeted with this view of the sun rising over the ocean. So, I took advantage of it, and sat on my chair drinking coffee and watching the sunrise (which is quite a bit more prolonged than the ones in Minnesota).




On another note, in the adventures of Qunguk...he is learning to jump higher and is getting into more things. He can now jump onto my lower counter, balance on the lip of the trash can, and has broken a candle and a picture frame so far this week. He is a lot of fun, and is really sweet and cuddly when he is tired.....and is taking on one of my favorite traits of Barney, which is coming when I call his name.


He will play with anything, and I am glad I did not really invest in cat toys, because he likes Monsters old toys (other than the bones and squeekies) just fine. He chases the strings on the ropes, chases tennis balls, and even went into the "toy box" today and pulled out a fluffy ball that Monster had. He also likes to play with his water dish a little bit, as he is doing right now, again!

I tried to get a picture of him balancing on the lip of the trashcan, but failed.
Qunguk thinks the printer is alive or something. He is a little afraid of it, but extremely curious also. If I am printing a lot, he will stand guard in this position waiting for it to make noises again.

I attempted my first lasagna last night. I did not find a recipe that I had all supplies from, so I had to borrow a little bit from each recipe to make it work, but it turned out alright.....it didn't stay together great coming out of the pan, but I like lot of sauce on my lasagna, and found it was a tolerable trade-off. I think it turned out pretty good.
Today, Mark invited me over for some caribou....but it turned out his stove wasn't working, so we came over to my house and cooked it. He marinated it in italian dressing, and it was wonderful!! We had it with rice and corn. As a side note, we also played a couple games of cribbage. I lost the first game, but then I skunked him the second time =) No, I did not do the skunk dance!
We are getting more snow here again, which makes me happy, as always. I am taking my Kindergarteners out skiing tomorrow for their gym time....they have been counting down the days! I will try to remember my camera!

Seal Head!

Upon reaching the base of Elim Hill yesterday, I found a seal head (at least I think that is what it is). How it wound up there, I am not exactly sure... but I brought it home of course. I let the snow melt off of it, and then it was still pretty bloody, so I washed it off a bit in the sink, and then put it in my freezer for now. I will need to boil it, but I am pretty excited about it. I have a seal jaw....but not a whole head until now!
Qunguk was curious about it, like everything else.


I tend to find the most interesting things around here..... I never regret a walk!

Mail....

Just in time....I was starting to run low on catfood....and while this would be good news to Qunguk, who would be then feasting on salmon, I was glad to not have the hassle of needing to cook it for him. I picked up two of my boxes at the post office; with what is inside (cat litter and food) that was about what I could carry....and then the next day I needed to go back with my main mode of transport (my sled) to get the rest.
When not racing around like a mad man....this is what he looks like.
I have been busy typing papers this week.....finishing up my class, which I got an A in. I still have a little bit to redo though, as it will help me for my next class also. This is Qunguks's main contribution to the cause....when he isn't trying to walk across my keyboard.

He has also been helping me with the mail....what a help! I have never seen a cat get so much enjoyment out of paper before.
I really like his two racing stipes he has down his back.....they fit his personality, too!

Elim Hill at Sunset

I was taking care of Sadie yesterday, as Mark went caribou hunting, and she needed to get out for a walk, so I put my long list of things to do on hold, to do something I have been wanting to do this week anyways....hike Elim hill to see the sunset. It was a clear, great day to do it! So, I hiked up to the airport to the base of the hill. It was -2 yesterday, but even just going to the airport, I realized that I had overdressed, and I needed to take my mittens off.
Just entering the woods, I realized that nobody had really been on this trail since it snowed, so I was hiking in snow up to my knees. This was going to be a harder hike than I had planned...
I also soon discovered that I could not find the trail, which is easily visible in the fall....so I started trail blazing my way up.
Hiking uphill in deeper snow is more tiring than I had planned....I stopped to take a rest and enjoy the view.
A full moon! This was turning out to be a better hike than I had planned!

I love my beaver hat....but lesson re-learned....bring a thinner hat with for hiking in....the beaver hat can go in the backpack until I get to the top and am in the wind again!




Well, I never did make it to the top, the going was much slower than I had planned, and I have realized that I will need to start out earlier to make sunset.....and it might be a good idea to bring a headlamp in case it gets dark for the way back. I made it about 2/3- 3/4 of the way up before turning around....I felt like I was wimping out a little bit, but I was EXHAUSTED! And I could really feel the hike in my legs all evening. Even going downhill in snow to your knees can be a lot more tiring than normal. I will make it up there though! And the hike was beautiful, even if I didn't reach my destination.