Spring Ski....past-due post #1

Here are some pictures from when I went skiing after a big snowstorm with my two neighbors, Mary and Melody....obviously from up in Alaska yet. Pictures are loading tonight! At least I will get a little caught up! Need to head to head to bed soon though. This was a Beautiful day out!.....took Sadie with of course- she had a great time too =)

I know, I suck.....

I can't help it, things are crazy busy, and this just is not a priority for me right now. When I do try to make time to post, the pictures take forever to load, then quit loading so I just give up....will try again tonight- I really do want to get a little bit caught up and get it off my mind. Also- once the pictures are on here, I can get them onto my external harddrive....granted further free-time I don't have, and off my computer! Almost reaching 9,000 at the moment. I know- it is ridiculous....but I like my camera.....today not so much- it wasn't working for awhile and was really frustrating me! But, it did pull through and I got some awesome shots, which I will post eventually if able....

I am into my last week of my Masters program, so I have a couple very busy days ahead of me...but then one major thing will be off my plate. I am not even attempting working on it right now as my brain is sun fried I think....I spent 6 1/2 hours out in the sun paddling today...will post more on that later, but for now, I will just say I had a great weekend and got outside a lot, which of course makes me happy....as everyone knows.

Tomorrow....last Masters project, re-doing my last project as I realized I was missing a small part, going and getting my accounting stuff figured out for my new job, and helping my brother and Dad plant our garden (?!) Obviously this one will take a back burner, but I hate to not help out, as it will be my garden too, so we will see if I can squeeze in some time and just hit it hard...
Anyways, will try posting a few pictures tonight- but if you don't see them, the computer was going slow again and I lost patience! =) Need to get some sleep so I can get stuff done tomorrow....have been running on very little sleep this week. Nothing abnormal of course!

OK, OK....

So, I really just haven't been on here and have been way too busy lately! I am finally moved back to Minnesota, and am actually in Missouri right now....headed back to MN tomorrow, then in two days I am headed back up to Duluth for more dental stuff. I have gotten some stuff figured out--I will be having a surgery on June 25th for my bone regrafting....they were pretty optomistic that they could take some bone out from my jaw under where my wisdom teeth were to use...but after further information I am missing too much bone and they will need to take bone out of my hip for my jaw. I'm not thinking it will be too bad....they said maybe I will be on crutches for a couple days, but afer that I am hoping to be right back into doing stuff. I told the doctors I was planning to camp in Duluth after my surgery (because they asked)....but they didn't seem to think that was a great idea. So, I told them I have a friend I could stay with....was still planning to camp, but turns out I may have family coming with me. I doubt they will let me =(....maybe.....

I am moved in with my brother for the time being- going to be working in West Salem next year as a 4 year old Kindergarten teacher. I am hoping to start building my cabin in August, thinking I may get an apartment in West Salem for a little bit, until that is far enough along to live in =)
I am going to start doing a bunch of posts tonight.....really quick with my pictures just to try and get caught up a bit! Will try to stay updated with what I am doing this summer as well.....but I don't get online quite as much when it is so nice out!

Stuck in Koyuk!

The village of Koyuk....
In a serious attempt to get caught up on my blogging, I am going to really attempt to post at least once a day for awhile!....We will see. These pictures were taken almost 2 months ago (I know!)...when I took a Frontier plane into Nome for Dan and Ethel Karmun's (Gary's grandparents) Anniversary party. A lot of the cousins were going to be there, and even Nellie came from out of town. I took a day off work, but when we stopped in Koyuk first, I never got any further. Upon taking off again the fuel line got disconnected on the plane and we never got altitude and the plane started making funny clunking noises- we had to circle right back around and land....and then I was there.... The villages do not have a building to go into and wait for things...

...unless, you count this, that is. I don't. So, I headed into town as suggested, and was told to come back in "a little bit".....sure. Not really having anywhere to go in the bush, I decided to go to the store. Got myself an orange soda and original flavored skittles- something we don't get in our village =) And one of the few candies, I really still love! I also stopped at the school, where the principal knows me and let me in to use the phone and call the Garrison's, to say I would be late....
I then headed back to the runway to wait....
I looked at the view, and waited......
and waited.....

and waited.....Nobody around, so I kept waiting......
And got bored, so decided to play with my camera.....


How long can I entertain myself this way you ask?

Actually, quite awhile it turns out- but then the batteries die, or get too cold, so you are left with nothing else to do. So, I then wandered around the airport a little....until I noticed somebody coming up. Any information? No. But the guy offered to take me to his house to wait, as it was close to the airport and I wouldn't miss anything. Turns out, I know his wife- a teacher in Koyuk. So, I got to hang out with Heather and she fed me pizza and showed me how to knit better =) We later found out the weather in Nome had gone down, so I was stuck in Koyuk for the night. Heather and Chuck let me stay in their spare bedroom though, and the next morning I made it back on the plane and I just went back to Elim (as I had already missed the party I figured I should just go back to work).

View from the plane.....



I then got a ride on the back of a sled into town- luckily this one had a musk ox hide on it, and I realized how NICE they are for padding your butt while going over bumps!

Thus ends my second plane "adventure" for the year! As another Frontier plane had recently collided into a mountain, leaving one teacher with a broken back, I feel pretty lucky with how mine have turned out!

Mr. Curiosity!

Here is my little buddy, Qunguk, whom I added to my family in December. He shares a birthday with Gary, September 24, and has been a great friend to have. He drives me crazy at times, but sometimes I need that! As you can see here, he really likes to crawl into small spaces...wherever he can find them!
Here he is playing with my stuffed bunny that Brian and Lana brought for me when I was in the hospital. He has taken it on as his new wrestling partner....and I will often find it laying in a completely different part of the house from where I left it.
A couple weeks ago, my little buddy (aka Gukaroo, Guk, or Mr. Curiosity) started feeling really sick. He started walking like this and crying non-stop. I was incredibly worried, and called the Nome vet, who could offer me no advice except to try and get ahold of some amoxicillan. I wasn't able to bring him into Nome the next day because the vet was closed on Sunday.....thus one of the things I do NOT like about livig in the bush! The local clinic would not give me amoxicillan for an animal, so I ended up giving him my antibiotics I had from after my surgery- cephalexin. Luckily, I was able to find out (with the help of Katie) that cephalexin is exactly the same thing given to animals as humans. Within a couple days of holding him down and trying to get him to eat some with a syringe (and getting myself pretty scratched up) and mixing it in tuna juice which worked much better, whatever was wrong with him seems to have cleared up and he is completely back to his old obnoxious self.....thank goodness!! My own uneducated diagnosis: a severe urinary infection. Poor guy.
If I bring home a box, this little guy CANNOT stay away from it, and has to see what is inside. Here I got my box of furs from Montana- needed more rabbit skins for my parkie....he was completely happy. His favorite are the small scraps of beaver fur- which he carries all over the house until (lately) he ends up playing with them in his water bowl, where they lay looking like a drowned rat for me to dig out =(

Despite all my efforts, I have not been able to yet keep this little guy off my table =( One of the few places he is not allowed. Here he is lying "in wait"...just waiting for me to turn my back so he can run across it, knowing that I will chase him to spray him with water. At first I started flicking him with water, then a simple water bottle, then a full fledged super soaker (table cloth removed for that period). Next step the bath tub? I have no idea. I have decided I don't want to clean up after the super soaker anymore, and he chewed off the end of my water bottle as a pre-emptive strike..... After being gone for nearly a week, I can only imagine that he is living on that table right now!! Renewal of the battle after I get home....
What a strange guy. He doesn't usually go after my milk- but LOVES white grapejuice!....will even dig in my trash to get it, and tries to get into my cups =(
When he really wants to drive me crazy he keeps playing with my table cloth, knocking it off the table, so that I constantly have to fix it. He likes to crawl under it, like he does the rugs and my blankets......
Happy kitty......! Ha ha! The kids love to come and play with him. Not sure he feels the same, but he has never scratched any of them. He gets a lot of excersise running away when the kids are there =)

"Helping" me with my mail....he likes to spread it all over and chase the paper.....
One of Guk's favorite places....as soon as I open my bag to get out my laptop, he is in there. He thinks this space belongs to him.

Qunguk comes up on the ridge of my tub, when I am taking a bath, and when I am taking showers- either pawing at my toes poking out of the bubbles, or playing with me between the two parts of the curtain. Just like Monster did, he will lay down right outside the bathroom door if I shut him out. With how much entertainment, frustration and joy this little bugger brings me- I am never bored!

Little Visitors....

I get quite a few little visitors knocking on my door.....some to visit because they are bored, some just needing to warm up.... Sometimes we make cookies together....
Or just have hot cocoa......
Play with things around the house- like my mukluks and ruff....

One day we made snowcones with the fresh snow in the yard =)


And here is my buddy Sadie visiting.....she makes me laugh a lot when she has these booties on. She walks really funny, as she doesn't particularly like how they feel on her feet =)