Pictures

Although we have not been writing much, there has been a lot happening as usual. Here is the super fast update starting with today and backtracking. As of today the snow is almost gone except for some old snow drifts. . .Yippee!! The temperature has been hanging around 40 degrees and I don't think it is getting below 32 at night anymore. The ice on the river is trying to go out and I try to help it as much as I can by watching it closely. . .This is kind of like watching water about to boil, but more fun. There is something fun about watching large chunks of ice float and crash into each other! The river has broken up in front of our house, but up and down still have ice. Somebody was out in their skiff yesterday! By the way, a boat is a vessel typically larger than 20 feet and probably can go in the ocean. Everything smaller is a skiff. That is the definition I have come up with for Koliganek anyway.

Yesterday, Molly and I decided to get a puppy! We had tried to get one earlier this month, but the girls who owned them decided we couldn't have one after we had it at our house for about half an hour. . .Its brother was lonely. Anyway, we noticed that my favorite dog in the village, Luda, was pregnant about a week ago. She is my favorite because she loves to play fetch to no end. For example, Molly and I were walking and she came to see us, not having a stick she tried to take one that was still attached to the ground. Unable to detach this stick, she settled for a rock which she brought to me so I could throw it for her. I did. Molly thought it best to pick a stick for her so she went about breaking a stick off of a nearby bush. Seeing this, Luda got extremely excited and could barely contain herself while Molly fought with the bush for a very long time (maybe 2 minutes?). This is the dog that would put a particular chunk of ice into my hand so I would throw it for her earlier this year. I can only hope that her puppies will do this with ducks and geese!

Back to the puppy, I talked to my students to find out Luda's owner and told them to let me know if they heard that she had her pups. One of our students told us on Saturday that she had her puppies and where we could find them. They were three days old when we saw them and we arranged with their owner to let us take one when we get back from Wisconsin. Now we just have to pick which one we want. They are all black except one brown, which is already claimed. They are labs in case I did not mention this. We basically just need to decide if we want a male or female. Any thoughts? This dog will be part of my bear protection plan while I am hunting and fishing and will serve as a reason to go for walks every day.

As of sometime, I have a boat! Ron and I are buying a boat together from a friend in town. All we need to do is pay for it! Look out fish, here I come!

Molly had a birthday! I am uploading pictures as we speak that include the kids that came to visit her. They all sang Happy Birthday to her outside our window!!

We hiked to Ketok. There are pictures of this adventure as well.

I think that is basically all. I will put pictures of the puppy and boat on as soon as we take them.

Climbing Ketok

A couple weekends ago, just before all of the snow melted, Brian and I took our snow machine out on the river just to cruise around. As we went, we decided to try to get as close to our mountain as possible (it's about seven miles from Koliganek).

We traveled farther and farther and it seemed that we would never reach the mountain. As we got closer we found thick woods surrounding the mountain. We almost decided that we just wouldn't make it when we found a clearing in the woods.

We were able to drive right up to the mountain, and if there would have been more snow, we would have been able to drive all the way up. We parked right at the bottom and began climbing. The incline wasn't very steep, but it was covered with small rock that made it a little slippery. When we got to the top, we found some really neat rock formations that we took a couple of pictures of. The view was amazing! We even saw a group of moose walking along a tree-line. It was such a beautiful day that Brian and I had to leave our snowpants, coats, mittens, hats, etc. in a pile at the top while we explored. The only problem with the weather was that it was a little hazy in the distance. If it had been clearer, we would have been able to see other mountains in the distance really easily.

When we returned from our adventure, we checked to see what the elevation of Ketok Mountain is since it wasn't as high as we were expecting. We found that the highest part is about 1700 feet high. And if you don't know about our mountain, it looks like a pregnant lady laying down. You can see her head/face, her chest, her belly, her legs, and then her feet. We walked along her chest which is the second highest part from her belly. In the picture of me sitting on the rock formation, you can see her belly in the background.

We had so much fun that day! Now we have made plans to do lots of hiking this summer. We want to canoe down the Tickchik lakes and explore the mountains around there! It should be fun!

World Class Summertime Fishing

I have been asked by a few die-hard fishermen to post the salmon runs in case they, or anyone else for that matter, can work out the funding to come up on a fishing trip. I would be more than happy to play the role of guide and help someone catch some salmon, trout, or pike.

Here are my guiding guarantees:

1. You will go fishing.
   
2. You will get something to eat.
3. You will be bitten by many mosquitoes and other biting insects.
4. You will see beautiful scenery.
5. You will be given a place to sleep.
6. You will enjoy my company while fishing.
   
7. You might go for a walk, get lost, survive in the wilderness alone for a few months, get rescued (fly in a helicopter!!), write a book, and become famous. Maybe even rich!
   
8. You might have fun.
9. You might see cool wildlife (bears, caribou, moose, salmon, etc.)
10. Lastly, I might even let you catch a fish or two.

Based on number seven, visiting us up here should be considered an investment! Anyway, I am looking into getting a boat. . .I think I have it squared away already. . .so I will be able to travel up and down the river to the good fishing holes and be able to go camping out in the wilderness!

Here are the general guidelines for seasons in Koliganek, Alaska. Keep in mind that I have not been here in the summer yet and am basing everything off of what I have heard and researched.

Rainbow Trout - As soon as the ice melts up to the time it freezes again. . .There are highs and lows.
Grayling - As soon as the ice melts up to the time it freezes again. . .There are highs and lows.
Northern Pike - As soon as the ice melts up to the time it freezes again.
Chum Salmon - Mid June to mid July
King Salmon - Mid June to mid July
Silvers - Early August through the end of August
Pink Salmon (even years only) - Late July through mid August

Berry Picking (blue berries, salmon berries, high and low bush cranberries) - Mid July through mid September

There you have it. I have been hearing of catching rainbow trout that are larger than 36 inches!!! I can't wait to get a line in the water! Depending on when school starts for me it sounds like mid August provides some of the best all around opportunities with berry picking and fishing for silvers. The end of June would be great except Molly and I will be in Wisconsin this June. . .Maybe next summer!

Do not worry if you can't make it up to fish with me this summer. . .I will post pictures!

Wolverine!!!!

I caught my first wolverine yesterday!!! Check out the picture in the picture archive.

Ron and I have been focusing on an area where we have seen many wolverine and wolf tracks. We have a few traps out that we have very high hopes for and finally yesterday. . .they didn't catch anything, but the set we put out almost two weeks ago with no success had a wolverine! Luckily for me he got caught in a snare on his way into the bait and then put his foot in a wolf trap. Between the two traps he wasn't going anywhere. I have been told how mean and wild they can be when in a trap, but I didn't quite realize how wild until I saw what he did to me snare. The individual wires were breaking from being twisted and chewed on. . . If he hadn't stepped in the wolf trap I may have lost him.

I have come to find that what takes Ron 5 minutes to do will take me at least 20! In terms of skinning anyway. I spent 3 hours skinning this wolverine last night and only because of Ron's help did I get to where I did! I just need more practice. Next time I will have to save him until a weekend so I can spend all day working.

So far I have caught 1 wolverine, 1 porcupine, 1 marten, 1 fox, 1 spruce grouse, and 1 ptarmigan! I am doing well with the variety factor!

Teaching in Bush Alaska!

Molly and I have come to find out that teaching in bush Alaska is truly an adventure. Every new week is different from the prior week and we never know what to expect next week! So far we have dealt with extreme cold and white-out blizzards, no water. . .twice, power outage, a fire, basketball season (remember, teams fly to their games and sometimes get weathered in there), sewage backing up into our bathtub, high winds (makes our apartment cold), and this week one of the generators broke down causing there to be very little heat in the school!

Last week the heat stopped working in the shop and we could see our breath during class! I asked my students if they wanted to go to my classroom and have a free day to work on other things, but they said they would rather deal with the cold. We spent three days wearing winter gear in the shop while handling metal tools for 55 minutes! It was cold! The gymnasium was also very cold and students had to wear their hats and jackets while playing basketball until they warmed up a bit! This was because of the wind outside combined with an old, drafty school.

This problem was fixed, but then on Monday the classroom portion of the school was somewhere in the 30's when we got to school. By noon with all the students there and the sun shining it got up to 45 degrees, but we let the kids go home early. It's very difficult to write with mittens on and even more difficult to write with cold hands!! This was fixed that evening and now all is toasty again. . .Although, I never had heat in my room and still don't so it is quite chilly in the morning, but warms up eventually.

The funny thing about these issues is that I kind of enjoy them! I like the adventure of it all and as long as nobody is hurt, starving, or freezing I will continue living each day as a new day. Living in the bush is kind of like having Christmas every day; I go to sleep at night not knowing what I will get in the morning!!

Oh No!

When Molly and I got up on Saturday morning we were surprised to see a lake on the street in front of our house! Did the weather get warm? Nope. There was a stream of water flowing from under our house out to the street!! Ron and Rondee had been without water for a few days because of frozen pipes and we were worried that this just happened to us as well, but our water still worked so. . .

As it turns out this was from Ron and Rondee's house. Their pipes were leaking water in several places, and the water was flowing under the snow to our house. A lake formed under our house and eventually began flowing out to the street. If we hadn't noticed this right away, the water would have froze under our house, and we would have been without water until summer!! Whew, there is always something exciting going on in Bush Alaska!!

We also found out that because of all the situations with water and electricity we may get some money back from our rent!!

Steaming

After caribou hunting for four hours Nick invited me to come steam with him and Roger. If you thought driving around a snow-go with a gun slung over your back is manly, try getting naked and sitting in a steam house!!! Anyway, I have learned a little more about steaming and how it is properly done.

When Molly and I steamed we just sat in the "hot room," it is like a sauna, to wash and relax. I now know that you are supposed to go in the hot room for a bit then back into the "cold room," this is like the entryway to the steam house and gets very steamy when the hot room door is opened. After sitting in the cold room for a few minutes, you go back into the hot room, then to the cold room, then to the hot room, and continue this for as long as you want. Each time in the hot room you may do some washing or just sit and relax. The very last time in the hot room Nick "bombed" the room by adding a lot of water to the rocks making it extremely hot. It felt kind of like pouring molten lava over my body! OK, so it wasn't that bad, but it was hot and did feel good in the end. The best part is sitting in the cold room with all the steam. It is interesting how for hours after steaming I still felt very warm and cozy, even when I went outside and my wet hair froze, I felt warm.

Last thing, if anyone has questions about steaming, school, trapping, hunting, or any other experiences we've had please add them as a comment. We try to explain anything that may be interesting, but it's easy to leave bits, pieces, and whole stories out because we see it every day.