Trick or Treat

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Halloween Parade

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Every Year the elementary school here in Kotzebue has a costume parade. All the kids can dress up in their costumes and parade around the gym for everyone to see.


















Even some of the teachers join in.
















Uyaana didn't want to wear his costume at school.









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Snow Witch

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Taken outside the Alaska Airlines building in Kotzebue.

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Seal Hunter

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Sunset This Evening

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High Honor Roll

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This photo looks like a mug shot...YIKES!

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Shore Ave

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My new camera has a video function and I wanted to give it a try. Here is a video of part of Shore Ave (AKA Front Street)before the snow. The video was taken 10/24/09. Shore Ave won't be looking like this much longer. Next summer a erosion control project will begin, and the look of Shore Ave will be completely changed.

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Foggy Snowy Morning

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We had our first real snowfall of the season last night. It was nice to wake up to a layer of fresh clean snow outside.



The snow was heavy and sticky...what we call "snowman snow". Kids around town were excited because we only get "snowman snow" a few times a year. It's not usually warm enough.




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Yesterday Evening

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Doggy Play Date

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This evening Kaija and Rush got to play out with my friend Kathy's dog, Daisy.



































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Stink Dogs

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Last Monday I had an algebra exam on Monday. Today in class we got our test back and I got a 92%. I should have done better because one of them I had right I just accidentally dropped a digit when I copied it to the answer line. Good enough. We went on to the next chapter today and for once it wasn't so bad. I actually made it through the class without wanting to tear my hair out.




Today we had our first really cold day of the season. Sure, in a couple of months this kind of weather won't seem that cold, but right now it does. That north wind just blows right through you.




Kotzebue Sound is trying to freeze up but it has been to windy. The rivers are mostly frozen over as are the lagoon. People are already fishing for tomcod on the lagoon behind town. The channel in front of town hasn't frozen over yet because it is too windy. As soon as the wind dies down it should close up. Only 7 more months til breakup. :)




I had algebra right after work today and that lasted until 6:40pm. I got home around 6:50. I put the dogs in the back of the truck and took them out to the road behind town. I usually let them run about 4 or 5 miles. When we started to head home I told Uyaana to let the dogs jump into the cab of the truck for the rest of the ride and when they did the overwhelming stench of something terrible came in with them. The boogers had rolled in something during their run. The smell was so putrid and nasty that I couldn't even identify what it had came from...rotten meat, rotten seal...stink fish? It was too terrible to tell. I told those stink dogs they were spending the night in their dog house.

Of course about an hour later I started feeling sorry for them and gave them both baths and let them come in the house. Now they kinda smell like a Pantene Stink Fish Formula. Mmmm, good stuff. Maybe I should take out a patent.

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Denial...

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...it ain't just a river in Egypt.

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Mammoth Tooth

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This is a mammoth tooth found by a friend in a gravel bar on the Noatak River.




It is roughly the size and weight of a 5lb bag of sugar.

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Cloudy Sunset

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OTZ+WLK+Spud+WLK+Spud+OTZ= Cranky Pilot

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Here are some more photos of my weekend at Spud.




This is the sign at the end of the runway out at Spud. This is where me and one of the staff, we'll call him "Bob", were waiting to catch our plane. He was headed home to Selawik and I was heading back to Kotzbue. The routing of the plane was Kotz-Selawik-Spud-Selawik and back to Kotz so staff could rotate. While we were at the runway waiting for the plane, camp security called to say that Bob's relief never got on the plane in Selawik. So when the pilot landed Bob told him of the problem and explained that when we went to Selawik that lady needed to be picked up and brought back to Spud.




So the pilot grumbled about starting and stopping the engine and the price of fuel while he threw our bags into the belly of the Cessna Caravan and off we went for our 5 minute flight to Selawik.




So the plane lands and the village agent for the airline drives up and the pilot, while climbing out of the cockpit says to him, "Nothing like another *ucking cycle for nothing!" Charming, ah?.

So relief lady gets on and Bob gets off and me and relief lady have to spend 20 minutes sitting in the plane while the pilot stands on the ground passive aggressively smoking cigarettes and chatting with some dude. Haha, whatever. So then we take off, head back to Spud to drop off relief lady and then head to Kotzebue.




The path of the flight took us over the village of Noorvik.




Noorvik has about 642 residents.




It is located on the right bank of the Nazuruk Channel of the Kobuk River, 33 miles northwest of Selawik and 45 miles east of Kotzebue.




One of the many tundra lakes on our way back to Kotzebue.




Kotzebue.









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When God Passed out Brains, I Thought He Said Trains...

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...and apparently I missed mine.

I try not to moan and complain about things on this blog. I realize that you are all hear to look at photos and read things about Alaska and the arctic, not listen to me moan about my bad hair day, or the fact that my son can't ever remember to take out the trash. But sometimes that is the price you have to pay for hanging out here.

I have pretty much come to the conclusion that Algebra was invented by the devil for the torment of all mankind. Seriously. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have a math class. Instead of being in a classroom it is on the computer using a program called Elive. It is audio and visual in real time, so you can hear the instructor speak and can see him write on the whiteboard. Students can also write on the whiteboard and send the instructor private or public instant messages.

Last night my algebra class was AWFUL! It has this amazing ability to make me feel like a complete idiot. The saddest thing about it is that this is only PRE algebra! It only gets worse from here. The other day a friend of mine was complaining on Facebook that her math class was so boring that she was almost falling asleep. Man, I wish I had that problem.

My math class moves so fast that the hour and forty minutes goes by in a whirlwind of confusion. The instructor tells me he doesn't know why I am in such a tizzy when I have one of the highest grades in the class....HUH? I have one of the highest grades in the class? Good grief, my poor classmates. I'm barely hanging on by a thread, what does that mean for them. By the time the class is over I look like this.........




Yes, I understand that my major problem is that I have absolutely no confidence in my math ability. The stuff scares the crap out of me. I will think that I have it down in class and when I go to do the homework I am a mess. I can only compare it with a phobia...like a fear of heights. I say to myself "Cathy, you will not be scared of the escalator at the 5th Avenue Mall!" It doesn't work. I still can't ride up or down the damn thing. It scares the crap out of me every time.

A couple years ago I tried taking this same pre algebra course as paper based distance course. Basically you get a math book and a work book and a list of assignments and you are supposed to teach yourself to do it. Hahahaha. There was NO WAY that was going to happen with me. I am the type of person who has to be shown several times, then do it myself, then be shown a few more times, then do it some more before I finally get it. I was really hoping that having access to an instructor would make it easier for me to figure this stuff out. In a way it is, but the sheer terror....still there.

And guess what! It get's worse! This math class isn’t even the class I need to complete my degree requirements. It’s only PRE Algebra, DEVM 050! Next semester I have to take Algebra DEVM 060, and then I have to take Intermediate Algebra, DEVM 105, which is the actual course that fulfills my degree requirements. What REALLY ticks me off is that NEVER have I ever needed to do, in my every day life, the stuff I am learning in this class. Never. My adult life has not been impaired one iota by not being able to solve anything that resembles this.......


And this, so I hear, is just the easy stuff. Never in my career doing case management and crisis intervention for individuals with developmental disabilities have I have had the need for solve for n. NEVER! So it burns my butt that I even have to suffer throughthis in the first place.

Sooooo, I apologize if the blog has been lacking lately. In the past I have always tried to post every day, but lately I just haven’t been able to manage it. Working full time and having class 4 days a week in the evening is sucking all the ambition out of me. On top of that we are starting to enter the dark season here in the arctic so there will be less photos taken outdoors. Such is the ebb and flow of the blog. I'll hang in there if you guys do.

On a happy note, I really appreciated all the birthday wishes yesterday. Thanks a bunch!

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You Say it's Your Birthday...

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...it's my birthday to, yeah.

I'm 28 years old today.........again.




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Camp Robber

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This is a Gray Jay, or as they are most commonly called around here, a Camp Robber.




They are also called Canadian Jays, or Whiskey Jacks.




I have written about them before somewhere on this blog. Camp Robbers are my favorite bird, with Ravens a very close second.




Camp Robbers are very interesting birds. They make nests and lay eggs early in the spring while temps are still well below freezing. The female sits on the eggs constantly to keep them from freezing and she is fed by the male.




When other birds are just starting to lay eggs, Camp Robber chicks are already fledging and learning how to fly.




Camp Robbers are opportunistic eaters. While they do hunt small insects and eat seed or berries, they are persistent scavengers. This caribou was in the meat shed at Spud Farm. It was gutted and laying on the table waiting to be cut and packaged. One night while I was there a grizzly bear tore open the meat shed and stole the caribou. It dragged it into the bushes. What you see was all that was left, and the camp robbers were in heaven.




They spent the whole afternoon flying back and forth from the carcass to the woods and back. Camp Robbers cache food for the winter. They put pieces of food in their mouth and coat it with their sticky saliva. They then hide the food in trees to eat later.




One of the most fun things about these birds is they are almost fearless. They will often land on your hand for a piece of food. Even when you are in and area where they are not used to humans, Camp Robbers will be bold and fly near you to get to food.




Camp Robbers and ravens are the only bird who stay here year round. Their caches of food make it possible for them to survive the brutal winter conditions of the northwest arctic region of Alaska.




Some people consider these birds a nuisance because they pick at fish and meat that is hung to dry. I don't mind. I figure they don't eat much. They are an unique bird and fun to watch.









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The View

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Spud Farm 10/5/09
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Spud Farm

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I'm back. I think this is one of my longest run of postless days in a while. I thank you all for hanging in there. I had a great weekend. I spent 4 nights at Spud farm. Spud is the nickname of Maniilaq Association's Mavsigvik Recovery Program. It is a Family Recovery Camp. Individuals and families struggling with the disease of addiction go to the camp and begin the healing process while living subsistence camp lifestyle. It is located approximately 11 miles from Selawik, AK. You have to fly to get there...or use a snogo in the winter.

I left Kotzebue Friday afternoon to head to Spud to help cover a staff shortage.


Here we are flying over Nimiuk Point approximately 17 miles southeast of Kotzebue on our way to the village of Selawik.




Here is a camp along a river.




And another.




And another.




And another.




Along the way I saw a moose...




...and some caribou.




This is Selawik.




It is located approximately 75 miles east southeast of Kotzebue.




The village is located along three banks of the Selawik River, linked together by bridges.




The village has a system of boardwalks because the ground is often quite soggy.




The pipeline that you see behind the houses is a piped vacuum water and sewer system. Not all houses in Selawik are plumbed.




A Casa dropping cargo at the airport.




After picking up a couple people in Selawik we headed off across the tundra for Spud.


It's a quick flight.




Our destination.




I do have a some more photos to share from this weekend that I will post over the next few days.

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I'll Be Back...

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I may have very limited internet access until Monday so I may not be able to post until then. I will have some photos of my adventures when I get back. See you then!

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Last Night's Sunset

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Last night there was a beautiful sunset. Unfortunately I missed it when it was at it's best.




But I was still able to get a few shots before it got too dark.









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