Saturday, June 9, 2007
See What a Beautiful Day.....
Here are a few pics I took this afternoon. We are planning on having a cook out on the beach this evening so I will try and post pics of that later. For those who have asked Kaija is 23 weeks old (5.75 months).
It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Today is the nicest day we have had yet this spring. It's downright hot out.
It's one of those days that I should be playing outside instead of being in the house on the computer. But I do have a few minutes of time to waste writing here, after all the sun shines all day and all night now.
Last night was beautiful too. Noah, Kaija the Puppy and I rode around for a couple hours on the four wheeler. The ice is flowing out of Kobuk Lake (Hotham Inlet) now and is putting on it's yearly show. There were a lot of people out walking, riding, or sitting on the beach along Front Street. It is nice to see and hear the ice going out again. The kids like to climb on the big pieces and try to hook herring between the flows. Here are a few pictures that I took last night around 10:20pm.
I really wanted to work on Noah's room today. I haven't yet turned it into "his" room since our room mate moved away. I wanted to do it today but it seems like such a waste with the weather being so nice. I feel like I should be out playing with my boy and my puppy and taking pictures. Anything but staying in. Only two and a half months before the weather starts cooling off again. Have to take advantage of it while you can. I guess I better get out there.
It's one of those days that I should be playing outside instead of being in the house on the computer. But I do have a few minutes of time to waste writing here, after all the sun shines all day and all night now.
Last night was beautiful too. Noah, Kaija the Puppy and I rode around for a couple hours on the four wheeler. The ice is flowing out of Kobuk Lake (Hotham Inlet) now and is putting on it's yearly show. There were a lot of people out walking, riding, or sitting on the beach along Front Street. It is nice to see and hear the ice going out again. The kids like to climb on the big pieces and try to hook herring between the flows. Here are a few pictures that I took last night around 10:20pm.
I really wanted to work on Noah's room today. I haven't yet turned it into "his" room since our room mate moved away. I wanted to do it today but it seems like such a waste with the weather being so nice. I feel like I should be out playing with my boy and my puppy and taking pictures. Anything but staying in. Only two and a half months before the weather starts cooling off again. Have to take advantage of it while you can. I guess I better get out there.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Blue Screen of Death!
Well as you cansee it have been over a month since my last post. I did say that I sucked at journaling.
Lat week my computer crashed and I ended up with the Blue Screen of Death. Not the kind that goes away when you reboot. It was the kind that doesn't go away. I finally just gave up and did a system restore. I was very sad. I lost most of the pictures that I took over the last 7 months.
The weather has been beautiful here the last few days. It has really warmed up. The sky has been blus and all the little birdies are singing 24 hours a day. It is nice to have warm weather again.
Noah has been out at camp with his dad for about a week now. Here are a couple pics from today.
Lat week my computer crashed and I ended up with the Blue Screen of Death. Not the kind that goes away when you reboot. It was the kind that doesn't go away. I finally just gave up and did a system restore. I was very sad. I lost most of the pictures that I took over the last 7 months.
The weather has been beautiful here the last few days. It has really warmed up. The sky has been blus and all the little birdies are singing 24 hours a day. It is nice to have warm weather again.
Noah has been out at camp with his dad for about a week now. Here are a couple pics from today.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Hoar Frost
Another foggy morning with some interesting hoar frost. I ran out to take some pictures before it started falling off.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Foggy Weather
Well after a warm spell it has cooled off and has been foggy. That is typical for springtime around here. Uyaana and I took Kaija for a ride on the four wheeler but she got too cold. So I took her for a walk instead. The ice fog was forming hoar frost on everything so I took a few pictures of it.
The frost was starting to build up on Kaija's fur and wiskers. I tried to take a picture of it but it didn't come out too well, I couldn't get her to sit still. 90 percent of the pictures I take of her I have to delete because they are too blurry.
I head back to Anchorage again on Monday for another conference. It's called "Adapting Your Community Services to Support the Cognitively Impaired Offender". Sound exciting, huh. I'm going to do lot's of grocery shopping again of course. We are traveling down on monday but the conference doesn't start until tuesday so maybe I will take a ride out of town and take some pictures.I have gone south on the Seward Highway but I have only driven the Glen Highway north as far as Eagle River, so maybe I'll go that way.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Trip tp Kiana
I went to Kiana today for work. Kiana is a little village on the Kobuk River. It was a nice flight and we had a good time visiting with clients. Here are a few pictures that I took.
I mentioned before that I was going to post some pictures, so here they are. The first one was taken on April 18th as the plane was getting ready to land in Anchorage. Those are the Chugach Mountains.
The next two pictures are of Kaija. She's getting bigger.
The other day we went ice fishing. It was the first time Kaija had ever gone fishing. We caught a few tomcod and gave them to Kaija to play with. I took some video.
The next two pictures are of Kaija. She's getting bigger.
The other day we went ice fishing. It was the first time Kaija had ever gone fishing. We caught a few tomcod and gave them to Kaija to play with. I took some video.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Springtime
I haven't written here in a while. Well, I did say that I wasn't very good at journals. It's not that I forget, it's just that a lot of times I feel like I don't have anything interesting to say. I suppose that just because I don't think somethind is interesting doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't, so I should probably just write.
Spring is here finally! The gravel roads are turning first to slush as the 8 inches of packed ice and snow melts off and then to mud revealing all the massive potholes. There are huge deep puddles all over that freeze over at night and open back up during the day. I saw two seagulls yesterday!! A sure sign of spring when the seagulls return. We took the clients from work fishing today. All we caught were tomcods but it was fun to get out into the sun. I went to bed last night and 10:30pm last night and the sun was shining merrily in my window. Isn't spring great?
I was in Anchorage april 18th-21st for a conference. It was nice to get off the gravel spit for a while. Did a lot of grocery shopping. My friend Bree didn't have any checked baggage so she checked three boxes for me. I came home with about 300 pounds of stuff. I bought a Costco membership. That bugger cost $50. I figured it doesn't really matter since up here we can drop $50 on ordering out dinner without batting an eyelash, I might as well spend $50 on something that will last a year. I love Costco. I can spend three hours in there...just like walmart. The problem is with all that stuff I seem to get overstimulated and I lose my train of thought on what I need and end up wandering around looking at stuff. After a couple of days of shopping I get really burnt out on stuff and people and I am ready to head back to the bush.
I have some new pictures and a video that I want to post, but I have to find my camera cord first....it's around here somewhere. When I find it I will post them.
I have to get ready for work. It's 8am, I think that the thingy on my blog that tells the time of my post is messed up a bit. Also the blog's date stamp and the head of each post is correct, but the archive list on the left side of the page says 2006 and I am not sure why.
Spring is here finally! The gravel roads are turning first to slush as the 8 inches of packed ice and snow melts off and then to mud revealing all the massive potholes. There are huge deep puddles all over that freeze over at night and open back up during the day. I saw two seagulls yesterday!! A sure sign of spring when the seagulls return. We took the clients from work fishing today. All we caught were tomcods but it was fun to get out into the sun. I went to bed last night and 10:30pm last night and the sun was shining merrily in my window. Isn't spring great?
I was in Anchorage april 18th-21st for a conference. It was nice to get off the gravel spit for a while. Did a lot of grocery shopping. My friend Bree didn't have any checked baggage so she checked three boxes for me. I came home with about 300 pounds of stuff. I bought a Costco membership. That bugger cost $50. I figured it doesn't really matter since up here we can drop $50 on ordering out dinner without batting an eyelash, I might as well spend $50 on something that will last a year. I love Costco. I can spend three hours in there...just like walmart. The problem is with all that stuff I seem to get overstimulated and I lose my train of thought on what I need and end up wandering around looking at stuff. After a couple of days of shopping I get really burnt out on stuff and people and I am ready to head back to the bush.
I have some new pictures and a video that I want to post, but I have to find my camera cord first....it's around here somewhere. When I find it I will post them.
I have to get ready for work. It's 8am, I think that the thingy on my blog that tells the time of my post is messed up a bit. Also the blog's date stamp and the head of each post is correct, but the archive list on the left side of the page says 2006 and I am not sure why.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Just what we needed......
Bush delivery, postage costs expected to soar
by Joy Mapaye
Monday, April 16, 2007
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6376466
ktuu channel 2 Anchorage, Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- If you live in rural Alaska, get ready for some major sticker shock.
A postal rate hike scheduled to take effect next month is going to have a dramatic impact on prices in rural Alaska.
When the price of mail goes up May 14, the impact will be felt here, in the grocery stores Bush Alaska.
The bypass-mail program, used by a majority of shippers to get goods out to rural Alaska, helps keep postage costs down, according to shipping industry experts.
Michelle Adams, a logistics manager for Alaska Commercial Company, says that next month's rate increase will mean shipping costs may double to some communities.
"The post office on May 14 is taking an increase on 4th class mail, which is parcel post," Adams said. "And depending on the area that it's going to and the average bundle weight, it can go up anywhere from 32 to 58 percent over the current rates."
Adams delivers to more than 30 stores in the Bush. She says this rate increase will catch many by surprise.
"I don't think a lot of people out there are aware of how large this increase is and what it's going to mean to rural Alaska," she said.
Officials with the U.S. Postal Service say the increase will affect all parcel post customers around the nation, and Alaska is no different.
The Postal Service says it is required by law to charge a uniform rate on the same class of mail everywhere in the United States.
"In many cases, that helps Alaska, because although the costs individually to the Postal Service are higher here, due to the transportation costs, everyone across the country pays the same," said Kathy Hamilton, acting marketing manager for the Postal Service, Alaska District.
But, this time, it's likely that prices out here will continue to go up.
Postal officials met with Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens last week in order to determine whether anything can be done about the increase.
............................................................
I love living in the bush, I really do. I love rural Alaska, but it does have it's down points.....prices being one of them. It always makes people from the Lower 48 want to faint when I tell them that I regularly pay $4.99 for an 18 pack of eggs, $9.98 for a 12 pack of diet pepsi and $10 for a half gallon of ice cream. That's not even taking into account the $5.20 a gallon for gas at the pump and $4.02 a gallon for fuel to heat your house. So now we get to look forward to another freight price hike.
With my job I get to travel to Anchorage about 5 times a year, sometimes more. During those 2-3 day trips I try and travel with almost nothing for baggage. Alaska airlines allows you to travel within Alaska with three 50lb pieces of luggage. I usually hit Costco, Sam's Club and Walmart. I go home with 20lbs of chicken, 8-12 lbs of butter, 5 lbs of cheese, 15 lbs of frozen vegetables, toilet paper, tissue, laundry soap etc. These opportunities to shop save a lot of money.
The walmart in Anchorage also has a thing called the bush department. While at walmart you can fill up your cart with things that you want to buy and then drop it off at the Bush counter. They will shrink wrap it, box it up and send it C.O.D. to you in your village. You can also call them up on the phone and tell them what you want and they will box it up and mail it C.O.D. Of course this service isn't free. On the total of your merchandise you pay a 15% handling fee and 26% for postage. Even still it is often cheaper to get things you want than buying it at the ONE store here in Kotzebue.
Here's another article on the rate increase.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/8796384p-8697608c.html
So that's the big news here in the Bush. Other than that things are business as usual. Spring is dragging it's feet. As you can see it's not anything resembling warm out..............
It's supposed to warm up a bit tomorrow. Hopefully it will stay there and we will all welcome the start of mud bog season.
AKZ209-180200-
BALDWIN PENINSULA AND SELAWIK VALLEY-
INCLUDING...KOTZEBUE...SELAWIK...NOORVIK
444 AM ADT TUE APR 17 2007
TODAY ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING.
HIGHS 20 TO 25. WEST WINDS TO 10 MPH BECOMING
EAST 10 TO 25 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT ...SNOW LIKELY. UP TO 3 INCHES OF ACCUMULATION.
LOCAL BLOWING SNOW. TEMPERATURES RISING TO NEAR 30 BY MORNING.
EAST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH.
WEDNESDAY ...CLOUDY. RAIN AND SNOW LIKELY. HIGHS 35 TO 40.
EAST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT ...CLOUDY. CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS 20 TO 25.
SOUTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH.
THURSDAY ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS 25 TO 30.
SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH.
THURSDAY NIGHT ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR 15.
FRIDAY ...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS NEAR 30.
FRIDAY NIGHT ...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS NEAR 20.
SATURDAY ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS NEAR 35.
SATURDAY NIGHT ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR 20.
SUNDAY ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS NEAR 35.
SUNDAY NIGHT ...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR 20.
MONDAY ...PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS NEAR 40.
by Joy Mapaye
Monday, April 16, 2007
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6376466
ktuu channel 2 Anchorage, Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- If you live in rural Alaska, get ready for some major sticker shock.
A postal rate hike scheduled to take effect next month is going to have a dramatic impact on prices in rural Alaska.
When the price of mail goes up May 14, the impact will be felt here, in the grocery stores Bush Alaska.
The bypass-mail program, used by a majority of shippers to get goods out to rural Alaska, helps keep postage costs down, according to shipping industry experts.
Michelle Adams, a logistics manager for Alaska Commercial Company, says that next month's rate increase will mean shipping costs may double to some communities.
"The post office on May 14 is taking an increase on 4th class mail, which is parcel post," Adams said. "And depending on the area that it's going to and the average bundle weight, it can go up anywhere from 32 to 58 percent over the current rates."
Adams delivers to more than 30 stores in the Bush. She says this rate increase will catch many by surprise.
"I don't think a lot of people out there are aware of how large this increase is and what it's going to mean to rural Alaska," she said.
Officials with the U.S. Postal Service say the increase will affect all parcel post customers around the nation, and Alaska is no different.
The Postal Service says it is required by law to charge a uniform rate on the same class of mail everywhere in the United States.
"In many cases, that helps Alaska, because although the costs individually to the Postal Service are higher here, due to the transportation costs, everyone across the country pays the same," said Kathy Hamilton, acting marketing manager for the Postal Service, Alaska District.
But, this time, it's likely that prices out here will continue to go up.
Postal officials met with Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens last week in order to determine whether anything can be done about the increase.
............................................................
I love living in the bush, I really do. I love rural Alaska, but it does have it's down points.....prices being one of them. It always makes people from the Lower 48 want to faint when I tell them that I regularly pay $4.99 for an 18 pack of eggs, $9.98 for a 12 pack of diet pepsi and $10 for a half gallon of ice cream. That's not even taking into account the $5.20 a gallon for gas at the pump and $4.02 a gallon for fuel to heat your house. So now we get to look forward to another freight price hike.
With my job I get to travel to Anchorage about 5 times a year, sometimes more. During those 2-3 day trips I try and travel with almost nothing for baggage. Alaska airlines allows you to travel within Alaska with three 50lb pieces of luggage. I usually hit Costco, Sam's Club and Walmart. I go home with 20lbs of chicken, 8-12 lbs of butter, 5 lbs of cheese, 15 lbs of frozen vegetables, toilet paper, tissue, laundry soap etc. These opportunities to shop save a lot of money.
The walmart in Anchorage also has a thing called the bush department. While at walmart you can fill up your cart with things that you want to buy and then drop it off at the Bush counter. They will shrink wrap it, box it up and send it C.O.D. to you in your village. You can also call them up on the phone and tell them what you want and they will box it up and mail it C.O.D. Of course this service isn't free. On the total of your merchandise you pay a 15% handling fee and 26% for postage. Even still it is often cheaper to get things you want than buying it at the ONE store here in Kotzebue.
Here's another article on the rate increase.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/rural/story/8796384p-8697608c.html
So that's the big news here in the Bush. Other than that things are business as usual. Spring is dragging it's feet. As you can see it's not anything resembling warm out..............
It's supposed to warm up a bit tomorrow. Hopefully it will stay there and we will all welcome the start of mud bog season.
AKZ209-180200-
BALDWIN PENINSULA AND SELAWIK VALLEY-
INCLUDING...KOTZEBUE...SELAWIK...NOORVIK
444 AM ADT TUE APR 17 2007
TODAY ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING.
HIGHS 20 TO 25. WEST WINDS TO 10 MPH BECOMING
EAST 10 TO 25 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT ...SNOW LIKELY. UP TO 3 INCHES OF ACCUMULATION.
LOCAL BLOWING SNOW. TEMPERATURES RISING TO NEAR 30 BY MORNING.
EAST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH.
WEDNESDAY ...CLOUDY. RAIN AND SNOW LIKELY. HIGHS 35 TO 40.
EAST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT ...CLOUDY. CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS 20 TO 25.
SOUTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH.
THURSDAY ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS 25 TO 30.
SOUTH WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH.
THURSDAY NIGHT ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR 15.
FRIDAY ...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. HIGHS NEAR 30.
FRIDAY NIGHT ...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS NEAR 20.
SATURDAY ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS NEAR 35.
SATURDAY NIGHT ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR 20.
SUNDAY ...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS NEAR 35.
SUNDAY NIGHT ...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS NEAR 20.
MONDAY ...PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS NEAR 40.
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