Sunrise, 12:43pm

Wordless Wednesday

Noatak 120 Update

Ok, I have a few times for mushers into the Village of Noatak. Ed Iten was first in at 2:38pm. John Baker was second at 2:39pm, third is Quinn Iten at 2:46pm, and Robert Nelson came in at 3:24pm not sure what order he came in. I'm missing the times for the other two mushers.

This race was a mass start so the time in is that place they are in. Ed Iten is scheduled to head out of Noatak after his mandatory 4 hour layover at 6:38pm.

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Noatak 120

The first dog race of the season, the Noatak 120, started today at 10 am. It was -16F and calm winds so it was pretty nice out. There are 6 teams this year....Ed Iten, Quinn Iten, Robert Nelson, Darin Nelson, John Baker, and Baker's handler, Heath. The Noatak 120 is a mass start that runs from the ice in front of Kotzebue approximately 60 miles to the Village of Noatak along the Noatak River. After a mandatory four hour layover in Noatak they head back to Kotzebue. They should start coming in about the same time as our New Year's Eve fireworks. So here are some pics.....































These are Ed Iten's Dogs.




Ed's dogs waiting patiently for the racet o start.




Ed Iten and his son Quinn.



Ed again.








I think this is Darin Nelson.




John Baker.



John's dogs again.




John Baker's handler, Heath, who is running John's 2nd team.

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Wii Break

Here's a picture of the boy taking a break from his Wii.


OK. I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is the first dog race of the season is this Wednesday, the Noatak 120 from Kotzebue to the village of Noatak and back. The bad news is that it starts in the dark and ends in the dark. I was thinking about flying to Noatak and taking photos as the mushers come it. Problem is that by the time they get to Noatak it will be dark too. So I guess if I want daylight photos I'm gonna have to go freeze my butt off in the Noatak flats and wait for them to come by. I'll see what I can do but I ain't promising nothing.

Christmas Wii

Well, Uyaana got what he wanted....a Wii for Christmas. He asked for one last year, but they were selling for $600 or something crazy like that. I told him that they were too expensive. He said "mom, Santa could bring me one." I said "Santa can't find a Wii because they are sold out." Uyaana said "but mom, Santa MAKES wii's". I said "No he doesn't, he buys them from Japan."




This year the Wii was a bit more accessible so I decided to get him one. I got a few games to go with it....Mario Kart, Carnival Games, Mario Galaxy and Endless Ocean.




Uyaana has been working on Mario Galaxy.




It has been keeping him busy and I have to admit that it is kind of fun watching him play it. It's more like watching a cartoon than a video game.

I also have to confess that I have become quite hooked on Endless Ocean. It's one of the reasons this blog has suffered in the past couple days.

And He Shall Be Called Immanuel

...And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

To All of You, From All of Us.

I just wanted to take the time, before we all get caught up in tomorrow's chaos of presents and dinner and what not, to say thank you to all of you. A big thanks for the regulars who come every day. If it wasn't for you all I wouldn't be doing this. Thanks to the new folks for stopping by and checking us out, I hope you come back.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

Ice Fog Sunset

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Reluctant Reindeer

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Winter Solstice

Happy Yule, and welcome to our darkest day. I like to think of this day as winter's "Humpday". As the shortest day it marks the return of the longer days as we trudge towards spring.


As you can see, even though Kotzebue is located above the Arctic Circle, the sun will still briefly rise today. This is due to our proximity to this imaginary line and an explanation of this can be found here.

The Last Ten

Well I have nothing to offer lately in the way of pictures. We have had quite a few stormy days and then some foggy ones and a bunch of days that were all dim and gray and overcast, so I am empty handed. So in I'm stealing this idea from Dave to fill in the empty space.

Here's how it works....I list the last ten commenters on my blog, say a bit about each of their blogs. I think I might do what Dave did and split this into two parts cause it's already well past midnight and the thought of doing all those html links is making me sleepy....I mean really, isn't there an easier way to do links? I must be doing something wrong. I am also going to just stick to commenter who have blogs that I can link to, even though I appreciate ALL my commenters. K, here we go....

#1 is Becky. Becky lives in sunny SoCal with her husband and two boys. She is my cheerleader, always encouraging. I envy her ability to tell a story. I often have things that I want to say but I am just too lazy to type it all out. Check out her blog and meet her little Dennis the Menace in training and read about his latest ER exploits and see some fascinating photos of toddler tripe.

#2 is Gail. I think Gail is from Michigan. She is an occasional commenter and I have just recently had a chance to check out her blog. She bakes some mean looking goodies.

#3 is Mokihana. This blogger is new to me. As far as I know this is the first comment I have received from them/him/her. I checked out the blogs and it looks like he/she lives int he pacific northwest but is originally from Hawaii. Welcome to my blog Mokihana and thanks for the comment.

#4 is Ish from Kodiak Konfidential. This is one of my favorites. Ish is my opposite. He is into politics, I am not. He is liberal, I am not. But he makes me laugh and he likes my pictures so I forgive him his shortcomings.

#5 is Arvay. She moved to Fairbanks form California and is fitting in just fine. She likes to post lots of photos of her dogs which I can totally relate to. She knows how to skijor and I am jealous. The thought of standing on two slippery sticks and strapping myself to a couple of dogs is terrifying. Besides I think Dr. McGuire might be really pissed if he found out I screwed up my 5th knee surgery and third replacement ACL by being dragged around by dogs.

#6 is Northern Light. Lets see...She's another Alaskan blogger. I think she is a journalist and lives in Fairbanks. She takes some great pictures and has a cute little boy. Another who is into politics, a democrat and doesn't even belong to the NRA for crying out loud, but that's ok, my Gramma Nella taught me to love ALL people, even democrats.

#7 is Bragger. She's a regular reader. She is from Georgia. I hear Georgia is nice but it's too hot for me. I moved to the arctic so I wouldn't have to sweat. I don't know how she started reading my blog but I am happy to have her as one of my official "Blog Followers". Speaking of followers, this post she wrote cracked me up.

#8 is Angie. I ran into Angie's blog because I was googling Karelian Bear Dogs. We both have Karelians about the same age. Angie and her family live in Canada. I've been reading her blog for so long now it feels like she is a distant cousin or something. Her boys are adorable and smart too. They love all things nature so I sent them a few pieces of mammoth ivory to add to their fossil collection.

#9 is Karen. Karen, originally from NY, moved to Anchorage from North Carolina this last August. She was looking for adventure and seems to have found some. She has been taking some fabulous pictures lately and I believe her talent for photography has outgrown her point and click camera.

#10 is Alaska Dave Down Under. Dave is a expat Alaskan and a self described "Lazy Bum". He spends his retirement days lounging in the pool, drinking beer, feeding the birds and cooking yummy things.

Part two will come another day.

Uyaana's Christmas Program.

So here it is, the long awaited Christmas program post. I know you all couldn't wait.



Poor kid. Looks like a sparkly, snowflakey mugshot. Can you see how thrilled he is to be dressed up in a sweater???




Almost as thrilled as he is to be wearing REINDEER ANTLERS.




Poor kid.




Huh? Where the heck did this come from??



Anyway, he got over his initial mortification and was a good trooper during the 3rd grade performance. Sorry for the poor quality. I was using the video function on a little Nikon Cool pix camera. I'm giving serious thought to getting a little camcorder.



And last but not least,here is the kindergardeners singing "Oh Christmas Tree" in Inupiaq....Napaqtuq Ah Napaqtuuq, Pinagnaqtuut akigutin.

Shhh...Don't Tell Uyaana...

Here is a video from 2 years ago that I took of him singing his class song before the school Christmas program. So cute. Sorry it's sideways.



I have some photos and video from last nights Christmas program. I'll post some up when I get a chance to upload them.

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From Yesterday

(I meant to post this yesterday but I got distracted.)

.............................. Sunrise...........Sunset
Actual Time:.................12:51 PM AKST.....2:41 PM AKST

Civil Twilight:..............10:51 AM AKST.....4:41 PM AKST

Nautical Twilight:...........9:29 AM AKST......6:03 PM AKST

Astronomical Twilight:.......8:21 AM AKST......7:10 PM AKST

Moon: 10:29 PM AKST (12/16) 1:53 PM AKST (12/16)

Length Of Visible Light: 5 hours 50 minutes
Length of Day: 1 hour 50 minutes







(these photos taken 12/16/08 at 4:48pm)

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Twilight in 15 Minutes

If you've seen the movie Twilight, you gotta read this.

ROFL

Pickled Beluga

Yep, that's what this is. I love pickled beluga. It's good stuff.




Come on now, don't knock it til you try it. This was one of the many offerings at the Friend's Church craft bazaar today.




There was a fairly good turnout today. About the same as the one last weekend.




There was lots of things to look at.




This man was selling books. The book is called "Jesus and the Eskimo", by Fred Savok. I'm not sure if this man is Fred or not. I had never met him before, but I bought the book.




here are some beautiful atikluqs (kuspuks) made by Lydia.




More yummy stuff.




Here are some of the photos that I am was selling. The next two photos are my stuff as well.









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