Lazing Around...

It is 3:57 am...but not where I am sitting. It is time for a leisurely cup of morning coffee with my wife and three dogs all asnoozing. Ah, the vacation life...

It has been a little on the less busy side during the last few days. I have been focusing on taking care of late year business, including ordering a new bike to replace the stolen one. I am excited, and I hope that the store can deliver on the promise to have it in my hot little hands by the end of next week. I just want to touch it-there is no place to ride it now. I know it is silly, but it gets me looking forward to summer and the riding season. I could use the motivation to get myself back on the spin bike when I get back to Napaskiak.

On this last day of the year, I am taking a minute to be thankful for all of the people who make my life good. I hope that they know who they are, because they are too numerous to mention. To all my friends and family, in PKA and Cadillac and points in between, thanks for your support in 2010, and I hope to make 2011 nearly as memorable. You make this silly effort at self-expression worthwhile, and you make the world a little easier to deal with. The top prize, of course, has to go to my loving and supportive wife, who puts up with all of my crap every day of the year, and somehow manages to wear a smile (at least most of the time). Honey-you are the best, and I am a very lucky man.

Happy New Year to everyone!

A Quick Update

We made it back through the air transit system and back to Cadillac with a minimum of fuss...it is nice to be back, and we have been running at a rapid pace since then. We have ensconced ourselves at the decidedly cushy J.W. Marriott hotel in Grand Rapids for a couple of days. Christmas with all of the kiddies was a blast, and we are currently visiting with more family in West Michigan. The necessary appointments all come up this week, and I anticipate a trip to Southeastern Michigan to visit with my family next weekend. It is all a whirl. I will try to post a few photos as soon as I can figure out how to go and find them. For now, it is off to visit some more this afternoon, and then dinner with our friends Ella and Don. There is a steam room here, and I intend to use it this evening and tomorrow morning.

Holidays!!

The Last Monday...

Gone in a flash-the day, the Christmas pageant, the clean-up afterwards. There is just tomorrow and the rush to the airport in Bethel tomorrow night. We are heading to the east coast and what I might have thought of as civilization, and I again have some mixed emotions. I know that we will both be glad for the break, and there are so many people that we want to see back in Michigan. There are all kind of necessities to take care of, such as dentist appointments and dog haircuts. Just the same, it is going to feel slightly alien after four and a half months out here. Maybe even more than slightly alien. I may even be a little intimidated by the thought...weird. I will never understand some things about life, and my reaction to it.

I am going to miss it here.

Wooosh...

Many tasks have been accomplished, some are still left to be done...we have the Christmas pageant tonight. We washed two totes full of laundry yesterday in preparation, and I think that the emergency lesson planning is complete. I even turned in three assignments for my multicultural course. Hell, I even got the responses back from the instructors already!

Today is the day to put away the snow machine-I will have the chance to do it before it gets dark. I don't believe that the lights in the storage building work. Of course, I can always use the nifty little headlamp that my sweetie got me after the "no flashlight" goof-up of a few weeks ago. I believe that we have the electronics just about squared away-some of them are going into secure storage-I do not feel like supplying thieves with them as we did a year ago. I am hopeful that the presence of neighbors here will discourage that sort of activity in our absence.

There is a full day of class today and a half tomorrow. That is all. Of course, sometimes those can seem to be very long. The kids are a little unfocused and antsy. All that any of us want to be is on holiday break. I am sure that we will get through it.

I am very happy with several of my kids, who have been helping with preparing the backdrops for the Christmas pageant. They are showing me some nice signs of maturity.

If I must sum up, and it seems to be a human failing, I would say that I am pleased overall with the way things have gone in the first semester. There is, of course, room for improvement and growth. But I am at a much different place than I was last year at this time.

Sunday Labors

It is time to get it together. We have about 72 hours before we leave for the Eastern Time Zone. We have our list of things that we must accomplish. We just need to get it done.

Changed Plans

We went up to Saturday Market as planned. The visibility was tricky for me, so I left the driving to my better half. I cannot ride with my glasses on, because they fog (or ice)up, and I cannot see the difference between the snow and fog very well without them. On our way back, the fog had increased, and my goggles iced up entirely. Getting back was a challenge.

We had intended to return this afternoon, and things had gotten briefly clearer. However, the fog came back, perhaps even thicker, in the past half hour. We decided that a party, however pleasant, was simply not worth the peril. It will be a quiet evening, with a little local visiting thrown in, for good effect. Fun is nice, but safety is important, and things can get tricky quickly out here. Our best wishes to all our friends in Bethel tonight.

A Busy Weekend...

We will be riding together this weekend for the first time in a while...the lady and me are off to Bethel, first for another Saturday Market (keep your fingers crossed, Steve!), and then back later for an evening get-together with actual adults. We are gathering, I suspect, as a Christmas celebration of sorts before the big migration starts later this week. Some sites have already released for the holiday, but the big movement will come this week, by the sounds of it.

In the meantime, the necessities of teacher life have not faded-there are still emergency lesson plans and sub plans and data boards to submit and grades to enter. The deadline for grades comes upon our return, so I would just as soon enter and have done with it. There is also preparation necessary for Christmas around the world on Monday morning, and the pageant on Tuesday night. Finally, we need to put some things away. The snowmachine needs to go back into storage, and our electronics need to get safely stored, in case anyone decides to stop by for an unannounced visit while we are gone.

Assuming that we can get this all together and are not stopped from exiting the village because our work is not done, we can get on a plane on Wednesday night and fly for a few hours and be magically transported to the madness that will be O'Hare airport two days before Christmas.

The only complicating factors then will be traffic and weather.

Assuming a favorable coordination of the stars, we will be home in Cadillac by that afternoon. Home is becoming a much more nebulous concept as I spend more time here. I think that my home now is simply where I am, whether it is Napaskiak or Cadillac. And that strikes me as a good thing. I am not sure that I would choose to lose the people here as a part of my life. The struggle to learn and get better is a hard one, often. It is discouraging a great deal of the time, because it seems as if the goal is constantly moving. But this place is now a large part of me, good and bad together.

I do not think that I could remove it now anymore than I could cut out my heart.

Friday!

Woo-hoo!!

Hmmm...

I am feeling worn down with resistance...so few of us seem to want to keep going through the motions, but we must. I sense no great joy in any of that. I seem to be angry too much of the time, and that is not healthy and does not help. The consolation, I suppose, is that it will be over for a while, and the sparring partners can go back to their corners for a while.

Oh, Never Mind...

One More Monday..

Aggravating morning, promising afternoon...some days it is like that. Besides, any Monday that has promise in it is very good indeed. And there is only one left to go. Not bad.

My tykes are probably struggling to focus on anything more substantial than getting out for the holidays, and I understand-I am having the same problem. Somehow we got through the day without any lasting damage, and some of them stayed to help with the Christmas pageant decorations. They really love me after the school day is over...funny, huh? It's like my wife says-at least they love you some of the time. Can't complain about that.

So we are down to, as a friend put it recently, "7 more alarm clock rings!" I certainly like the sound of that. My kids are ready for a break from me, most likely. Sort of. I mentioned the break today after school to one of them and she cheered, and said, "But you will be coming back." She tried to look disappointed, but she was smiling...on to tomorrow.

A Delightful Sunday...

It seemed that nearly all of my acquaintances were online at some point or another today. It made for a very pleasant day of catching up with all kinds of friends. Most of them were chatting about the heavy snowfall in Northern Michigan. Nineteen inches of snow had fallen on Cadillac as of the last posting from the local television station. More is likely on the way. My understanding is that power is out in many areas, and some main roads have been closed. Fun. I hope that this kind of nonsense is out of the way by the time that we head home in ten days.

I spent most of the day hanging out quietly with my bride and enjoying the company. Oh, yeah, and lesson plans got done, but I don't care about that. Christmas is coming, kiddies...

Errata:

Brenda was subbing at the post office on the day that the meat went missing. Her regular job is at the preschool. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Why Yes, It Is Winter...

Up at the crack of 6 a.m., because the dog thought it necessary. Sara Jung and I had decided to zip up to the Saturday Market in Bethel and do a little scouting for some stuff for friends. We did not leave until the crack of 10:30, because that is when the damn sun comes up around here these days. My hands were really cold on the way up, mostly because I had been doing too many things without gloves on, not thinking about how cold it really was. I was afraid of frostbite for a while, but my hands were none the worse for wear when I took off my mittens at the Cultural Center in Bethel.

The day was pleasant, and we shopped and went for sushi lunch at VIP, and went to the AC to do some shopping.

The best part of the day came after we got back to Napaskiak. My sweetie sent me a text message saying that they were going to the plane over in Bethel and that it was time to go out to the airport and help pick everyone up. One of the planes was so loaded with luggage that I thought it might tip back on its tail.

So, my honey is home, and we have seven days with kiddies before we leave for the holiday break. All is well, even if it is cold here. It is the kind of a night that makes me grateful for a roof over my head and a functioning heating system. I understand that my friends back in the Midwest are getting hit with a hellacious snowstorm. I hope that they are all safe and warm. I will be seeing many of them in the very near future.

3:45 Sunset Pictures...

The Mystery of the Missing Meat and Other Adventures...

The week is done, and that is a happy thing. There have been many momentous occasions in the past seven days.

Thursday night, I arrived home after a long and busy day. I felt quietly exhilarated by the way that the day had gone. It was time to settle in and relax and enjoy the evening. My work week was nearly over. I settled into the easy chair in my pajamas. Ah...

The phone rang. It was my wife, calling from Fairbanks. Brenda had been trying to reach me. She was working at the preschool, and a meat delivery had been made there. Odd coincidence...we had a meat delivery that had not yet arrived...and as it turned out, the name on the packages suggested strongly that it was our meat delivery. It was now sitting on the porch at the preschool.

Damn. Eighty pounds of meat, in two boxes. I couldn't very well leave it there, although the temperatures were well below freezing. Heaven only knows what an enterprising dog, or fox, or human for that matter, would do with such a bounty. Suffice it to say that if the meat was ever to see the inside of our freezer, it would be up to me.

Off I went, to change out of my p.j.'s and into clothing suitable for single-degree temperatures. Off I went, to the school, to get a hand dolly, so that I could transport this mess. As I walked, muttering more curses about the way that things happen out here, I remembered that the last time we had such a delivery, the boxes themselves had fallen apart, leaving me scooping up packages of steak from the boardwalk...you don't suppose...

Of course you do. When I pulled the dolly up the ramp to the preschool, I noticed almost immediately that one of the boxes had only one band binding it, and was already partially open. The other was intact. If I could put that one on the bottom, and place the other on top of it and keep it intact...no such luck. Frozen packages of hamburger and sausage went skittering all over the porch. More curses. This approach was not going to work. On top of that, it was cold, and this was getting to be a pain in the ass. Perhaps the best thing to do was to return to the house and get the snowmachine, which still had the sled attached to it. That would work-I could scoop up the loose meat pucks into the sled and get them home that way.

Back to the home front. Grabbed the keys for the sno-go, headed out the door and down the steps. Tried to put the key into the padlock that secures the cable that we run through the tread to discourage theft. No go. Frozen. Again. I had spent almost a half hour getting the thing opened up on the previous Saturday when I took my beloved and her little ducklings to the plane for their excursion to Fairbanks. I had possessed two advantages that day. It was warmer, and it was lighter. Okay, it was light. Night falls here shortly after sunset, which comes at about 4:30 in the afternoon. I could not see a thing, and my glasses were quickly fogging up as I bent over in the cold.

At this point, one of my students happened to wander up. She politely inquired as to my activities. I mustered all of my patience (after all, none of this was her fault), and explained. She innocently asked about the whereabouts of my flashlight. There was a slight undertone of incredulity to the question. The slight tone of incredulity that suggested that I might not be possessed of intelligence sufficient to warrant me being licensed to teach. I was obliged to explain that all of the flashlights in our house were sitting in the school with dead batteries, because vocabulary flashlight tag is a more pressing need than finding our way around the house during one of our weekly blackouts. I am not sure of what she thought of this, but she was kind enough to offer me the rather faint light of her flip phone as a flashlight substitute. It didn't work, and the lock would not budge, but she was kind to me, and that helped restrain me from throwing the keys off into the snow where they would be lost until spring.

What now? Clearly, it was time for Plan C. The school sled. Yes. One of those plastic sleds with a rope on it. More curses. Up the stairs to the school door. Grabbed the sled. Kicked it down the stairs. Damn, that felt good.

Back to the preschool, were the last pretense of containment on the part of the broken box finally gave way, scattering hunks of meat halfway to Bethel. I sailed the cardboard over the porch railing on to the frozen boardwalk. I was in a mood that, at this point, defied description.

I learned one thing from this adventure. Scooping up various packages of frozen meat with mittens on would make a swell challenge on one of those silly TV reality shows. Even more cursing. I was beginning to get very inventive. I am very inventive when it comes to cursing already. I was getting even better. Finally, somehow, I got all of the meat into the sled. And the dolly, which had gotten left behind when I had the bright snowmachine idea. I now started hauling the mess toward home. As I walked, I was trying to figure out how to get all of the loose meat up the stairs to the house.

I finally settled on the obvious approach-haul the damn thing straight up the stairs. Not too much meat fell out. I abandoned the idea of throwing the meat through the window, first, because it was cold outside, and second, because it might have damaged our cool duct tape window screen. I got the meat back into the sled and hauled it into our entryway, where the big freezer was located. I began flinging meat into the freezer with gusto, picking the rebounds off from the floor and throwing them back again. Some required several repeat efforts.

I finally finished the thing off with a few more curses, hauled the sled and the dolly back to the school, and called it good. Only problem? It might be a bit of a bad idea to open the freezers around here quickly for the next little while.

The next morning, I got a call at school from a nice gentleman asking if I had gotten my meat delivery. I settled for the short version and just said "yes." I didn't think that he would want to hear the whole story.

Lucky 600

Those numbers have just built up quietly over time, almost without warning. Kind of like when you start creeping up on a milestone birthday and realize how long it has all been while still seeming like a short time.

I am in the middle of a long night's sleep. My body decided to send me to bed at 9 p.m., and now I am taking a break from doing that. I will be resuming that activity shortly. I am yawning heavily as I type.

Yesterday was kind of hectic and stressful, at least outwardly. I find those to be truly less stressful, and I think that has something to do with years of courtroom training, where it was important to be able to think clearly when things were difficult. I actually find days like yesterday to be kind of exhilarating.

We had the funeral of an elder yesterday. My understanding was that he had been the oldest person in the village. I went to the funeral for a while, out of respect for the family. Many of his grandchildren are or have been students of mine. His son is the president of our advisory school board. I had to leave for an AKT2 meeting. I would rather have stayed. The topic of the meeting was, oddly enough, connecting with the community. It was a productive meeting, however.

Today I will have some training in the afternoon, so I need to come up with some sub plans for a couple of hours worth of class. Nothing too challenging there. I also need to start making sure that I am ready to get out of here for the holidays-there are emergency lesson plans and sub plans to write, and grading to get done. And, of course, there are the submissions...always the submissions. I need to get them done before May. Kind of a pain, but unavoidable. My license has been renewed for another year, so I need to hold up my end of the deal, even if it is a ridiculous one.

This strange voyage continues. Some days are a whole lot better than others. Some days I would just as soon quit. But I haven't, and I suspect that I won't. Someone smart said something about a big part of life being about showing up. Guess that I will keep showing up for a while.

Two Mondays Left...

But you know that, if you pay any attention here...all quiet otherwise. Laundry is done and the dogs are snoozing comfortably, and I am going to read Harry Potter...

A Beautiful Day...

The sun is out today, which means that it is cold, but it is a very pleasant sight at this time of year. It looks like late afternoon or early evening at 1:45 in the afternoon, which should offer an idea of how little daylight there is to be had at this time of year. I am poking my way through the last couple of lesson plans for the week. Truth be known, I am a little dry for inspiration. I hope that it comes from somewhere soon. I want to watch the Sunday night game on my computer, and I don't want that stuff hanging over my head.

On to planning!

More Music and Moping...

I am living the bachelor life and not caring for it too much. I cleaned up around here and got the sno-go defrosted and running this morning so that six young women's luggage could be hauled to the airport. My companion is companioning elsewhere this week, so it is quiet and sort of gloomy around this house. Even the dogs are subdued. I got some lesson planning done, but I don't feel like doing it anymore, and I hate that stuff anyway. So now I am buying old music and listening to Led Zeppelin like it is 1978. Worse, even-"Exile on Main Street." I am basically rebuilding my old vinyl collection. And the absolute worst is that I have conflicting iTunes libraries. I don't even understand how the hell that works. If you bought it, you should be able to put it all together on one device. Maybe I just don't understand how the whole thing works, or maybe there is some sort of work-around, but it makes less than no sense.

There is no great reason to stay up while this downloads, but there is no likelihood that I am going to sleep any time soon, either. Blah.

I think I am going to have one night of self pity and then hit it in the morning and get the rest of my stuff done. No sense in blowing off two days when I have stuff to do and the prospect of blowing off more time in a couple of weeks. Besides, I'm just going to hate myself for it and feel crappier. Nope, I think that a good night's sleep is in order. And to all a good night...

On and Off...

The river was in pretty good shape for our trip to Bethel. Even the on and off, which usually involves water and high speed, was pretty simple. The dogs are in good shape, and are inoculated for another year. They even have their travel papers. I discussed Buddha's occasional seizure activity with the vet. I am not yet at the stage where I will begin giving him phenobarbital, as the seizures are not frequent or chronic. He has been doing this sporadically for the past year or so, but the seizures have all been short in duration. I don't like them, but they are not as frightening as they were at first, and he seems to be none the worse for wear afterwards.

I am getting ready for a quiet week, where I can catch up on some of the things that I have to catch up on. Not so much school work as outside stuff. Classes, AKT2, and stuff like that. I am, quite frankly, tired of both, but I have no choice at this point but to finish. Neither is adding anything of value to my life or my experience out here, but the rules must be followed, or consequences will follow. I am beginning to loathe the word "consequence." Just another empty educationese buzz word.

But it is Saturday, and the snow is lovely and can be traversed, and I am loved, and I can go and ride either my bike or the sno-go or both in a few hours. Mostly, I am debating about making that first cup of coffee for the day right now. It is early in the morning in Alaska, America, and we send you good day greetings...

That One's Done...

Another week in LKSD history...we are now on the verge of the PD part of the day's program, and the day was good. My smart board and my computer are now working more or less consistently together, which enabled me to get students up out of their seats and involved in their learning while being physically active. The board gives me a wonderful piece of equipment for that sort of thing, and the kids learn stuff without realizing it. Ha ha-stealth education!

We get to make the run to Bethel this afternoon with the dogs for a visit to the veterinarian for their shots and papers. The weather is kind of sketchy looking, but I believe that it can likely be done. I hope so, at least. After an evening's rest, I must prepare for a week of enforced bachelorhood at the hands of the Rose Urban-Rural Exchange program. My sweetie will be taking a group of our kids to Fairbanks to spend the week with our sister school there. I will be lonely, but I know that it gives the students a chance at experience that they would not otherwise have.

The semester grinds on toward its inevitable conclusion and the blessed Christmas break. I see little glimmers of hope and change among my students. It is nice.

Not Much To Say, But It's Almost Thursday...

And it's about time. We are all beginning to look at each other like some kind of exotic and unpleasant fungus, and for all that I know, we may all be one. The semester is quickly outliving its usefulness, and everyone just wants to be quit of it. Unfortunately, it won't go away and die a quick and quiet death. Not sure how to swear at it. Are semesters male or female?

So, we soldier on, like a boxer knocked out on his feet, some unknown synapses firing the legs and feet while the brain has gone on holiday. The question is how long the body stays upright before the final message gets delivered.

...and I've got Pandora on and I should be going to bed because it's late and good teachers get their rest, but they are playing "Gimme Shelter," and it still hooks something dark and frightened in my heart just like it did the first time that I heard it over forty years ago. What fascinates me about that kind of imagery? Like Allyson said earlier tonight, sometimes you have to just sit in the dark with the music...