Monday and Tuesday, In The Record Books Again...

Home waiting for dinner. Got my feet up. Can barely stay awake. I suspect that this is the night that I get some adequate sleep. It will be nice for a change. On the other hand, it might be fun to watch a movie or something. I have had my first of two evaluations for the year. I think that I am done with formal observations for the time being, and I am glad of it.

Tomorrow we will sit down and discuss one of our Christmas traditions and how to plan it for this year. Thursday is laundry day, and Friday we will head to Bethel with the dogs for their annual vet appointment. That is my exciting week! I like the way it is shaping up.

Holidays are approaching, and I am grinning at the idea of Christmas songs playing in my head. I am getting excited.

Minus 4...

If this keeps up, it is reasonable to hope that the river will be frozen in the near future. Maybe we will be liberated from our watery isolation soon. All that I know for certain is that it has gotten very cold in the past 24 hours or so. Of course, in another month, these temperatures may very well feel quite springlike...

OK. That's Over...

Today we paid the price for all of the time off lately: seven hours of working in my classroom. Kind of a drag, but the days off were worth the exchange. And good news: only three weeks from Wednesday, we are on a plane out of here. Now I can begin brooding about the weather complications. I know how to keep myself unhappy.

Over And Back Again...

The problem was solved, and we got to Bethel, but not without incident. The company with which we had chartered seemed to be having a hell of a time of it actually flying over and picking us up, so we ended up going over with another company. However, flying was the only viable way into Bethel today, which meant that there were an immense number of flights coming into the airport, and which meant that we took 15-20 minutes to complete a five minute flight. What seemed like endless circles over the tundra made me think mostly about how anyone finds their way around out here. I found even more respect for the locals making a living out of such a challenging environment.

Unfortunately, while we were circling, my two rather more motion-sensitive companions were becoming rather queasy. For my part, I thought the flight was pretty smooth, but I have spent a fair amount of happy time on boats without sea sickness. Finally, one of us had gone through one too many orbits, and was forced to use a backpack as an improvised airsickness bag.

We landed without further incident, and got on with the complex business of Saturday Market, a delicious sushi lunch at VIP restaurant, and a grocery shopping expedition designed to stock me up for my bride's departure for Fairbanks in a week, among other things.

On the whole, the day was a success despite a rocky start, and a quick nap finds us perched by our DVD player, ready to watch Lawrence of Arabia. The thermometer has fallen sharply as the day has gone on, and winter appears to have returned in earnest. Tomorrow, we will be off to school to work, as we are unable to put it off any longer. Three full weeks to go...

Waiting...

Word is that our charter is running about 45 minutes late. Three of us are going to hop over to Bethel for Saturday market and lunch and groceries. Saturday Market is a craft sale at the cultural center, which I wrote about and pictured last year. Then, of course, we were able to get over on snowmachines, which made for an exciting ride over a couple of big pipes. This year, the river is pretty much shot to hell, to the extent that there was a flood watch for the river yesterday, which may still be in effect. Apparently four days of rain and melting in the upper river basin have produced breakup conditions in the area. I just checked, and the watch remains in effect through this afternoon. We had snow and cooler temps yesterday, but the afternoon brought higher temperatures and rain. It is colder again this morning. Stay tuned for further information...

The holiday was warm and cheerful, and dinner was nice, if entirely too caloric. Yesterday was the day that we pledged to work and prepare mightily. We were going to do home visits. We were going to...we stayed at home in our jammies. Truth be known, burnout is probably rearing its head. Busy is a calm day out here, and I suspect that a four day weekend was too good to pass up. It won't be a four day weekend anyway. The seniors did put on a movie yesterday, and that called for a couple of hours at school.

My eval is this week, and after that, it is the rush to the holiday. I should care about the eval, but I don't. Shame on me. One too many observations, I suspect. I would like to do well, but I doubt that any one thing that I do know is going to make a difference all by itself. I either have a body of work that says that I am progressing, or I do not. One hour's observation (read: dog and pony show) will not save me if I suck.

Our flight seems to be on hold indefinitely now, unless it is not. The air service is waiting for a call from the agent concerning runway conditions. Confusion reigns. We were supposed to be gone at 9 am. We are not even sure if we are going anywhere at this point. This reminds me of the all purpose response for all questions in the Delta: "It varies." Or, if you prefer, "It depends."

Kind Of A Cliche,But A Good One...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Getting There...

I haven't gotten as much sleep as I had planned on thus far, but I think that it will work out just fine. There are several relaxing days ahead, more or less, and some things to do that should keep them interesting.

Tomorrow we have a big Thanksgiving feast to which parents and other members of the village are all invited. It should be a big kick-it was a lot of fun last year, and I see no reason to expect differently this year. After we clean up, we are off for Thanksgiving break. Time for nap number one tomorrow afternoon.

Of course, Thanksgiving day itself would be nothing without another nap.

Friday looks as if it is going to be our work day of the weekend. I need to do lesson planning, and a couple of other things as well. We are going to make some home visits in the afternoon.

On Saturday, there is some loose talk about chartering a plane and going across to Bethel for Saturday market, and some dinner as well.

On Sunday, we will rest and get ready for the new week. I may be getting ready for a new role around here as well. That remains to be seen.

Lots to do, and I think that I will start it off with a nice snooze in the near future...