Snow blow away

At the begining of the week I was bosting of the perfect skiing conditions. We had a few windy days this week. I should not say that the snow blew away, so much as it has blown around, spliting and regrouping to form stiff ridges and soft valleys. This makes the skiing a little more difficult. The rocks that were covered by two feet of snow a week ago are exposed. The roads are hard packed and icy, but still have gravel expossed.

The end of Day light savings may put an end to my afterschool skiing anyways. The sun will set at 4:12 today, while there may be an hour of visable light after that, I don't know if that will really give me the time to get out. I guess this means no farting around afterschool. If I want to go skiing I have to just go! Too bad I have a student that missed school for a month and now wants me to stay after school to help her get caught up. Sigh. I guess I better go now while the sun is shinning. I think I will have just a little more than a month of sun now.

Send me you warm thoughts, and home baked goodies to keep me warm as I ski out on the tundra.

Pretty in Purple

We were really bored the other night. We refering to Ashley and myself and Zoey. It was cabbage night. The night before Halloween. We had eggs, but the only people we might want to egg live in the same building as us. Okay I could have collected all of the dog poop in the yard into a paper bag, lit it on fire on one of the other teacher's door steps, but I have never really been the kind of person that pulls pranks. So instead, we painted Zoey's toe nails purple. Of course she did not even pretend to put up a fight. Isn't she pretty?

I think Purple is one of Zoey's Favorite colors. Her colar is purple, her nails are purple and her new skijor harness is purple.

Here she is using her harness for a more pratical purpose. She is hauling 48 lbs of groceries that I had shipped to myself the last time I was in Fairbanks. The post office is less than 1/4 of a mile from where we live, but I really did not want to carry that box back myself. Besides I think it is good to give Zoey a job. She seems a little depressed latley. I need to do something so she has a feeling of self worth. I think hauling a load is just the thing.

I wanna be a life Guard...

Help help help... I wanna guard your life....

I can't remember the name of the band that sings this silly song, but that is all I can think of when I am getting ready for my life guard training.

Those of you that know me well may know that I grew up with a 4 foot deep above ground pool in my backyard. Because of this I never really learned how to swim. At least not well. Sure I like to go to the lake or the swimming hole at the river, jump in the water and splash around, but I have never really been a swimmer.

Last week, Brian my boss, comes into my classroom and asks me if I would like to spend two nights in a hotel in Fairbanks and go to a lifeguard training in Barrow. All I heard was hotel in Fairbanks paid for by the school district. Without much thought I said yes. Okay there are a few things you have to understand about where I live.

1. You can only get here by plane or Catrain when rivers are frozen, or apparently by dogsled. (The park ranger here told me that is how he first came to Anaktuvuk Pass.)

2. A round trip to ticket to Fairbanks is $360. You can carry 40 lbs with you then you have to pay $0.85 per pound after that. (Now they never really weigh you going out to Fairbanks, they Will ask you your weight point blank in front of everyone... and you better not lie because this could be a life or death matter.)

3. There is a hotel on Fairbanks called Sophie's Station that the district uses to put us up when we have to travel. The rooms are like an apartment that is bigger than my former house. They have a sitting room, kitchen with full stove, full fridge, sink and even dishes. There is a TV in the sitting room and one in the bedroom. WiFi. During the off season which is Mid September until Fairbanks thaws out, which I don't know when that is..., the rooms are only $75 a night. Most rooms also have 2 queen sized beds. This is where Ashley and I stayed when we were there for labor day weekend. Too bad the rooms were $180 a night then. We should have waited two weeks. Oh well now we know for next year.

4. My Village is Dry, I am not referring to the humidity or precipitation. Alcohol is not permitted in the village. You may not posses it, you may not bring it in, you may not be drunk. Homebrew is a felony. If you are caught bringing in Alcohol three times it is a felony. If we want to have an occasional drink, we need travel outside of the village. Yes it may be possible to bring in Alcohol and drink in our apartments without being caught, but it is not worth loosing my job.

5. Barrow is a town more than 10 times the size of Anaktuvk Pass, and it is Damp. That means you are allowed to bring in a small amount of alcohol and posses it. But you are NOT allowed to sell it.

So when Brian asked me if I wanted to travel I said YES.

Oh wait, here's a thought. Do you have to be able to swim to be a life guard?

Sort of. Well at first we were told that you had to be able to do the breast stroke and free style for 200 meters each.

Okay it is time to start training. Here is our pool:

The pool at our school is 4 feet deep, 2 lanes wide and 25 meters long. Luckily I am 5' 3" tall. So at anytime I can stand up in the pool.

Okay so last Saturday we go to the pool to see if we can swim, 400 meters. The answer is.....

Yes, but not without stopping. I think I could swim about 50 meters before I needed a break. I have never swam laps before and I did not realize what an intense workout swimming is. Swimming burns about 600 calories an hour.

I go back to Brian to tell him that I do not think I can swim 400 meters. He makes the travel plans anyways.

Moral dilemma: can I travel on the district's dime to go to a training and take a certification that I am not sure if I can pass.

I talk to Brian again. He insists that I go. Then he tells me that there are no requirements of being able to swim. Okay, a sigh of relief.

Ashley and I have been going to swim 5 of the last 7 days. It only takes about 20 to 25 minutes to get 16 laps in. It is a great work out and I am going to try to keep it up this winter so I can stay in shape... Maybe even leave here in better shape than I arrived!

So for Halloween I dress up as a life guard. Only in the Arctic.

34 below with windchill

Sunrise: 9:54 am
Sunset: 5:47 pm

7 hr 52 minutes of day light

Losing 8 min and 22 seconds per day.

As I was getting ready to go skiing I met a few of my co-workers in the hall who warned me that it was about 30 below with the windchill. It is now -11, and the wind is blowing at about 15-16 MPH. Resulting in a windchill of -34.

I went out skied for 1/2 hour or so. I did not feel too cold with my face covered. Zoey did not seem to mind the cold either, but she was pretty frosty when we headed back inside.

Willow ptarmigan, something for Zoey to chase!

Skiing

Did you know that Cross-country skiing can burn between 600-1200 calories and hour! At this rate I might be skinny by Christmas. Maybe if I do not replace too many of those calories with Chocolate!
Suited up and ready to go!

Sunset around 6 pm.

Zoey is always ready!

Frosty face. I have to take my glasses off when I ski the get too frosty. My goggles started to frsot over too!

Zoey and I skied out to a lake about 2 miles south of the village on Thursday. The snowmobile trails make good ski trails. They were a little uneven at first, but they have filled in nicely with the powder that blows around all the time.

On the way to the lake Zoey found the leg of a Caribou. Hoof and all. She proudly carried it most of the way home, until we meet Molly, another dog belonging to the Principal's family.

Chena Hot Springs

Last weekend I made the trip out the Chena Hot Springs. This is a developed Geothermal area. Besides many hot tubs and a large open rock pool, they use the water for a greenhouse operation, to cool the ice museum and heat some of the buildings. Neat.

I always enjoy a good soak, but even at 10 below it does not take long to over heat. I can feel icecles forming on my eyebrows and my hair is frozen at the same time I feel like I am almost ready to pass out from the heat. I had thought about camping, but I chickened out at the thought of -10 degrees. So I got a room. Much nicer! So at the Alaska resident rate it was $120 per night for the room. And that comes with two days soaking passes. Not bad!

After relaxing the in warm water I went for a hike along the Chena River and up towards Chena dome. The ground off of the trail was really spongy from all of the lichen and moss that builds up on top of the soil. I saw weasle trackes, they could have been marten but it is hard to say without a ruler. There also had been some recent beaver activity.

Moon, Mountains and Permafrost

Full moon at sunset hanging over the Northern Sky.

Senset to the South. We drove out the the dump for a nice view of the moon. I made zoey follow the truck for a bit so she could get a work out. Run Zoey Run.

Ashely in the deep snow.

Climbing up to a snow mound...

King, er Queen of the hill. I had to throw zoey down so I could be on top.

A scientist for the Univeristy of Alaska, Fairbanks is studying the permafrost. He has installed temperature data loggers at many of the villages throughout Alaska. I have been asked to monitor and download the data from our village. Here I am retriving the data logger from the frost tube. The data logger recorded a low of -20 degrees F last week. The ground temperature remains constant at 29 degrees about 1 meter down and about 32 degress .5 meters down. This is just one data point in a huge climate change study. It is nice to be a part of something bigger!

-15 degrees F

This morning it was -15.  It did not feel that cold, except for when the snot froze inside of my nose.

Sunrise was 9:15 am.

I skied for an hour around sunset at 6:29 pm. 

We are loosing 8 minutes a day of sunlight.

check out www.wunderground.com/US/AK/Anaktuvuk_pass.html 

I am keeping my spirits bright by skiing every minute I can, eating lots of chocolate and making plans to visit sunnier places.

I have also made plans to spend the weekend in Fairbanks, go to the hot springs and to a contra dance as well as go shopping!!!

Sewing and More Snow

This week I spent all of my free time sking and sewing. I was planning on getting caught up and organized at school, but that did not happen. Oh well. We got about 10 inches of snow last night and might get another 8 more tonight. We are on a winter weather advisory. The volley ball team played Wainwright this weekend. We won, but I am not sure if they are going to make it home with all this snow! I was suppoed to go with them, but one of the other teachers volunteered to go in my place. I am happy I stayed here. I worked on finishing my Atikqlook, an eskimo snow skirt top. It is suppoed to be a cover for a parka. But I just made it to wear as a shirt. I put a small rabbit fur ruff around it. Makes me feel very fancy. White fur ruffs are only for women who have not had children, so I guess I can wear one!

I have been sking almost every day this week. Last sunday it was cold, windy and snowy. I My cheeks started to feel a little windburned. I am worried about getting frost bite. It is hard to cover your whole face. I have been taking the pricipals daughter sking after schoo. Bessie is 10 years old and she is pretty good on skis. Some of the other girls want me to take them as well. Maybe we can start an after school ski club. There is a lot of money for after school activites that was unused. I would like to ski with the kids until it gets too cold and dark, and then maybe do some crafts with them. There is so much to do, I have not been bored yet.

Cold spot and Ski Journ

On Thursday Anaktuvuk Pass was the coldest spot in Alaska and I can't help but assume that means we were the coldest spot in the nation. It got down to around 11 F, with a windchill around -2. I walked 5 miles to the dump and back on that night. I wore a face mask so I would not get frostbite on my cheeks and nose. By the time I got to the dump face mask was frozen from the condensation of my breath. Even Zoey has a frosty ring around her head.

It is the first weekend in October and there is already enough snow to ski on. We had a storm on Friday that prevented the volleyball team from flying in. So the teachers got to eat the spaghetti dinner that was prepared for the opposing team! Good stuff.

Saturday the sun was shinning bright and there was no wind. What a gorgeous day. I wish everyday could be like this! What a perfect day to go skiing. The Fire department has a number of personal locator beacons to lend out for for people who are going out skiing camping. So we walked over and they lent me this $700 piece of equipment indefinitely.

I got all my ski gear out for the first time. My skis still had duct tape on them from shipping. I pulled out the ski journ kit I bought in Fairbanks. There is a wide waist band almost like a back brace that has a quick release clip that attaches to a shock cord that attaches to Zoey's lead. Ashely (My co-worker) watched and laughed at me as I got all my things together and got ready to ski, snakcs, warm layer, dry layer, beacon, GPS, Camera, dog poop bags, I guess I do not need the mosquito head net anymore. The net comes out of my bag. Keys, oh yeah I guess I do need those.

After a good ski I saw the Pricipal Brian and his family coming back from a snowy hike, so I went over to say hi and offer for Karin, his wife to use my skis. I get invited in for tea and carrot cake and play a game of Mancala with their daughter Bessy. Dylan, thier son, complains about math, I do not blame him. After a nice Visit I head back over to my appartment to change before dinner with Ashely. We make dinner for each other, it is tough and boring cooking for one all the time! We had chicken, salad and pasta salad. I brought over a bottle of Annie's goddess dressing... the best.

Dee one of the teacher's girlfriend hosts a sewing circle, aka sitch and bitch, but she does not call it that. I repaired a pair of Ashley's jeans that were ripped and started working on my Atichlook, a native style pull over. Nolita, Dee's cousin who works at the health clinic brings over the parka she has made for a little girl. It is so cute and has such nice detail work. Maybe she will show me how it is done.

11 pm time to get ready for bed. I read a chapter in Ingsteds book and turn out the light. The phone Rings... Karin is calling me to tell me the Northern lights are out. We had gone out a few nights ago looking for them.. but no luck. I knock on Ashley's door and get her out of bed. Then we go in search of the school truck. I got my lisence in the mail so I can drive again!!! We find the truck over by the other teacher apartments, we load zoey up in the back seat and start the truck. Colby, one of the teachers who must have used the truck last opens the door to see what is happening... I bet he thought someone was stealing the truck. I wonder if he called the cop or was going to get his gun. I think it is legal to shoot someone who is stealing your truck in this state. We drive away before he comes back to the door and drive out to the dump, 2.5 miles away. The lights from the airport can still reach the moutains out here, but it is much darker than in town where there are so many street lights. There is a faint greenish glow silouetting the mountains. We try to take pictures with out any luck. I will need to get a tripod set up for this type of photo. We get back in the truck and just watch the sky, the glow shifts and radiates upward as it fades into the sky. It did not really pulse like other displays of the northernlights I have seen. We returned the truck to Colby's apartment and walked home ready for bed.