Christmas is almost here!

Well it has been a great couple of weeks here in bush Alaska. The temperatures have been easing up to the -teens and that has been really nice for walking to and from school in the morning. Each morning I have a little over 1/4 of a mile walk up to school, it's only up hill one way but I am sure by the time I tell the story in a few years it will have changed to up hill both ways. We did have s few chilly mornings around -30 which made me walk a bit faster! Thank God I had my fur hat and face mask for those chilly walks.


Classes have been going great. Part of the reason is because basketball season is starting and to these kids basketball IS life. So the discipline problems have diminished in fear of not being able to play ball. In wood shop we are re-tying a sled for and elder in our community. Providing a service for the elders is part of the Inupiat ilitqusiat (ill-T-K-sate) which are the values that the community and region live by. The students have been doing a great job on this project.













In Inupiaq crafts and cultures class we have been working on our beading and skin sewing. The students have been making some great mittens and beading! i hzve included a picture of a student showing off her mittens. I have become a reliable resource now for the studnets since I have made two pairs of mittens and made the beading for them. Whenever the kids look at my mittens they usually say "amazing" or "bad dude" which is their way of expressing they like something. Yes I said two pairs of mittens I have just completed my mittens. They tuned out great! Wolf on inside, leather on outside, a beaver trim and of course custom bead work. They should be very warm for the winter to come and be the envy of all who see them!







Power technology has turned into a decent class. We have projects to do finally! There was a school owned snow go that was put into connex about four years ago and no one knew what was wrong with it. So we dug it out of the connex and brought it into the shop. After a lot of clean up we decided the undercarriage needed some work. We got a new idler wheel and bearings, new slide rails, and found some bolts to attach the undercarriage to the sled with since it was not attached when we pulled it out. Now we do have a store that would have sold all this stuff to us for a premium price but we couldn't afford it. So we went to "the free store" aka the dump! We found almost everything we needed in 15 minutes. We then installed our gently used parts on the machine. Next order of business, get this thing running. We cleaned out the engine bay and tested the machine for compression, we had good compression! Ok so next we got our spark tester, we have spark! Ok, fuel? We pulled the tank and seat, which are one unit, and cleaned the gas tank with air. We then checked all fluids and determined it was ready to go. We put the tank back on put some fuel in and put a fire in the hole. Now because this machine does not have a battery it's pull start only. Luckily I had 5 strong kids to take turns pulling it until it finally fired. It started up and ran well. Since it was running I took it for a test ride around the school, then let the students take it for a ride as well. It was great fun and a rewarding experience. Once we finished that projects I had a student bring in their own snowmachine (orange) that needs some TLC. That is our next project that will finish out the semester with.









Unfortunately wrestling did not finish very well. The wrestlers did not win matches they should have and it was a poor showing for Kiana, but there is always next year. I have been doing a lot of fishing lately! Setting lines under the ice is a lot of fun. I haven't been catching a lot but I pulled up a line a couple days ago with three fish, two Monster! I know they get bigger but one was over 3 feet long! Pretty good eating. I like to boil them in sugar and garlic then dip them butter! That's some good eating. Thank you for reading my blog. I can't wait to go to the Pacific NorthWest for Christmas and see my friends and family. Take care and happy holidays.

Wrestling almost done!

As you can read by the title of this post my wrestling season is almost done! Last weekend we had the elementary and middle school championships in Noatak. I took 8 wrestlers, 5 elementary/middle school and 3 high schoolers. Teams that had open seats on their plane brought high school wrestlers to get them some much needed extra mat time. When the closest school is a 25 min flight away you pick up matches whernever you can. Out of my five wrestlers that were competing I had three make the podium and one finish 4th. I had a first place, a second place and a third place. I am extremely proud of theses wrestlers they have worked hard all season and this was pay off time. I am glad some were able to have success and bring some pride and hardware back to Kiana. The funny part of this tournament is that they decided to award team championships for elementary and middle school, while all other teams brought 8 wrestler max, (one plane load) Kotezebue brought 36 wrestlers....gee I wonder who won the team championships?? Even if every one of my kids took first we still would not have won the team championships.....ohhhh bush Alaska! My season will finish with the high school championships in Kotzebue on Dec 1st. Practice will probably not happen this week because basketball is starting and the gym is being painted. Basketball is king in bush Alaska, everyone plays, everyone should coach (in their minds), and "if coach would have played them more they would have won state" . Those places you here about where parents and communities get in fights and brawls over high school sports, that happens over basketball in the bush. I'm really looking forward to basketball season because i'm not coaching!







We had a short week in school due to thanksgiving. It is amazing how the short weeks often feel like the longest weeks! The kids were rowdy and not wanting to be in school. All the kids could think about is where they were going or what they were going to do on their days off. Finally the week ended and it was time for thanksgiving! This was my first major holiday away from my family! It took me 29 years to have a holiday without my family. Obviously we are a tight knit family, I am sure this holiday was harder on my mother than me. As for my part I had great thanksgiving! The staff at school all pitched in and we had thanksgiving dinner together. On my part I brought some bread and layered jello. It was my first time making the jello and with the guidance from my mother I was a able to make a decent dessert. We had a great dinner with all the trimmings. The people I was sharing the day were with great! They're amazing people who are my adopted family here and they really made it a great day. Of course I ate too much and was stuffed but I have started my workouts for the week trying to get 6 days in this week so I can work all this pumpkin pie off!



Saturday night all the teachers got together again and we had a nice bonfire in the middle of our housing complex. It was a great bonding time for us and it was pretty warm out! It was about -9, standing close to the fire I had to take my coat off so I wouldn't get too hot! We roasted hotdogs and made smores. We had some kids there as well and it is always fun to see them at a bonfire. It was a great ending to the week. Today is Sunday, I have been watching my neighbors dogs for 4 days. I don't mind because they have a tv and satellite, so I am sitting here with two german shepherds watching the Seahawks game! What a great Sunday! Thank you so much for reading my blog and being interested in what is happening in my life.

Been a good couple of weeks

First and foremost i'm sorry for taking so long to post on my blog. These weeks have been busy as ever and I have not had a free weekend yet! Some exciting things have happened in these two weeks. I was able to attend a professional development conference in Anchorage for four days! It was great to be at a conference of likeminded people and it was a pleasure and privilege to go. That being said, it was the first time leaving my classes in the hand of a substitute. How nerveracking! Thankfully the students were great during my absence with no incidents. On our way to anchorage we had to stop in Nome. After taking off again we had clear skies and luckily I was able to get some great pictures of Denali and the Alaska range from the plane.




Upon returning to the village I was approached by my principal asking if I could start setting traditional snare traps with my inupiaq crafts and cultures class targeting fox. We have a huge problems with fox that have moved into the village and may carry rabies. Of course I said "set snares? Hell yes I can". Well I have never snared before in my life but decided I would teach myself. It is great how much you can learn from the internet and reading. After researching and talking to some elders I was able to set some wire snares up in trails around town that the foxes are using. I am concentrating my efforts around the school first, then I will spread to the community. I have caught 3 foxes so far! I am very proud of myself. Of course all of the students consider me a master trapper now, worthy to mentioned with names like Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett! Well...who am I to change their views? Along with teaching trapping I am also teaching skinning. We are teaching case/tube skinning. The foxes and other animals that are skinned in class will be tanned and used for hats, gloves etc. The students are really enjoying these activities and they seem to be learning a lot! These kind of projects are right in my wheelhouse as well. I really enjoy doing these projects and they are part of these kid's culture. We are also teaching them how to possibly make some big money when they are older. Last year a trapper in Norvik made $30,000 last winter by just targeting martin. Hmmmm sounds tempting......










Wrestling has been going very well. I took the team to Buckland last weekend and we went 25-4! I am so proud of my wrestlers. They have been working very hard and it was excellent for them to be able to preform in a hostile environment. It has been a very challenging season for me. Trying to coach grades 4 through 12 with varying skill levels is difficult to say the least. The most important thing is that the kids have had a lot of fun....and we have been winning ;). This weekend we travel to Noatak for the 4th-8th grade championships. Maybe it's just the coach talking but I think every wrestler I put on the mat could be the district champion! Stay tuned to my blog for updates.
Unfortunately I haven't had too much time for myself but during school I was finally able to start a pair of mittens for myself. They are going to be very warm and hand sewn! I have also made beadings to adorn the outside! This is what I have so far. I love skin sewing and beading. I have always had a crafty side (tying flies, building rods ect.) but since I didn't bring up that stuff this fills my need to be crafty.






It is amazing how fast I have acclimated to the weather. It has been sub zero most days and now I consider any temp around 0 "warm"! This next week is supposed to bring temps to -20 so we will see how well my mittens and hat hold up. I am guessing they will be toasty warm. I still need to get a better pair of boots. My boots are said to be rated at -40 but there is no way! My feet got chilled at -10 ice fishing the other night. Ridiculous! So that is the last necessity I need for deep winter. Luckily the boots i have are good enough to go back and forth from school and travel but not for long excursions out in the country. We have had bright sunny days, except it gets light at 10 am and dark around 5:30. I guess there is one more necessity, A good head lamp! I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I will try to not let so much time go between posts next time. Thanks for reading and take care.

What a delightful week!

Hello all! Well this is my second time writing this post, so if for some reason 2 posts show up on my blog I'm sorry. Let's pick up where the last post left off, I was getting my wrestling team ready to head to Kotzebue for the Bush Brawl Rumble in the Arctic. I decided to bring 7 kids to Kotzebue for the tournament. I could have taken 8 but we didn't have enough wrestlers that were eligible to travel. The tournament had over 300 wrestlers from all over the state as far away as Bethel (GoogleMap it). The wrestlers did great I am very proud of the effort that the kids put forth and the success that we had. Every wrestler won at least 1 match! We had 2 podium finishes and 2 4th places. Pretty good for our first big time tournament. As you can imagine at a 3 day tournament there is a lot of down time. Having kids you can trust to make good decisions during this time is imperative. Luckily I brought some great kids because I had to test that trust. Unfortunately one of my sophomore boys dislocated his elbow during a match, so I had to leave my kids in the care of another coach and travel to the hospital in an ambulance. To his credit my wrestler was tougher than nails. 2 hours and 2 doctors later his arm was re-located and we were back at the gym for the finals. Our travel home was thankfully uneventful.








This week in school was pretty laid back. We only had students for 3 days then 3 days of in-service training from the district. I took advantage of the easy work week by going fishing...a lot. Every night and every morning I went setting nets and lines with my good friend Brad. Traveling to the fishing spot is an adventure in itself. We take a 4 wheeler and trailer through the trees and tundra down to the frozen river. We then travel a mile down river on the ice to our spot. Some nights/mornings we have had amazing northern lights to entertain us on our ride. Other nights we travel by moonlight with Brads two German shepherds darting in and out of the brush leading the way. It struck me that except for the 4 wheeler this same scene has been played out countless time for hundreds of years in Alaska, following dogs by moonlight going fishing. The first day we set a net under the ice targeting large whitefish. We opened two big square holes about 40 feet apart. We then made a lot of small holes about 8 inches apart in between the two squares. We were then able to pass the rope under the ice from hole to hole. Once the rope was strung we hooked the net up to one side and pulled it through until the net was strung under the ice. We checked the net after a 24 hour soak and only got 7 fish. Obviously the whitefish are not in that section of the river. We decided to put the net away and "set lines". We use set lines to target ticktalik aka mud shark, burbot. A set line is made up of a drag line that about 4 hooks are attached to. The drag line then runs to an "anchor" i.e. rock, piece of metal, anything that is heavy and sinks. From the anchor your main line come up out of the hole. Once the anchor is set you tie the end of the rope to a stick that is elevated at an angle over your hole. The idea is to keep the line in the middle of the hole. The set looks like an L when it's set with the bottom being the drag and the vertical being the main line and the anchor is where the lines meet. We have been checking the lines 2-3 times a day once in the morning and twice at night. We have caught a lot of fish! We keep moving our holes trying to zero in on the money hole. We cut our holes by hand with a chisel and axe. The ice is about 6 inches thick. It is a workout to cut new holes! On the up side it keeps you warm with the weather in the single digits. We caught a fish Monday morning and I was able to bring it into my inupiaq crafts and cultures class and teach the kids about subsistence and how to cut a ticktalik! It was a lot of fun.






















Hopefully the great weather that we have been having will hold. The sun rises about 9:30 and sets around 7:30 not a lot of day light that's why you use a head lamp! I hope you have enjoyed reading this post, it has been a great week. I'm heading to Anchorage for 4 days to a CTE professional development conference today so I will be writing about that in my next post. As always, thanks for reading and taking an interest in my greater northern adventures! Oh and I updated my blog so anyone can comment!

Beautiful Week

It has been a beautiful week or so in Kiana! Temperatures have been in the teens in the mornings and almost to 30 during the days......almost. It has been bright sunny weather and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The temps are low enough that the Kobuk river is starting to freeze! What a sound the ice makes as it's flowing down river attempting to choke the mighty waterway! Soon it will be frozen solid and turn into our own iceroad!

We had our first wrestling tournament of the year hosted by Kiana. The tourney went very well, each wrestler wrestling 3 or 4 matches! The concession stand made a lot of money as did the gate! It was a great tourney and a great weekend for Kiana school. Putting this tournament on was a huge challenge. The logistics alone of flying 6 teams to and from and feeding them was daunting! But our great staff was up to the challenge, we even hosted a dance on the last night! Needless to say fun was had by all!




Classes are going great. I'm learning drafting with the students, staying a chapter or two ahead! I appear to be doing an alright job because the students are really enjoying that class. In power technology we are working on a snow go, and a Honda 4 wheeler. These are great projects and I feel like the kids are learning a lot from working on these machines with me. We are still working on finishing up our basket sled in wood tech but it is coming along very nicely. I'm very proud of the work the students are doing on the sled and the way it is turning out. Remember this sled is being made out of hickory. A very hard and durable wood. So hard that you have to pre drill for nails otherwise they fold when trying to drive them. As you can see most of the sled is tied together not nailed or bolted. This allows the sled to flex on the trails and makes it more durable. We tie it together using 300lb test commercial tuna fishing leader!





This week I am proud to show off my new winter hat! It is felt on the inside cap, river otter fur on the inside ears and leather and muskrat fur on the outside. It is so soft and warm I just love it. It was hand made by my co-teacher in Inupiaq crafts and cultures class especially for me. i begged her for weeks to make me a hat and she finally did. I think you'll be jealous!






Well that wraps up this blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading thanks for taking an interest in my Greater Northern Adventures!