Still Winter

It has been awhile since I have updated my blog and lots of things have been happening. Lets start with my extracurricular activities. I was working on my snow machine since last time I blogged. I pulled the engine out of the machine and sent my cylinders out to Darbys Performance Machine in Fairbanks to be bored out .02 over. I ordered new gaskets, pistons, rings, wristpins and bearings. Once all the parts got back I put them all together and re-installed the engine. Once I get the engine re-installed I had to hook up all the electrical and mechanical connections and I was ready to put a fire in the hole! The machine fired up great and was running good. Unfortunately during a trip, I will tell you about later, I scorched one of my cylinders and need to replace the piston, rings, and re-hone the cylinder and I will be back in business..... hopefully. It was a stupid mistake, I got caught up in the action and payed the price.










The school district sent me to a conference in Anchorage to meet with some teachers from around the state that have "Fab Labs" (fabrication). The reason for me going to this conference was to get ideas as to how I am to set up the first-ever fab lab in the district at my school. Of course money is always a concern but after a lot of research, with approval from district office I was able to purchase two fab lab machines! First, I was able to purchase a 3-D printer, it makes 3-D objects. I know it's hard to imagine but check it out https://store.makerbot.com/replicator2x.html take a look at what it can do. The second piece of equipment is a vinyl cutter! http://www.rolanddga.com/products/cutters/gx24/ With these two pieces of equipment my students will be able to design and fabricate in 2-D and 3-D! As you can imagine the implications for education are endless, hopefully this will help make my classes and learning more meaningful. Oh yea, and to power all of these new technologies I have 12 new powermac desktops with 1Terabyte hard drives and a lot of ram! Needless to say I am being spoiled!
While in Anchorage it was not just work. I was able to attend a few Fur Rondy events that were going on while I was in town. My favorite by far were the snow sculptures! Teams of artists carved hunks of snow into amazing sculptures. My favorite was titled "Moose Hunting" it depicts the moose as the hunter, hunting the human. The detail in this sculpture is amazing, they really did a great job. Voted a crowd favorite was the orca that represents a plane which was very cool as well! There were some other really great sculptures that I will post pictures of.




















The demise of my machine happened suddenly. My school was asked to go on a culture trip downriver to Noorvik by snowmachine. We had about 18 hours to set this trip up :/ Along the way we were supposed to drill holes in the ice using an auger then measure the thickness of the ice to see if it was thick enough for the ice road that will be built later. The trip was headed by the culture coordinator for the district. Once the machines were gassed up and a plan was made we headed out. I got about 5 miles downriver and my machine shut down on me. I thought my engine break in was complete but I was obviously mistaken. I eventually limped my machine home. At that first stop the students were trying to drill the first hole but the augers that were brought did not function properly. As I limped home the students and the other two chaperones pushed down to Noorvik to pick up an auger they left there. Upon arriving at Noorvik they realized their auger was "missing" aka stolen. So no holes were drilled, two machines broke down, a pretty dismsal trip.....at least the weather was beautiful!





This place has been pretty amazing so far. The country is like nothing I have ever experienced before. The absolute solitude that you can feel when you are out there alone is a new feeling. At those times it's easy to lose yourself in the beautiful mountains, the vast tundra, the winding rivers, a moose browsing in the willows, a herd of caribou crossing a ridge, a wolves howl echoing off mountains and ridges fading into nothingness. These are the feelings, sights and sounds that stir the soul to reflect. At those times a man may take an introspective look at his life to ascertain what he has done and what he is doing.
Winter is still here and strong. It won't lose it's grip for awhile yet. On the plus side I will have more time to break in my snowmachine. Hopefully i will be able to do it right this time. Thank you for reading and taking an interest in my life! Stay safe and warm,Taikuu! (Thank you)

Out in the country.....

It has been a pleasant couple of weeks in Kiana. We have finally received some snow! Not as mutch as we have had historically but some snow is better than no snow! It has been snowing for the last two days so hopefully we have a storm coming that will give us another foot or two. It is very interesting to hear my inupiaq neighbors talk about the lack of snow this year. Some the elders claim there has not been a winter with this little snow since 1981. The lack of snow effects everything in this arctic region. Pipes in houses are freezing because the snow typically provides insulation for the pipes against the frigid cold. SnowGo's are breaking down, overheating and "burning up" pistons, bearings and rings. Fourwheelers are being used at extreme temperatures, which they were not designed for, so they are breaking as well. It's amazing to think how important snow is to this way of life. These are not the age old problems of the Inupiaq, these problems are fairly recent. Historically wood stoves to heat, no indoor plumbing, and dog sleds to travel were all used.
Now that we have some snow i was able to get out into the country looking for some wolves. I went with my friend Glenn. Glenn is an ex army ranger and special forces solider who has lived and taught in Kiana for over 20 years. He loves to talk and loves the outdoors. Our plan was to head out on snowmachines and look for wolves or fresh wolf tracks. I was riding a 2010 Yamaha Bravo that looks like it is right out of the 1970's! It has about 2 inches of suspension travel. It is a VERY rough and bonejarring ride on this little machine, but the good news is that it is so light that you won't get stuck because you can just lift it back onto the trail. Glenn was riding his 2010 skidoo v-800max, a much more comfortable ride than what I was on! We started by heading North paralleling the Squirrel river. We were headed to Peter's slough, which is about 8 miles north of the village. On our way there we were traveling across lakes and tundra darting in and out of trees, but traveling at a relatively slow 15 mph because of the capabilities of my machine. The temperature was very mild when we started out about -5, but the wind picked up and the sun started going down and soon we were traveling at -15 with wind chill at -20. We had to stop every 2 miles so i could warm my hands up because my machine didn't have gauntlets or heated handgrips like Glenn's machine. About a mile before the slough we dropped down onto the river to looks for tracks. We saw a few old sets but nothing fresh. Once we arrived at the slough we hopped up onto the tundra to work different draws to see if we could kick a pack out of a draw. After spending about 2 hours on the tundra with no luck we dropped back down onto the river to take it home. About 3 miles from the slough we came across some fresh pack tracks that were chasing caribou. It was awesome to pick out at least 6 different wolves in the pack. One set of tracks stood out from the rest, a fairly large set that Glenn surmised would be the alpha male of this pack. We followed the tracks about a mile up a drainage but it was getting dark and we had to head back. It was a cold cold ride home but instead of stoppinng we just pressed on until we reached home. It was a great adventure! I can't wait until the parts for my snow machine come in and I can be riding a much more comfortable machine!











Thanks for reading my blog and taking interest in my adventures! Hopefully soon you will be reading about a new snowmachine and new adventures out in the country. Take care, God bless.

First week back from christmas break

Christmss break was great! I spent $1700 for plane tickets to go down to Washington and Idaho for my two weeks of break. I spent christmas in Idaho at my parents house and was able to see my whole family that came for the holidays. After spending some time there I made my way to the tri-cities, Washington. I was able to spend time with many different friends. It was a real pleasure to see some familiar faces. Towards the end of my visit I surprised myself by actually wanting to be back in the village! I was sad to leave friends and family but was also excited to head back to the village.

This first week back at school has been a real challenge. The students were tired for the first days of class because their sleep schedules were really messed up during the break. I had a hard time getting started in my classes as well. I am teaching two new classes that I had no information about until about 5 min before each class started. Needless to say that was very stressful for me. But eventually I was able to figure it out. One of my new classes is called GenYes. This is a class that is delivered via video conferencing, which is a new challenge. In this class we are building robots! We are using kits supplied by Lego. We have just started building with these kits and I am very excited to see what we can create!
Although it has been a rough week as far as school goes I have had some great experiences outside of school. I was fortunate enough to be able to try Beluga whale muktuk for the first time! It was pickled with jalapenos. I was suprised to find that I really enjoyed it! A bit chewy but good.



I was also able to acquire a new snow machine! It's a 2010 SkiDoo Skandic Tundra Long Track 550F. I was able to get the machine for a VERY good price. The catch is that it needs some engine work. So i have spent this week tearing the machine apart trying to figure out what I need. My friend Brad has been instrumental in helping me tear it down. It looks like I will need a new cylinder and piston. Then all I have to do is put it back together and should have almost a new machine! It is very rewarding and a great distraction to work on this machine.









The weekend is almost over and unfortunately I just watched my Seahawks lose to the Falcons. It's alright I will still wear my jersey to school tomorrow. All in all it was a bearable week after break. Hopefully this week will be great! Thanks for reading and being a part of my adventures!

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.