Mid Winter

Well mid winter is here but it feels like spring sometimes! It has been a crazy year for weather just like last year. At least we have a bit more snow this year it seems. Or it could be that we have a little more snow a little earlier than last year. Whatever the case may be I have been running the trap line with Glenn hard! I go out to a part of the line 3 days a week (about a 30 mile loop) then we run the full line each weekend (about 110 miles). Getting all of the traps into the woods has been a huge task. We are mainly running sets for wolverine. We have a few marten and wolf sets but wolverines are what we are mainly targeting. Is has been a tough season for most trappers in our region. We have not been lucky enough to catch a wolverine or wolf yet but it is only a matter of time. Gotta keep my hopes up and not despair.










This season I've been able to use some new cool gadgets. My SPOT tracker is a really cool piece of technology. It uses satellites and allows me to check in throughout the day to say I'm ok via email. It also has the ability to send messages for help if I need it. A pretty cool pretty and handy device that gives me and my loved ones a piece of mind. The second piece of technology is a gps. I have gotten into the habit of marking every set so if we have a big storm and our tracks are covered i will still be able to find our sets.





Sam and I went into the big city (Anchorage) this month to see some Doctors. I saw a dentist and eye doctor. Much to my surprise I was fitted with a new pair of glasses. I was not too happy about it but I wear them at school where my students insist "they make me look more smart, like a nerd"......thanks I guess? For those of you who don't know Sam loves musicals. Westside story was playing at the preforming arts center in Anchorage while we were there so we went to see a show. This would be my first musical. I went along grudgingly. After the show we both agreed it was sub par performance. It was still fun to have a night out with a special lady.



We have been doing some cool things with the kids this winter. We took a few kids from Kiana to drill test holes for the ice road from Kiana to KOTZ. We drilled 11 holes between Kiana and Noorvik. Noorvik kids drilled from the mouth of the river to Noorvik. Then Kotzebue kids drilled the lake into Kotzebue. We had to drill holes, record them on GPS then record the ice depth. Each student had their own job, drill teams 1,2,3 and reclding team. We had a good time and did a great job.







I was able to spend a week in KOTZ for a CTE professional development conference. It was good go spend time with the other CTE teachers and Sam! I was also able to present at the conference. I presented the Rhion 3-D program and a 3-D printer. It was really cool to discuss this new technology and the possibilities of incorporating these technologies into our classrooms. I was also able to acquire 4 flight simulators for my classroom that the kids have gone gaga over! I wil, soon incorporate them into my classroom instruction.




Like I mentioned there have been a lot of wolves around this season. Unfortunately they are traveling in big smart packs. It's hard to trap a wolf out of a pack because the pack together is smart. But we have seen plenty of evidence of these packs like this moose kill we found up river. Unfortunately we found it too late and wolves were no longer feeding on it. Look at the carnage! Every rib is chewed off, only one , leg is still there, half the skull is gone, the wolves wasted NOTHING! If we would have found it a day earlier we could have set traps on it snd probably caught wolves. Oh well hopefully next time!




Hopefully you have enjoyed this blog post and will continue to check in on me and my greater northern adventures! Thanks for reading.

Been a long time!

Well it has been a long time since I last posted on my blog and I am extremely sorry for that. Life has been crazy, hectic, and fun. In my second year of teaching I have been learning and growing by leaps and bounds! The growth has been welcomed and has benefitted me greatly but there have been growing pains along the way. Being is such a small school (135 kids, 9 full time teachers) every staff member is extremely important to school climate, activities, and educational demands. We have 3 new staff members out of 4 in the high school staff. I have been taking on new responsibilities and teaching new classes which have been the source of most of my growing pains. With that one complaint filed I can say it was a wonderful 1st semester and 2nd semester has started out great as well. My schedule for 2nd semester is Power Technology, STEM, Business Software, Employability 2 and of course a PE class. A very interesting class schedule for sure!

Wrestling season has come and gone. We had a mediocre season unfortunately. I was hoping to see some improvement from my wrestlers from last year. Some did improve but the team as a whole stayed about the same. In the championship meet 4 out of 5 Kiana wrestlers won a spot on the podium. I was hoping for a perfect 5 for 5 but it was not in the cards this year, maybe next year.

This fall/winter we had a Hercules cargo plane land in the village. What an amazing sight! It used every inch of runway to land but only used about half to take off, what power! The plane also carried cargo for free for the studnet store that seniors run as part of their senior trip fundraising. We had to get a picture of the kids in front of the plane for a thank you card.





The holiday season has come and gone as well. It was a great Christmas and new years! I was able to spend the holidays with my family, friends and awesome girlfriend Sam. We spent the break at my parents houses in Coure d'Alene and Kennewick. It was quality time spent eating, visiting, going to movies and enjoying ourselves. We were able to go skiing on Christmas eve at silver mountain and many memories were made! Sam gave me snow shoes and a jet boil stove for Christmas! ! What an awesome girlfriend! I got her a kitchen aid mixer because she wanted one SO BAD! Before I left the village for break I was put in charge of cutting a Christmas tree for the school. I took about 5 students out on snowmachines with a chainsaw and sled with hopes of finding a tree to make Clark Griswold envious. Welllll that didn't really happen. The tree we were able to find could have possibly made Charlie Brown jealous but it was not of the Griswold family Christmas caliber. I also taught about 30 kids how to make sugar cookies and frosting to give to the elders of the village. They had a great time and the cookies turned out pretty good!












Winter is here and now it's time to trap! I am so excited for this season. I already have traps in the woods. I took the plunge and finnally bought some gear this year. A new snowmachine, a skidoo expedition 600 ho etec http://m.ski-doo.com/#vehicle?serieID=Expedition&categoryID=LE A new sled from Northern sled works http://www.northernsledworks.com/Cross_Fox.html some leg hold and conibare traps. I did spend a bit of coin but my investments should pay off in the form of keeping my sanity.
Whenever you get new traps it's best to boil them to get all the oil and grease off them. Then you need to seal them with wax or a wax based coating that will protect the traps and make them odorless. I have been running a 30 mile circle every other night to see if I got lucky and trapped a wolverin, wolf, lynx, or marten. Some nights I decide to pick up some dinner, by way of a Ptarmigan or two. They are a little gamey but still delicious.















I feel like I say this every time but I will try to do better and keep up with my blog. Thank you for reading and taking the time to check out my Greater Northern Adventures!

Living the dream

Well sorry that is has been about 20 days since my last post but like usual time is flying by in the village! I have been busy with school, wrestling and hunting! School has been a challenge this year because I have had to assume more leadership in the high school wing since I am the senior staff member! It has started out as a great year though. My classes still don't have curriculum so I am doing my best to incorporate meaningful learning in my classes and I think I have been successful. In my STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) classes we have been exploring structure rigidity, strength and efficiency. The students had a great time building structures out of pipe cleaners and straws in order to test them. We have now moved into building air-powered rockets which should be a lot of fun! My arctic resource management class has been a lot of fun so far! Recently we have been skinning, cutting and cooking caribou! It has been great to teach the kids about this valuable resource and enjoy doing it. I have a lot of fun and exciting things planned for this class so stay tuned into my blog and I'll keep you updated.





My parents were able to come for a visit to Kiana and I think they really enjoyed being out in the village. It was definitely an eye opening experience for them I think. Although our boat trip fell through I still think they had a good time. They were able to meet my wonderful girlfriend Sam and my new roommate Phil. They really got a feel for the village and the life I lead. It was great to have them here and maybe they will come back sometime in the winter.







Well the next weekend Sam was able to come out to Kiana again and we went on our first hunting trip together. My friend Brad called me up and asked if we wanted to go to camp for the night? I looked at Sam as if to ask "is it ok?" Of course was the reply, so we had 15 min to get ready and down to the boat. Once arriving as camp we realized they already had 12 caribou there to work on. So we went to work skinning, cutting and hanging the meat. It was hard work but fun! The following morning I wanted to get 2 caribou but Brad had other plans, so 2 turned into 5 and 5 turned into finding a wounded one and going to 6. It was a great hunt! We brought them back to the camp where we gutted them. We then loaded them into the boat and brought them to Kiana. It was an awesome time, made even better by having Sam by my side. We even were able to enjoy a beautiful Arctic sunset!
























Thanks for reading my blog, hopefully you find my adventures entertaining. I really enjoy letting people experience my adventures through pictures and words. Please check back for more updates in my Greater Northern Adventures.