Getting ready...'cause they're a commin'

Oh my goodness.  I don't even know where to start.  It has been quite the busy past few days.  Arriving in Egegik, meeting the new "family", seeing my classroom for the first time, seeing my apt. for the first time, putting my apartment together and diving into what will be my life for the next nine months.

Flying in during some low clouds is interesting.  The pilot has to get a "special" to fly because it's not ideal weather.  It's common, don't worry.  We made it just fine obviously.  I could see most of the time from the co-pilot seat!  I didn't see any big wildlife though I did see some cranes on the many lakes we passed over. Being only 400 feet in the air allows for some great sight seeing while flying.  We drop down into Egegik and land on a gravel runway, hop out, grab our gear and off the pilot goes.  Well, there we are.  April calls her boys and we wait the five minutes while they come from town to the airstrip to get us.  Then we head to the incinerator for garbage drop-off.  Yep, they burn it all then bury it in the landfill so it doesn't attract bears.

I've had some great dinners with April's family (the other teacher).  Her hubby, Hoss, is a good cook and they are very welcoming.  The smoked Salmon was fantastic, I can't believe I was so lucky to get salmon and corn on the cob my first night here.  So yummy!  They also had the smoker going and showed me how it worked.  Quite the set up and I got some fresh out of the smoker the next day.  Super yummy!  Eric, I don't know that your salmon collars will be quite so safe anymore!  Though, I bet I bring home better!

I've learned that if you lead, the goat will follow and it's quite amazing how big her belly will get after about an hour of eating.  If you stick your face into the wind, the bugs don't mess with you as much (or at least you don't feel it).  I've also learned that I know how to crack a bull whip. *the first time I cracked it, it actually cracked.....on my shoulder.    OUCH!   But, after watching others attempt and listening to how it was supposed to be done, I did it.  It was awesome!  I must be a natural.  <<(brushes dust of her shoulders)>>

I've also learned how much I really do love my SMARTBoard again.  I missed having that thing.  This one is great.  Speakers and the projector all built into one.  I think they mounted it with tall people in mind though.  I can't reach the top so my non-metal tipped yard stick is quite the handy tool!  It will be so nice to be able to teach the kids how to use the new Mac laptops on it and will be great for presentations and everything I have learned with my degree.  I can't wait.  Now to order the right cord from Apple for the iPad2.  I guess I should get on that huh?

My classroom is coming together nicely.  Curriculum support was here today, principal will be here tomorrow and for the first day of school on Wednesday.  I'm a little nervous with so many people around, I'd like to just start off and have them come around once I've settled in but I'm also glad they are around.  Makes it feel like it's a little bigger school.  I should probably pop over into the gym tomorrow since I haven't even been in there yet.

I like watching the dogs run along side their owners cars/4-wheelers in town though when I'm told there are dogs w/out a home it saddens me.  I know I can't have or adopt one because that would mean taking one home with me in the summer time and I just can't do that but my heart goes out to them.  Plus, I miss my puppies.  That makes it harder to watch the one I've seen roam.

All is well, I'm waiting for a few more packages and my big black duffel to show up.  It will be a good day when everything is here and I don't have to worry about it being hung up in some locker waiting to go out on a plane to get here.

Anyhow, I'll get some before and after pictures up tomorrow when the room is ready for the kids.  I hope you all know I'm not neglecting you, I'm just super busy!

Jam packed days

We're here for inservice.  It's a lovely place and people really seem to enjoy it here.  The people are friendly and the food is excellent. Today was french toast, shepard's pie and mexican.  Between meals we talked about schedules, levels, standards and how school was going to run in general.  With a better understanding of how things will work out, I'm ready for a flight to Egegik and some time in my apartment.

Before that though, there were walks alone, walks with new friends and some experiences shooting a bow again.  Here are some more pictures to help paint the picture.

Boat docks looking toward the lodge

Another beautiful day in AK.  State flag, do you know what the stars are?

Alecia and I trying for the water bags

Kathy did the bow last night and had a little trouble with it getting her arm.

My mushroom finds on grounds

Mushroom family

Took a walk to the end of the dock.

Hang the big catch of the day there, didn't fish though, it was SPENDY.  I'll have enough of it in Egegik! 

Bear tracks on the sand bar, we did NOT see it, just the tracks.

MeMe, the sled dog.  She was shy but she could tell I'm a dog person.

 And the one, the only, AfterBite.  This is heaven right here.  I will be ordering some.  One of the gals had it and let me use some after she saw the bites on my hand, forehead and ear.  It was FANTASTIC.  Stopped the itch within 20 seconds.  

Prime Real Estate

Tonight's blog will be mostly pictures.  Time is getting short and honestly, I'm beat!  We did a lot of run of the mill inservice curriculum today.  We had our three meals and the evening was filled with activities that some people partake in.  I did go and learn how to shoot a bow and arrow.  That video will come later.  While doing so the mosquitoes decided that my forehead was prime real estate and I now look like I have the chicken pox starting there.

Katmai does a wonderful job of making sure we don't go hungry.  In some cases I feel like I'm back in Disneyworld again eating so often I might get sick.  It's good though so I'm not complaining!  

Zeke, another lodge dog.  He's a sweetie

Posted in every room.  

Two Bald Eagles

The Bald Eagle viewing for me was the highlight of the day.  While the picture isn't the best, it was great to see them out in the open.  Thank goodness for the binoculars I put in at the last moment!

One more full day here and then Friday I'm off to Egegik.

There was a crooked little man...

Our Plane

(Cat-My) Lodge

Inside the main area

These two pics, about 30 minutes apart

End of the road

Chicken wire for traction

Our fearless Anchorage leader, Bill (and his antlers)

Our delay to Katmai finally ended and the first group was rushed away to the airport.  We drove right up to a back gate and because it's a taxi service again, drove right through a gate as our plane was coming up.  The pilot opened up the two hatched shoved more bags in then I ever though possible and loaded up the 9 of us.  There were only 8 seats though.  Oh, too bad, I had to sit co-pilot!

It was so cool!  "The picture" is on the superintendents camera so I hope to see that someday.  If I get a copy of that I'll get it up here.  For now though you'll have to deal with the video that has the landing on it with me in the seat at the end.  *Kinda, it was a turn-around and the top of my head is cut off but you get what you get right?

Dinner.  YUM!

Aside from that the time here at Katmai Lodge has been good so far.  We've had some fantastic food.  Last night's dinner was like Thanksgiving.  A good home-cooked meal was just what was needed.  They said the food was good here and they didn't lie.  This morning's breakfast was great as well.  Fresh fruit out in the bush?  Yes please!

Sun setting above the horizon at 10:30

Skeeter catchers...FULL

Our beds are comfy, the best that I've had so far.  I slept like a baby last night.  So much so that I didn't notice the new bite I got last night on my knee.  I'm not sure what got me but it's a little painful.  Not too bad though considering when I went out to look for bears at 10:30 last night I was swarmed by skeeters and who knows what else.  That made for a hasty retreat back to Osprey 2 (my cabin name).  There were no bears out anyway so all you get is a picture of the sun starting to set.  Yes, at 10:30 it's just there above the horizon.

I've found the lodge dogs to get my puppy fix and though right now I only have this one picture, the other two are a golden retriever and a sled dog.  Makes me think of what a young Ciqu would have looked like.  This black lab mix reminds me a little bit of Mom's old dog Sprocket.  She would sit at my feet and when I would stop petting her for a minute, around came her head to look at me like "excuse me, why did you stop?"

Oh, and the sweat with April, oh my!  I was like 30 seconds in and DYING!  It was good though.

Today's more inservice and we gotta get going.  Stay tuned for more!

Weather delay

Welcome to the bush.  We are all hanging out playing on the new computers waiting for a plane to get here to wisk us away to Katmai lodge.  However, flying in the bush requires sight.  Sight doesn't happen when there is fog and low rain clouds.  So, here we wait.  Eating the leftover lunch from yesterday and getting special passwords to be on Facebook through the district internet while we wait.

I guess it's the life of the bush, waiting around and making sure that the pilots can see the hills we don't want them to fly into.  I'm ok with that.  I hear that the plane I'm scheduled to fly on is the cadalliac of the small planes.  Made in Switzerland and it can fly faster than the other little planes too.  We'll see how those plans change too!  All types of new information presents itself on the fly and we learn in the same manner. It's exciting and we'll all figure it out as we go.

So for now, no cool Katmai pictures.  I hope I'll get some for you tonight.  For now, here's the link to the lodge.

http://www.katmai.com/fishing.html

What sound does "y" make?

Anchor anyone?

Today was a much slower day by far.  We are staying at that same air force base in King Salmon for some new teacher inservice.  Breakfast was early this morning at the district office and the training started right after.

The bus ride was a bit bumpy but they had fun

We learned about standards based education, the tests that they are administered and how to give some of them.  We also learned that much of our letter sounds that we were taught as young students were taught to us wrong.  Imagine learning that all those letter sounds were wrong and then trying to make your brain correct a student during a timed test with all that past knowledge getting in the way.  It was kinda funny.  I know I'll have a hard time with it! Did you know that "y" sounds like Yee?

Our dinner diner

After training we took a bus ride to Naknek, a small village, and had dinner there.  My french dip was good but way too big.  Eric about freaked out when I told him how much it was.  19 bucks for the sandwich and 4 bucks for the bottle of apple juice.  I wasn't going to get the drink but the water smelled of sulfur and I needed something to drink terribly!  So that money the district gave us for per diem staying the night came in handy!

Aside from that, we have not much going on.  We fly to Katmai tomorrow for some more inservice and exciting adventures!  There should be some AWESOME pictures coming from those days.  I'm also happy to report (maybe) that I did receive my first skeeter bite last night and forgot to tell you all about it.  Bad Dorothy!

Purchasing Power

Day 3

So if yesterday's post wasn't enough.  We got to do it all over again!  Dry non-perishable foods ship through the mail just fine but what do you do for the frozen and cold stuff?  Opps, forgot about that huh? Well, here's what happens.

My coolers and me getting ready for Costco

You buy coolers (or totes we found out) take them with you to Costco and fill them to the brim.  That is, as long as it is under the 50 lb. weight limit the airlines impose.  Coolers are not as light as we thought.  Nor are the pounds of meat, cheese, egg beaters, butter, etc that we stuffed in them.  In addition to that I had my big suitcase to ship which had to stay with me because of the gun.

So here's what it feels like.  I go in with this well planned out list of the cold stuff I'd need for 4 months.  As I get to the ground turkey portion (my first stop) and start to pile it into the cooler I watch the space disappear.  What?!  I haven't even put a single other item in here yet!  Ok, let's see what half of that looks like in here.  Ok, half of what I had put down on the list....I can deal with half.  Head to the roast section.  Thank goodness, I can fit one of those nice roast packages in my tote, that took up a TON of weight.  Ok, let's not concern ourselves with weight, lets see how much we can fit in here.  How about pork chops, they were thick, I can half those before I freeze them for good, my fillet knife will go right through those.   Head to the frozen/fridge section and toss in some cheese and other frozen chicken etc.   Where is that other cooler?  This one is already full.   Ok, second cooler, now it's full too.  Darn it.  Um, how much is another checked bag or is it better to have one overweight?  Call Mom.  She's a lifesaver and I purchase another cooler.

So much luggage.  Not the kind I thought I'd have!

It was a good thing too.  I ended up with 4 checked bags, 3 of them coolers.  They were all overweight which was going to cost me money on each one so we did some shifting and made just one of them such.  A big pillow came out of my checked bag and into the carryon because it was too heavy as well.  Someone should have video'd the "lay and spin" technique I used to get that carry-on closed!  Instant classic, I bet the airport security had a blast watching that one on tape.

We were all checked in and then proceeded right to the gate.  Not through TSA.  No TSA.  At least for this airline.  Heck yes!  I don't know if I could have dealt with taking off the shoes, opening bags, opening computer cases and such after so many long days and then putting things all back together again.  Much less the thought that my carry-on might just react like Mentos and Diet Coke!

SAAB 340 to King Salmon

We got to King Salmon after a small plane ride of about an hour.  It was pretty loud and I'm glad I grabbed the earplugs they passed out as you boarded the flight.  I figured if they are offering, it's a good idea to get them!  Everyone has to give their weight for the flight so they can balance out the plane.  No switching seats if it's not full.  I didn't get the window seat so no great pictures this flight sorry guys.  Another time maybe.  We were met in King Salmon by a team of district principals and such that helped us with our bags.

Special Airport Greeter! He wanted to play fetch with his rock (chunk of asphalt)  I just couldn't resist!

Signs near the base

Right outside the airport

Spruce trees out my dorm window

We got into our decommissioned Military base dorms and went to the Superintendents house for dinner.  Met a few new people and enjoyed seeing part of the new "family."  Dinner was fantastic and the first home-cooked meal I've had in awhile.  Broccoli, roasted potatoes, carrots, prime rib, oh...and King Salmon.....it's like candy.  SO GOOD!  I think I'll be just fine.