Ice Fishing

A quick update before I leave for warm, sunny Tennessee. I had my first attempt at ice fishing this past weekend. It was a attended by lots of young children. When I pulled up to Jewel Lake I happen to park next to one of my students. I mentioned it was my first experience and they invited me to join them. Fun!!! You will notice that our Alaskan Ice Fishing doesn't look anything like the ice fishing seen on Dirty Old Men. No huts, no big fish and no sexy ladies. Everyone here was bundled up. It was cold on the ice. You will see one family the children and Dad are sitting on the ice. They were sitting there at least 30 mins. I would have been frozen to the ice by then. My student's father baited my hook. He used fish eggs. I just can't touch bait yet. I thought touching dead fish (to feed to the sea lion) was pretty bold. You can see I am wearing my down snow skirt and jacket and very warm boots and base layer. After a couple of hours I was ready to go - it got cold just standing there. Look closely behind me and what do you see? A Moose. They love me, everywhere I go I find a moose!! She (cow) meandered on the ice but it was slippery and she quickly headed back to the bank covered in snow. She ate the shrubs and tree branches all the way around the lake. The little girl, four ice holes to my left, caught all sorts of fish. She is holding her pink. They stocked Jewel Lake in August with 5000 fish and what some were catching were about 6 - 9 inches big. Some pinks, some trout, and some other kind. I would love to tell you what that kind it was but I had the gentleman repeat it twice and I still couldn't understand so I nodded my head. Perhaps my ears were a tad bit cold and couldn't hear well. Our ice fishing poles are about 6 - 9 inches long. What I learned is that every so often you have to "strip" the line. The fishing line get ice coated and you have to wear gloves and pull the ice off it so you can reel the line back in. The hole was about 3 - 10 feet deep. One group of fisherman knelt down on the ice and kept looking in the hole for the fish schools. It was cold putting your face near that hole and it was dark. One person also had an underwater light to see better. Gosh, how real is that fishing? Then everyone, but me, had these really neat long handled scoops with holes in them. You have to "clean" the ice off the top of the ice hole every few minutes do to ice covering. There are several routines a true ice fisherman performs to be successful.

The red picture is not a fire. It is the sunset from my porch last week. I know it is blurry because I don't have a tripod up here, so I had to hold as still as possible. I just loved the red and thought I would share it with you. I can't wait for the Northern Lights to begin. I hope to bring a tripod back so you can see some great colors in the sky.

Now for your short Alaskan science lesson - hoar frost. I'm sure some of you have heard of this word before. David said it is used in crossword puzzles. Hoar frost is formed when solid surfaces are cooled below dew point of the air. Frost crystals sizes differ depending on the time and the amount of vapor in the air. In other words, frost forms on cold clear nights when heat loss causes object (plants, trees, etc.) to become colder than the surrounding. It is absolutely gorgeous. It looks like every plant, or tree has a white fluffy covering. The hoar frost covers all sides of the branch so think of a fluffy white pussy willow. I have been told if you disturb the hoar frost (I love saying it since I am a Lady of the Evening) you can kill the plant and it won't bloom in the spring. I am sure the moose don't care about the hoar frost - all they want is food. At school ,the kids have been instructed not to disturb the hoar frost and believe it or not these 450 students don't touch any shrubs around the school.
I will post our Mt. McKinley flight and snow maching event soon. Enjoy your time with your families. Happy Holidays!!! Sheryl the Nanuq

Dog Sledding

Happy Holidays to all. Here are some adventures from our Thanksgiving Fantasy Funcation. Our first excursion was going to Soldotna (on the Kenai Peninsula) to dog sled with the Seavey Iditarod kennel and sledding. The Seavey family along with Joe Redington were the founders of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race in 1973. The Iditarod initially took at least 3 weeks to complete the 1050 miles of treacherous terrain and weather conditions. Now the mushers complete the Iditarod in about 9 days. The Iditarod is the most famous dog sled known to the rest of the world, but to the Alaskans and dog mushers there is another race called the Yukon Quest. We learned from our tour of the Seavey's Kennel that a lot of mushers have 3 - 4 teams of dogs (16 is considered the typical number for a team). Some dogs are trained for just the Yukon Quest while other dogs can train for either race. So here is your short lesson on The Yukon Quest. The Yukon Quest is a 1000 mile dog sled race that goes from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Canada. I have been to Whitehorse and I can't figure out why anyone would want to go there. There are two hotels and a few cafes or diners. Go figure. The Yukon Quest rotates the beginning and ending sites every other year. I think they said this year The Yukon Quest will run from Fairbanks to Whitehorse where next year it will be Whitehorse to Fairbanks. You know, so no one will have an advantage. The road between these two towns is terrible, bumpy and desolate. I just can't image. The winner of this Quest wins $35,000. Not enough for me to stay out in those conditions. The mushers can not change sleds (without penalty) and they can not accept any help, they must carry all their supplies (for the musher and 16 dogs), and sleep in tents! The sled also has to carry bales of hay because that is what the dogs sleep on at night. The Quest crosses frozen rivers, climbs 4 mountain ranges, passes through desolate villages with temperatures averaging about 40 below zero with Arctic winds whirling about 100 m.p.h. Again, I have to say the Alaskan take a dare way too far!! Did I forget to say this Yukon Quest started because of two males full of too much booze and testosterone! The sleds have GPS tracking but the mushers have no information from these GPS systems to help guide their way. There are veterinarians at check points to ensure the dogs are fit to continue. These dogs are very well trained and cared for throughout the year.

Back to our tour, Sam was our tour guide along with Conway Seavey and we learned a lot. At one point one of my children asked me, "Mom, do you ever just take it in without asking a million questions?" I guess all my questions go on their nerves. Get with the learning program! I am in Alaska to learn everything I possibly can and share it with all my lower 48 family and friends. Sam is from Belgium and trains his team with the Seavey's. He has raced the Yukon Quest and last year he raced in the Iditarod. He said he finished near the back because he was with the group that was doing it to have a "good time". His words! So I asked what does that mean, he said he raises enough money for the expenses (to fly back from Nome, fly his dogs back, food for him and the team, gear for him, and gear for the dogs) and the "good time" had at the check points. He was looking forward to the 2010 Iditarod and I told him we will be at the starting line and will be watching for him! The Seavey Kennel has about 150 dogs (ranging in purchase prices from $500 - $2000 each). The "A" Iditarod team are the more mature (2 year - 5 year old) and they get the luxury of a wooden dog house. (see above). The new training dogs (a bit feistier) get a 55 gallon plastic drum as a house. (see above). Why? Well, let me tell you. It is because they are still young and frisky and they like to chew. It is so much cheaper to replace a plastic 55 gallon drum than a wooden dog house in the cold! The think of everything up here in Alaska. You will notice how subsistence these dog houses are. They get a few inches of hay and a chain that is about 7 feet from the front of the dog house. They like having their "own" space says Sam. Jenna and I are posing with Buddy. He is an Alaskan Malamute and he is the "greeter" to the Kennel. He does not race. As Sam and Conway stated, "Buddy is too fat and not willing to train so he is the greeter". Buddy is no dummy. He gets three meals a day like the other dogs, he get to run around, petted and well cared for and he doesn't have to spend 10 days in the freezing cold running to Nome! Tyler, Jenna and I are holding 5 day old Pups!!Their eyes were not even open yet. These are the future stars of the Iditarod. Sam and Conway said they would check our pockets before we left!! Remember how expensive these dogs are. I was most surprised to see how slender and almost skinny the "A" dogs are in build. I think I remember the dogs in the next picture as Sitka and Payton. You can see their "travel" truck these dogs travel in. It isn't like a professional tour bus for our singing stars or athletes. It is a pick up with 8 small kennels on each side. When the truck pulled up to the kennel area the barking and jumping from the 150 dogs was incredible. Each one was yelling, "Take me, take me". Once the selected 16 were loaded and the truck engine started you could have heard a pin drop. The dogs that were not selected went silent at the sound of the truck and just sat on top of their house or next to it. That was amazing how well they are trained to know who gets to go and who has to stay behind. According to Sam and Conway, all the dogs want to do is go and race. They don't get off any leash because they would take off. As Sam loaded the dogs he pulled them by the collar and I asked why by the collar because it looks so painful. He laughed and said, "they want to go so they stop resisting and happily get in their cubby." You can see from the picture how basic their travel needs are for these prize winners. Then we got a chance to dog sled for a while. As we were finishing our rides, it started to snow. It was like a Christmas postcard. A few flakes and as we drove back to Anchorage (3 1/2 hours) the flakes got bigger and more frequent. The trip to Seward or Homer on the Kenai Peninsula is known for it wildlife. We did not see a moose or fox but we saw plenty of American Eagles. I made David stop on the side of the road so we could get the "Kodak" moment of this beautiful eagle.
The last photo is of Mount Redoubt Volcano. It erupted last June and the soot from the plume coated my porch with about 3 inches of ash. Mt. Redoubt is a 10,200 foot glacier covered volcano. At the summit, the large glacier has a 10,000 vertical skiable are and is quite the favorite for many extreme skiers. They are dropped off by helicopter and picked up at the bottom of the volcano. Whatever floats your boat or skis?

So this was Day 1 of our Family Fantasy Funcation. We told Tyler and Jenna they are probably among a small percentage of people who can say they went dog sledding. By the way, the difference between skijoring and sled dogging is the sled. Sled dogging is the when the dogs pull a sled with a musher. Skijoring (Norwegian) is ski driving. The dogs pull a driver wearing skis. I think skijoring has a lot more risk - what if the dogs go downhill and decide to go and chase a possible meal and you are stuck heading into the next big tree. At least with a sled you have some protection.

I will probably get a few more posts (Mt McKinley and snow machining) on the blog over the holidays. I hope to get some good photos tomorrow when I try my first attempt at ICE FISHING!!! Brrrrr - it sounds cold. I will let you know.

Have a wonderful holidays! Remember, the importance of family and friends at this time of year.

Ayumiqulleq Quyangalleq Nutaghamun

(Happy Holidays in Yupik)

Sheryl the Nanuq of the North

Eagle River Christmas

Happy Holidays to everyone. It is definitely going to be a white Christmas in Eagle River. I had the most wonderful Family Fantasy Funcation with my family for a week. By the way, Funcation is a new word in the Oxford Dictionary. It means the time a person is laid off of work and before they find another job. I guess Bernie Madoff is on his Funcation. Any way, we covered a lot of Alaska and had a blast I think it was 2500 miles on my car in 6 days. I will talk about some of our great adventures in the weeks to come. It was such a great ploy to have my family come to Alaska for the week. They didn't know anyone, so consequently, they had no one to visit so I got them 24/7 for a week. I was in heaven. Tyler and Jenna said they had a wonderful time. Tyler called and asked if he needed his passport to come to Alaska. I giggled and told him Alaska is part of the United States. He said, but I travel over Canada was I sure he wouldn't need a passport. I told him I was sure. He responded, "Well, I will be traveling from Eastern Time zone to Alaska Time zone (about 10 hours) he should need a passport being on a plan that long!!.

I hear Alaska's North Pole controversy made Memphis news. We are proud to say that you can still mail your Holiday cards from the North Pole - at least for one more year. They may not be answering every Santa letter due to personnel shortage but the mail depot will continue for one more year. Get all your cards in one envelope, send it to the Postmaster at North Pole, AK and they will have your cards stamped from North pole, AK.

An exciting event in Eagle River is the "Great Eagle River Food Fight". I thought this was very interested and had to inquire about this event. Another photo opp is what I really thought. Our two grocery stores, Fred Myers and Carrs (aka Safeway) are raising food for our local food bank. What a catchy title! Every time you shop at one of these stores they have extra carts full of food at the check out lines so you can purchase an item for the food fight Food Bank contribution. This Food Fight will continue until Dec 23.

I have witnessed the "real" Santa arriving in his sleigh with all eight reindeer. It was so much fun and the highlight was watching the little children. The Eagle River mayor said the Air Force Base has given Santa clearance for landing and lo' and behold the eight reindeer and Santa's sleigh came riding over the snow hill to our town square where Santa plugged in the tree lights. What a sight to see. The photo of the reindeer above is Rudolph. I went for the big name Reindeer!

A short lesson on Reindeer. Reindeer and Caribou are the same. Caribou are wild whereas Reindeer are tamed. Female Caribou and Reindeer have antlers just like the males. Reindeer are about 4 - 5 feet high and weight up to 500 pounds. They need to be strong to pull the Santa's sleigh with all those toys. Artic people hunt caribou for different reasons based on the age and gender so the Artic people give caribou three names: pagnnig (adult bull), junalak (adult female), and narraq (calf). Caribou eat moss so they use their nose to shovel snow so they can reach the frozen tundra moss. Yummy! They are not shy, they can sleep in the water and they are constantly on the move (to find more moss I am sure). So I asked the Reindeer handler how come they don't freeze in the sub zero temperatures up north on the tundra. He was proud to tell me it is because Caribou have hollow hair roots that provide warmth but most importantly they have two circulatory systems. The circulatory system for their long thin legs is up to 50 degrees colder than the circulation system for their upper body. Now that is interesting! I think all Artic people need a second circulatory system to stay warm.
The Eagle River Tree Lighting festival was full of fun. The fire dancers were interesting. Then we had the Native children doing the blanket toss. The blanket toss is an event in the Native Olympics. I can't wait to witness the Native Olympics in the spring. Of course all the local school choirs sang holiday songs, free hot cocoa and cookies, and Reindeer munch. Just behind the stage was our local sledding hill. I mean a BIG sledding hill. So if you forgot to bring your sled, the local dry cleaners and recycle company provided large plastic bags that the kids used on the sledding hill. I wasn't quite grasping the concept so I walked over to the sledding hill and I learned a lot. The children get into the bag and slide down the hill. Just like a potato sack but it is a plastic sled sack. Alaska is the "King of the Hill" sleds. They have two and three person sleds. One sled had dad in front, then mom and the back had a baby carrier connected to the sled. Wow! Then there was a leopard spotted sled, some sleek aerodynamic styles and all very fast. I loved the Burberry sled. I told you we were the designer sled capital.
The next pictures are from Thanksgiving week when David and I hiked to the Thunderbird Falls. It was snowing such big snow flakes I had David take a picture of these big flakes. How about that danger sign David is standing next to. I bet you haven't seen a beware of falling off the cliff that that! We took a pretty winter wonderland picture of the Thunderbird Fall bridge we thought belongs on some Christmas card. As we hiked down the trail, we came across a Russian family heading up the trail to sled down. Are those not the cutest kids ready to sled?

I am looking forward to arriving home in Memphis in 13 days. Every time David puts the phone to Captain Jack's ear he perks up and looks around for me. I am curious to see if he remembers me. My parents, Jenna and my siblings and family will be in Memphis for our family Christmas. I hope to visit with all my friends while I am in town. Then I return to Alaska with anticipation of David, Poli and Bruce arriving for the Iditarod the first weekend in March.

I wish you and your family a happy holidays. I can't wait to share our dog sledding, snowmobiling and Mt McKinley flight in my next post. Until then.

Sheryl the Nanuq (Alaskan spelling) of the North.

PS. I was suppose to sign off about 20 minutes ago but I got stuck on my computer. I mean literally. I had to call my neighbor, Missy, to come over and help me get out of my computer. Another Warmboldian moment! One of my wrist bracelets went down the opening (which keeps the computer top closed) and got twisted. So I couldn't get my hand off the keyboard. I couldn't get a look to undo it myself because my wrist was only about 1/2 off the computer key board. Gosh what things I won't do to 'chat' with my neighbor. Unfortunately, we couldn't save the bracelet but we did save Sheryl's wrist. I will take the bracelet to the jewelry store tomorrow to get fixed. What should you learn from this "Warmboldian" moment? Don't wear your good bracelet when you type on the computer!!! Until next time.

Baby It's Cold Outside!!!!

Hello Everyone. Taloofa! (Welcome in Samoan)

I have been out of service (computer crashed) UGH!! I don't deal well with no computer for over a week. So I have been delayed posting and I apologize for this mishap.

If any of you are keeping track of Alaska weather we have been hit with a cold spell. I mean the temperature is cold but it doesn't feel cold. This past week I woke up to sub-zero temps (minus 10) and we have been up to a high of 10 above zero! I know you don't understand but it isn't that cold (at least when the wind isn't blowing). Monday I actually wore a coat to school with gloves. I went out for bus duty today (10 above) and I didn't have my coat and it was fine. Several parents walked to pick up their little peep and the parents were wearing FLIP FLOPS!!! I kid you not. The coldest day (minus 5 as a high) Monday, I called David and as we spoke about noon my time, two Samoans crossed the street wearing shorts, flip flops, short sleeves. Nothing else. I wore a coat that day. The Alaskan natives don't feel the cold at all. So you want to know what the fashionable winter wear for women in Alaska is - Snow skirts! Debbie, our school nurse, models the snow skirt for your viewing. It is made in Sweden and it is a down skirt (not too many women wear snow pants) and it zips up and down on both sides, plus zip pockets. You wear it over pants, skirts, etc. It really keeps up warm. Some teachers wear them all day long. I would roast inside wearing a snow skirt. I do wear my snow skirt for bus duty in the mornings. Then I take it off for class. I will be wearing it for walking and I am sure I will wear it during the Iditarod. By the way, if you want one, you will have to order it from Anchorage, AK because only one store in all of the USA carries them. I can bring them home at Christmas if you place your order now!!

Is that sunset gorgeous?!!! That is my view out my classroom window. We are losing daylight every day. We have sunup at 9:30 am and sundown around 5:00 pm. We will lose about another hour and half of daylight and then we will start gaining back time after Dec 21. That pink is so relaxing and I can't help but stare out the window between classes. We may have cold and snow but we have the BEST sunsets I have ever seen.

So let me tell you about our cold weather experiences here. Since the outside temp is so cold and the inside of a car is also cold, windshields have a tendency to chip easily as rocks and stones fly into the windshields. Glass repair companies do really well up here. My windshield chip is small but I have been told it will probably spread as the cold weather continues. Oh well. Next, I have been told not to call a locksmith when you lock your keys in your car. In Anchorage and Wasilla, a smart person calls a Taxi Cab. Go figure. Why a taxi cab? They are equipped with a tool that unlocks a locked door (slides in through the window) and they only charge $25. I put a few taxi cab numbers on my cell just in case. If you remember, a locksmith cost me $100 in August when I locked myself out of my apartment.

So the other thing I find cute up here is the school bike rack. Before snow, the bike racks were filled with bicycles. We are a neighborhood school so a lot of them walk or ride to school. Now that there is snow on the ground the bike racks are loaded every day with SLEDS!!! Our PE department does an entire unit on sledding and snow building. The students are allowed to sled during recess time as well. By the way, recess occurs every day outside until the temperature gets minus 10 or colder. We cancelled recess once this week otherwise outside they go. They all wear boots, coats, gloves, mittens and a scarf to school. We call it the Susitna "5"! If they don't have their "5" they have to go to the nurse and check out the missing items. Our nurse is more than a nurse (model for snow skirt, clothing store, time out area, hall monitor, etc). So think about the time involved in our daily rituals. They show up in their Susitna "5" and have to take it off before school starts (they have snowsuit spaces in the hallways), then they have to put on the Susitna "5" before going out for recess, take it off to come in for lunch, and put it back on before going out for the bus at the end of the day. That is a lot of class instruction time that disappears when snow arrives.

I am sure you are wondering where my moose pictures are. I went this entire week and half without a moose encounter. I am disappointed. Our schools show moose safety and bear safety movies for the little peeps. I bet you are also wondering about our bears. Eagle River is very populated with bears. There are 630 in Anchorage and more in the Eagle River area. Most of them have selected their area for winter hibernation. During hibernation most female bears give birth. Think about that. They are in such a state of relaxation and semi-consciousness and they give birth. Gosh they are so much luckier than human females! Now what you probably don't know is that no all bears stay in hibernation all winter. Especially the Anchorage bears. Because it doesn't get that cold here, it is not uncommon to see bears throughout the winter looking for food. In the interior areas of Alaska like Fairbanks and upper slope area it gets to minus 45 degrees and lower (without wind chill) and those bears do stay in hibernation. So I will keep my eyes out for moose and bears as the winter settles in around me.

I am getting excited about my family arriving in a few days. David arrives on Saturday. Of course, it is suppose to snow on Saturday so his plane may be late. The kids arrive on Tuesday. We have a Fantasy Family Funcation planned for the week we are all together (snowmobiling, dog sledding, etc) I will share pictures on my next blog. So until then, Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Count your blessings not your crosses; count your gains instead of your losses; count your joys instead of your woes; count your friends instead of your foes; count your smiles instead of your tears; and count your health instead of your wealth. Hugs to all of you.

Sheryl the Nanook of the North

Eklutna Lake - first snow fall

Hello to You All
I hope you are enjoying your sunny weather - finally. David told me Memphis has gone several days without rain! Yahoo for you. I lost my snow fall lottery. I woke up on Saturday and we had 1 inch or less of snow on the ground. I tried to tell my group of teachers that it really wasn't snow it was "Termination Dust Part 2". Remember, I have November 15 for the snow fall pool. I still lost. Monday I woke up to 5 inches of snow and 5 more today. Tomorrow we are expecting another 6 inches of the white stuff. It was beautiful. It was so white and fluffy. I am sure you are getting tired of hearing it but it was gorgeous.
So November is Inter-tribal Multicultural Month. Every day and each weekend Anchorage hosts a wonderful event. If you watched TV last week, President Obama addressed the National Native American conference. One Native gentleman stood up and told President Obama if he needed to take a break and really get a feel for the "real Native" he needed to come to Alaska. Consequently, the President has agreed to visit Alaska but only in the summer. The gentleman that invited the President to Alaska is a parent of one of my students. He is a Tribal Leader of one of the largest Athabascan tribes. He speaks very good english but when he comes to school he speaks very thick accented Yup'ik. I thought I was on a roll with my Samoan, Yup'ik and Inupiaq words. So I welcomed my class last week and one of the Samoans said, "Ms Sheryl, we are the Samoan class not Yup'ik." My students are continually teaching me things. By the way, Wasilla means "breath of fresh air" in Yup'ik
It is still Native Cultural month and I attended the Lakota Sioux Dancers. They were fabulous. I can't imagine doing some of these dances in the summer's heat. Their regalia (not costumes - that is an insult) was exceptionally vivid. Yellows, reds, pinks, and many shade of pink. I wasn't allowed to take pictures, so you won't see a picture attached. The female is held in the highest honor because they give back to Mother Earth. David and I have traveled parts of the Trails of Tears but it didn't have the impact on me until these Natives sat and talked with us. They have two names - their tribal name and their government name. Here are the names of the people who talked to the audience before the dance retcital - Lillian Good Eagle; Annamae One Star Pusetonequa, Buck Spotted Tail, Gerimiah Holy Bull. I don't remember their government names but they referred to each other by their Tribal names. The regalia was so amazing. Did you know that the Government forbid Native dancing when they sent the Natives to the reservations and sent children to boarding school so they could "kill the Indian and safe the man." Eagle feathers are used in their ceremonial dances so they have to request Eagle feathers from the National Eagle Feather Respository in Colorado. The paper work is about 40 pages in length and it may take up to eight months to get approval to receive Eagle feathers. John Wolf Dancer told us about the eagle feather bustle. One of the main dancers had two Eagle feather bustles (one on the lower back area and one on the back of the head). Spectacular. John did mention that we can find Eagle feathers all over Alaska which is a way to get around this heavy paperwork request. If you remember, Seward is on the Kenai Penninsula where most Eagles make their homes.

Then in my graduate class we had an Aleut speaker. He survived the Native Alaskan interrment from the government during WWII. The Aleutian Islands stretch 1200 miles south west from Anchorage. Until recently (15 years ago), the people of the Aleutian Islands received their mail and packages by boat. Most of the news was 3 - 4 weeks old by the time the mail was delivered. He told about how the Natives were treated during the war and how the Aleuts came to settle in the Juneau area.

I went hiking at Eklunta Lake with some friends. Eklutna Lake is a glacier fed lake which provides 80% of the water supply to Anchorage. It is estimated that the people of Anchorage use approximately 135 gallons of water per person per day. You will notice the greenish blue color of the water. This is due to the glacier melt and it varies depending on where the sun is shining. We started our 8 mile hike and it was 42 degrees. When we finished it was 26 and started snowing. You know what you get when a group of teachers are hiking together? A lot of talking and laughing. So how do we explain the teen moose that came out to us. We can't. We were not quiet by any means. My friends make fun of my "camera necklace" but they were envious because they couldn't get their cameras out fast enough for a picture. You will notice teen moose was about 3 feet from me and you can see the hair on his back standing straight up. That is a sign that it is irritated and will probably charge. No it did not charge but we saw Mom moose coming and she was big. We all hid behind the nearest tree until the teen moose and Mom moved along. We are not sure why the teen moose was tagged but it looked very uncomfortable to wear that big tag. Perhaps that is why it approached us to take the tag off his neck.
On our way home we stopped by St. Nickolas Orthodox Church and cemetary. Those are not dog houses (David's guess) but those are burial plots. They bury their loved ones above the perma frost and in family colors. Very interesting!
I am tardy with my blog this week because we are doing H1N1 flu clinics at school, my prinicpal is observing my teaching lesson, and I have several other obligations this week. I will try to get back on schedule. Enjoy your week. I am on my family count down until they arrive in Alaska for the week of Thanksgiving. Have a great week.
Sheryl the Nanook of the North

Seward, Alaska

Happy November to all of you! You might be getting tired of my moose stories but here are my two moose friends from last week at school. The big bull moose (rack was about 6 feet) was outside the classroom windows. I did not take my good camera to school so these two moose pictures were taken with my little Instamatic camera. Mr. Bull Moose stayed around for about 2 hours just eating the bushes. The next day a group of us were walking to our cars (after parent conferences) parked along the street so the parent could park in the parking lot. This mom moose was sitting on the other side of the sidewalk form my car. I had someone hold my teaching bag and I took a picture of the moose. If you zoom in you will see that her hair is standing up which is a sign that she was agitated. So I got in my car from the passenger side and slide over to the driver seat. Gosh, I haven't done that since I dated David in high school. Oh what sweet memories! I really am getting less excited about meeting so many moose.

Saturday (Oct 31) my friend, Beth, and I went to Seward, Alaska. Seward is on the Kenai Peninsula and the peninsula is about 9,000 sq miles. That is larger than the Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware combined. Seward was named for President Lincoln's Secretary of State, William Seward, who engineered the Purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. It is a fishing, hiking, kayaking, sailing, cruise stop, and artisan area. It is a typical Alaskan "cute" town. So as we head to the Southern Peninsula traveling through the Chugach Mountain range with some elevation of about 3500 ft. You can see the snow covered mountains and the no snow mountains which are much lower in elevation. Spectacular! Seward is a small community of 2,000 (who live there year round). The picture shows a typical street in Seward - lots of modest and colorful houses. The next is a picture of one of the many small churches around town. This is the pink Episcopal Church. It reminded me of Juneau because the forest is behind it and the ocean and mountain range in out the front door. I had forgotten that the original Iditarod went from Seward to Nome. Nowadays the famous race goes from Anchorage to Nome (1,050 miles in less than 9 days) and the hoopla all takes place in Anchorage. Seward is very proud of the hometown boy, Mitch Seavey, who won the 2004 Iditarod. Our next stop was to Alaska Sealife Center. Talk about amazing. It is the animal (mammal and bird) recovery, rehab and return center in all of Alaska. We happened to show our teacher ID's and found out teachers get in free. That's great. In September and May over 10,000 Anchorage students ride the Alaska train to Seward for a day at the Sealife Center and then they take the train back. I will have to volunteer to chaperon that day trip. I don't know if I have told you I started to wear socks just recently. The weather has turned chilly and I decided to wear my new boots today. As Beth and I walked around and learned all about these wonderful Alaskan rescue sea mammals and birds, my sock on my right foot kept slipping down in my boot. Not my left foot just the right one. So during our first hour of touching and learning I had to stop frequently and pull up my right sock. It was really annoying having my sock all wadded up in the toe portion of my boot. Not the left sock! So I continued taking some amazing pictures, some through thick glass. Finally Beth told me to leave my sock alone. So I decided to leave it alone and ignore it. I did just that. About half an hour later a man taps me on my shoulder and says, "Ma'am, I think you dropped this." It was my sock!!! I ignored it so much it worked its way right out of my boot. Beth and I laughed until we cried. When I got home I googled how to keep socks up and not slipping down your foot. They suggested using calf garters!!! Can you believe that? Can you imagine how cold those metal grippers would be in Alaska in the winter?? I will have to think of something else. Another Warmboldian moment. Beth was glad she was able to witness a Warmboldian moment.

Back to the sealife center. I would be able to tell you more specifically what the pictures are but the Sealife Center flyer flew out of my hand as we walked along the very windy and very cold (16 degrees) ocean walk. I felt bad about littering in the ocean. But that orange thing is an anemone that is about 9 inches tall. Isn't that neat. The next tank is called the "spooky" tank filled with ghostly and goblinny anemones. Next are Salmon eggs that have been buried by a mom. They will hatch in the spring for a delicious meal. The octopus is really ugly up close. His name "Killer Sam". We never found out why they named his "Killer Sam" so we just remembered it. The first bird is cute and the second bird is a Puffin. You probably think of the black, white, and orange beaked bird. This is it in with its winter coat. They really need a winter coat. We were outside for a about 7 minutes and had to go inside to warm up. It would probably have helped if we took our coats and gloves into the Sealife Center. The coats did a lot of good in the car. And now the best part. We took advantage of the hands on encounter with mammals. It was amazing. We spent an hour with sea lions and sea otters. They are only a cute that a mother could love. The Sea lion was putting on show for us the entire time. She was there for a study for pregnant sea lions. She was being trained how to enter the holding carriage so they can take all their data for the study. Then we met Tonga and Spencer. Tonga is the son who I think is ADD and Spencer is the father. Tonga never stopped moving and wanted to be with us every moment. We got to meet them, teach them to roll over, give a high five, and "point" (put their nose on a buoy) and hold that position. When they complete a hand task, they are rewarded with a "good boy" and fish. Lots of fish. I actually touched fish cut in half and fed it to the boys. It took me three attempts to put my hand in the fish bucket because the fish eyes and blood was slimy. ( I know this because Beth went first). These big boys (100-250 pounds) eat a lot of fish. We were surprised to learn that they sleep on land and when the caretakers arrive in the morning, the fur is fluffy and much lighter in color. It was an wonderful learning opportunity for us. The extra reward was being told that Seward is normally cloudy, foggy and rainy but it wasn't today!! Just perfect - sunny and clear but a tad bit cold. So after eating a local dinner, we got ready for our return trip to Anchorage. The final picture is from the Chugach mountains at about 6:45 pm. You can see the beautiful pink reflection on the snow-covered mountains and the blue sky. Now for an extra special treat. Look carefully. Look in the center of the picture, in the blue sky just above the middle of the mountain range and you should see a full moon. I think that was so neat. The gentlemen at the scenic view stop had several tripods, cameras and a cooler of beer waiting for the perfect picture. We pull up and chat a minute and I said I just want a pretty picture. The one guy kind of chuckled and said you will need to frame your picture using a tripod to get a good picture. I am sure his picture turned out great but I like the hidden rising moon on Halloween!!!

I hope you enjoyed your drive and visit to Seward, Alaska - I sure did. My family arrival countdown is 21 days. I am getting excited to show they around this wonderful State. Until next weekend.....

Gee Cun Gee (Inupiq for I love you)

Sheryl the Nanook of the North.