September 20

Hello everyone. Today's lesson is about moose. Moose is both singular and plural. I have attached another photo of our beloved Alaskan moose so you can see how big this guy really is. Did you know moose are vegetarians? I didn't know that. They eat plants, leaves, bushes and berries. They are the largest members of the deer family and stand 6-7 feet tall and weight about 1700 pounds. You don't mess with this guy. The male moose (bull) grows huge antlers. The antlers are different from caribou and deer because they grow in a "scoop shape". The female moose (cow) does not grow antlers. These antlers grow traditionally about 5-6 feet across. In the beginning of the winter these antlers fall off. I have been told it will look funny when I see a moose in the winter and only one antler has fallen off. Eventually they both fall off. The beavers are especially grateful when these furry antlers fall because that is one of their main food sources in the winter. The food chain lives on! Our TV station keeps showing pictures of 100's of moose rutting (fighting for the cow's affection) and the sound of their antlers hitting is loud and thunderous. I called the station and asked where they filmed the moose so I can go and get a camera shot as well. They responded, "the Chugach mountains forest". Dah! Do they know the Chugach is over a million miles big and there are hundreds of entrances to the forest. They were not very helpful. I am still asking questions and hope to find them soon. My friend, Patty and I are determined to located the rutting area for pictures. Moose eat as much as possible during the summer and fall because if the snow is too deep they have a possibility of starving to death with no food. Moose do not migrate they stay where they know the territory.

So that is your moose lesson for the day. Why the moose lesson? A lot of moose stuff this week. First, 282 moose have been killed on our highway since July 1, 09. That is a lot of moose. Anchorage only has one highway that goes from South of Anchorage to Wasilla (75 miles or so) . Remember I told you that locals put their names in the lottery to receive the call to go and get the dead moose. That is their meat source for the winter. I have been told by my teachers that one year there were over 500 killed and they had to recycle names on the "pick up" list. Remember, I told you Alaskans recycle and live subsistantly. No joke. Then I had moose burger tonight. Remember from last week, moose meat has less than 1% fat. It was okay but next time I will be sure to add plenty of spices and veggies. It wasn't tough but had a slightly different consistency than beef burgers. The next thing about moose this week was the traffic jam that was caused downtown. Of course during morning rush hour. Apparently, according to teachers stuck in it and the news report, a family of moose were on the only highway in Anchorage. Dad, mom and several babies. They started to cross over the 6 lane highway and got half way and stopped. This of course, caused the traffic to stop in both directions. You don't want to hit a 1700 pound moose. The moose will win every time. So traffic was backed up for almost 3/4 of an hour. The news showed the Moose family strutting east and then stopping and deciding to strut back to the west lanes. The indecision was phenomenal. Eventually they headed east toward the neighborhood vs businesses. The next moose incident was a moose visiting our school's soccer field. So no outdoor recess. Indoor recess on such a beautiful day is such a waste. The kids were not that interested in the moose but I sure was. I took my school camera and took a few pictures. I don't have a lens on that camera so they did not turn out as good as when David and I met Mr. Moose earlier this summer. (pictured above). And finally my principal showed up for school with a broken arm. He and his family, wife and 4 children under 6! Do I have to remind you all what happens in Alaska when it is 20 hours of darkness!!! Baby explosion!! Anyway, back to the story, he and his family were strolling on one of the most beautiful hiking trails (I rode my bike there a few weeks ago), and they came upon Mr. and Mrs Moose with twin moose babies. I asked him how he knew they were twins. His quickly replied, "You are the health teacher I hope you know how that happens!". He finally said they were the same size. It is pretty common for moose to have twins. Anyway, Mr. Moose started to charge my principal and family. His wife grabbed the two little ones and the other boys followed. He tried to distract the moose in the opposite direction. Mr. Moose took his dare and started charging him. He was running for his life and looked back to see if he was winning the foot race or was Mr. Moose gaining on him. Just as he looked back he fell into a ditch and broke his arm. Mr. Moose stood on the path looking at him and then strutted back to Mrs Moose and babies. Mike said he was scared to death. He had a few bruises on his face but he survived and so did his family. Trust me, I am going to be so much more cautious now that moose season is in full swing.

I met the cutest guy this week. He has the most beautiful blue eyes and long eyelashes. We are going to be good friends. His name is Evien. I told his mom I love to change diapers. She took me up on my offer. Evien is 2 months old and a smily little guy. Then the ladies in the neighborhood and Evien went to IHOP for breakfast today. It just opened. We used our coupons and had a wonderful time. Not only did I get to hold Evien but we sat near Sarah Palin's father. He was there to celebrate the opening of IHOP!!! Robin, I hope my next meeting is with Sarah and not just her father. If I do you will get that autograph. He father was quite the friendly fellow and made sure he greeted everyone at IHOP. If I didn't know better, I would say he was raising money for something. Nothing in the news so maybe it is just his friendly way to meet people.

I drove to Mirror Lake (towards Palmer) and walked the path there. This is one of my pictures. The mountains look spectacular right now. Either they are purple in color or covered with yellow and gold tone from the trees. The lake is named appropriately. It is like looking in a mirror. Clear and still as can be. I hope to hike to the Thunderbird Fall (huge waterfall). I am checking out the cross country ski path in Chugiak area before it gets dark.

As for our weather. It is gorgeous. It has been in the 70's and sunny and unbelievable beautiful. We are wearing short sleeves and sandals. I wear a vest as I leave for work but it is plenty warm in the buildings and the ride home I have all windows open. Our sunset is still about 30 minutes long. It is dark by about 10:30 pm.

I am joining the local ladies for a "coupon queen" seminar. I have heard about these ladies who save so many coupons that they only pay $2 for a grocery cart of food. I always thought it would be so much work. I will find out on Tuesday night. If it is easy I will let you know how to do. If it requires hours of work and printing stuff off the computer I will let you know that as well. Oh well, a girls night out.

That is my blog for today. Enjoy your week. I hear my Memphis ladies are heading out for the yearly golf weekend. Enjoy every minute. Don't forget to ring the bell on the 18th hole!!! And don't forget to take a camera to the local restaurant (I forgot the name of it) and take a photo for me. Enjoy your day.

Sheryl

September 16, 2009

Hello from Alaska,
I had a weekend in Anchorage doing things with friends (movies, hiking, shopping, dining out). Not much news on the "learning" end of my blog. However, I have had a lot of you ask "What is different about Anchorage vs Memphis?"

Culture: The biggest difference is the "subsistence" way of life. That is, the Natives (anyone who has lived here more than 1 year) really only live on what is necessary. They don't have extras. No knick knacks or extravagant items in the house. Bare minimum. Their clothes fill only one closet. Can you believe that!!!??? I have a two bedroom place and all my closets are filled! They purchase "co-op" a lot. Today the shipments arrived for the teachers at my school. I had no idea what "Shipment day" meant. Well, they buy pounds of organic or locally grown fruits and vegetables. I am talked huge crates of food. They place their order in May and receive their Shipment in September. Then in October they place their orders for December and then again in the spring. It costs each person around a hundred dollars because they share "Shipments". A lot of the Ladies will be canning the fruits and veggies over the next week. Way too much work for me. That is why I shop at a grocery store!!! I know - I am paying more than they are but I get what I want to eat and only in amounts that I need. I consider my once a week shopping for fruits and veggies my Subsistence living". They will be placing orders for moose jerky, smoked salmon, and dried beans and other items in October.

Food: you have to understand that all our food, except fresh fish and berries and organic veggies, come from shipping containers. So a lot of the products are packaged differently than the lower 48. Many items are shrink wrapped to prevent spillage in shipment. It requires a few extra broken fingernails to open. UGH! Several items are packaged differently as well. Our packages of butter (margarine) are packaged in 4 small sticks (only 8 tbsps per package). The selection of items is very limited. You can get salad dressing but only limited flavors. The grocery stores carry several brands, Hidden Valley, Paul Newman, and a few more but only certain flavors. You learn to adjust your taste buds.

Local meat is available. For instance, Bear is 20% protein, and 8 % fat vs Caribou which is 23 % protein and 3 % fat. Elk is 23 % protein and 0 % fat, and moose is 22% protein and 0% fat. Now compare that to Beef (USDA) 17% protein and 21% fat. There is a poster near the meat counter to help you select. I asked for a copy!!! Reindeer dogs (vs hot dogs) are served in school and Moose burgers are also a school menu item. The school menus serve potato canoes a lot. These are what we would call potato wedges. They do use a lot of peanut potatoes. I still have not acquired a taste for this item. The locals love these wonderful spuds.

Shopping: I have not found a Hallmark store here. I travel all around the city and I have been told there is a Hallmark Card shop in the big mall downtown. The parking is terrible so I don't go there. So to all my Jewish friends, don't expect Rosh Hashannah cards this year. There are no Jewish people in Alaska I guess. Thrift shops are plentiful. Getting things at a great cost is very normal.

Police: They drive black pick up trucks as well as the white sedans. I didn't realize black pick up trucks were part of the squad. No I didn't get caught but I have seen quite a few of them stopping others. The local phrase for giving a ticket is "the police are giving out guess checks on the Glenn Highway". That guest thing took me a few days to get with the lingo!!!

Industry: I am frequently behind a local septic company truck on my way to school. A lot of homes have septic tanks. You can tell which ones because the yards are so beautifully green. Anyway, the truck I see frequently is the "Turdinator" company. cute for a septic company!

Highways: The roads here on the frozen tundra do not have pot holes. Go figure. Memphis has plenty of pot holes and the city is not on a frozen tundra!!! What the highways do have is ruts. These ruts are caused from snow studded tires all year long. It is not unusual to have a studded tire automobile or truck whiz by you on the highway. Consequently, the studs have caused the roads to have deep ruts. To combat this, be sure to switch lanes using both hands. You really get thrown around going from one lane to the other because of these deep crevasses. Another odd thing about the highway system (and Canada as well) is the no guard rail rule. I am sure it isn't a rule but they do not believe in putting in guard rails along the highways. This makes me drive extra cautiously when I am driving on the mountains. You have a very steep drop off on the side of the mountain and no guard rail. I guess a person's live isn't valued very much!! Think of the icy highways and winter months and no guard rails!!!

Sports: I have to say I have found something disappointing about Alaska. I love, I mean LOVE Sunday football and Monday night football. However, you do remember that stupid time zone difference. Well, Sunday night and Monday night football comes on here at 4pm!!!!! UGH!!!! Most people are still working on Monday at 4 pm. I guess the NFL really doesn't care about Alaska. But I care about the games and hate the time they are shown here. So what do the Alaskans watch instead of afternoon football. College football on Saturdays. Not much different from Memphians!!! BUT let me just enlighten you about our football. Yes we have boys tackle football. But we have GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL The girls games get more coverage than the Boys tackle games. Now that is cool. These young ladies can really throw a football and run. Soccer is not much of a sport here compared to football. They are very cute too. The games I have watched many of the girls could be cheerleaders. Of course you have your usually line ladies. The stands are filled with spectators for both boys and girls games.

Any finally another difference is the transient living. I can't tell you how many children were enrolled in our school on Monday (all paper work and doctors information) and by Thursday they decided to move back to where ever. Why bother going through all that work to move back. This is not unusual for this area. The schools are very use to this routine. Teachers do most of their grade books in pencil because of the transient names. The fishing camp children are starting to come to school this week. Our enrollment is up 70 children already. This makes class lists and teaching a bit difficult. They have missed a month of learning (math, science, English,etc) so they are behind before they even get a start.

I am working on more native language phrases. I am not very good deciphering the words alone but I don't understand words will all vowels. A lot of their words are guttural sounds so that is new for me. I am use to gutter language but not guttural sounds!!!

Take care. I will post again in a few weeks. This weekend I have an all day school training on Saturday and Sunday I hike. I am looking for the area where all the moose are rutting. There are 100's of them in the Chugash Forrest but it is a million miles big. I haven't found them yet.

I wish my friend, Kathy Garrison, well with her new position with Cargill in Ohio. I will miss golfing with you when I return to Memphis. Best of luck to you. You all remember it was Kathy who set up this wonderful blog for me.

Sheryl

Sept 7 glacier hike

September 7 glaciers

Happy Labor Day to all of you. Are you ready for Glacier 101? I floated by the Spencer Glacier and then down the Spencer river on Saturday. The weather this weekend was 70 and sunny. I got a bit sun burned but oh well. I have included a lot of photos for you. I hope they show up in correct order. Glaciers form when the accumulation of snow and ice exceed ablation (melting). There are many types of glaciers but the guide talked so fast I could only write down so much on a float trip. We were near a Valley Glacier (cirque) because it filled the valley of two mountain ranges. I still can understand why a glacier is right next to a forest. How come it isn't all cold or all forest? I don't remember the stats on this particular glacier but the Mananuska Glacier (Monday's hike/climb) is 1500 feet deep (ice). That is deep and very cold. The first photo is the cute guide (Heather). If you look at her left elbow you will see the part of the glacier that just "calved" fell into the water. It sounded like a clap of thunder. The texture of this newly fallen glacier is like a snow cone (ice crystals on the outside). My luck has been good in Anchorage. I saw a calving and a "roll over". The next photo is a different glacier piece that rolled over. Remember when you see a glacier you are only seeing 20% of the glacier (the rest is below water). So the next glacier has a different texture (shiny). That is because it just rolled over and this was the part that was below the water. It doesn't have crystals formed on it and it is so shiny. Really neat. Then on Sunday I went to EagleRiver Nature Center (Chugach Mountains) and followed the guide. As we were viewing something a baby black bear came out of the bush! The guide said stay still and he rang his bear bell. I would have rung my bear bell but I was inching myself to the back of the group so if we had to run I would be the first running!!!! The Chugach Mts and the Tonga Mts are the largest mountain ranges of the USA. I said what about Yellowstone and Grand Canyon, he replied, "Those are National Parks and we are forests". Silly me. Now I know!!! Then on Monday I trekked and climbed the Mananuska Glacier. This glacier is about 2 1/2 hours NE of Anchorage towards Canada. The first picture is the fall foliage in Alaska. It is in full bloom with yellows, golds, greens and orange. It lasts about two weeks. Isn't it near to see those beautiful colors next to a blue sky!!! The next picture is nearby glaciers. Everything has a name but I can't remember them. I can barely remember the names of my students!! The next photo is the Mananuska Glacier. I know it doesn't look like much but just you wait. The next photo is our group member climbing. The slope is really steep and I should have worn shorts and sleeveless shirt. I was sweating up a storm! or should I say Glacier! The next is the "feet" of Wonder Lake. Do you see the reflection in the water? Then there is me. The lake behind me is 3/4 mile wide. The next photo is the top of the glacier and see that little flip of ice (30 feet by 40 feet and a couple hundred pounds in weight). That calved while we were down by the lake. Holy cow was that loud. I jumped behind the guide very quickly. The splash made some big waves in the lake. Then we hiked up around the lake and up the glacier near the crevasse that just calved. Crevasses on this glacier can get as deep as 1000 feet. I didn't get too close - I want to experience more of Alaska! The black striation marks are called ogives. These are formed from the seasonal movement of the glacier (forward with rocks and retreat with melting). Pretty neat. And as you can guess, we hiked 3 miles up this glacier (in 3 hours plus the climb) and now it is time to hike back to the van. Let me tell you, hiking down is a lot harder than hiking up. The 3 rules for glacier hiking is - keep your feet wide, step higher than you think not to trip, and to step flat footed so all the spikes of the boot will land in the ice. I did well on the way up but I fell on the way down. I was a bit wet and couldn't wait for the cold wet pants to dry out. COLD! Did I mention the glacier is at 32 degrees!!! So on our way down I had to take a photo of the frozen rocks. This is a small pond with rocks frozen in the ice. The ice is about 3 feet deep. I think that was so neat to see. Our group tried to break the ice to free the rocks but it wasn't going to happen. I saved my favorite photo for last. Next time David wants me to put high heels on to get sexy I will put on my crampons!!! These babies give high heels a whole new name. They made me 2 inches taller. They are extremely sharp. The make walking on ice a piece of cake. I may have to purchase a pair for walking from the parking lot to the school. I hope you enjoyed these photos. I enjoyed the adventure.

I want to close with a "Sheryl" moment. I prepared for one of my classes last week. I made some great visuals, prepared a velcro board and I was ready. I asked the students questions and they placed the pieces on the board. So I get to Christina. She kept nodding her head as I taught so I thought she was really with me. I went to her and asked her to select a piece, place it on the board and tell us why she selected this piece. I asked her several times. I was really confused because she kept nodding her head which I took as "I understand". After a few seconds, which felt like minutes, one of the teaching assistants came over with a smile and whispered in my ear: "Sheryl, Christina is blind". Go figure. No wonder she was nodding her head!!! I asked the assistant why hadn't someone told me. They thought I read all the medical forms and knew this bit of information. See, somethings never change. I live and learn.

Enjoy the rest of this week. Remember, it is only 4 days long. Yahoo!!!

Sheryl