The Great Flood of 2010

"Time for the weather report. It's cold out folks. Bonecrushing cold. The kind of cold which will wrench the spirit out of a young man, or forge it into steel."
Chris Stevens, Northern Exposure

"She (my mom) brought the outdoors inside." Rach
Trust me the quote fits this week's events in Quin.

Standard Attire This Week
Our SIOP Itinerant Traci getting ready to catch her plane, good thing we don't have to go through security clearance before hopping on a bush plane! This is how we keep toasty warm on the ride out to the airport and on the plane. She's modeling arctic appropriate attire. Funny thing is, we were wearing this stuff around our classrooms this week too. That wind will blow through anything including our walls. The school was so cold, nobody took off their snow pants or scarves!

Feeling Creative

It is 50 below we have no snow and my house has no heat.
For the first time in months I caught a ride 'cuz I could not feel my feet.
Pipes freezing, kids sneezing, cold weather gear put to the test.
Even my words froze with my toes and fell to the ground, there to rest.
The wind howls, Ani scowls as he slinks inside his cold house.
He'll stay cozy as in the squatter mozied and is curled up quiet as a mouse.
I want to go joring or maybe a run, even a walk would be fine.
But the village is wise, nobody's outside, I might just go shopping online.

The Great Indoors
The kids came over Thursday night. We finally set up that tent that Mike sent them for Christmas. And off they (the Bride, the Costa Rican, Cleopatra and the Wrappie gang) went camping into the living room (the only room big enough in my house to host the portable shelter). We even busted out the fancy wind up flashlights that Auntie Jan sent 'in case of an emergency' or not because you can always just wind 'em up again! Ani became a grizzly bear perched on the couch-like cliff peering into their thin screened window. The switch-like sun turned off and on enough times for it to have been at least a week long trip. The granola bars were hot dogs roasted over a candle campfire and hot chocolate filled the tea pot which reminded them...TIME OUT!!! Tea party! Then as suddenly as they were sipping tea they were 'beam me up Scottied" to the wilds of the Alaskan mountains...Game on, back to camping. What an adventure! Quyana Mike

Mount Michael
These are the boxes that Mike has so generously been sending us since his departure back in October, though when we receive them they are full. I have not hauled the empties to the dumpster because it is about a 1/2 mile away from the house. The boxes however are now taking over my arctic entry. The big box (which could have been sent by Mike because I am confident that were all the contents he has shipped up north emptied into that box, it would most likely overflow) is actually my brand spankin new freezer from Swanson's! Thank you Principal Eric. See how much use I'm getting out of it!

Gramma's Marathon
Time to get in shape girl. I registered and you can too. Simply click this website www.grandmasmarathon.com. fill out the form, get your credit card, pay the money, close your eyes and click REGISTER! Come on, I triple sled dog dare you! That's a #7 Dare Rope Dare! We're talking Biggest Loser challenge here people. Get running! Register for a race. It's officially the middle of January we ALL gotta have stuff to get us through the winter.

My Running Shoes... are gonna get back on the road from their nearly 2 month sabbatical. Ahh, I'm ashamed. But you know what, you can always try again. And that's what I aim to do. Join me.

Our Itinerant Social Worker Peter Needs A Life Guarding Certification
And the district should reimburse him for the course. The wiles of being an itinerant in the Alaskan Bush...you may think they happen making a jump through heavy cross winds on ricketed old junk plane or maybe being transported miles through polar bear country on snow gos in subzero temps... But oh no, not for our nomadic itinerants, their most precarious moments blindside them on an unsuspecting Friday at 6 am when they are jolted awake in some tucked away closet of the school, from their peaceful slumbers, to navigate a class V rapids on their air mattress!!!! "I just kept repeating to myself PADDLE, PADDLE, PADDLE! You can do this Man! Just keep your head above the water, Look out for the floating books! But it was those old computers flowing by that can really mess you up. Pretty much I knew I was home free once I hit the stairs, the ride down was kinda exhilarating. And that was all before 7 am!" At least that was my take on Peter recounting the story of his shocking/soaking awakening this morning to our flooded school. Apparently a pipe next door to the room he was sleeping in, burst early in those am hours. And as you can see, the room in which the pipe chose to explode was directly above my classroom. I now have an 'ool' in the special ed. room, no running, no diving and no 'p' in it. What made me chuckle and this is for all my LCO friends (Go Eagles) out there.... "Ahem, at LCO we canceled school if there was even potential that a pipe may have leaked, at Quinhagak the pipe bursts, a river runs through it (the school) and we barely have a 2 hour late start. Not to mention no sign of calling off school at any point this week in the throws of these less than tropical temps lately, to boot (literally), we all WALK to school." Sorry you guys, no offense but the idea of it cracked me right up. Our motto today in Quin was: "Shake it off, wipe it up and teach on!!!"

The Hat I've Pulled Apart and Re sewn Many Times Now
Um, I worked on my fur hat tonight....That's it on Dennis.
Notice anything odd?
Remember I advised you to keep your standards low. It's just a tad out of balance, hum, reminds me of someone I am, I mean, I know...lol. Oh, you just wait, I AM going to wear this hat, if I have to wear it sideways. Which is what might be going on here...

"For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, day and night will never stop." Genesis 8:22