I know, I know....lame joke. About as lame as I've been with this whole blog business. So...where do I begin to "ketchup"? Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa! Sorry. So last time you joined me it was late October, and the first quarter was wrapping. Now it's late February, and the 3rd quarter is winding down. Quite a bit has happened in those handful of months. Let's start with....Dorothy. As you know (if you remember from months ago) she had recently gotten a puppy (Ranger) at the end of October. Well...he's dead now. He got sick a few weeks ago and wasn't able to pull through it. On the bright side, she does have another dog (one she got a few weeks after Ranger - Lil), and that one's healthy and doing well. Squeaks is doing quite well, also. So, whatever ol' Ranger had, it wasn't overly contagious...whew! I almost had to put him out of his misery, but "fortunately" he died before that became necessary. Dorothy and I had a nice little burial for him. We went across the river, dug a hole in the snow, put him in and tossed a little bit of snow back over top.
What else...I bought a snowmobile (or snow machine/snow-go, as they're called around here). Some of you know that, but some of you don't. It's pretty nice, I suppose. 2005, Ski-Doo GTX 550. I don't know jack about snowmobiles, but it's fun, and it's got room for 2 people easy, and 3 if you're ok w/ getting a little cozy. So, I've got a couple of toys now (a boat and a snowmobile). Haven't used the boat yet (since it's been mine anyway), and didn't use the snowmobile too much before Christmas break, but I've averaged almost every weekend since I've been, I think.
What about good stories....hmmm.....a kind of good one is that about 30 min ago I met a guy who has a friend from Petoskey. Small world, eh? What else? (This here is the problem w/ waiting 4 months between posts).
I've been chaperoning quite a bit for sports. Was the NYO chaperone, and have been chaperoning for basketball. I'm in the village of Napaskiak right now for the Jr. High Basketball tournament. I was here last weekend, too, for the high school boys. Let's see...have now been to the villages of Atmautluak (obviously), Akula, Nunapitchuk, Eek, Napakiak, Napaskiak, and the town of Bethel. I think that's it. I've been past Oscarville, but haven't actually stopped there for any reason.
Which reminds me of a kind of fun story. My plane ticket home over Christmas break was not the cheapest thing I have ever purchased (it was horrifyingly close to $2000). On the day of my departure, the weather was horrible. No bush planes were flying. This resulted in a kind of sinking in the chest, increased heart rate & blood pressure, and just general steadily increasing panic all day long. During my (and Dorothy's and Ray's - the teacher in the classroom next to mine) search for any way into Bethel so that we could catch our Alaska Airlines flights, we discovered that a man in the village has an SUV, and that he gives people rides into Bethel. "Well, duh," you're probably thinking. What you may have forgotten, however, is the distinct absence of roads out here. So now you may be thinking, "How does one drive 20+ miles to another town with no roads?" Ah-ha! You have forgotten something else, as well! The ever-present frigidness. This results in a river that is remarkably frozen, upon snowmobiles, cars, and various other machines can be driven. True, it made me a little uneasy, and snowmachines/airplanes would have been much faster, but beggars cannot be choosers, so we hopped in the man's car, and down the river we went. It took about 1.5 hours. 20 air miles is more like 60 river miles. But out flight wasn't until almost 9, and we left around 4:30, so it was no big deal. And I liked it so much, that I took that trip again. But more about that little trip later. Right now I'm kinda sick of typing, and have a stack of papers to grade, and 8 middle school students I'm supposed to be chaperoning. As always, please forgive any and all typos. I've got enough papers to correct w/o my own. Take care, and God bless!
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