Updated (corrected) post. Been awhile.

Well, now might be a good time to update my blog. It has been months since I have written anything on my blog, and several people have told me that I need to update my blog on a regular basis.

Several things have happened since I last wrote in my blog: the most important thing is I have made it through the first half of the school year in one piece. The advisory school board gave me a good review and I think I will stay around for another year if they will have me. My main goal for this year has been getting the school under control; I have done fairly well at that, and we are currently providing an environment where education is taking place. 

One of the strange things this year has been the amount of deaths in the village. We have had four funerals in the village since the beginning of the school year. One for a guy that was lost in the river and never recovered, two funerals were for elders, and one for a baby that was beaten to death by his mother. The mother and her husband had just separated and she had moved to another village. While in that village, she got drunk and the baby was crying too much, so she beat it to death in front of her eight-year-old child. They brought the child back to Tuntutuliak for the funeral. The mother is currently in jail in Bethel awaiting a trial on murder charges.

On a more upbeat note, winter has come to Tuntutuliak. We had our first good snow in Early October; it was beautiful and white, and it did not turn dirty brown like it did in Delta Junction. But shortly after it snowed the temperature went back up to 60 and it all melted away. The lakes and river had started to freeze but the warm-up set them back and made them dangerous to travel on. Several people tried to cross the river and or lakes and sank their snow machines-not real bright. Most of them recovered their snow machines. The temperature has been down in the negatives, and it has snowed again. In mid-November I experienced my first whiteout.  You could not see two feet in front of you.  So far the snow has stuck around this time.  The kids have started to ice-skate on the ponds. The elders in the village say that it should be safe to cross the river after Christmas. We are planning, and I am very excited, about a caribou hunt over in Eek. They have reduced the number of caribou we can take this year to two per person. Looks like about six of us from the village will be going and you can take proxies from the elders (lets you shoot a caribou for them), so we hope to bring back a good number of caribou. When I left on 23 December, the caribou were about 45 minutes away in a herd of about 500. I would just like to see 500 caribou, no really I would like to see 500 caribou AND shoot a few.

You need a snow machine to go across to Eek hunting. I have not bought one yet, so I will use the school’s to see how I do and maybe try to pick one up over the summer.  I have not taken the school’s snow machine out yet, but I am looking forward to the opportunity to ride it.  One of my maintenance guys has taken it for a spin and it seemed to run well. 

We currently have two projects going on at school; the first one is to build ice shanty on top of a sled for ice fishing and the second one is to get the weight room set backup. We, or should I say Dan, is working on the satellite-TV still. We have Dish Network and currently receive satellites 110 and 119 on two eyes.  Dan wants to add a third eye so he can get high definition television. I'm very happy with the satellite reception we get in the village. I get my Fox News plus about 199 other channels.  My receiver is not capable of receiving HD, so if Dan gets the third eye working I will have to upgrade.  I find it hard to believe that with 200 channels there are days I can't find anything to watch.

With the drop in temperature, down to as low as -35, several things around the school and housing have started acting funny. All of the water lines and sewer lines have heating coils on them to keep them from freezing but still some of the lines have frozen. My drain line to my washing machine froze, but I got it thawed out by setting a space heater next to it and heating up the water that was within. One of my teacher’s housing units had the main water line freeze, but the maintenance man got it thawed out before any damage was done. Frost heave is causing the foundations of the houses to shift and doors are not closing properly. Several of the locks have frozen; one couple worked on theirs for about 30 minutes with a hair dryer and a pry-bar before they got it opened up. Most houses have two doors in them, but I worry about my duplexes because they only have one door; I can just see the teachers crawling out the windows to get to work. On Saturday, December 1, 2010, I decided to take the four-wheeler to go check the mail and then go to the airstrip to pick up cargo that had been dropped off. I put on my cold-weather gear, my nice new fur cap, and ventured out. I got the four-wheeler started, a feat in itself at -10 degrees, and rode over to the post office which was closed until one o'clock.  I rode back to school to do some work until one o’clock. I worked until one o'clock, went back to the post office, and then drove up to the airstrip. When going to the airstrip, my eyes started to water and the tears froze on my eyelashes forming icicles. I was afraid my eyelashes were going to crack and fall off. When I got back to my house, the first thing I did was to go to Cabela's online and order a set of goggles.

The other day, I was sitting at home watching TV, and there was a knock on the door. When I went to the door and opened it, there was a red fox (dead) on my stoop. I don't know who put it there, but I picked it up and took it to one of my teachers whose skins and tans hide. She said that she would tan it and get it back to me after Christmas. I really didn't expect to get it back, but it will be a nice present.  The next day in school, I found out who put the fox on my stoop.  I called him to my office and thanked him for it.  I asked him how he killed (they say “caught” because to them, they catch the soul of the animal) it.  He told me he ran over it with his snow machine.  Not matter how he got it; I am going to enjoy the hide. 

On December 23, when I was waiting to leave the village, I was working in my office around 7 AM. I heard something or someone moving around by the front door. I was the only one working, so I went and opened the door and there stood two red foxes. When I opened the door, they scurried down the steps a safe distance away. When I called them, much to my surprise, one of them started coming back up the steps. I decided it was time to shut the door because the villagers say foxes carry rabies. When I get back to the village, if they are still hanging around, I may have three red fox to tan instead of one.

Part of the frozen upper village

Our USPS office

Kids skating on the pond

The school (blue) and my house

I'm going to post this part of the blog now and hopefully write some more later. 

The passing of an Elder

One of my teacher’s Father-In-Law passed away on Monday. It was expected but still an event in the village. I was taking an itinerate special education teacher to the airstrip yesterday and I passed the son and his mom coming from the airstrip, so I knew the body had arrived from Bethel. As I got closer to the airstrip I saw a procession of four wheelers coming towards me at a slow speed. I pulled into one of the pull out on the board walk and got off the four-wheeler and waited as they passed. The lead four-wheeler was towing a trailer with the coffin on it. Four grandkids were riding on the trailer with the coffin and then the rest of the family were al behind it. After they passed I went on to the airstrip where I meet my teacher. She had waited to leave until after the body left. They took the body to their house where it will lay in viewing for a couple of days and then the will have a funeral service. His son is the pastor at one of the local churches so it should be well attended. We will turn school out early so everyone can attend that wants to.

Each night a loud horn sounds for curfew, but when an elder passes everything stops, they do not have curfew, kids run wild all night, it is almost like a festive attitude after the body arrived. We were fishing till about 10 p.m. last night and as I walked home parents were out looking for their kids, I directed them down to the river because they were all down there playing while we were fishing. I caught two more lush fish (burbot) about 15 more and we will have enough for a fish fry. Off to work and then to Bethel for more training.

What do you do on a rainy and windy Saturday in Tuntutuliak?

 Got Roe? Got Time? Willing to try something new? Make something out of salmon roe, why not; this is something a southern boy does every week.


When I clean the silver salmon the other day, two of them had large egg sacks (roe) in them. I saved the roe, for what reason I have no idea. Some people in Delta Junction cured them and made bait, I heard of people cooking them in different ways, what could I do with mine. I figured I’d give them away or throw them out.

Google is a great thing, I typed in cooking salmon eggs and up popped making caviar. I laughed and said to myself no way that has to be too difficult. After reading how to do it, I decided it was not too difficult, just tedious and time consuming; can you think of a better way to spend a rainy-windy Saturday in the busk of Alaska than making caviar?

Roe - in sack

I think it turned out okay; I will let others try it today. It was not on my bucket list, but it was a new experience and a much better way to spend a rainy-windy Saturday than napping, watching TV, or going into school and working. I needed the break from school and this provided an excellent opportunity. No champagne to go with it since I live in a dry village, ice tea, grade juice, or sparkling cider will have to do. Oh, I did watch, on and off, the Georgia Dawgs win their opener. Go Dawgs Go Braves

FInished Caviar

Second Open Gym, Mooe Hunting, Cabin Fever

The second Open Gym for Perfect Weekly Attendance has come and gone. There were a lot more of the younger kids this week. I really did not expect them to come back to school since it was pouring. It rained the entire day, it was so wet the ducks left village looking for drier ground. Only six high school students qualified for open gym this week and only five of them showed. All of them were girls. I let them in and they started shooting around and then they made their mistake, they asked me to play basketball with them. I told them I was lousy but I would enjoy playing basketball with them. So in I went, and I was not even the last one chosen. My first shot, an air ball now they knew for sure I could not play. They soon found out that I could out rebound them based on height alone not jumping ability. The first time one of them tried to get the rebound and I just reached up and one handed it and passed it out to one of my teammates they started to laugh. I guess it looked funny to them when this average sized Yup’ik was trying to get the ball from the giant white man. They started trying to hip check me but to no avail, I had them by weight also. It reminded me when I played against my friend Tim; he used to knock me all around the court and just score at will. I usually passed the ball out when I got a rebound since I did not feel it was really fair to just put it right back up. I think my teammates would have preferred I put it right back up. When the 40 minutes was up we won by four points, and I had a lot of fun.

I had the opportunity to go moose hunting with one of the guys in the village, well in reality moose spotting since I did not get the right tag. I could not carry a rifle into the field so I carried my camera. It was my first trip up river to the Kuskokwim River. The Kuskokwim is one big river, at one point it looked like a big lake, you could not see land anywhere. We were in an eighteen foot flat bottomed boat with a 115 outboard so not seeing land was a little nerve racking. We went to the old village site, noting is left except the grave yard. We saw lot of moose signs but no moose. Then we traveled to another slough and traveled up it. There were beavers everywhere, and yes they really do slap their tails on the water and then dive under. Beavers and muskrats are bigger than I though and a weasel is smaller. We were going out again today, Saturday, September 04, 2010, but it is too windy. My maintenance man and his nephew both got a moose on Wednesday and on Thursday he brought by a nice roast. I now have King Salmon, Silver Salmon, caribou, moose, chicken, beef, and pork in the freezer. The chicken, beef, and pork are from Omaha Steaks everything else from my maintenance man. Thankfully, he is a good fisherman and hunter and willing to share. I think a lot of the folks in the village think it was a good thing that I went hunting, a lot of them have asked me how I enjoyed it, and have shared stories with me about their own hunts. The coffee pot in the school lobby for elders and parents has been worthwhile, I don’t mind making coffee every morning for them since it gives me an opportunity to sit and listen to the elders. I guess it is kind of like McDonald’s, free coffee and company for senior citizens.

Labor Day weekend is upon us, I will fire up the grill on Monday if it is fairly decent out. The forecast does not look promising, but we will deal with what comes our way. I am getting cabin fever from all the rain; I am not looking forward to the winter if the weather does not improve.

First week of school

The first week of school is over. I started the first day by meeting with the students and reading them the new rules and setting expectations for them. The teachers said it was a smooth opening and my secretary said it was strange because she was not stressed. We had an increase of about 15 students (that is a grade level). High school schedules are hard to set because there are only two teachers. It would seem that the kids would all progress through the same classes each year but somehow they get all messed up and one needs geometry , three need algebra, and then some want applied math and it is the same with language arts, science and social studies. We do math through two-way video and run multiple classes with a single teacher the same period.


One the fourth day of school I had to go to Bethel for training, I did not want to go since it was optional training, but I found out that my definition of optional and the assistant superintendent’s definition of optional were different when I told her I was not planning on attending. So I packed my bag and off I went. While I was in Bethel some of the kids figured they would take advantage of the cat being away. I think I made a believer out of them when I got back. I had three on police-call after school, two were immediately suspended and a third went home the next day. I hope when I am gone Wednesday they think about the consequence to their behavior.

Why am I going to be out on Wednesday? Wednesday is opening day of moose season and one of the villagers asked me to go hunting. I e-mailed the superintendent and told him I had a great opportunity for some positive community relations, could I take Wednesday off and go moose hunting. He said he thought it was a great opportunity and approved a personal day.

The drift net fishing has not been great for the villagers lately and the weather has been so raining what fish they have caught has not dried well. The maintenance man went out Friday evening and got 23 nice silver salmon. He called when he was on his way back in and asked if I want some fish. I was at open gym so I put an adult in charge and grabbed a couple of plastic bags and headed to the beach. A teachers was coming out of his house as I walked by and he asked if Mark had called me also. I said yes he did, let’s go get some fish. He said okay, I am going to get the four-wheeler and trailer; I will meet you down there. Why would we need the trailer I wondered? Two teachers and I meet him at the beach and he gave us 15 silver salmon. After seeing them in the boat I knew why we needed the trailer, these were some big fish. I cleaned, filleted, and packed five of them, now we are ready for a fish cooking.

The kids here love open gym, there is not a whole lot else to do. Attendance and tardies have been a problem so I decided to bribe them to come to school by offering open gym to any student with perfect attendance for a week – no tardies or absences, excused or unexcused. I opened the gym for 30 to 45 minutes by groups K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and high school. It runs till 7:00 p.m. on Friday but I think it will be worth it.

Students come tomorrow

This job is more than I expected. As the Site Administrator you are responsible for everything. If UPS or Fed Ex comes after hours (yes we get UPS and Fed Ex) whose door do they come to, right mine. When visitors from the DO come, who is the taxi driver, you guessed it, me. I just load them on the four wheeler and away we go. Last night when I made a run to the airstrip it was raining, thankfully I have a good rain suit. On Monday I received my first shipment of fresh vegetables, they came in after hours so I delivered all the boxes to the teachers that had ordered them; I did not get a single tip. I am landlord for nine housing units; at least I do not have to collect rent since it is all payroll deduction. I have my own water plant and sewage plant. We lost all water Monday morning, what was the cause you ask. The holding tank in the sewage plant was full, so instead of overflowing it shuts down all the water. It is a good system and literally prevented one crappy mess. All my student schedules are finally set, bell schedules are ready, and aide’s assignments are done. I still have to schedule morning duties for teachers, inventory dry and frozen foods, submit budget expenditures, type up the ASB meeting minutes and reconcile my purchase card. I am sure I am forgetting something. This is great training if you have any aspiration to be a superintendent. While I was going through my out buildings I found two recliners, a TV stand and a book case still in the boxes, they are now in my living room. This replaces the Bureau of Indian Affairs furniture I had.

Monday night I had fresh arugula, Italian parsley, and sweet peppers, all wilted in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and garlic, over pasta. How is that for eating high on the hog?

I had my first Advisory School Board meeting tonight. It went okay. A lot of it was conducted in Yup’ik so it was hard to take notes. We came down to the last item, setting the date for the next meeting, and we hit a snag. Meetings are usually held on the 2nd Thursday of each month but we cannot meet on September 9th because it is moose season. Oh well, put it off for a week, we need the meat.

It did not rain today. At 10:50 it is still light out. Here come the kids read or not.

Pre-planning has started

Went back to Tunt for three days and then flew back to Bethel Monday for a District Wide In-Service. I chartered two planes to fly ten staff members from Tunt to Bethel. Four hundred plus teachers, associate teachers, and district office personnel attended the in-service. The DO staff planned the whole thing; hotel rooms, transportation, classes, and food. Where else but Alaska can you get together 400 people and feed the fresh salmon? A group in Bethel went fishing the weekend prior to the in-service and caught enough silvers to feed the entire group with plenty left over. They feed every meal, except for dinner on Wednesday, at the high school. Dinner on Wednesday was pizzas to go, so we could eat at the airport while we waited on our charters. I had a private plane on the return trip to Tunt. We chartered two planes again, but this time instead of two six passengers Cessna we got one six passengers Cessna and a ten passenger Navaho. They put nine staff members in the Navaho and me and the luggage in the Cessna. We took off ten minutes ahead of the Navaho, but we only landed a minute ahead of it. On the flight back I counted twenty-four nesting swans. It is funny how solitary they are, you never see more than two on a pond. People around here use plans like cars. We needed some water hoses to replace a sink. The maintenance guy called Bethel and they were on the next plane coming this way. When they got here they were the wrong size, another call to Bethel and the correct hoses were on the next plan out. Four hoses in four hours.

Caribou's Hind Quarter

Last weekend I was given a King Salmon; I cleaned it up and packed up 10 nice filets. I ate one, it sure was good. Thursday, I got a caribou’s hind quarter; it had been frozen for a while so I lost some meat due to freezer burn. I cooked some up Thursday night with spaghetti, it was good. I got my dish TV box in and hooked it up, after I repair the cable the kids torn down, today. It work very well except for Fox News, seem I keep losing the signal on that channel. I think it is a liberal plot.

On Friday Fox news was working, all is good in Tunt. Friday was the most beautiful sunrise I have seen since I have been in Tunt, not to mention it is the only sunrise I have seen since I have been here. Friday was a mostly clear day. It was nice to finally have sunshine even if I was inside most of the day.

Teachers started working in the school on Thursday. We had a good meeting, there was some venting but I think it was frustration from the way school ended last year. I told them we were going to look forward and leave the past in the past. Class schedules are coming together, student schedules are getting loaded, rooms are getting cleaned up and ready for students. There was no teacher turn-over in Tunt this year. About half the staff is only in their second year of teaching and then I have a variety of experience in the rest. These teachers have chosen to work in the bush, and they seem excited to be here. I know we are going to have a good year.

Ayut

Sour Dock

On Friday, I meet with my Yup’ik

teaching staff to talk about their schedules. I think they are concern that I may not understand that all the instruction in K – 2 is done in Yup’ik and may be on Tundra Time. I assured them I can understand them working at a slower pace since they are going from an English curriculum to instruction in Yup’ik , but, yes I had to throw in a but, with prior planning they should be able to stay close to the pacing guides without sacrificing quality instruction. During this meeting I noticed three of the ladies had a baggy of green leafy stuff lying on the table in front of them. I pick one up and asked what it was, thinking to myself this must be what they smoke while sitting in the steam house. One of the ladies responded; that is the reason we are always happy, the rest of them laughed. I asked the happy bunch what do you do with it, smoke, chew it, grind it up and snort it, what? They said no, you make tea out of it. It is called Ayut or Lebanon Tea. They told me it grows on the tundra and that you pick the entire stem leaving the roots. Drop it in with your tea bags or just make tea out of it. I went out at lunch and found some. I also found red berries and lots of kids that wanted to know why the principal was out walking around the tundra. I took my bounty and went back to the school and checked with my secretary to make sure I had indeed found the right stuff. She told my yes, and that the red berries are wild cranberries. I am now a gatherer. I still could not survive on the tundra, I feel like I am sinking when I walk, but at least I could have tea and cranberries. As I walked home one of the Yup’ik teachers was pick a green leafy plant. I asked her what it was, Sour Dock she replied. It is a plant you make dessert out of. You boil it until it is the consistency of spinach, mix in dried fruit and sugar and you have dessert. She told me it is like rhubarb, I think it is time for a rhubarb pie, if I can figure out how to make a crust.

On Saturday the faculty and staff are having a get-together, burgers at one teacher’s house and then games at another’s house. They asked that each teacher bring a side dish. My 15 bean soup smells good. Got to see if I have cornbread mix that does not require eggs, I have no eggs. I did make biscuits today (Bisquick) for breakfast. They were good but needed country ham. Oh well, back to reality, cans and boxes of food. I did join a group called Full Circle Farms; they ship fresh organic vegetables to Washington and Alaska. I get a shipment delivered to the airstrip every other week. This week I am getting; salad mix (cut greens), spinach, baby carrots, red kale, Yukon gold potatoes, Italian parsley, cucumbers, arugula, supreme pluots, donut peaches, apricots, and assorted peppers. I will have to Google some of this to see how to cook it. Being from the peach state, I am very interested to see what a donut peach is.

So much for the sun, it is raining again.

Site Administrators meeting in Bethel

I left Tunt today on my way to Bethel for a Site Administrators meeting. Today was the first sunny day since I arrived. It has not rained one drop today. Flew out on a six-seater Cessna, if you have an aversion to small planes this is not the place for you. As we approached Bethel we picked up some cloud cover, at 800 feet, which we flew right under. It caused a little bumping and rocking as we tooled along. As we made the approach there was no nice smooth level turn, we went nose down and pitched to the right. We dropped like a rock, flared just above the runway, stall warning alarm, and touchdown. Another good landing, as my sister reminded me, any landing you walk away from is a good landing.


I am staying in the Long House Hotel, as you enter the hotel there are warnings everywhere that alcohol is not allowed and anyone caught with alcohol will be fined $100.00 and if they have to call the Alaska State Troopers you will be charged $500.00. I made a comment about it to the assistant superintendent and he told me the district would not pay the $500.00 charge, so I needed to be good. After I checked into the hotel I walked down to the local grocery store. I wanted a diet coke. They sold food, clothing, outboard motors, four wheelers, tools; just about anything you need or want. I picked up a bottled diet coke, a bottled diet Dr. Pepper, and a box of Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuit. My bill came to $10.03 for the three items. I really enjoyed the coke. I will have the rest later.

I went along with the other new Site Administrators, two assistant superintendents, and two principal mentors to Shogun Restaurant tonight. Yes, most people recognize the name Shogun, same name but not the same chain. We did not sit around a big open grill and watch the chef cook; no we sat at tables and ordered from a menu boasting Authentic Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and American Cuisine. This hole in the wall restaurant offered a full line of food. At our table, people order Mexican, Greek, American, and Chinese. They severed us chips and salsa, fresh not bottled, to start with and then the salads and main courses were brought out. As it came out it all looked great, I mean really great. I ordered the Kung Pao Halibut. It came with egg drop soup and fried rice. My dinner was excellent. Nobody complained about their food, in fact everybody ate and ate. There was only one cook and he prepared each meal. I would give this place four stars.

Wednesday was an embarrassing day, but at least I was able to laugh at myself, somewhat. It also had its high points.

7/28/2010


For the most part the day went very well; I walked around the lower village and introduced myself to families. I had a good meeting with the president of the Advisory School Board (ASB). Each school because of the remoteness and Native Alaskan population has its own school board that acts in an advisory capacity. My ASB is made up of five people. It is my understanding they are the reason the principal from last year is not here this year. The ASB president told me they wanted discipline in the school and a principal that was visible in the school. He liked my military background, said the best principal they have had here was prior military. Additionally, a mentor from the district office (DO) came to visit and shared a lot of useful information about the district and school with me.

I was up early today and walked over to the school around 7:30 a.m. to borrow a vacuum cleaner and I intended to come right back home and clean a little more and then go back to work. I forgot the mentor was coming. While I was at school the radio announced the arrival of a plane with a passenger for the school. Oh crap I thought. When I came to school I had showered and put on my jeans and a shirt but I just stepped into my nice knee high rubber boots without putting on socks. So instead of five minutes at school and return home and removing my boots it turned into 4.5 hours before I came home. I invited the mentor to my house for a bowl of soup. When I got in the house I sat down and took off my left boot, I then went to pull off the right boot. It formed suction between my sweaty foot and the rubber (the boots fit tight around the ankle). I could not get it off, I pulled, I used my other foot to push it off, but it was not budging. As I continued to try and force it off the mentor asked would you like me to pull it off? Yes please, I said sheepishly. He pulled it off and said this is kind of like the Wild West I guess. I think this was his attempt to set me at ease. It did not work. I can only image the story at the DO now; what kind of principal did you hire he cannot even take his own boots off. I will make sure I wear sock with my boots from now on.

The second embarrassing/funny thing that happened today was falling off the boardwalk. This has been a fear of mine since I arrived. Before I left Delta Junction the assistant superintendent told me about her daughter falling off the boardwalk, it was a story that stuck in my mind. With all the rain we have had the boardwalk is very slippery. As I walked around the lower village I was very careful where I stepped. As I was returning to the teacher housing area I stopped and talked to two students. As I walked back towards my house they followed me on their bikes. I left the main boardwalk and entered the smaller and older boardwalk. I was walking towards two girls with the two boys behind me when I heard a loud crack and something grabbed my foot. Before I could do anything I was plunging head first off the boardwalk onto the tundra. A rotten board had cracked under my dainty (not) frame. As my foot went through the board it caught my toe and I tripped. Luckily, where I fell was just tundra and not standing water. My knees, hands, and feet were wet but a least I was not soaked. When you walk on tundra it is like walking on a big sponge. You sink and rock around; water fills the hole created by your foot or hands or head. It is not a steady footing. As I jumped up I expected to see four students rolling on the boardwalk laughing the butts off, but no, the first thing they did was ask if I was hurt. When I told them no, I was okay and I bet that looked very funny they did start to laugh. I laughed with them to hide my total embarrassment. I walked on home dried off, took care of my sore ankle, leg, and shoulder before I retired for the night. As I lay in bed I had to laugh at everything that had happened today. I slept till 9:00 a.m.

I have been spoiled for a long time:

 I am accustom to going down to the store, maybe on a daily basis, to get what I want to eat; now I go to the pantry and hope I have food in there. Sure, I know it has only been two days but one box of food did not show up, lost in the USPS system somewhere, and my bush order will not arrive till next week. Believe me, I am not starving it is just a change. I could stand to go on reduced rations.

Unpacking is more work than I remember; why because unpacking always fell to Nina when we moved. Nina is not here so I get to do it all. Miss you Nina.

The garbage man does not stop by here, really no garbage man, can you believe it. I have not been into recycling and sorting trash until now. If you can burn it, put it in one box and save it till you have enough to make a burn worthwhile. I did my first burn last night, it was real exciting. If you cannot burn it, then it goes to the dump. I have not made it to the dump yet but I heard it is a real nasty place. I am being forced to go somewhat green.

Thankfully, I don’t have many dishes to do because I do not have a dishwasher. I am going to have dishpan hands, can you believe it? A drying rack is a must. I used a dishtowel yesterday to dry the dishes and it is still wet today. Hum, do you think it could be the rain, rain, rain and the 100% humidity? I guess high humidity and dampness is a hazard of living in a marsh.

No TV, yes I admit it I am addicted to certain TV shows. I normally watch FOX news in the morning and the at least two to three shows a night. Teacher housing has Dish Network, but if you do not have a receiver box you cannot use it, go figure. I am looking on ebay for a good buy and I will check in Bethel when I am there next week. I do get internet, in certain rooms, so I currently have Neal Boortz playing followed by Rush, then Sean Hannity, life is not too bad. I guess if it came down to it, I could watch the shows I like on the internet.

I made it to Tuntutuliak 7/26/2010

Left Anchorage on a rainy overcast day in route to Tuntutuliak. I flew ERA Aviation and when I went to check in they told me I would have to check my carry-on bag because it was too large for their plane. I had purchased this bag specifically as a carry-on because it met the guidelines established by the airlines. Well, that told me a lot about the plane I was going to be on. When it came time to board I walked out onto the tarmac and up the steps, no security checkpoints, no concern about what you packed, just get on the plane. I sat in the first seat on the right hand side. There were eight seats on each side and one in the middle back. The co-pilot came on last, closed and locks the door and said the safety briefing will start in a minute. As we were taxiing out a recorded safety briefing played, of course no one could hear it over the engines. I need to remember to take ear plugs along when I fly. We took off, I watch the whole thing threw the cockpit since there is no door to close between the cockpit and passenger compartment. As we climbed to 39,000 feet I watched the pilot read a magazine and then tell a very animated story to the co-pilot. The flight in reality was very smooth and uneventful. It took 1 hour and 40 minutes to get to Bethel.

When I arrived in Bethel someone from the district office was to pick me up. I called when no one was there and got voice mail. I figure they must be at lunch since it was noon. I took a taxi to the district office and sure enough everybody was at lunch. So I waited around until Carol P. showed up and told me she could not help me right then because she was going to a funeral along with most of the people in the district office. She said the assistant superintendent should be back shortly and he was not going to the funeral. When the assistant superintendent came back he told me that a member of a prominent family had died in a construction accident the week before and they were having the funeral service in the high school gym today. He showed me around the DO and introduced me to the people that were not at the funeral. I got me the key to my school and then he gave me the keys to his truck and said go eat and drive around Bethel because I have some phone calls to make. I went and ate at Subways and got one to go for diner since I did not know what I would find to fix in Tunt. The heavy equipment operators had put together a salute to the man that had died. They park there dump-trucks down both side of the road and raised their beds; it was really a neat tribute. I went back into the DO visited with the assistant superintended for a while and then he took me back to the airport to catch my flight to Tunt. While we were talking the facility director came in and I asked what problems I had in Tunt? He said about the only problem I had is the one house that flooded when a pipe burst under the sink. I asked him which house it was and he said unit 10, oh good I said that is mine. He explained the problems, mold, flooded carpet, damaged floors, and the unit is sinking. Now I really can’t wait to get there and see how bad my house was.

I got to the airport, checked in and waited for my flight to be called. The plane arrived; it held five passengers and one pilot. I am not sure what type of maintenance record it has but it started and took off. We flew at 110 knots and 800 feet for the 25 minutes to Tunt. When we land the tail hit the ground as he sat it down, it was not a tail dragger, and then we taxied to the drop off point. When he stopped the plane fell back onto the tail. They had to lift it up after they unload my luggage and some mail. I was picked up by a four wheeler with a trailer. They took me to my house it was not as bad as I feared or expected. The flood had happened in January and they had removed the carpet, dried everything out and painted. All in all it will be livable. Nina would have gotten back on the plane; well no, she would not have gotten on the second plane to start with. The house is not up to her standards but I will make it home. I have a lot of cleaning to do and a lot of unpacking.

Mark, the maintenance man took me to the school and showed me around. He told me that one of the villagers had gotten two mukluk seals today and that the silvers were starting to run. I asked him where they would be cleaning the seal and if they would mind if I watched. He said they would not mind at all and told me how to get there. I unpacked for a while and then walked over and watched them butcher the seal. They are called mukluk seal because you use their skin for the soles of mukluks since the fur falls off when they are dried. After I watched them butcher the seals I walked in to a fish smoke house where they were smoke King Salmon, it looked really good.

Well off to bed after a full day, I just had three little girls stop by and want to see the house at 10:30 p.m. now an alarm is going off; I wonder if it is the school? Alarm is off 11:00 p.m. time to turn in.

I have left the interior

I left Delta Junction today and closed that chapter of my life. I enjoyed living in the interior of Alaska and enjoyed working and knowing several of the people there. I had a good last meal at our favorite restaurant, The Trophy Lodge, last night. The new superintendent, Duncan Ware, and his wife joined Patrick and I. We had good conversation and good food. Good luck to Duncan in his new position and to Delta Greely School District as they try to figure out the direction they are going in.


After six hours of driving I pulled into Diamond Parking at the Anchorage airport and rented a parking space to leave my car in while I am in Tunt. Then I went to Sam’s to make a bush order. This is the last time I will let Sam’s do the shipping for me. They tacked on over 50% for shipping and a service fee. Next time I come to Anchorage I will bring a couple of shipping containers with me, fill them up and take them to the post office and mail them myself. I hope I have shipped enough stables to last me for at least 4.5 months. I have a fear of running out of toilet paper during the winter and since there is no Kroger or IGA around what do you do? I shipped a lot of pasta, Rotel Tomatoes and Green Chilies, and canned chicken. How do I know what I need when I have never been there before? The school may have a good breakfast and lunch program so all I would need to do is dinner. I will just have to wait and see.

I am going to see a movie in a theater tomorrow. There are no restaurants in Tunt so I am going to figure out which restaurant I want to have dinner at tomorrow night. I wish there was a Taco Mac or a Wild Wings in Anchorage.

The weather has been lousy. It has rained the last couple of days and the rain is projected to continue through Monday. When I was packing up yesterday I realized I shipped all my wet weather gear. If it is raining on Monday the walk from the airstrip to the school housing is going to be a long cold one.

Moose Head Soup

Well I have not made it to the bush yet but I did have a unique cultural experience today. The friend, Pat, that I am staying with right now, brought home some moose head soup that was made by some people up in Fairbanks. It smelled very good and looked fairly appetizing. The person that gave it to Pat said the best meat came from the moose’s head and when the make this soup they use the entire head minus the brain. You could see pieces of tongue, a moose has big taste buds, and the nose in the soup. The tongue was chewy while the nose was very tender. I am sure this is just one of many unique experiences I will have during the next year. I am keeping an open mind and will try anything, I guess.


I have finished mailing all my boxes to Tunt. I mailed my weapons to Tunt also. This is another benefit of living in Alaska; you can mail weapons to yourself through the USPS within Alaska. I am heading to Anchorage on Saturday, 7/24/2010 for a couple of days until I fly to Tunt on Monday 7/26/2010. I decided to wait until I got to Anchorage to do a bush shipment so I will go to the Wal-Mart in Anchorage and ship a bunch of supplies for the upcoming year. I am going to store my car in Anchorage while I am in the bush. There are several places that rent parking spaces by the month. These are secure parking lots with plug-ins for the winter. When I come into Anchorage during the school year for conferences or meeting I will have a car to use.

One step closer to Tuntutuliak

One hurdle down, I cleared my quarters on Fort Greely and moved in with a friend until I head for the bush on July 26, 2010. I have mailed over 30 packages already to Tuntutuliak, and will probably have a few more before I leave. The maintenance man, who picks them up at the post office, is probably ready to kill me.


I have been looking at flights and the choice is better than I expected. There are actually two air services that fly out of Bethel daily into Tuntutuliak during the summer months. The choice seem to be a nine passenger or a six passenger, it does not really matter to me as long as the pilot has some experience. I have checked the aviation cameras in Tunt and it looks like a nice airstrip (from a distance mind you). Well, I am ready to go, looking forward to meeting the people of Tunt and getting down to work. Let the adventure begin.

I meet a 1st grade teacher that is coming to Delta Elementary School from Quinhagak, a village in the same school district I am going to (Lower Kuskokwim School District). He told me that Tunt has great kids and the parents are interested in education. He said the housing was very nice, at least compared to what they had in Quinhagak. Tunt has flush toilets not Honey Buckets, some of life’s simple pleasures. He provided information on shopping for bulk food, air services, hunting, fishing, and mandatory clothing (frog skin). I hope to get some fish and caribou in my freezer, each house has a chest freezer, before winter rolls in. I have already sent some staples, but I am sure I have not sent enough, need to go to Sams and place a bush order. Yesterday, I was told by bush veteran to make sure I ship enough toilet paper; it gets tough in the winter if you run out. This was probably very good advice. Fresh fruit and vegetables are minimal in the village, so I am eating my full now; cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries for breakfast today.

Surcharges, surcharges, and more surcharges

I got nervous about shipping the boxes to Tunt after we had an issue shipping a box to Georgia. The post office wanted to charge an oversized surcharge of $50 on an item with a girth of 116 inches. I went home and grabbed one of the containers that was shippable and took it to the post office. I had been told by the post office I could ship a container with a girth up to 130 inches and a weight up 70 pounds. Seventy pounds would cost $27. I put the container on the scale and it weighed 69.8 pounds and had a girth of 110 inches, this item should ship parcel post for lees that $27, right. No, wrong. The post office now tells me I have to pay an oversized surcharge because the girth is over 108 inches. The postmaster now enters, and questions why the container is subject to a surcharge, the clerk shows him what the computer says. He tells her to enter it another way and it removes the surcharge and he allows me to ship it that way. He cautioned me that I may have to pay the surcharge on the other end if the post office determines it is oversized. He then told me to bring in a container to have it checked before I pack them. I went home and got a different container and brought it in to be checked. The clerk measured its girth at 92 inches and then put it on the scale to see what the computer told her. Since the girth was over 88 inch there was a balloon surcharge of $3.40, another hidden charge. The clerk and the postmaster said they did not know why there was a balloon surcharge on it, except that the federal government is trying to get all the revenue it can. I went back home packed it with 54 pounds took it back to the post office and shipped it. Guess what, no surcharge showed up this time, I guess a balloon surcharge was because the empty container was to light.


I also learned today that zip ties work better for sealing a plastic container than tape. Just drill holes around the lip and zip tie them up. Works like a charm.

I learned more about hosing

Okay, I feel better after talking with the Assistant Superintendent. Alaska has a strong bargaining teacher union, unlike Georgia, and the assignment of housing is governed by the teacher’s and administrator’s negotiated agreement. There is no stipulated principal housing, which unit people live in is determined by the union representative and the principal before school is out. So, I will live with whichever unit I am assigned and it seems that unit is WT10. The only issue remaining is what all did they strip from the house? Guess I will find that out when I get on site. I am flying in on July 26, 2010 and will be in the village for a week and then head back to Bethel for a Site Administrator meeting.


Next exciting activity: Take my big containers to the post office. At the post office they told me it will only take a week to a week and a half to get to Tunt, so there is no big rush.

My First Controversy

Just a little venting today:


Well, I have not even sent in my signed contract yet and I already have my first controversy. It is about housing. Seems the last two Site Administrators (SA) have been assigned to WT16 (house number), but when the SA left this year he allowed a teaching couple to move from their assigned unit, WT10, into the unit normally/currently assigned to the SA. Seems like they stripped WT10 before they left, took the satellite box, light bulbs, lamps, microwave, etc. The houses come furnished to some extent and this all came to light when I talked to the maintenance mechanic to find out what was in the house so I could figure out what I needed to ship. Surprise, I need a lot since the house has been stripped.

I have been around schools long enough to know when a teacher leaves the scavengers hit the room and take whatever is not nailed down. I have always felt this was a disrespectful practice to the incoming teacher and have stopped it when I had a chance. I guess I am just feeling a little disrespected here.

I am confident I can live in whichever unit I am assigned, but would like to know the protocol for assigning units and what the role of the SA is in the assignment. I am confident this will not be the last controversy, but I am also confident there will be more constructive moments than controversial ones in the coming school year.

Accepted a Site Administrators Position in the Bush

Well I finished my first year in Alaska. Things did not go as well as I hoped in Delta Junction, but it was a good year overall. The school actually did well even if it is resistant to change. The wildlife and scenery were fantastic! I learned a lot about living in Alaska but I have a lot more to learn.

I am now leaving the road system and moving to the bush. I am going to be the Site Administrator at Lewis Angapak Memorial School in Tuntutuliak (Tunt), AK. Tunt is in Southwest Alaska below Bethel on a river that feeds into Kuskokwim Bay and then the Bering Sea. This is a fly in only location most of the year, with travel by boat during the summer months. The primary language in the village is Yup’ik. There are around 370 people living in Tunt.

The school is K-12 with about 140 students and 11 certified staff members. K through second grades is taught in Yup’ik with an English ESL class. Grades three through 12 are required to take a Yup’ik class yearly. Learning the culture and customs of the Native Alaskans will be my first mission.

Housing is available through the school district, Lower Kuskokwim School District. The house I am supposed to rent has 1250 square feet with running water and a flushing toilet. I can mail packages with a 138 girth and 70 pounds for $27 dollars. So far I have five containers packed and ready to mail.

More as I find out.