Snowwwwwww

It has been a year of history in the making. Our country elected its first Black president, the economy is the worst it has been since the Great Depression, and Unalakleet experienced it's first snow day. At least those who have been in the district for a significant amount of time (rather than my pithy 18 months) say that they have never seen school close for a real snow day. Well, it happened.



For those that know me well, they understand that I am not a morning person. It is because of this that I do wake up and go to school so early, because I need an average of about two hours before I should be safely interacting with other people. Besides, having that pillow of extra time in the morning makes me feel good. Anyway, I always go to school around 7:00am, so I had already begun setting up shop in my classroom when our principal announced over the intercom that school would be closed that day due to high winds, low visibility, and of course snow and drifts that made it hard to get around. (Our plow has been doing lots of work for us this season.)



I'll describe the walk to and from school for you. It was blowing about 30mph, which lately is pretty average, or so it seems. Because it had snowed so much, it was blowing the snow and tiny ice pellets into my face because I didn't think to wear goggles on my less-than-5-minute walk to work. As I made my way down the road, I frequently found myself knee deep in a snow drift that, because of what they call "snow blindness," I had not seen, especially in white out conditions in the dark. From my house, I could not see my neighbor's house about 100 feet away. My porch had become a snow bank of sorts, completely blown over with snow, making it difficult to shut my door all the way and frankly an adventure to get up and down my stairs. I've taken to sliding on my way down and praying on my way up. That afternoon when I walked to the D.O. (about the same distance as the school from my house) I wore my goggles, and the drifts were significantly deeper. It was still white-out conditions at noon, though by 3:30 it had cleared up a little. That's when I took the video.



This year we've had at least four consecutive blizzards, though we've had more windstorms than that. This is one aspect of living in the bush that sets us apart from other places in the country. Although there may be similar weather conditions, the entire town doesn't necessarily shut down because of it. By "shut down" I mean no the only two stores close early (i.e. the gas station), planes do not fly (no mail, no travel, no shipments - don't get hurt), and getting from place to place becomes an adventure of climbing through snow drifts, digging out vehicles, and making the best of any chance to play in waist deep powder. It also means listening to the wind howl all night long.



In between the storms we have had a few sunny days on which most everyone has taken advantage of. The skiing is great after storms like this. We have so much snow, machiners and skiers race to be the first to make their tracks in the perfect landscapes the winds have created for us. Walking is another story, however, and without warning I have either fallen completely on my face because I just could not see the snow bank in front of me, or have unintentionally stepped down into snow as deep as my thigh. Snow pants are great this time of year. :)



The only concern I have at this point with having this much snow is the melting time. It's a blast now, having this much snow, even if it is a pain, and even if we cannot see across the road because of the wind and snow for a few days. But when it does finally warm up, we are going to have slush that will turn the roads into swamps, and the snow may very well be here until May. For now, though, I'll just keep on skiing... skiing... skiing... :)

Oh yeah, and I cut my hair. About 10 inches came off, and will soon be mailed off to Locks of Love. Sweet. :)

3 Events, 1 Blog

So much to blog about in just 1 week. I guess there's only one place to start: the beginning...

Let's start at the very beginning.
When you learn to read you say
A - B - C
When you learn to sing you say
Do Re Mi
Do Re Mi

Okay, just kidding. :)

I. Happy Birthday Janelle! Oh yeah, and the Superbowl.

Since Janelle's birthday always falls around the time of the Superbowl, we (i.e. Jake) have to celebrate, to Janelle's inevitable disappointment, both at the same time. So on Sunday the 1st we all headed down to the Snyders' for food, fun, football, and to wish our good friend a happy birthday. The actual date of her birthday is February 2nd - also known as Groundhog's Day.

There was lots of food...



Including muktuk (whale skin and blubber - mmmmmm!!!), which was very, very good!!



There was football, of course...



And, your favorite game and mine, Scrabble!!! I bought a travel Scrabble board while in Indy.



Janelle, Kira, and I enjoyed a rousing game of spelling, in between football plays, conversations, and baby feeding. Daniel was also there to play with the letters. He enjoyed trying to get everyone's attention...



...and taking pictures of things that he saw... like Mom, and a shelf,



and Mom. :)



Happy Birthday, Janelle!!! Hope it was a good one. :)

II. Saturday Excursion

Last Saturday Mark, Stacey, Carrie, Adrianna, and I took out the snowmachines for a jaunt up river and through the woods. It was an excellent day to do so!



We stopped to rest up the river, after tons of deep snow driving, for some hot drinks, photos, and conversation.



It was pretty cold out, as always, but it was above zero, which made for some pretty fantastic driving weather.



Adrianna's new machine is great! We had an awesome time riding around, getting out of town, enjoying the outdoors. :)



After our break, Mark continued driving his fancy new machine while the ladies headed towards our destination ski spot. Boy was it a lovely day! So much good snow for skiing. :)



It was snowy and beautiful and warm - just perfect. Adrianna and I dubbed this spot as our favorite on this trail. It is basically a tunnel of trees, and it is gorgeous.



We had an excellent time! (Sorry the top of your head is kind of cut off, C...)



III. Old Woman

I have been looking forward to going to Old Woman all year long. I only went once last year in March, and it was basically awesome. Old Woman is a big hill, and at the base of it lies a public use cabin, maintained by the state, which is right on the Iditarod trail. People are allowed to go out to the cabin, as long as they follow basic rules of respect: leave wood for the next traveler, leave it as clean as you found it, leave fuel in the stove, don't trash the place, don't stay too long, that sort of thing. Many people have stopped there on their way from village to village, while traveling the Iron Dog or Iditarod, or just to get out of town for a couple of days. Carrie, Stacey, and I were part of the latter group.



On Sunday, a little after 12 noon, the three of us headed out for the 35 mile trek by snowmachine. Adrianna, being my #1 stunner, was nice enough to let me use her machine, as she would not be joining us. And my principal granted me my personal day on Monday so that I could stay the night. I could hardly sleep on Saturday night, even after making all of my preparations and getting to bed late. I kept waking up in anticipation that it was time to get ready to go. Maybe I was afraid I would miss it or something. Anyway, we made it out there in about 2 hours, which is pretty average, although we had to break trail for about 5 or 6 miles at the end of it because no one had been out there since the beginning of January, according to the log. It was some fun driving.



The cabin was ready for us. :) After rejoicing our own arrival, we unloaded the bit of wood on the sled to begin the fire and warm the cabin.



After taking a break and warming up, I decided it was time to go get some more wood. I unloaded our gear, strapped on the snowshoes that Damon so kindly loaned to me, and headed back into the woods behind the cabin with the saw. After a few minutes of searching, I found a couple of dead trees, sawed them down, and dragged them back to the cabin. Stacey copied me. For the record, we brought back equal amounts of wood. Okay, she might have brought back a little bit more. Anyway, we proceeded to saw, split, and pile our wood for the night.







This was actually one of my favorite things we did. I really enjoy doing physical work that produces something necessary. I even learned how to split wood properly. So cool!

Although we could have skied, we ended up sitting around and chatting for the evening, cozy-ing up in our warm little cabin, heating up some dinner, and snacking on granola. We tried to get the lantern going, but for whatever reason, it would not light, so we were forced to use our headlamps for the evening as our only source. This was fine, although a lantern would have been nice. I'll put this on my list of things to take up next time... And as far as this picture goes... it's not a normal headlamp, but isn't it snazzy? So fashionable. :)



We slept well, keeping the fire going, and waking up refreshed. At least I did. :) After breakfast we dressed for more wood gathering. We snowshoed out the three of us, saws in hand, smiles on our faces, ready to haul trees. :)



And we did haul plenty of trees. And we are seriously tough.



Unfortunately, a little bit of tree got into Stacey's eye. What a trooper, letting me try to get it out for her...



But it was the Saline solution that worked best. For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon we sat in the cabin warming our feet...



...talking, reading, relaxing, contemplating a nap, watching Stacey give herself a steam facial...



and finally gearing up for a ski.



I went out for a little bit, but was far too cold. Realizing my limit, I headed back to the cabin to thaw. One of the many things I've learned is that you don't mess with the cold. If you are cold, say so. Anyway, all my digits on both limbs are still perfectly in tact, so don't worry about a thing. I want them to stay healthy more than you do. :) After I had retreated back to warmth, however, Carrie and Stacey continued on to find the sun and fresh moose tracks, and, back in the trees, a moose! I was sorry I missed that... oh well.



After the ski, and after we were sufficiently warm, we dressed, again, in dry clothes for the trip home. It was sunny, which made for some gorgeous views of the mountains and landscape. However, it was also really cold. Hm, let me explain the difference between lower-48 cold and Alaska cold. These days, if it's above zero, we consider it a pretty freaking nice day. Fifteen degrees is warm. Cold is around -10. Really cold? I'm guessing it was -20 or lower resting temp on Monday for our drive back.



I wore a pair of polyester workout pants, fleece pants, then my thick snow pants; two pairs of socks, both smart wool (the skin layer reaching up to my knees), and my big ski boots; a thermal long-sleeve shirt, a fleece/polyester pullover, another fleece shirt, and my parka; a polyester face mask, a thick fleece necky, my ski hat, my beaver hat, and goggles; finally, my ski gloves, knit gloves, then wind-guard mittens. Once we hit the trail and were out on the tundra, we found that it was quite windy, which of course drops the temperature even lower, especially when you are moving between 20-35 mph on a snowmachine. Cold.





We made a pit stop in the woods, out of the wind, to pee, and also to partake in a treat that we had all saved for ourselves: fireballs. :) Keeps the mouth warm and busy, a tasty treat for a long ride. All in all, it took about 1hr 45min to get back to UNK. I was driving the front machine, Carrie was on back making sure I was going the right way, which was great because now I am even more confident with the trail. Stacey followed us, pulling the sled with all of our gear. I averaged about 5mph faster on the way back, partly because I gained confidence as a driver, and partly because either I had to pee and wanted to get to my decided pee spot, and partly because I was so cold and I just wanted to get back home.

It was definitely a fantastic weekend! Thanks, ladies, for making it a great trip. :) Good friends, good food, good location. I can't wait to go back!