Blatant Narcissism

Peter just sent me a couple pictures that he took during out hunting outing on Friday. I feel a little funny posting two shots in a row of my pudgy, sub-arctic self, but I figured maybe there was someone out there who would like to see them. Hi mom.

We're all gonna die!

Sure, growing up we had Fire Safety Month and Severe Weather Awareness Week...which, while a good excuse for a fake fire drill or hiding in the locker room waiting for a fake "all clear" announcement from the Principal, now seems like it lacked the inherent coolness of Tsunami Awareness Week!!

Snow Days?

Well, while it may be spring in some parts of the world, it's definitely not feeling like it here. After we heard it was in the mid-70s back in Wisconsin today, Sara and I were walking home from school (having been sent home early) through a blizzard and decided to make a little video card for everyone down there in the sunny weather.

Here's a link to Sara's entry on the subject today.


And just to update something she mentions...we got word that the former co-worker of Sara's that was lost on the trail in this ridiculous weather was found alive and just fine this afternoon at 3:30, so that's cool...though I guess they're still looking for someone else. Fingers crossed...

A-hunting we will go

One Friday afternoon, two Pointer ex-pats, a couple of snowmachines, a .22, a 12-gague, and 28 miles.

This is all we saw -------------->

But we saw a TON of them...so we know the birds are around there...somewhere.

At least it was a nice day for a ride :-)

Spring Fever

It must be the daylight...there've been a lot more in the way of outdoor-type activities going on the last week or two. The temps are definitely still mid-winterish, but with the sun staying up late now that daylight savings time came early (it's light well after 9pm already), there's plenty of time after school to get out and have some fun without having to wait for the weekends. Here are a few pics of our goings-on of late...

Meet Seeker, E.P.'s sometime-lead dog. She had no problem jumping up on the sled and posing for a picture when we headed out on Friday. Eric wanted to do a quick 6 mile run, so a couple of us went along to help...and to take pictures, apparently.

Yet another good reason to come along...Peter bought a new .22 and wanted to try it out.

Here's Eric mushing. Cool, huh? Supposedly there's a local race this week sometime that he's asked me to help out with and be on his "crew"...I'm excited. Did any of you down in the lower 48 follow the Iditarod at all? Some interesting stories this year. I was surprised to see how many mushers from Wisconsin were entered. Very cool.

As I mentioned the other day, we rode into Bethel this weekend. We had a marriage-prep appointment on Sunday and decided to head in Saturday afternoon and stay the night. Anyways, this is a shot of the gas "station" on the river when we stopped to gas up on the way out of the village. I took the picture because it was an unusual sight...two cars! Mind you, these are two of the maybe 5 cars in a who-knows-how-many mile radius, so it was kinda funny to see them both at the gas station. Or not, I dunno.


And here's a pic of the tundra landscape taken from the same spot as Sara's pic in my last post. Boring, perhaps...but I've got to show you Wisconsin people what the real "frozen tundra" looks like, right? Actually, this shot gives you a good idea of how little snow we actually have on the ground right now. It's just been too cold to snow much, and what we've gotten has all blown away in the wind. Makes for some bumpy and icy snowmobiling.

Kickin' it in Bethel

Coming at you live from the White House B&B in sunny Bethel, AK!

We rode in yesterday and stayed the night just for kicks. I'll have a nice photo-post coming this week, as I've managed to take a bunch of pictures the last couple days, but for now, here's a preview shot of Sara on the trail with our friend's machine. Notice the bare ground...yeah, despite (or rather, probably because of) the cold, we've had very little snow this winter, so riding around on the trail at the moment is mostly on bare ice, sometimes a little packed snow, and even some bare frozen tundra. Eat your heart out, Lambeau.

Don't get me wrong, it's still fun zooming across the tundra, but I wish we had more snow for the sake of the machines, not to mention a smoother ride...the bumps get a little tough to deal with after 20 miles or so.

It's the little things...

...that you take for granted. Like showering. And doing dishes. And flushing toilets.

This weekend, there wasn't much of all that, or anything involving water. At least water of the running variety. You see, apparently our well froze Thursday night, which made for an interesting weekend. We did haul some water from school on Saturday to do some dishes and flush the toilet, so that was nice.

But joy-of-joys! The water re-appeared Sunday afternoon, to the jubilant (if muffled) shouts from showers all around teacher housing. Alas, an hour later when I went to heat up some water for tea, the clicking of the gas stove was unaccompanied by the usual flameage. No gas.

No complaints, though...it should be fixed pretty soon, and Sara and I have decided showering outweighs cooking for the moment.

All's well that ends....well....

Just a quick Friday post to link to the story of Sara's snowmobile adventure over the last 24 hours or so...

I'm just glad she made it back safely and in good spirits :-)

Fair and Breezy

Yes, there is plenty to report and a full post will be coming soon, but I just wanted to post this picture of the current conditions on the NWS page. I just thought their description was humorous. That's all.

I can think of a couple words for the weather out there right now..."fair" and "breezy" are not among them.