Bizzy Izzy

I'm pet sitting for my neighbor during the holidays. Poor Izzy is all alone except for the time I spend with her (and her toys). I know that, being a cat, she is probably asleep most of the time, but I decided to give her something interesting to do between my visits...just in case.

I knew she'd never be able to resist this...

Cool Rays

According to the Weather Underground sticker on the sidebar, we enjoyed three hours and fifteen minutes of sunlight today. That doesn't include ambient light, of course. On the Weather Underground website, they also report that the sun's time above the horizon is currently increasing at a rate of 14 minutes and 53 seconds per day. That increase does vary some from day to day....strange, but true.

Also, I would say those numbers are close, but not exact, for Atqasuk. Weather Underground reports our weather conditions and moon/sunlight using Barrow airport information which isn't always accurate down here (55 miles southwest of Barrow).

I like to get my weather info from NOAA (see weather link in sidebar) because those readings are taken hourly with instruments that are actually at our airport. Their numbers always jibe with my home thermometer and I like that! But I haven't found any sunlight information from that source, so I've kept the Weather Underground sticker on the sidebar. And it's pretty close.

The point of all this is...
We're gaining sunlight quickly! It won't be long before sunglasses are standard gear and aluminum foil graces windows all over town.

As the next photo illustrates, a little sunlight brings out the frisky in everyone...even, maybe especially, at twenty below.

Almost There

Cloud cover broke on Saturday revealing, for a few short moments, a slim stretch of southern sky, ablaze with long-forgotten glory. I stood on a snowy hill captivated by the brilliance and intensity. Nuna seemed to be yawning, stretching a little, stirring from her long winter nap. Her eyes fluttered, but never completely opened.

Not yet.

Tomorrow, I think. Or maybe the next day.

The faint breeze was warm enough to prompt lowering my parka hood, yet cold enough to make me sorry that I'd done it. Ears stinging, I lifted my hood and walked eastward, toward the river where snow fences stand at attention, while the building breeze nudged me from behind.



By the time I reached the snow fences, only a few minutes later, the wind was already picking up and kicking up lots of snow.





Heading home, I passed the spot where I'd just taken pictures of the sunlight. Gone were the oranges, purples, and pinks. Nuna's eyes had shut tight again with the covers pulled up over her head.

Not today.

Not yet.

Maybe tomorrow. Or the day after.



Riders on snow machines raced around the village, hunkering down against the sting of blowing snow. I was actually enjoying the wind and the tapping sound of snow pelting my parka.



I held tightly to my dog's leash as the wind whipped it sideways with ferocious jerks. I smiled at the (silly) thought of my dog, if only a few pounds lighter, suddenly becoming airborne like a kite.
It could happen.

Maybe.

Judging by his pace, as he struggled to get back home, I think my dog might have had the same idea.



But, somehow, he didn't seem at all amused.

Changes

Boxes in, boxes out, boxes emptied, boxes filled...my life is a jumble of cardboard at the moment. Lots of changes are in the works. I won't bore everyone with all the details, but a few of the highlights include: my sister and her family moving into my house, me moving out and into district housing, switching from teaching elementary to secondary grades, and a whole new faculty & administration at school. Whew!

Another change has been especially difficult to talk about. And I've put off blogging about it for several weeks. Over the summer, I decided to allow my dog, Precious, to be adopted. It's something that I'd been thinking about for a while, but had been reluctant to actually follow through with because Precious is....well....precious!

The problem is that the Arctic is a seriously confining place during the winter months and Precious doesn't do confinement very well. She practically climbed the walls all last winter which led to some destructive behavior. Over the summer I decided that either I'd need to find a home where she'd be cared for and have the opportunity to get regular exercise or I'd have to buy a treadmill and hope she'd be willing to try it. I was leaning toward the treadmill when I heard there was a couple in Fairbanks interested in adopting her. They took her for a "test drive" while I was on vacation. When I got back to Alaska, I met them at their home and found that Precious was happy and healthy and having lots of fun...

...exactly the kind of place Precious needs to be.



So, it's done. Precious lives in Fairbanks now in a great home with two wonderful new parents who are ready, willing, and able to make sure she goes to bed tired every day. That's a good thing and on some level I am very happy about it. Of course, I am completely grateful to have found a loving family with whom Precious will enjoy her life rather than experience frustration eight months of the year. But the thought of life here without her quirky little personality and hilarious antics...just makes me sad.

I'll have to revisit this photo often to remind myself that it was the right thing to do.

Between Wednesday and Thursday...

The day is spent and I'm well past tired, but I thought I'd share some things that caught my eye sometime between Wednesday and Thursday.

I spotted these interesting icicles clinging to the curved side of my fuel tank. In the photo above, my neighbor's son (a former student of mine) runs past my house, enjoying the sunshine that is getting brighter and lasting longer every day.



I am just dying to photograph snowflakes. I've tried a couple of things and this is the best I can do with my current (very old) camera. In spite of the poor quality...can you see the shimmering snowflake closest to the center of the photo? I think it looks like the Star of David....what do you think?



I snapped a shot of my neighbor as he was crossing the pond in front of my house. I didn't realize until I saw the larger version of this photo that he was waving to me. I hope I waved to him as well...I couldn't quite remember!



These tires are on the playground in front of the school. Due to the warmer temperatures last week, the tires have recently emerged from the thick layer of snow that's been concealing them for most of the winter.



Precious claimed the pushed-snow mountain as her own. Actually, I think she was looking for caribou. She surprised a couple the other day and ended up chasing them about a mile across the river before giving up. She's a lab...she just wanted to retrieve something!



These icicles are hanging from my roof, covered in frost.



Click on any photo to see a larger image.

Snow Much Enthusiasm!

I think it's pretty obvious that my dogs enjoy snow as much as I do. For the last two or three days we've been experiencing April showers of the frozen variety. It snowed all day today and tonight...it's still snowing! With an ambient temperature of 9 degrees above zero and relatively little wind, this is frisky-making weather without a doubt.

And I love it.




I really like the softness of this type of snow. The silliq, snow made crusty and hard by wind, has been covered with nutagaq, freshly fallen, unpacked snow. The sheen of silliq is interesting, but nutagaq is friendly and inviting. Just walking through it is fun.



As I was walking home from school today, I noticed footprints leading up to the roof of these old "hotel" living quarters. If the nice weather continues, unexpected footprints will appear all over the village. To kids, all the world is a playground and the more unexpected, the better.

TGIF! Oh, wait…it’s only Thursday.

Ever had one of those weeks? Let me tell you, this has been one of those weeks. For those of you not acquainted with the joys of standardized testing, try to imagine using one of those disgusting nose thingies on a room full of stuffy-nosed babies who are hungry and cranky and haven’t had a nap…in days. Still not ringing any bells? Okay, how about giving a bath to a twenty pound, fully-clawed cat that’s never had one…and isn’t in favor of it in the least? Surely the picture is becoming clearer now…right?

To be honest, it wasn’t like that the whole week…only during the testing part. Please, little Johnny, pick up your pencil. Please, little Johnny, pick up the pace. Please, little Johnny, pick up your head! Hey, don’t get me wrong. Assessing educational progress is a good thing. So I guess, in a way, standardized testing is simply too much of a good thing! In any case, this leg of it is over now and we’ve survived and tomorrow there will be a special lunch to celebrate the accomplishment.

I think meatloaf is the intended entrée. For some reason that just strikes me as really funny. I guess, in my mind, meatloaf just doesn’t qualify as celebration fare. You know? I can see telling a school full of kids that they’ve done a great job and will be rewarded with a barbeque cookout or spaghetti blowout or pizza pigout or some other kid-friendly menu. Somehow, saying, “Hey, kids! Here’s a slab of meatloaf just for you!” just doesn’t elicit the same enthusiasm. But it does make me laugh and shake my head.

And maybe that’s a perfect ending for a week like this anyhow.


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This is what greeted me when I opened the door at my house and I thought, “I know exactly how you feel, buddy.” The good news is…I will recover from this week. The little guy in the photo won’t be so fortunate.




In fact, as I was clicking away with the camera, caught up in the luxury of this welcome distraction, somebody decided she’d shared her toy long enough.



Yep, he’ll be in a body bag (garbage bag) by bedtime.

Symbiosis?

A snack-craving boy needs money in his pocket, a stir-crazy dog needs to get out of the house, an exhausted dog owner needs a few moments of dog-free tranquility in her life. A symbiotic relationship? I'm thinking...definitely yes!

Wintering with an energetic, two-year-old, lab mix that thinks the world is her own personal chew toy makes the challenge of living in the Arctic seem like a walk in the park...in spring...eating an ice cream cone.

Excavating the doghouse has been long overdue. Some time apart will be good for everyone involved, even if only a few minutes each day. The exhausted dog owner will be able to talk on the phone, work on the computer, or (dare we hope?) eat a meal in relative peace. And the stir-crazy dog will be able to sit in the sun, bark at any and all passers by and...well...live to see her third birthday!

Of course, the excavation required a hefty chunk of change. Even a snack-craving boy doesn't come cheap these days. But, I must admit, he wasn't nearly as expensive as, say, my almost new hiking shoes...or my handmade beaver mittens. Too bad I didn't think of that a little sooner.

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The snow removal was actually started last week when the borough came by with a dozer...or some other kind of snow pushing machine. They moved as much of the drift as they could without hitting the connex, my fuel tank, or the doghouse. They actually did think they'd hit my porch (I got a phone call at school). It turned out that they had just scraped up a piece of plywood that was on the ground in front of my porch. No harm done. (Whew!). By the time I took these photos, my snack-craving boy had already shaved a foot and a half of snow off the top of the doghouse and had dug out an opening to the doorway.



The connex is a storage container that was converted into an apartment. I just use it for storage, but since the doors open on the end, it's not usually accessible in the winter without a lot of effort. This time the effort wasn't mine. And it was worth every penny!



Anybody need a, size seven, almost new, (right foot) hiking shoe? I seem to have one that I can't use anymore.



I also have a (right hand) beaver mitten without a mate. Although, I may be able to repair the damaged one...I'm not sure.

Look at that nose creeping into the photo! She's got some nerve, huh?

The Culprits

As many of you quickly determined, the Towers of Peesa (thanks, Laurie!) were created by my four-footed companions, Rudy and Precious. When they are not busy proliferating towers in the snow, they love being able to run around in the white stuff on the pond in front of my house. These two video clips are from last spring. Judging from the dark road and dirty snow, I'd say it was late April or early May. I apologize for having to embed each clip separately. The YouTube remixer is down and it doesn't appear that it will be on the mend any time soon. As you will see, the wind tends to stir up a lot of friskiness and I don't think that's just a dog thing!

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Almost Springtime Anomaly

Spring is now only a few short weeks away and the restless wind is carving out all sorts of anomalous figures in the softening snow around my house. Those of you living in northern (especially windy) regions may recognize the mysterious sculptures I've captured in these photos. I'm wondering if my southern friends will venture a guess as to how they were formed.

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This arctic anomaly always reminds me of those amazing mud-daubed towers built by crawfish, crayfish, or crawdads (pick your label) down south. These towers were created by creatures too, but with very little effort and a lot of input from the elements.



Maybe this will solve the mystery without too many unpleasant details.
:)

Dog-gone!

Well, actually it's not the dog that is gone...just the doghouse. We had a fairly respectable blizzard last week and it pretty much finished the job of burying the dogigloo (no adhesives involved). During one of my digging-out frenzies two of my fingers suffered near frostbite, so the doghouse won't be rescued anytime soon. Until things warm up a little more, Precious will have to stay inside. She'll be disappointed. She actually likes going outside to investigate any traces of recent intruders and bark at anything that is new or interesting. Caribou often wander near my house and that really drives her over the edge!

Dogigloo

____________________________________

Main Entry: 1dog
Pronunciation: \ˈdog, ˈdäg\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English docga
Date: before 12th century
____________________________________

Main Entry: ig·loo
Pronunciation: \ˈi-(ˌ)glü\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural igloos
Etymology: Inuit iglu house
Date: 1856
____________________________________

Main Entry: dog-ig-loo
Pronunciation: \ däg-i-glü\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural dogigloos or dogiglus
Etymology: a half-wit rendering of Inu-English origin
Date: about 15 minutes ago...1/19/08

Definition: a semi-permanent arctic dwelling intended for mammals of the domesticated canine persuasion. Optimally utilized during summer months with some degree of use in fall and spring. Rendered uninhabitable during winter months if frigid temperatures, wind, and/or snow persist in disagreeable quantities and/or proportions. Often occupied by unexpected tenants such as parka squirrels, lemmings, and sometimes small children.

(See also related term: digging out)





This one was taken in the fall...October, I think.

The Day After

One dog, five toys, twenty minutes, one very big mess!

Precious and Rudy received a suitcase-full of new toys for Christmas from their wonderful Auntie Elaine. And Precious wasted no time in claiming each toy as her own. Then she spent the next week systematically destroying them one-by-one. At this point in the game, the only thing left is the tiny remnant of an enormous "dinosaur" bone. Not being filled with fluff or any type of squeaky toy has extended its usefulness immensely.

I wish I could report that Precious is a kind-hearted dog that has learned to willingly share toys with my older (less agile) dog, Rudy. But, alas, this has not been the case. If Rudy makes the mistake of even sniffing one of her toys (even the scraps of what once was a toy) Precious swiftly and rather ferociously sets him straight. He doesn't do much about it. He usually just looks up at me with large soulful eyes that very clearly say, "Well...I guess she is the boss of me."

Poor Rudy.