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.

Hey, it's Summertime!

Okay, it's not really summertime. But it certainly feels like it! That's a little April Fool's Day trick that Nature played on us yesterday! The low was -8 and the high was 18 above zero! Even with the windchill knocking it down to 3 degrees, that's leave your parka and snow pants at home weather. And everyone has been making the best of it. Kids have been outside playing all over the village. People have been shoveling snow off their porches (I did mine over the weekend while it was colder...ugh!) and even their roofs! All that shoveling is more than simply taking advantage of the heat wave. Once temperatures begin to rise above zero, the snow changes. It begins to expand and contract and the longer you wait to move it, the more difficult that job will become. Woe to the man (or woman) who allows snow on the porch to meld. Shoveling snow is a job. Breaking ice with a shovel is...pure torture.

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I took the sunrise photo a few days ago. It was one of the first mornings that the sun has been above the horizon as I walked to work. That big pile of snow is sitting right beside my house, the product of several winter pushings.

The photo below was taken right outside of the school as I walked back home that evening. It just amazes me that colors can be so vastly different depending on the angle of the sun. There has to be a lesson in there somewhere.

Here is the teenage son of my friend Gail helping his mom (yes, she was up there too) shovel snow off their roof. I had to laugh everytime Gail stopped working to chat with neighbors as they walked by. No one seemed to find it a bit unusual that she would be carrying on conversations from her roof.

No, I wasn't intoxicated or experiencing vertigo when I took this photo. This is what happens when you don't look at the LCD when you're taking a picture! Sorry about that. If you cock your head to the left slightly, you should be able to see the freshly cleared path to my front door. Gail also had a hand in this project. I would call her the Snow Queen, but that doesn't seem quite right. I guess the most accurate tag would be Ever Faithful Friend. No question!

Pentagons!...uh...Rollagons!

Hey, they do exist! I actually caught sight of two rollagons at the fuel station earlier this evening. They are in the process of transporting diesel from Barrow to Atqasuk because there is no fuel for the plane that usually makes the delivery. One of the drivers told me that they were completing their sixth of thirteen trips out to Atqasuk this week. Wow! I guess it’s not a terrible trip. Barrow is only about 60 miles northeast of us, but I’m not sure how fast they are able to move, especially carrying fuel, a potential hazard on the tundra.

I wish I’d been able to ask the driver more questions, but by the time I finished taking pictures of the rollagons from every conceivable angle, my face was so cold that I was having a hard time getting words to come out right. I hope he didn’t think I was TUI (talking under the influence)…that’s an embarrassing thought.

A couple of days ago someone told me that the tires on a rollagon are actually soft and pillow-like. There is supposed to be a photo or advertisement somewhere that shows a woman lying on a beach being run over by a rollagon without physical damage or discomfort to her body. I asked the driver if the tires were actually soft and pillow-like. He looked at me blankly for a minute. Then his mouth curled into one of those you-poor-gullible-soul smiles and he said, “Uh…” So, I’m guessing that would be a no.

One of the trickiest anomalies of the Arctic is conflicting information. Equally reasonable and seemingly knowledgeable people can have two entirely different perceptions of the same event and pass on mutually exclusive information as indisputable fact. It’s often a challenge to determine if something I’ve heard is actually true or just true enough.

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After seeing the rollagons for myself, I realized that the description found here describes exactly what you'll see in these photos. (and the photo from the previous post is not)

This is the first one that I saw. At this point, it had just passed up the entrance to the fuel farm (I'm not sure why) and was about to back up.

Here's the second one as it turns in toward the fuel station where it will begin unloading diesel into the tanks.

In this shot, one of the drivers is hooking up the blue hose that will transfer the fuel from the truck to the fuel farm tank.

If I am understanding the article correctly, the rollers are what move the tires. And the pressure of each tire can actually be controlled individually by the driver without leaving the cab!

When I walked around to the far side of the trucks, I noticed a spare tire wedged in beside the tank and below the trailer there was yet another tire attached to some sort of arm that looked as if it could extend outward. When I read the article about rollagons it mentioned a "fifth set of tires installed under its cargo dock. That difference raises the vehicle's payload capability by 15,000 pounds, to 45,000 pounds." I'm thinking that must explain it. Anyone have a better theory? I'm open to ideas. This is the Arctic, after all. Our explanations don't have to be actually true...just true enough! :)

I took several more photos, but won't attempt to share them all here. If you would like to see more, just click on a photo and that will send you to my Flickr account.