Tom is outside shoveling snow off the porch and steps. There's a lot of it. An awful lot. With the winds and blowing snow the past couple of days, I feel like I am part of one of those movies about folks lost in the Antarctic. There is a bit of light just ccoming over the horizon now at 10:34 am! Surprisingly the long dark days have not bothered us yet. I know we have a few more weeks of very short daylight - but I don't think it is going to be a problem - except getting up in the morning. Usually we wake up when the light comes in the window - but the light doesn't really come in the window here - till about 11 am. So at say 8 or 9 am it is pitch dark and we feel like it is the middle of the night.

Tom is caring for a total of seven dogs - counting Roxie. Libby, a black lab is staying in the house with us. Steve has three dogs and Tom walks and feed them. And then there are Kim's Great Danes. The male has been relegated to the top of the steps. Seems he was allowed to get down the steps last week and decided not to go back up. He was untethered and it took two poeple about two hours to get him back in the house. The second time he was actually tethered but just refused to go up the steps. One of the guys ended up with a bloody nose. Steve fixed the leash so that he could tether the dog inside the house before he opened the door and now the dog is limited to running - or rather loping around on the small porch. This dog does HUGE poops and pees so the porch is quite a mess. I hope Tom will shove it all over the side before Kim returns.

It is sort of like the Twilight Zone here - only three families are here in the teacher housing. We of course came back early - but the other two families have not left - they have four kids each and well airplane fare would be ridiculous for a family of six.

On Chrismas Day we had supper at the Superintendent's house. They are such great folks. She is from New Zealand and he of course has been in Alaska for years. I took deviled eggs and Diet Cokes. Steve also joined us since his family was traveling. Afterwards we went to the Community Center to see the Eskimo Dancing which lasted until 1 am. We left around 11 - I would like to have stayed all night but Tom was the transportation and he was ready to go. The dancing was really nice - started out with the little ones and then all the school kids, then the adults. I got some photos and a bit of video.

Saw a couple of great films this weekend. One was Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419294/) . I really like Tommy Lee Jone's movies and this one was special - there were so many touching scenes and I believe I could watch the whole thing again. The other film was Good Morning Night (Italy) about some terrorists kidnapping and killing a politician. It is told from the female kidnappers viewpoint - sooo good.

Well, Tom is back from feeding and walking dogs, shoveling snow, getting the mail, clearing the snow from the connex door, and some more stuff that he does outside. He will have to rest for a while now.

I'll post a few photos today. Chena Hot Springs was all we hoped for. I loved Rock Lake - the springs actually and all the snow boulders around it. It was so quiet and peaceful and we felt like we had the place to ourselves.


Enjoyed especially talking to the Alaskan folks - they had such wild stories - who knows what to believe. The whole place was like a winter wonderland. The thermostat pictured is listing at -10 degrees. It was as low as -19 this morning on the way back into Fairbanks.



You can barely see Liz in the dog sled. She and Tom took a dog sled ride and said it was special - very quiet and very cold. The dogs were going nuts - all wanting to be tethered to the sled. Must have been a hundred of them all barking and wanting to go on the ride.

We are back in Anchorage now where they had 12 inches of snow yesterday and we are finishing up our shopping on snowy and icey roads in amongst all the Christmas shoppers. I just want to get back quiet little Chevak. We called Steve to check on Roxy and he told us that she had some apetite problems but after a couple of days she got hungry and started eating again. He has the Alaska Channel on for her during the day at our house and says she seems to like it. Tom and I both miss her so much - we've grown so attached to her this last year.

The statue of the dog is Balto - there's a book about him and this was a memorial. Wow, was it cold!

Chena Hot Springs is like a huge winter wonderland. The van drove an hour northeast of of Fairbanks and it got more and more beautiful as we got closer. All of the trees are caked with snow and ice. We went to see the ice museum last nigtht. I'll try to post a photo - Amazing what they can do with a block of ice and hundreds of tools. Tom and Elizabeth have gone on a two hour snow trail - I passed on that one. It's cold here. The springs are fabulous - so hot, steam coming up - you could hardly see your hand at 11pm last night. The water is dark and hot and steamy. Then around the springs there are snow covered boulders and trees. The trees appear to be ice sculptures at first - but then you realize they are trees. Not too many people here yesterday but it is picking up today. By tomorrow we should have the first charter bus of the Japanese. One is schedule to arrive every day for the next week. It seems this is a popular destination for them, seven hours flight from Tokyo. The attendant told us that 95% of their winter business is Japanese tourists. Well, here's the news! They called our room last night at 12:22 and said the Nothern Lights were out. At 12:26 we left the room - fully dressed and wrapped for the cold. You've never seen three people dress so fast and furiously. We could see them immediately, even with the lights from the buildings around us. It was a huge strip of clean - like a wide rainbow - the colors actually changed - from clear light at first to an emerald green, and then some red color. We couldn't believe the size of the lights. I thought it would be a streak far off - but the area was huge - it felt like a third of the sky was lighted. And it was also very cold! Tonight we take the SnowCat to the top of the mountain - hoping for clear skies and lights.

(posted a couple of days later than it was written) We are sitting in a diner at the Bethel airport. I hope to get this posted in my blog later tonight. We’ve already been here once today – right when we arrived and now we are back. The plane to Anchorage doesn’t leave until almost 4pm. When we got up this morning – we were both feeling a little bad about leaving Roxy. Although everyone else was leaving their dogs also, we still felt like we were the only ones in the world leaving ours. Tom took her over to Steve’s house – where there are four other dogs staying. Steve will be quite busy. He is going to bring Roxy back over to our house every morning while he goes to work and then pick her up again in the evening. We left the lamp on, the tv, fixed her special blanket, and cleared the window area so she can jump up and bark at the strangers. She loves that part of being a dog.

About 9:30, Leo called and said the plane would be arriving in 20 minutes. So we had to pile everything together and meet him along with about six other teachers to get into a truck that seats five people. Abby sat in Jenny’s lap, and Jonathan hopped in the open area of the truck bed. Then we took off, the radio was on and the pilot said he would be there in seven minutes and couldn’t wait on anyone. We just kept driving toward that airport over snowbanks – sort of like a roller coaster. We hit the new airport road and took off in a flash – getting there just as the plane landed. We all hopped out with baggage and waited while they unloaded the plane of dozens of boxes. Then he changed the seats from flat shelves into actual seats. Waiting that few minutes would not have been so bad but it was 0 degrees and the wind chill made it –20 – that’s 20 below zero. I was absolutely freezing – my toes hardened like rock candy and my fingers were stinging, I couldn’t move I was so cold – it seemed like it took forever to get that plane formatted for passengers. All the folks around me were still and quite too – we could not believe the weather out there. Finally we got on the plane. I pulled my gloves off and stuck my hands down my shirt around my chest to unfreeze my fingers. They were stinging like crazy and I was afraid that I was going to have frost bite. Tom said to keep wiggling my toes – well I couldn’t even feel my toes. Of course my snow boots were in the baggage and I had worn my everyday boots. It is now about four hours later and my feet are finally back to normal. It was so scary out there – like we were in the twilight zone, everything was blue it was so cold and of course it was dark still.

In the diner here I have ordered French fries and Tom got a hamburger. Both were delicious. We can see the planes taking off and landing here by the window. Lots of them and all small. Theres’s one called Arctic Air – a strange looking boxy plane. I’d take a photo but of course my batteries are out! Our Alaska Airlines plane I believe seats 40 people.

Wish we had more cash – we have not dealt with cash for so long and just had about $15.00 since someone had paid us back some cash. We tipped the van driver, bought our shared hamburger and French fries and drinks, and there’s not much left!

Here’s hoping the Silverado starts when we get to Anchorage tonight.

Okay it is now 8pm in the evening. This will not get posted till Saturday morning, but I’ll go ahead and finish. We took a van up to the Alaska airlines building in Bethel. Tom and I promptly took of walking to the nearest diner. He had a hamburger and I had fries and a coke. We took the computer and played with it while we watched the planes land. Oops, I think I already said that. We caught out plane to Anchorage around 4:45. This was the rowdiest bunch of plane folks I have ever seen. There were oodles of oil field workers and they were drinking and talking and laughing. I’ve never been on such a lively airplane ride. When we landed Tom and I just waited till everyone got off since we had so many carry on bags to take out. It was funny to see that the last five people on the plane, all waiting for the other folks to get out of the way, were teachers from Chevak! I guess living in Chevak teaches one to have patience. We are in the Millenium Hotel – its wonderful. Tom’s truck was buried in ice and snow - but it started beautifully. We went out to eat at a nearby diner and it took us a half an hour to order because we couldn’t decide what to choose on that wonderful menu. Tom called Steve to see how Roxy was doing. Steve told Tom she was doing just great but had been searching for us. I thought for a minute Tom might get tearful but he made it through the call. He loves that dog. They are best buddies. This whole state is frozen. We saw only frozen rivers, white ground, and snow covered peaks all the way from Bethel. I go for my eye appointment in the morning and then we shop. It will be a long day. I’m going to bed now. I miss my little house in Chevak and I feel like I have deserted everyone there to come to the big city.

It just occurred to me - I probably won't get to a computer. So, this is probably my last post until the week after Christmas - maybe the 27th. I hope everyone has a wonderful Merry Christmas. Hope Santa is good to all and that all families are able to get together as you like. We may even see Santa and his sleigh since we will be near North Pole, Alaksa!

Winds are strong and snow drifts everywhere. Remember those desert movies where the sand would be blowing all along the desert floor -all beautiful and even. Well that is how the snow looks this morning - and drifts are piling all over. It is actually really pretty - but the wind is strong. About half the faculty is supposed to fly out today and another bunch tomorrow. So everyone wants to be first at the airport to be in line in case there are too many people for the plane. We have paid for our tickets out - but that doesnt mean much - we may be told to wait for another flight. I just hope the plane makes it to Bethel. Roxy is staying here. Steve, our tech person will let her stay at his house in the evening and bring her over to our house every morning before he goes to work - he is a workaholic. He'll come back and let her out at lunch. I'm thinking we should leave the tv on low so that she will at least see and hear folks. Our school web page is up - not finished - but the shell is there. Steve made it with Dreamweaver and Flash. It is http://www.chevak.org
Check it out.

Friday morning we fly out on one of the bush planes - I just hope we make it to Bethel. Liz meets us in Anchorage on Saturday night and then we will head to Chena Hot Springs on Monday. The few days we are in Anchorage will be spent shopping, packing, and going to doctors and for sure - getting our hair cut. The kids had the Christmas program last night. It was good - the Eskimo dancing was wonderful. As for the Christmas carols - well they need a piano player here and a music teacher.