Welcome...New Home...

The transition to Galena has been a blessing made possible by the people here. We've had dinners at friends homes, attend a GREAT church, and the kids are fitting right in!

*Sigh* I miss our dishwasher in Koyuk, the table has seen 2 or 3 monopoly games already. I'm dubbed the evil landlord as I won the very first game, ha! It's hard to erase a reputation, especially when Romay gives me "dirty" looks anytime I get a property, (hee hee).


Yes, that is a tapestry as a wall decoration. Made in America, surprised? I was, I'm so used to "Made in China" by now, it's a brand name.


Sarah, Romay and Ethan...too bad you couldn't smell the bug spray on 'em!


Pitter Patter, the sound of my heart as I watched the kids play with the privileged leashed dogs in the field outside our apartment. Darn cute things!


On the way home from softball practice, a young black bear scooted down a path near town. No worries, Harriette!! People in town, including Fish and Wildlife, are monitoring the situation and will take care of it should it become a hazard.


Koyuk Mug, Kevin! We posted this just for you! :) Although we don't need it, it's nice to enhance the conversation with a glass of Chardonnay, or Alaskan Amber.

99741...New Site

Road trip, Anchroage to Fairbanks. Can you see how upset Jason is? The dog just gave him a rope burn, chasing a rabbit running across the tundra.


Front yard, nice birch and poplar, nice place for Kemper to explore, darn mosquitoes.


A view, a sorry looking view of the kitchen, living room area.

Civilization, A Story or Two

Relaxing. Everyone thinks it's too easy for your food to come ready on a plate in exchange for a few dollars, better lay down and rest.



Kemper, exhausted, probably because he thinks every tree, person, and car needs to be greeted properly by his standards. This was in Anchorage and he realized he was "behind," missed too many opportunities and looks depressed. Bringing a yellow lab from the open fields in Koyuk to the bustling city of Anchorage gives you sore shoulders and a slight twist in the nerves, there outta be a pill at the drugstore that can relieve stress from a personality like Kemper's when he goes into overdrive and stays there for a couple of hours.

Last Duck Hunt, KKA

Hoppe's is a familiar smell to all the kids, myself, the dog. The decoy bag never looses its luster in the eyes of a bird hunter, now hunters. Ethan shot one down, in the air, 20 guage. Dad shot the other 2, while Kemper volunteers to get wet. The hunting ground on the tundra is as familiar as an old childhood playground, like a friend, it shall be missed!

Subtle Changes

So, let's start with a quiz... what do you notice being different in this photo?

Was came over to pick up the coffee shop that he and Gene bought from us earlier this week with a little help from the local Cat loader and operator, Vince. It was cool to be able to work with both of the guys as it gave me an excuse to hang out with them one last time... my comment to Was was, "Boys never really grow up, their toys just get bigger." Man, I felt like I was playing in the sandbox again with Brian and Tim.

So, Vince drove the loader up onto the deck... which just happens to have been laid down when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, and the massive machinery crawled up and then immediately broke through... considering the tires cost around $5000 a piece and we were looking for an excuse to see what kind of cool damage to the deck we could do with something that has the strength of Godzilla, we began tearing it up with the help of the forks. Would be nice to have some video or stills of the carnage in action, but alas, I am home alone without a camera (the photo I did get is with the computer's built in camera). Put in some boyish sandbox sound effects and pull out your lincoln logs and tonka trucks and you can kind of re-enact it on your own. Tera, you'll just have to borrow some of Matt's or Reuben's. Doug, go pick up some new ones and we'll play when I get to Anchorage in a couple of days.

Well, now the deck is torn up and piled "neatly" to the side where the bssd guys can come clean it up as they were going to pull out the deck this summer anyway. The coffee shop still needs to move. After an thirty minutes, which my wife knows from living with me is actually an hour, and about four different approaches, Vince gets a good hold of the shop on the forks. It is at this point where I know I was not cut out to be a heavy equipment operator. Vince drives that Cat like it is some kind of delicate ballet he is performing in (one that Tim Taylor would be proud of). My nerves were about fried as he drove up the steep incline that is our drive with the coffee shop balanced just perfectly. At any moment, I was afraid that it would lose balance, twist and become a pile of matchsticks in the middle of the road. Not so, Gene is now happy to be able to see her new very well built shed standing outside of her window. I am happy that her well built shed withstood the parade around town.

Good night.

Auto Self Clean, Hotdogs for Lunch

Part of the reality of moving is the to get the oven to look as if it's brand new, the range wasn't a problem, but the petrified food in the oven was. Darn, so in the middle of packing boxes, running errands, and making sure Gram was comfortable, I decided to start the 5 hour time block needed to get it cleaned. Not long after, Romay decided that hot dogs, marshmellows, and pop would be the perfect diet and we'd better go outside so we wouldn't get contact high from the food that was now turning into fumes. It really smelled like a glorified steak house with oven burnt crispys mixed together, good thing I remembered to let the dog out too after shuffling people outside. So, Gram is shown, being wrapped up like a burrito in the 36 degree weather and not to mention that it was Jason's last work day in the BSSD, so it sort of turned into a mini celebration of some sorts, if you can say cheese dogs and cheetos are appropriate for such an occasion.





Granny, inside later on, taking in the view and then....going to make our family's all time favorite breakfast food...sourdough pancakes!!!!!! I just mixed a batch tonight for her to try my recipe. She's always made them for me, us, our family, so I'm curious about her upcoming opinion.

Latest Photos

GRADUATION


When Jay and I moved to Koyuk 5 years ago, these students were in 8th grade, with the exception of those who moved here later. With Koyuk having a population over 300, we celebrated it's largest graduating class ever, seven. History in the making and as I was writing that earlier comment, my mind reminded me of Koyuk only having one graduate three years ago.



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Traditionally, during graduation, all the mothers in Koyuk sing a song, "Precious Memories." The bleachers pretty much empty out :) I've gotten to sing it twice now, sniff sniff, makes me think of my grandma and that's an instant happy tear for me!


SCHOOL PICNIC

Highlights from that day:
Teacher water skips across the river with one of the graduates!
Students tell of risky curious experimentation with Clorox.
High school student is committed to attending Alaska Christian College!