Winter has returned to western Alaska with a vengeance.
For several weeks the temperatures in and around the village of Eek have been extraordinarily mild with temperatures hovering in the mid to upper thirties.
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Traveling by bush plane is nothing like a regular airline.
As you may have guessed from the picture in part one, I did find Ferdinand and, with him driving, I rode to the airstrip sitting on the side of the ATV. Like the airfield the road to it is dirt, but with hundreds of potholes, mud, water, ice, and gravel. I’m always glad when these trips are over—my butt is sore and my pant legs are splashed with mud.
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Jury duty in bush Alaska means traveling by plane—if weather permits.
I was supposed to report for jury duty on Tuesday of last week. I packed a bag with three days of clothes because travel at this time of year is always iffy. I might fly into Bethel and get stuck there, so it’s smart to pack extra underwear and socks.
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A man with two rifles stood just outside the door of my apartment.
No, it wasn’t a burglary or gang activity. It was Brett, the principal of Eek school. I live just across the hall from him and his wife. On this Saturday morning, he stood at the end of the hall wearing hip waders with one rifle slung over his shoulder and the other in his hand.
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About ten days ago several of our students here in Eek excitedly told me there was an article about me in The Delta Discovery.
The Delta Discovery is the weekly newspaper in our region of Alaska. I had sent them a press release about the book and later someone from the paper had asked me a few questions so, of course, I wanted to read the article.
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Art is enjoyed by most people.
I’ve written before about the apparent fascination the students of Eek School have for drawing me.
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Yesterday I flew back to the Yup’ik Eskimo village of Eek.
This will be my seventh year teaching in this remote Alaskan village. Getting to Eek starts with a flight to Anchorage, but that is only the beginning. From there you catch an Alaskan Airlines flight to Bethel, about 400 miles west of Anchorage on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, one of the largest river deltas in the world.
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Friday was Spring Break here in Eek, Alaska!
Okay, actually we had Friday and the weekend off for a grand total of three days! We don’t celebrate many of the holidays, like Veteran’s or President’s Day, in the village schools so three days off is actually nice.
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Nikki was my dog, or perhaps I was her human. Actually, I’m certain that it doesn’t matter. She grew from a tiny puppy on our farm in Washington State. These last few years work has taken me away from the farm more than I would like, but if I was there she was nearby. Whoever was doing the most interesting task, from her perspective, that was who she was with, but she was always close.
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While I was working I was playing a podcast about current technology called This Week in Google. The name is a bit misleading as they talk about a wide variety of cloud technologies on the program. One thing they just mentioned was a site called Chrome Experiments and some of the fun and interesting projects on display there. I was intrigued and visited the site.
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Today, I'm rereading and editing three short stories that I wrote while in I was in the navy.
I want to release them in 2013 as an anthology. The first story in this group, The Promise, was written while I was on deployment with the USS Sterett (CG-31) in the western Pacific. I’m certain that writing this story while living in the confined grayness of a navy ship gave it an added sense of realism.
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It doesn’t matter how cold or snowy it is on that night, Halloween is a big event in the village. On Halloween in Eek, if you need to talk to someone don’t go looking for them. Just wait at home and they will probably come by with their children or grandchildren.
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It was a horrid day to be outside; snow, sleet, and that cold rain that seems to seep inside of you.
So, as much as I could, I stayed inside and wrote. I always feel that I’ve done well after a few hours of writing and this day was no exception. I did some short story editing but mainly worked on my upcoming novel.
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