About 10pm, headed to the beach to pull the net
Our haul!
The library!Saturday, August 16, 2014
Issue No. 2
Good morning from the Togiak Library! I successfully opened the library and its gate twenty minutes ago, have answered one phone call, and have yet to greet a patron. One thing that I forgot to mention in my previous issue about the library is that they also have thirty new iPads available for use. This is very helpful to the student body because they are issued iPads for use in school as well. Although they have to leave it behind when they leave for the day, they can come to the library and use the same applications and read the same text as the ones they're responsible for at school. Neat-o!
I still can't decide my absolute favorite thing about the library here. Its a toss up between having my own set of keys, the fact that the books are not checked out electronically, but with a card catalog system (library cards are not issued, you simply sign the card from the dust jacket complying to bring it back in two weeks), or that you have to take your shoes off at the door. Its probably that you have to take your shoes off at the door. Makes for a cozy visit. Not to mention, it keeps all of the mud out and therefore eliminates mopping. I do wish that there was a mini-fridge for my leftover shepherds pie that I brought for lunch. In a month or two I'll be able to keep my lunch cold outside.
Last nights fishing expedition was a success! Kyle and I caught rides to the beach with our neighbors. I rode with Monte, a retired DEA agent. I sat behind him with bug spray tucked in my coat, his coffee mug in my right hand, and his shot gun across my lap. There were nine of us in all. I finally got to see the dead walrus that washed up on shore sometime last week! I wish I had gotten to see it whole; some locals carried off its head and fins for the ivory, which they later use to carve jewelry and other items out of. A walrus head alone can weigh up to 300 pounds! It was a massive stump of remains- no pictures because it was dark.
I'm new to the world of net fishing, and I may not have all of my facts straight. From what I understand, they set the nets up at low tide and harvest them at high tide. A couple of guys equipped with waiters walked out into the water, chest deep, to the net and hauled out about twelve fish. They carried the fish up to the shore where we all started in on filleting, our head lamps our only source of light by this point. Tote lids were laid on the racks of the quads and used as cutting boards. I helped Monte, washing the fillets in the ocean and putting them in gallon ziplocks. One of the guys was filleting a fish and found a big ol' sack of eggs inside. I really wish that I could have captured what happened next on film! I tried one of the eggs raw! I sucked it right off of the sac. It was very yolky. I bet I could scramble them.
Once all of the fish were filleted, everyone packed up their gear and headed home. We left our house at 11 and were home by midnight- incredible! Everyone helped, including the guy on bear watch (seriously), and we were done in no time. On the ride back "up the hill" we saw a dead brown bear cub on the trail. Just a tiny little guy, way smaller than the walrus. A dead cub more than likely means a mother bear is wandering around somewhere, too. With fall quickly approaching we were advised to be extra careful and watchful for bear as they will be looking for food and preparing for the winter ahead.
Tonight, weather permitting, there will be a bonfire on the beach with all of the teachers. At noon today, Dale is going back to harvest more fish out of the net to cook up at the bonfire. They season the fish, wrap them in tinfoil, and toss them into the fire to cook.
Until next time!
I still can't decide my absolute favorite thing about the library here. Its a toss up between having my own set of keys, the fact that the books are not checked out electronically, but with a card catalog system (library cards are not issued, you simply sign the card from the dust jacket complying to bring it back in two weeks), or that you have to take your shoes off at the door. Its probably that you have to take your shoes off at the door. Makes for a cozy visit. Not to mention, it keeps all of the mud out and therefore eliminates mopping. I do wish that there was a mini-fridge for my leftover shepherds pie that I brought for lunch. In a month or two I'll be able to keep my lunch cold outside.
Last nights fishing expedition was a success! Kyle and I caught rides to the beach with our neighbors. I rode with Monte, a retired DEA agent. I sat behind him with bug spray tucked in my coat, his coffee mug in my right hand, and his shot gun across my lap. There were nine of us in all. I finally got to see the dead walrus that washed up on shore sometime last week! I wish I had gotten to see it whole; some locals carried off its head and fins for the ivory, which they later use to carve jewelry and other items out of. A walrus head alone can weigh up to 300 pounds! It was a massive stump of remains- no pictures because it was dark.
I'm new to the world of net fishing, and I may not have all of my facts straight. From what I understand, they set the nets up at low tide and harvest them at high tide. A couple of guys equipped with waiters walked out into the water, chest deep, to the net and hauled out about twelve fish. They carried the fish up to the shore where we all started in on filleting, our head lamps our only source of light by this point. Tote lids were laid on the racks of the quads and used as cutting boards. I helped Monte, washing the fillets in the ocean and putting them in gallon ziplocks. One of the guys was filleting a fish and found a big ol' sack of eggs inside. I really wish that I could have captured what happened next on film! I tried one of the eggs raw! I sucked it right off of the sac. It was very yolky. I bet I could scramble them.
Once all of the fish were filleted, everyone packed up their gear and headed home. We left our house at 11 and were home by midnight- incredible! Everyone helped, including the guy on bear watch (seriously), and we were done in no time. On the ride back "up the hill" we saw a dead brown bear cub on the trail. Just a tiny little guy, way smaller than the walrus. A dead cub more than likely means a mother bear is wandering around somewhere, too. With fall quickly approaching we were advised to be extra careful and watchful for bear as they will be looking for food and preparing for the winter ahead.
Tonight, weather permitting, there will be a bonfire on the beach with all of the teachers. At noon today, Dale is going back to harvest more fish out of the net to cook up at the bonfire. They season the fish, wrap them in tinfoil, and toss them into the fire to cook.
Until next time!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Issue No. 1
Ok, ok. I'll get this started. The internet at our apartment is very
hit or miss, so I haven't been bothering with it much. However, things
are happening here in Togiak! Tomorrow is my first volunteer shift at
the library. Kyle and I will be volunteering every Thursday evening
after school starting next week! The library here is ran 100% by
volunteers. It is a very small space, but the community is very lucky to
have it, it is a great resource! They have a food program for kids
under 18 that entitles any youth to a box of food once a day. They also
have twelve brand spanking new Mac computers- very fancy! Another great
program at the library is the Dolly Parton Imagination Program. It is a
program that sends books once a month (completely free of charge!) to
children under the age of five. The sooner the family gets signed up for
it, the better because they send books specific to the child's age. A
lot of the books are actually geared toward Alaska Natives and have
pictures of native babies- something that isn't seen in a lot of
mainstream books for children! It is a great program!
Tonight at 11, Kyle and I are joining Dale, the main librarian and a teacher at the school, as he pulls his net out of the bay. We're going to help him clean fish, and I'm sure he'll send us home with a hefty supply of fresh salmon!
All last week Kyle was out of town at teacher in-service in the neighboring village of Dillingham. I, for some very strange reason, volunteered to watch all of the teacher's dogs while they too were in Dillingham. Including our own very, very well behaved, amazing, lovable, calm dog, Margo, I had a six month old Siberian Husky (staying at our apartment. The rest were at their own homes.), a six month old Australian Shepherd, a four year old Corgie mutt, and two four year old Irish (ENORMOUS) Wolfhounds. Needless to say, I definitely had my hands full. I don't want to get into the details of what my days were like that week, I am thankful that it is over and I am officially retired from mass dog watching...
I was very fortunate to have had the blessing of the Vice Principal, Mr. Lee, to borrow his four wheeler the week that everyone was in Dillingham. I didn't have very many opportunities to take advantage of it as it was raining on and off for most of the week. I learned very quickly the first day that I had it in my possession that even a little bit of rain turned out to be a lot of rain when driving over six miles round trip to check your mail in town. This past Wednesday morning, I was up very early, as usual, to walk the dogs. It wasn't raining! So I was going to check the mail! This is a very exciting thing to do here in Togiak, especially when you're expecting hoards of treasures from Amazon (such as bed pillows, a slow cooker, an oscillating fan, a dog bed, 3M hooks for organizational purposes, a package from your sweet mother-in-law, a bed skirt, dog toothpaste, dog trimmers, etc.) I was so far under the impression that the post office was opened Monday through Friday from 8am-4:30pm. Apparently, however, they don't open until 2pm on Wednesdays. Or perhaps its 10am. Or perhaps they may just close sometimes. Alas, a little frustrated, my dry trip into town was not wasted because I instead took a luxurious cruise along the beach. I rode into flocks of shore birds, sending them aloof and crunched over sea shells the size of my hands. My 360 degree views are full of mountain ranges, tundra, fireweed, the Bering Sea, the harbor, boats in the bay and a colorful array of ramshackle houses.
It would be too boring if something seemingly horrendous didn't happen to the four wheeler belonging to a patriarchal member of the school while it was in my possession, right? I thought so, too. Wednesday afternoon, the day that everyone was returning, my neighbor, Donna, wanted to take the four wheeler into town to check her mail. She was expecting a birthday package in the mail from her father. So I went outside to giver her a quick tutorial on how to operate the quad. In an attempt to show her the basics, starting it, neutral, reverse, shifting, etc., something happened. I was explaining to her that it had seemed difficult to shift into second. In this short demonstration in our gravel filled parking lot I learned, to my horror, that it in fact was not shifting at all anymore. I looked down to find the shifter jammed all the way down. When I got off to check it out, it moved around freely from its base. Sorry, Donna. Looks like you're waiting until tomorrow to get your package. I did not look forward to telling Mr. Lee that I broke his large piece of equipment. Mr. Lee is a very jovial, kind hearted human being. He merely laughed when I told him what I had done. After he looked at it he assured me that it would take no more than tightening a bolt to fix it. Boy, was I relived. Here I was, ready to give over all of my hard-earned dog-watching money to fix this man's four wheeler!
Anyway... Kyle starts school on Monday! He is feeling very prepared and ecstatic to finally begin. We have both met a handful of his students already. Every time we take the dog out we are greeted by a gang of kids eager to say hello to us and to Margo. More exciting news- I applied for a full-time paraprofessional position at the school! I'll definitely keep you all posted on that! I cannot wait for the upcoming week that is sure to be filled with lots of stories of school and volunteering! Perhaps I can talk Kyle into a guest spot on the blog here... I'll be writing again soon! Leave me questions or comments and I will try to respond accordingly!
Tonight at 11, Kyle and I are joining Dale, the main librarian and a teacher at the school, as he pulls his net out of the bay. We're going to help him clean fish, and I'm sure he'll send us home with a hefty supply of fresh salmon!
All last week Kyle was out of town at teacher in-service in the neighboring village of Dillingham. I, for some very strange reason, volunteered to watch all of the teacher's dogs while they too were in Dillingham. Including our own very, very well behaved, amazing, lovable, calm dog, Margo, I had a six month old Siberian Husky (staying at our apartment. The rest were at their own homes.), a six month old Australian Shepherd, a four year old Corgie mutt, and two four year old Irish (ENORMOUS) Wolfhounds. Needless to say, I definitely had my hands full. I don't want to get into the details of what my days were like that week, I am thankful that it is over and I am officially retired from mass dog watching...
I was very fortunate to have had the blessing of the Vice Principal, Mr. Lee, to borrow his four wheeler the week that everyone was in Dillingham. I didn't have very many opportunities to take advantage of it as it was raining on and off for most of the week. I learned very quickly the first day that I had it in my possession that even a little bit of rain turned out to be a lot of rain when driving over six miles round trip to check your mail in town. This past Wednesday morning, I was up very early, as usual, to walk the dogs. It wasn't raining! So I was going to check the mail! This is a very exciting thing to do here in Togiak, especially when you're expecting hoards of treasures from Amazon (such as bed pillows, a slow cooker, an oscillating fan, a dog bed, 3M hooks for organizational purposes, a package from your sweet mother-in-law, a bed skirt, dog toothpaste, dog trimmers, etc.) I was so far under the impression that the post office was opened Monday through Friday from 8am-4:30pm. Apparently, however, they don't open until 2pm on Wednesdays. Or perhaps its 10am. Or perhaps they may just close sometimes. Alas, a little frustrated, my dry trip into town was not wasted because I instead took a luxurious cruise along the beach. I rode into flocks of shore birds, sending them aloof and crunched over sea shells the size of my hands. My 360 degree views are full of mountain ranges, tundra, fireweed, the Bering Sea, the harbor, boats in the bay and a colorful array of ramshackle houses.
It would be too boring if something seemingly horrendous didn't happen to the four wheeler belonging to a patriarchal member of the school while it was in my possession, right? I thought so, too. Wednesday afternoon, the day that everyone was returning, my neighbor, Donna, wanted to take the four wheeler into town to check her mail. She was expecting a birthday package in the mail from her father. So I went outside to giver her a quick tutorial on how to operate the quad. In an attempt to show her the basics, starting it, neutral, reverse, shifting, etc., something happened. I was explaining to her that it had seemed difficult to shift into second. In this short demonstration in our gravel filled parking lot I learned, to my horror, that it in fact was not shifting at all anymore. I looked down to find the shifter jammed all the way down. When I got off to check it out, it moved around freely from its base. Sorry, Donna. Looks like you're waiting until tomorrow to get your package. I did not look forward to telling Mr. Lee that I broke his large piece of equipment. Mr. Lee is a very jovial, kind hearted human being. He merely laughed when I told him what I had done. After he looked at it he assured me that it would take no more than tightening a bolt to fix it. Boy, was I relived. Here I was, ready to give over all of my hard-earned dog-watching money to fix this man's four wheeler!
Anyway... Kyle starts school on Monday! He is feeling very prepared and ecstatic to finally begin. We have both met a handful of his students already. Every time we take the dog out we are greeted by a gang of kids eager to say hello to us and to Margo. More exciting news- I applied for a full-time paraprofessional position at the school! I'll definitely keep you all posted on that! I cannot wait for the upcoming week that is sure to be filled with lots of stories of school and volunteering! Perhaps I can talk Kyle into a guest spot on the blog here... I'll be writing again soon! Leave me questions or comments and I will try to respond accordingly!
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