Year 2 Begins

Hello Everyone. I hope you are ready for YEAR 2!!! I sure am. I had a late start but I love being back in Alaska. I was pleasantly surprised how many of you followed my adventures last year. I feel I did a lot last year and I have a lot more in store for this year. I promise to put in a lot of pictures and perhaps less information. You have to understand, a teacher always wants to learn and share what has been learned. I hope we learn more together this year. So let's get started!!!!!! This summer David and I did a motorcycle trip to southern Illinois. This rock formation (Daffy Duck) can be found in the IL State Park. We had a wonderful time visiting Poli and Bruce at their "floating house". We spent time kayaking, boating, riding on the jet skis, and playing Wii sports at night on the deck. It was a blast of adult fun!!! So upon returning to Alaska, I was glad to leave the 100 degree weather behind. AK was 70's and rainy. I did not experience a week of rain at all last week. I feel it was an omen for me to get my class room ready rather than playing. So I did. The first day of school the sun came out and it was upper 70s and gorgeous. As the children left that day, I said, "Have a great summer. See you in a few months." They all looked at me like I was weird. I found out that AK had nothing but rain all summer. The sun was such a welcomed sight. It has been beautiful ever since. The AK State Fair starts my year again. Isn't that pink tractor just adorable. Perhaps some little girl will sing a song, "he loves my sexy pink tractor."!! The little tyke has such a cute tiger hat I had to share. The Sealife Center had a very educational booth where I learned how much milk the animals of AK need to survive. The polar bear needs a minimum of 1 gallon a day to grow healthy. Have you had your milk today?? The little girl is wearing a Rain suit. It is like a snowsuit but waterproof. Many people up here call them "human condoms" but these kids stay so dry and warm. I want one for the rain days! I couldn't go in the flower show without showing one picture. This flower is dark black and yellow. I think it looks neat. AK Fair had a horseback show that was really cool. This gentleman did a back flip off the horse and landed on horse while moving forward. We, a group of teachers, wooed and ahhhhed with the rest of the spectators. The rodeo was a small version of what the Lower 48 offers in TN and Texas. The young boy flying off the horse was only 12 years old. He was cute but perhaps a few more pounds on him would even out the odds against the 1500 pound horse. The Dall sheep carving was carved in about 2 hours from a huge log. I am impressed with the wood workers in AK. The pumpkin is the Blue Ribbon winner - 609 pounds!!! Can you imagine the scene you could carve on that pumpkin? You would have to light the pumpkin with a lantern because a small candle would be dwarfed inside that pumpkin. I fell in love with the sheep underarmor!!! There was a damp feeling, b/c of the misting rain, and all the small livestock were dressed in their underarmor. I wonder how many yards of material it would take to make a bull underarmor? I have visited the Eagle River Nature Center. I attend a lot of courses there, such as how to identify animal droppings, eagle habitats, bore tides, etc. This is the Nature center - very quaint and cozy with a fireplace and learning center. The red salmon, sockeye, are in such abundance because they are all back in AK to lay their eyes. They are everywhere. They range from 5 - 15 pounds but they travel in very large groups so the turquoise water looks red in many spots. The beautiful colored mushrooms are something new to me. The Nature Center guide said it was such a wet summer that I will see them everywhere. They are very poisonous. They are called something but the "common name" according to the Nature Center guide was "man-eater massacre." He told me any pretty colored mushroom usually is poisonous. I will definitely heed his advice and get my mushrooms from Safeway!. I am glad to be back. My school is going well. We had a rough start with computers, electrical stuff and new students. With three weeks under my grade book, all is well in AK. I will add another blog soon.

Hugs. Sheryl the Nanuq of the North.