Good Morning!

I sit facing the computer screen trying to come up with yet another blog posting topic. What have I done lately that would be interesting, what should I be doing, WHAT WHAT WHAT . . . I look out my filthy window into this amazing amount of sunshine pouring into my home in between the dirty spots on window glass and whaaala MORNING!  As many of you know who stop by to read the blog know I love my mornings!

I love routine!  I love getting up with my dogs, Tally and Sadie. Taking them out in the cold, dark, windy winter mornings often under the northern lights.  I don't mind bundling up for the morning walk.  It is the routine. Meanwhile back in the house, the coffee is on a timer and it is brewing away . . . ah, the essence of the morning start!

Now it is officially spring and the puddles no longer have ice on them, the snow is almost completely melted in the village, the mud is drying up, and the temps are staying above 32ºF at night.

The morning solitude, peace and quiet in the village is delightful.  It is rare to see anyone up at this time most of the year.  Now it is bird hunting season and I will see bird hunters heading out as I walk to the tank farm. We all grunt at each other as we pass unless the hunter is one of my former students and then I am greeted with a "Hi, Mrs. P!" Followed by, "You want a duck if I get one?"  "Yes," I reply as most of the bird hunters know we like duck better than the other dinner choices flying overhead this time of the year: geese (a wide variety), crane, or swan.

Once years ago in our staff room, a non-native teacher was looking out the window and said, "Oh look a swan, they are such beautiful birds." The native next to her replied, "Yum they are such good eating!" Thus the different cultures meet!  

I love watching the day emerge from darkness to light, the fresh morning air, dew on the grass, the light shooting across the tundra, the start of a fresh new day full of new possibilities and challenges.

Starting your day early and knowing the day is yours, yours alone to make it the best possible day is the reward for an early start.  This is your time for you and you alone, enjoy the start!

Mornings on the Tundra

Good Morning 8-18-16 First light across the tundra and Johnson's Lake I call it Johnson's Pond.

August 17, 2016
If you have been following me for anytime you may have figured out I am a morning person.  I love getting up at 5:00 a.m., heading down stairs to set up the dog food, get the girls out for a short little business trip, back inside, feed the girls, sit down with my cup of coffee and the computer. This routine is mine and I own it!  I cherish the fact, I can do this and love that I can do this consistently.  Once I have checked that the world is still out there . . . since I live about 400 air miles north-west (this means you can only get here by air, dogsled or barge--NO ROADS) from Anchorage checking on my world has some meaning for me.  I check out the knitting world and rarely news at this point in the day.

For example this morning is the first morning that the dogs need their glow stick collars as I call them.  They are not glow sticks but they have that look to them.  The moon is just about full or is full, will need to look on a moon chart. Soon I will need a head lamp to walk the dogs.  I love the transitions of seasons in the far north . . . I feel more connected to the outside world up here as we move through the yearly seasonal fluxes.

Mornings . . . I love a nice morning walk.  We walk almost every day in the morning until full on winter arrives.  Our walk is 2.02 miles out to what is locally know as the tank farm.

The Tank Farm . . . where fuel is stored.

This is where the fuel for heating, and driving is held.  This fuel arrives on barges and whatever price it arrives at is the price for the year.  We walk east out of the village and then back. We cross the slough twice which is great for photos.

Good Morning!

Morning is my time of day and I love to be left alone to enjoy my time! Some folks are night people something I can not understand at all, just like night people don't get morning people.  I know it is a genetic link somehow as my father was the before the crack of dawn guy. Nothing is better than that first cup of coffee early in the morning---just wonderful!

When in Montana it is great to be out on the deck or yard with my coffee, or sitting on a porch.  Our neighborhood is a great place as several of our neighbors will be out with coffee too. We might all visit together in some one's front yard looking at flowers or sitting on one of our porches. Speaking of porches, once back in Montana, I will have a new front porch not done but very close to being done!  I can not wait as last summer we were front-porch-less a horrible thing but on our way to new porch a great thing.

Back to mornings . . . This fall in October '15, I started my morning workouts up again at the school gym.  They are not huge workouts but consist of 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, situps from an APP, I use which is actually a great workout full of a wide variety of routines.   Then I follow it all up with a yoga routine which focuses on back stretching.

Sadie comes with me as I really don't like being in the gym alone.  Not to mention our school years ago was built on top of an old grave yard . . . I sure you get my drift!  Out here in a native village ghost are very real to the culture and I have heard some interesting ghost stories.  My workout buddy is Sadie who is half Akbash guardian dog!

Now that the roads are clear Sadie and sometimes Tally will join us for a 2 mile "Good Morning" walk out to my friend "Lynn's Sign."  Lynn has since retired and left the village but as I should say the "Lynn's Sign Post" is there but the sign is gone.  No one is up early here in the village just us!  I will add it is now bird season so there are a few hunters heading out to slay the returning migratory birds.

These early morning walks started with me wearing a headlamp and now I don't need to wear one at all.  We are currently at 16 hours and 46 minutes of daylight.  First sunlight is now 5:10 a.m. and last light is at 12:13 a.m.   The amount of daylight is fastly changing and to be honest it is nice but I get tired of so much light.  It doesn't really affect me at all. We go to sleep with the window open no shades pulled.  We fall asleep in a room full of light looking like noon and will soon be waking up to that amount  pouring into our window.  Others cover their windows, but I can not stand feeling closed in and I have no issue going to sleep.  Sunrise and sunset are stellar, and much like the northern lights, I never tire of see what Mother Nature can paint.

Recent full moon 4/25 over the slough and village.  The ice in the slough and river have since departed to the ocean.

April 29th sunrise on morning walk.  Low tide on the slough and the ice has headed out.  In the far distance you can see the Nulato Hills and a fog bank to the south-west.

Looking east as the sunrises up over the Whale Back Mountains/hills, the slough and tundra.