A GOLDEN DREAM COMES TRUE!

I woke this morning like all workday mornings.  I come downstairs, get the dog food ready, take the girls out for their morning duties, feed the girls, pour my organic coffee, sit down at my computer, check email and then occasionally I go to FB or Twitter for updates.

THERE IT WAS DIGGINS AND RANDALL: The GOLDEN LADIES OF NORDIC SKIING!

Tears of joy ran down my face!  Sappy maybe but these ladies deserve every tear they have dedicated their lives to this goal, with focused consistent determination. Kikkan and Jessi are both positive role models to young girls.  

Their faces say it all a dream come through for the US ladies!  Photo from: Nordic Nation Foundation

USA on top of the scoreboard!  Photo from: Nordic Nation Foundation

A few great articles on the Women's Golden Moment:

Bill Koch's thoughts on US GOLD!

John Caldwell's look at US women's Nordic ski history

Iron Dog Snow Machine Race

The #IronDog is a snowmachine race runs through the village of Unalakleet twice.  Racers start outside of Anchorage and come north along the Iditarod Dog Sled Race Trail mostly. There are two race classes "Trail" and "Pro."  Trail rides to Nome and is finished they are not really racing.  The Pro class riders are the racers! They will race to Nome then come back south and head to the finish in Fairbanks.

To be honest, I am not a huge fan of snowmachines but I am impressed by these racers.  Snow machines are for grooming cross-country ski trails right?  Mostly, I think about the racers poor backs!  The land they cover is rough, not always snow covered, not smooth, and remote. Then racers deal with our current overflow issues here on the Unalakleet River, the howling winds of the coast and usually low temperatures . . . yikes, one tough race!

The kids in the village love snow machines!  Yesterday off we went to see the machines which were parked at "The Garage" our local Native Store.  The racers are at various peoples homes sleeping and being fed.

Field Trip which we can do here at a drop of the hat---off we went to see these amazing machines!

One word---FAST!

#Team8 current leaders!

Future racers dreaming of a fast machine!

#Team8 #IronDog  Tyler Aklestad and Tyson Johnson

Knit & Ski or Ski & Knit

A traditional Norwegian drop shoulder sweater using Bartlett sport weight yarn, EZ's percentage system, and motifs from a variety of sources.

2/16/18 Time for a blog post.  Our ski race for this weekend was postponed until next weekend due to our charming weather out here on the edge of the Bering Sea.  It never fails . . . when I felt the most organized for a ski race ever!  Bering Air said, "We haven't flown into Koyuk since last Friday, we are not flying in now due to weather: snow, blowing snow, and the death of airlines: Freezing Rain!  Now I will be honest, the last place I want to be stuck with 16 middle school kids is Koyuk!

2/17/18 Staying home and weathering out the storm in my HOUSE sounds like a grand idea.  Only the storm hasn't been bad other than a lot of wind today which is Saturday.  Our first ski practice of the day was with the elementary ski crew grades 1st through 4th. A competent group of young skiers had the great joy of tackling winds over 20 mph.  UGH!  No matter what this is one of the hardest places to try to be skiers.  Between, winds, overflow, storms, cold, and lack of new snow for long stretches . . . we keep the village kids skiing.

Groomed and skiers skiing up Picnic Hill a long climb that is really fun to blast down!

The girls sitting and listening to the kids who are way down at the bottom that came out to ski on their own.  As you can see we groom and ski the drifts as the tundra doesn't hold much snow in winds over 30mph.

My husband who grooms for us.  We use an Arctic Cat BearCat and a YTS groomer.

This is Round About that we ski out to most days. I have started to call this "Candy Land." It looks like the game board when we get all the colorful cones and hoops set up for the skiers to use for games which build skills.

This would be "overflow" usually we ski across this area but on Wednesday we had a water obstacle to add more fun or is that challenges to our skiing.

Our older skiers which we call race Team.  This is part of the crew we travel to ski races with.

Knitting . . . I am loving my sweater which I named Winter Solstice.  The motifs are coming together nicely and I enjoy planning as I knit.  The overall theme of this piece is winter, snow, mountains, and cross-country skiing.  Each motif has a meaning that relates to the theme.  I have tried it on a few times and I can not say enough why this is so important!  I place the body on two long circular needles and slip it on.  I have been able to correct most sizing errors using this method. Trying on your knitting and measuring it all the time is really important I think to have a successful and wearable knitted item.

Village Happenings:  We have clean running water again.  Some major leaks have been found and work will be done on those in the spring or summer.  There is still a huge hole out by our place and that will be there for some time I know!  We have the Iron Dog Race about to arrive early this week.  The largest event the Iditarod Dog Sled Race will be arriving in March.

Our daylight is lengthening to over 9 hours of daylight and increasing daily.  Our daylight even seems longer as sunrise and sunset are rather exaggerated this far north.  The daily colors that greet us in the sky are just stunning!  We are lucky to have these stunning northern colors close our days, too.

Return to My Beginnings

"Don't take life too seriously because you can't come out of it alive." A quote from Warren Miller which helps to keep life in perspective.  This year marks 23rd year in the classroom for me. This is my last year in the traditional American classroom.  Last week, I handed in my contract saying I am resigning.  It was a well thought out decision and one I don't have an ounce of regret over at all!  I feel so fantastic to be wrapping up my professional career.

The saying "Full Circle" is what I am laughing about!  Long ago I was a bit of a ski bum.  Coaching Nordic skiing, teaching beginner Alpine ski lessons, and waiting tables.  I wanted to travel and work with kids.  I got married and my husband and I became teachers.  We worked overseas for 11 years before returning to teach in rural Alaska.  Our lives overseas were pretty darn great.  We were able to travel and really did some wonderful trips in Oman, Sweden, Norway, Morocco, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Canada.  While teaching in Peru we could return to Montana and ski every North American winter.  We kept getting jobs in the tropical region of the world but we missed winter.  We came home and landed jobs in Alaska.  School/job has been good.  The added plus of being here was we are able to ski.  I could coach cross-country skiing.  A bonus would be coaching the sport of ski biathlon!

Time has come to say goodbye to the classroom and return to my roots.  Spending more time outside, being fit, and just coaching!  Now as I say, "I am retiring from school but not from work!"  I will sub this coming year and coach the ski team. I will figure out how to make a living and just see what new opportunities present themselves or I can create.

I love returning to where I left off . . . no matter what returning to my beginnings feels magical!

Ms. Sadie and I on the night of the Super Moon.

First-grade skiers on a nice foggy frosty day!

My girl!

A tea break a must on our ski tours.

A chilly ski tour but under a huge blue tundra sky!

Water Water Water

Water is a rather big topic this last week in the village and will be for some time to come.  There are about 725 people who live here and for the most part, we have potable water year around.  We get our water north of the village from a creek called Powers Creek.  To the best of my knowledge, there is a tank up there and it fills with water and then the water comes to us through underground pipes.  How old are these pipes? Oh, good question. We have had on and off leakage and repairs at different times over our 12 years in the village.  Low water levels mean we conserve water or even go on boil notice if the water level is too low.  Sometimes pumps break or cause issues, sometimes it is the leaks that cause problems.  The village sits on a peninsula surrounded by water and you would think we would have water.  In August when the cannery is running, and the school district brings in all the new teachers often water level is low.  Winter brings along its own set of issues for the city workers who deal with the water problems.

This past week we have gone from conserving water as the levels were becoming low, to turning off the water overnight to help fill the tank, city workers trying to find leaks, bring in some outside help with equipment to help locate leaks, to a boil notice, to mostly no running water in the part of the village we live in, to watching the con-ex pump being hauled down to slough, to digging out in front of our place, to almost no water in the tank, and no answer to the leak(s) location(s), to hauling drinking water, and the weather has gone from +20s to minus teens making all of this water extra demanding!

If you are a weather person at all you will notice that clear crisp blue sky and think it is really cold up there and you would be right! It is in the negative teens.  The beginning of a big hole int he middle of the road in front of our place.

Yesterday after ski practice and grooming, Christian loads up the 4-wheeler to head up the road to friends who are on a well to get us drinking water. He will drop off trash and drive about 1.5 miles up the road.  He has already been out in -22ºF wind chill grooming.  Now he will drive up the road into a -22ºF on the 4-wheeler which means the wind chill is even colder to get us potable water!

Brrrr . . . Christian is off to run these tedious errands of hauling trash and filling up our water coolers in the bitter evening cold!

Pretty much the state of the road now.  I have not talked to anyone to see what they are hoping to find down there or what the next plan of attack will be with the water.

We are forever grateful to the village workers who are trying their best to solve the water issues.  They are working in really cold conditions with equipment that is cold metal, and not starting up easily.  Grateful to friends who are on wells, who open their homes to all of us and share their potable water.

@!#@@$#%^&**+*&^%$#@!##$%^&* RIBBING!

One of the bloggers I follow stated so eloquently:

I. Hate. Knitting. Ribbing. 

I am in the throws of a major:

"Ribbing could we just be done with you NOW!" 

Knitting project!  One of my goals is to drop a size or two so my sweaters don't have to be so large so the freaking ribbing doesn't have to go on for miles!

Cuff ribbing on a sleeve always seems rather exciting and fast.  I often use a sleeve for a swatch.  I feel this is a productive start to knitting a sweater.

Then comes the body stitches to be cast on 252 in sport weight.  I do place markers every 50 stitches so I am not counting and counting and counting stitches.  K1P1, seems to take forever and one slowly makes progress.  I do keep a coilless safety pin as a marker so I can force myself to say knit 2 rounds at least a night.  When all is said and done, I made ribbing progress! I am now chasing lice work around the body of my sweater.

This photo does not do justice to the rich colors in this yarn.  The sleeves are at the point where I need to make some design/motif decisions.

I am enjoying knitting the body as I get to think about the colorwork that lies ahead.  I have some ideas for the upper arms and upper body colorwork.  Soon I will be working on the fun colorwork section that awaits!

A photo that shows the richness of the yarn far better than the one above.

Good Morning 2018! The Year of The DOG!

Like every year we all think of challenges to tackle or the dreaded resolutions that often last a half a day or a few hours or maybe even weeks, months  . . . but at last a new year filled with new hopes and goals.  I like the words challenges and goals.  Do I have some new challenges----I do----will I share them----hmmmmm I think I will on second thought!

2018 

• spend more time outside with Christian and "The Girls"
• ski, hike, bike, paddle, walk, be as active as possible
• read, knit, use up my stash yarn, knit, read
• develop my drawing/sketching skills (this is a focus challenge)
• stay healthy, eat good food, stay away from processed foods
• a secret goal/wish will share if it happens
• be grateful 

Welcome, 2018 a new year, new challenges, and time to move forward to build on the good and positive in our world!

PS 2018 is The Year of The DOG!  

Thank You All For Stopping by in 2017! Happy & Healthy 2018 To All!

My Miss Sadie who I just love to ends of the earth! She is my buddy who can be by my side or on a village walkabout--ugh!  Sadie has made me a better person. 

Little Miss Tally who loves her guy so much!  She is a dear who is always ready "To Go!"

Skiing is what I love to do . . . nothing is better than gliding on snow on Nordic gear with my Ninja Turtle Dog, my husband and a bunch of ski team kids! 

My dear husband who is nothing but a treat to spend time with and loves to groom ski trails!

Christian with the girls working on ski trails.

Wishing all of you who stop by for a visit now and then a wonderful 2018!  Good health to you all and may you get to spend quality outdoor time with all those people and animals you hold near and dear to your hearts.

Our living room with worn out dogs and drying dog booties which are all the rage for 2018 interior home design!

Wool . . . Knitting Update!

Mittens! Who doesn't love a great pair of hand-knit mittens? I just knitted up a wonderful pair of mittens from this book: Norwegian Mittens and Gloves, by Annemor Sundbø.  I added my own twist to the thumbs as I love a hidden message.  I used Bartlett Sport weight yarn in a rich blue called "Corn Flower" and "Light Sheep Gray."  Bartlett yarns would be described by many as "rustic." I use the Spanish word "ganas" meaning balls however to me it means tough, workhorse yarn that once blocked blooms into a great "hand" a term us knitters of 100% wool get!  This is a yarn that will stand the test of time. It has a great price point for the quantity and quality of yarn you receive.  I have been knitting with this yarn in a variety of weights over the years and it is a favorite of mine.

Mitten #1 on needles and chart highlighted to keep me on track.

I did added two rounds after the ribbing for a bit more length.

Mitten #1 off needles and the fit is perfect.

Mitten #2 on needles with the dark nights/days as we head into the Solstice.

Mittens are done and looking forward to thumbs.

Palm sides and this is when I thought, "I don't really want to knit that palm pattern any more time for a secret personal tough message!"

Done!  Ends need to be woven in and mittens are off for a nice warm wool wash bath!

Approaching Winter Solstice

http://www.stemjobs.com/winter-solstice/

As our days grow darker and darker, I get more and more excited for December 21st to arrive!  I am a fan of weather, seasons and the rhythms of life.  Who knows why, it is just something I like and look forward to each year, each season . . . I swear I am a Druid at heart!  (Catholic conservative mother would just die!)

Out here we celebrate the Solstice with a bonfire, hot chocolate, hot cider and a ski with about 40-50 kids all with headlamps on! I will do a follow-up post with photos of this year's event.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/55DrO

This photo I have used for the Winter Solstice before on the blog. I like the mittens, pine trees covered in snow, and the glow of sunshine to come!
(This illustration was originally created for The Atlantic Magazine’s Gallery section, published in the middle of the horrible winter of 2011.) http://yukoart.com/blog/happy-winter-solstice/

Happy & Merry Winter Solstice to all!

Weather!

I love weather and I am not sure if there is a name for people like me who really enjoy the weather!  We have a Davis Weather station at our place which works great.  If you want to follow our weather out here on the edge of Norton Sound, which is off the Bering Sea well click on this: KAKUNALA5. This is the current storm warning which I had a good laugh about:

Winter Storm Watch

Issued: 1:11 PM AKST Dec. 16, 2017 – National Weather Service

... Winter Storm Watch in effect from Monday morning through
Tuesday morning... 

* what... heavy snow and blowing snow possible. Travel will be very
  difficult to impossible. Tree branches could fall as well. Total
  snow accumulations of 6 to 12 inches are possible.

* Where... eastern Norton Sound and Nulato Hills.

* When... from Monday morning through Tuesday morning.

* Additional details... winds gusting as high as 50 mph will 
  cause areas of blowing and drifting snow.

Precautionary/preparedness actions... 

A Winter Storm Watch means there is potential for significant
snow, sleet or ice accumulations that may impact travel. 

_____________________________

The part I highlighted in red is what is making me laugh . . . what tree branches?  In the village we have a few trees but doubtful any branches would fall and cause any issues at all!  My other favorite weather tid bit is when they say winds will be breezy at 35 mph really is that breezy?  I guess it does depend on your point of reference.  We have yet to have below zero weather this winter but I am sure it will arrive before long! 

A Native Breed & In My Boots: Shepherding in the Lake District

Two wonderfully relaxing reads!

I stumbled upon a wonderful twitter feed this year by Andrea Meanwell AKA RuslandShepherdess@ruslandvalley.  My discovery of this shepherdess led me to her books.  Yes, I am a huge fan of James Herriot, farmers, and shepherds/shepherdesses. I enjoy reading about other peoples lives and how they interact with their surroundings.  I do not romanticise farming or being a shepherd as something that is quaint and cozy. I worked with horses growing up and on an apple orchard, I know what hard farm work is all about.  I have nothing but respect for the stewards of the land who truly care for their land and plan to pass it on to future generations.  Finding these two great reads was a huge treat for me!  Reading right up my alley: cozy & quaint, relaxing, a door into someone else's world nothing but a treat for me! 

Meanwell's first book A Native Breed was interesting as she got us, her readers, up to speed on how she ended up raising sheep.  A journey of sorts to how she landed on her land.  I could have read this book in one sitting but I rather savored it nightly as a pleasant read before falling to sleep.  A Native Breed is a treasure!  I  will reread this book anytime I want to walk the fells with Andrea.

Andrea's second book an equally great read, In My Boots A Year on a Lake District Farm takes us on a year-long journey. This book opened my eyes to the harsher realities of raising sheep. As Andrea tries to make a living from endless hours of hard work.  I just wanted to cry at some of the auction prices they received for their sheep.

I would highly recommend both of Andrea Meanwell's books.  I would suggest they go well with a nice cup of tea and knitting---100% real wool of course!

Andrea Meanwell's work can be purchased at the following onsite locations:

Hefted Andrea's Etsy shop

HayLoft Publishing In My Boots

Hayloft Publishing A Native Breed