Frozen Fabulousness

Snow in my front yard

Today marks the first “big” snow of the season!  Pretty exciting!  And it warmed up today too!  It’s been right around 0˚F for the last week.  Today it was above 30!  Whoa!

My "back yard"

Last week, Rick and I took the high school kids out to the dump to talk to them about waste and how it relates to their community and where it goes.  Then we took them to the stream, where the dump water run-off leads to.  The stream was completely frozen.  Of course, the kids immediately started skating on it.  I wish I had my camera!  Then we took them closer to the river, where the stream leads, trying to make the connection between trash and water.  However, playing on the ice was much more fun!  The next day, we took the kids back out, and watched one of them set a trap.  It was pretty interesting.  We found a wolverine skull on our way.  Also cool.  One of the students picked up the skull, looked at me, and said, “Do you need any souvenirs for you friends or family back in Colorado?”

Side Note:  They bet on when the rivers freeze up here.  Depending on what river, depends on how much you can win.  The Nushagak River (the river I live by) usually has a winning pool of more than I make in a year apparently!  Crazy!

Dillingham

Last weekend, I flew to Dillingham to take the Praxis I.  That was the first time I have left the village since I got here in August.  We left on Friday and came back on Saturday.  It was the longest test ever!  It was actually 3 tests:  Reading, Writing, and Math.  Just to stay licensed in the state of Alaska.

One of my classes is Current Issues in Science, and they decided they wanted to learn about mining, due to the Pebble Mine Project.  Pebble Mine is potentially the world’s largest producing gold mine in the world (nation...world...I don’t remember.  It’s big!).  The problem is that it is located at the headwaters of the Nushagak River, as well as 2 other rivers, and right next to Lake Iliamna.  The Nushagak has the world’s largest salmon runs, which is important for the subsistence lifestyle up here, as well as commercial fisheries and business.  Anyway, that class wrote letters to local state representatives about their opinions on Pebble Mine.  We got a letter back from the governor of Alaska, Sean Parnell.  That was pretty cool.  It’s actually a raised-seal, and self-signed (we analyzed it).  I’m going to frame the letter for them, because I think it’s a pretty big deal for kids here.

Freezing Rivers and Tundra