Postings from 6 November 2010 to 25 Dec 2010

Christmas gifts - 2010

      Some of the scenes from Christmas morning. Top row: The tree decorated with all sorts of goodies. The tree was kind of a Charlie Brown tree gathered from the edge of the treeline, which was charming. Isa got a surprise gift of special curries from the Indian subcontinent with the note, "Now you're the hottest wife in the village." Bottom row: The tree again, and Joe looking all pleased with his gift of the Family Guy Star Wars parody It's A Trap.

More scenes from Christmas morning. Top row: Joe is role playing as "Stocking Man," and Isa is standing next to the tree with the unopened presents. Left: Joe pulls a face with Mom.

      Of course, no Alaskan Christmas is complete without honorable mention of something which used to be alive and is now being served as dinner. In this case, Isa gave me the perfect present - muktuk. This looks like bowhead whale. It is incredibly tasty. I eat it frozen, dipped in teriyaki and garlic salt. Merry Christmas!

More beautiful quilts created by Isa

Isa's beautiful quilt for Debbie Addie

      Isa made this quilt for Debbie Addie, a friend of ours in Anchorage who plays the cello. The dog wouldn't get out of the way in the left photo; the right one shows a close up.

Root cellar update

      The root cellar has been working out even better than last year. Even with temperatures sinking into the low -30s, the weather under the snow is remaining several degrees above freezing. Apparently the work I did on the door had some positive benefits. Upper row, from left: the root cellar from the outside under new snow. Right: A tray of Rose Gold potatoes. Bottom row, from left: The kohlrabi remains nice and firm, with fresh green leaves. Right: One of the cauliflowers ("Amazing") remains ready to eat. The cauliflowers were stored with their roots intact, and that seems to have really helped with their storage. The same is true with the cabbages.

Snow on the day after Thanksgiving

      A gentle snow fell all day on Thanksgiving, and the next day the sun came out, producing beautiful golden colors. What photographers call "the golden hour" lasts all day this time of year up here.

A heartwarming Thanksgiving story

      A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior." John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Middle School Basketball tournament - Saturday 6 November 2010

      The Galena Middle School tournament is on! Joe's playing on one of the three Galena teams. We have visitors from Tanana, Huslia, and Nulato. It's been great watching Little A out there playing. I write this because most of the students know me as "Mr. A," which easier to say than my name, so one of my students has taken to calling Joe "Little A." To balance out the scales of karma, this student now has her own nickname.

      Joe not only scored several baskets, but the boy has a keen eye for the assist, an essential part to winning the game for the team. Joe's team won by a slightly ridiculous margin in the first game, so we'll see how they do tonight.

      On another subject, our poor bedraggled robin continunes to eke out an existence at the birdfeeder. It was 6 degrees F this morning, which is not the best for a thrush, and I'd like to know if those sunflower chips and thistle are sufficient to support the bird. I talked with Fish and Game about trapping the bird (a violation of the Migratory Bird Act, too), but the cure might be worse than current situation. I expect one day to wake up and find it gone; hopefully it will have gotten its act in gear and flown down to Cold Bay or Southeast.