Sunday, May 29, 2011
No more prep work, no more school books, no more students' clueless looks! (Week of May 23, 2011)
Happy summer or soon to be summer for all you teachers out there! After 9 months of not taking care of ourselves, Jon and I are both looking for to taking care of ourselves. We finished school with the students on Tuesday and had a teacher day on Wednesday. Jon then attended a math workshop on Thursday.
Friday was our first official day off together. We decided to use our Kenai Fjords Tour tickets that we got through a fundraiser over a year ago. We had fanstastic weather for the tour and were fortunate to see about 6 humpback whales, 3 pods of orcas, a sea otter, a group of stellar sea lions, horned puffins, black bears, and mountain goats. Among one group of orcas we spotted a mom and baby. We also cruised up to a glacier that is calving (the ice falls into the water). The ice in the water sounded like Rice Krispies. Snap, crackle, pop.
Saturday was overcast, allowing us to get many errands done in town. Sunday has brought yet again, more sunshine. We got out right away for some geocaching and slacklining. While geocaching, we drove by a mama moose and her new born calf. This is our first moose calf sighting of the season. It was so small, it could have stood up underneath mom. They were walking down a gravel road together when we first spotted them before turning into the woods. We are now on the look out for baby moose in our own neighborhood, but haven't seen any yet.
sunrise: 4:54 AM
sunset: 11:13 PM
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Sunny Weekend in Kenai (May 21-22, 2011)
This past Monday (May 16) we took 115 seventh graders clamming at the Ninilckik Beach (about an hour from school). We hit a really good low tide of -4.3, perfect for digging up razor clams. After catching about 300 or so clams, some students took them home, while others cleaned and cooked them right at the beach. Many of our students, although born and raised in Alaska, had never clammed before. It was messy, muddy, and a lot of fun! Even the girls that get dolled up for school every day had mud on their clothes and smiles on their faces. Jon and I was also able to take some clams home where we cleaned them up and used them for homemade clam chowder. We made enough to feed an army. We'll definitely be eating that for awhile.
sunrise: 5:07AM
sunset: 10:58PM
civil twilight: 12:14AM (this is how late we could stay up playing boccee ball in our yard without any unnatural lights)
school days left with students: 2
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Performance in Anchorage (May 14-15, 2011)
I had my first Alaskan dance performance this weekend. Our group, Peninsula Artists in Motion, was invited to perform two pieces in a concert in Anchorage this weekend. It went very well. The school year is coming to an end, but things are definitely not winding down. We are taking about 120 seventh graders clamming tomorrow. It should be a fun, muddy mess! Many of them have never dug, cleaned, or cooked clams before. We have lots of parent volunteers, so hopefully we won't lose anyone to an incoming tide.
days left with kids: 7
sunrise: 5:23 AM
sunset: 10:41 PM
Monday, May 9, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Birding in Homer (May 7-8, 2011)
Jon and I purchased our first fish/game licenses as Alaskan residents. Jon will be taking up fishing and hunting this year. I will be sticking to just the fishing. It is a huge monetary difference to fish or hunt in Alaska as a resident versus a non-resident. We are quite excited as the fishing season is getting underway.
We went to the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival down in Homer this weekend. We went out to Gull Island, which we have done a couple times before. Gull Island is a bird rookery where we saw common murres, kittiwakes, commorants, a disruptive eagle, and a lone puffin. On the ride back to the spit from Gull Island, we had a gull gliding in the air behind us. I'm not sure if he was drafting behind the boat or if he was curious as to who we were.
While walking along the Homer harbor towards the end of the spit, we stubbled across an eagle patiently waiting for two fisherman to finish filleting their fish. While waiting for the scraps to be left, some gulls were flying above the spot where the eagle was waiting also ready to get some of those scraps. The eagle would look up at them from time to time as if to warn them that they were his scraps, not theirs.
Bald eagles have been flying in large numbers this weekend. On our way back from Homer yesterday we saw at least 10 flying together, heading south. Today, as I sit here typing this we have eagle after eagle flying past our place. The number of them is incredible.
school: 12 student days
gas: $4.48/gal
surise: 5:41 AM
sunset: 10:24 PM
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Signs of Spring (April 30-May 1, 2011)
We have seen lots of migratory birds this week on the Kenai Flats. On Wednesday, there was a flock of snow geese and on Saturday there was a flock of sandhill cranes. Sunday was a windy day creating thermals near the ocean. Because of this we saw many gliding golden eagles and hawks.
The snowshoe hares continue to visit, nibbling on that fresh grass. We also had a big cow moose looking into our living room windows a couple nights ago. I think it was looking for company.
On Saturday we explored a new town called Hope. It is on the northwest end of the Kenai Peninsula. It is an extremely small town with just one school and from what we saw, no gas station. We did a portion of a hike and took in views of Turnagain Arm and the mountains. While there, we identified a new bird through sight and sound, the Varied Thrush.
17 days of school
gas is $4.42 per gallon
sunrise- 6:00 AM
sunset- 10:06 PM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)