Thanksgiving, No Mail, sledding, stuck, and a Dead Eye!

Thanksgiving came and went. We went to Isaac and Crystal's house and a few families got together. It was a lot of fun and I took it well when the ladies cleared all the food off of the table for dessert. I was halfway through plate number four when it happened, but I felt pretty confident there would be a number five. In retrospect, it was probably a good idea. After dessert I felt as though somehow I was wearing iron pants and the couch had somehow become the most comfortable magnet this world has ever seen. Cassidy made the turkey (her first) and it, went over extremely well. Moist and delicious and falling off the bone. YUMMY!
So, it has been over a week since a plane has landed on this island. This, of course, means no mail. The plane is due in on Thursday (weather provided). It has become quite a life for us, really. Since shopping in the traditional sense is not an option, we have become quite reliant on the plane bringing in something special; Not unlike little Ronny Howard in The Music Man with the Wells Fargo train (that's right...I can reference musicals). Only every time I start singing and dancing on the runway, the TSA people pull out their tasers and give me that look. We are very excited about the plane coming in for a couple of reasons, actually: 1)Mail and 2)Our friends are coming back. They have been stuck in Anchorage for a few days waiting for the weather to clear so they can make it home.
Although Ti has been sending me messages reminding me of how awesome Hawaii is this time of year over the past two weeks, I don't think they deserve this. Or maybe they do? Who am I to judge? That may be just the jealousy typing.
The adverse weather has provided some winter entertainment. Isabel has taken to sledding. Actually Isabel has taken to all things snow. She would stay out in the snow from dawn 'til dusk if we let her. The girl truly is fearless. The trouble is that she wants to go outside and really has no regard for the weather at all. Yesterday, for example, it was blowing pretty hard. Not the "Oh wow! Look at that! There is a plastic bag flying down the street! Pretty windy out there, huh?" I am talking about the kind of wind that makes you take a count of all the pets every time the door opens. Isabel wanted to go outside and actually made a break for it at one point. The wind gusts were only at 85 mph, so why wouldn't a four year-old want to go play in the snow?
The snow didn't stop us from trying to get out of the house and have some fun. Friday morning was actually beautiful. Cassidy and I got a baby-sitter and headed out to go hunting at 9:00 am. Hot Friday morning date in the tundra. It's like a scene straight from a classic romantic movie. Something like The Way We Were...Going to go Kill A Caribou. We left and it was a blue sky, fresh snow on the ground. Thermos full of coffee. Great conversation and laughter. Within three minutes the weather had changed to a white out and wind that was shaking old Beatice off the road. It probably would have blown Beatrice off of the road had I not driven into a snow drift that, quite honestly, didn't look that deep. Funny thing about snow is it appears soft and manageable, but in reality it is a cruel, heavy, god-awful curse to all careless drivers that are trying to find big game. Good news is that the weather cleared up and we walked close to town and called a friend named PJ. He came and picked us up and brought us back to our vehicle. When we arrived there were two other trucks behind our car. One pulled us out no problem while the other tried to drive around and got stuck in a much worse position than I had originally been in. The rest of our morning was spent trying to dig him out of the snow. After paying the baby-sitter we decided that we are a pretty good team. I get us into bad situations and Cassidy steps up to the plate and always has a smile and a comment or two. Bad decisions do lead to the best stories.
Not to be defeated, we got back into the car and had a movie playing on the computer for Isabel to watch. We just wanted to see if we could find any caribou. We did. They were at the top of the hill and about 500 yards away. After discussing how we were going to compose our worst parents of the year award acceptance speech, we decided that Cassidy was going to get a shot at one of them. Our justification was that we would never be out of sight of the vehicle and Isabel would be fine. With that we went up the hill and crawled into position. He was about 150-175 yards away and Cassidy got the rifle lined up. It was impressive and, well, as scary as hell to see my wife with the rifle. Adorable and terrifying at the same time. Like those movies that have evil children running around. She dropped a 300 pound bull. Perfect shot. Didn't even move. 300 pound bull. dropped it. This is an impressive shot by anyone's standards, but Cassidy ahd only shot a rifle once in her life prior to this. And that wasn't even aiming at anything other than the side of a mountain LAST WEEK! Annie Oakley looked up at me and asked if she did a good job or something like that. I can't remember because I was still staring at her in sheer amazement. We went to take a look and I told Cassidy that it was a great shot and told her it weighed three bills. Cassidy, in typical fashion, said "How big was the first one you shot?" to which I replied a little more than half that size. She just smiled. A smile says so much. Isabel was pretty impressed with her Mother and reminds me that Mommy is a hunter. To which I reply "I know, sweetheart, and it scares me." We are all stocked up with Caribou until spring, so the hunting stories will be postponed for a few months. You may just have to read about stories of the metropolis that is Adak for a while.

New Job, Pies, Boots, odd movie!

So Cassidy took the job at the school. So now the list is as follows: Amazing Woman, Mother, Wife, Friend, Cook, Homemaker, and Co-Worker! She is excited about the job and even more excited that her application to graduate school is complete and sent in. The opportunity to work at the school will help her out with her own schooling and, well, that pretty much Rocks!
As if Cassidy's awesomeness wasn't already well established, it would have been solidifird by her receiving a phone call to bring pie to the town Thanksgiving get-together on Saturday. Not "A" pie. Not "A Couple" of pies. Not even a "Few" pies. After receiving the call Thursday night, Cassidy had six pies ready by Saturday morning: Lemon Meringue, French Silk, Butterscotch Meringue, Pecan, and two pumpkin pies. Unbelievable, right?
The gathering was actually quite nice. It is everything that you imagine it would be. The entire town sitting in long rows of tables with yellow tablecloths, Children running and playing, the large Samoan man sitting by the back door with it propped open so he can step outside and drink without having to buy any alcohol at the bar, and all the typical goings on at a potluck setting. My favorite part about potlucks is the look on the women's faces as they go to retrieve their dish that they brought the food on. It is comparible to watching facial reactions to women at the Oscars or the Grammy's. If the plate is clean, they take the nice approach and say something remarkably humble with a smile that can only mean success like, "Oh, wow! I guess I will have to give my aunt Edna a call and let her know that her mashed potato recipe went over so well."
But in the much too often case that the dish is still occupied with roughly the same amount of food that it came in with, the women take several different approaches. My personal favorite is the abandoning of the dish as a sacrifice to the gods of embarrasment so to avoid walking out with the dish full of food, but that is a technique seldom used. The more popular approach is to blame it on marketing and product placement. This can get ugly if not handled properly. In this approach, the retrieval of food is usually followed by something close to this, "If whoever made that god-awful Waldorf Salad hadn't pushed my Mother's yam recipe to the back of the table I wouldn't have to worry about bringing this damn food home! Who the hell made that salad, anyway?"
So...I find that potlucks are entertaining on so many levels. I will say that at this particular potluck I saw something that I really can't recall seeing before. A plate of bananas cut in half while still in the peel with toothpicks in them. It is just nice to see that elegance knows no boundaries. All in all it was well worth going and I ate way too much food. Cassidy's pies went over well and Isabel had a great time showing off her new boots.
OH! Her new bots are rain boots that have bunny rabbits on them. They were supposed to be snow boots, but (see if you can pick up the sarcasm here) Lands End "Accidentally" sent the rain boots instead. OH NO! What happens now? Cassidy came to a very quick, very bright idea; instead of shipping the boots they "accidentally" sent to us, let's just keep them and order the snow boots that are"just as cute." I am finding it amazing how many times companies "Accidentally" send us stuff that we order and pay for. Oh well. A happy wife is a happy life, right?
We spent last night watching Harold and Maude. I have seen it before, but it had been a long time. Cassidy had the same look on her face during the movie that I had when we went to get massages; Didn't know what to expect, uncomfortable at times, somewhat embarrased to be in the room to begin with, yet very enjoyable. We actually liked it a lot.
Until next week!

Essays, Jobs, and Adorable huntress.

It has been kind of crazy around here (By Adak standards, anyway. Which is to say that SOMETHING happened). My boss came out from Anchorage with another administrator for the Aleutian Region School District whose name is Jay. Jay flew in from South Florida. Jay was not on vacation or visiting family from the south of Florida. Jay actually lives in Florida. You may ask yourself, "Why would they have an administrator on full salary who lives 4,155 miles (that's right! I Google Earthed it)away from the actual school he is administrating?" This is a perfectly legitimate question and, like many other perfectly legitimate inquiries, there is no definitive answer. It is as mysterious as building of the pyramids at Giza and Stonehenge. We can rule out efficency as a leading reason, I guess.
Jay did my evaluation and I, in typical fashion, planned my lesson and then completely winged it. The lesson was on the three branches of government and about five minutes into it the kids had the same look that POW's have in military films. That they haven't completely given up hope that they will be released someday, but at that precise moment, it appeared the darkest moment of their lives. I just said screw it and divided up the class and made up a law that no music or games could be played (Children of the Corn style). They passed the bill, it got vetoed, was overridden, overrode, overrid??? by congress and then found to be unconstitutional by the supreme court. I am giving you the details only because I want you to know that this was all completely winged! In my post-conference I was asked how I came up with the idea and how well it worked with the kids. How they truly 'got it.'
I am an awful liar, so I told Jay and my superintendent that I did, in fact, completely tap dance my way through the entire class. Fearing that I would be in somw sort of teacher trouble, I was actually commended on how I "Incorporated so many strategies to reinforce the material." I didn't think it was so much reinforcing as it was desperately trying to find some sort of positive response/feedback from my students. Anyway, No reccomendations for improvement!
Cassidy just finished her essay for the grad program and has sent it to Jim, a friend at the University, for review. She is pretty excited about starting her program. And...in a related topic, Cassidy was asked to apply for a position at the school as a teachers-aid. Her official interview is tomorrow, but seeing as how she was requested to apply by the same people that will be interviewing her, I don't think she will be sweating too much. My wife ROCKS!
The experience will be invaluable for her while attending school. She is hoping that Isabel can attend school with her, which will be discussed tomorrow (wish her luck).
Cassidy will need some time to fill because my student-teacher and friend of both Cassidy and I, Mia, has returned to Denmark. It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I provide this news. Not so much for her leaving, but mostly because I actually have to work now! Seriously. Mia will be missed, though. Getting a student-teacher that you actually like is comparable to getting a college roommate that you truly like. Otherwise it is just somebody that you pretend you can't see and farts a lot with the only discussion being if you or they plan on buying certain condiments so to avoid having a mustard surplus.
Speaking of hanging out with people that I like...Cassidy and I went on a little outing today. It is always fun to do pretty much anything with Cassidy because whenever she isn't laughing, she is usually making me laugh. Either way it is a good time. An outing on Adak is basicall just going for a drive. Today we took the rifle and went looking for Caribou. We found a herd of about 15o and we were only about 150 yards away when we sneaked up to a hill to see them. Cassidy looked through the scope and had a perfect shot on one. We sat for a while and discussed where to aim, how to pull the trigger, etc.... The only problem is that the 150 yards between us and the caribou was occupied by a lake. Us not having an all terrrain vehicle, weighed the pros and cons of Cassidy hitting a caribou. The pro is obvious. The cons were much to geographically visible in the 1 mile hike all the way around the lake. And the thought of the trip back while dragging a 250 lb caribou was enough for us to just appreciate the herd as it was. Cassidy did fire a shot into the hillside just to see if we could move the herd closer to a road. It was mildly effective, but not enough for us to make the hike. Cassidy did seem to like shooting the rifle. I wish I could say she looked natural, but the truth is she just made hunting adorable. Which it never should be. Cassidy is a lot more interested in the bird hunting with a .22, but is still willing to go after the big game. We joked about how on our first date we never imagined we would be walking through the snow in Adak, Alaska, discussing how to kill dinner. Funny where life takes you, right?
Isabel is spelling simple words and making friends wherever she goes. Today she just ran up to a hunter to say 'hi' and ended up with his binoculars and a giude to where the caribou herds are. She really does know how to ham it up!

Shout outs, Caribou, Halloween, Danish Barbie!

If you are reading this, I have the following to say: 1) Thank you; It truly is appreciated that you are taking the time to follow our somewhat unorthodox way of life out here on Adak. 2) It should be noted that there is nothing hyperbolized or embelished in any way shape or form in previous posts (save for obvious comedic effect)and this place is really this weird. Picture Northern Exposure and The X-Files bastard child that was left in spin-off obscurity; this is our lives. 3) This truly is our contact to the outside world, so any and all communication is greatly appreciated. Thanks Again for reading.
Now, I don't have a lot of big game dishes to compare this too (unless you count the three orders of Nico's Nachos Grande I ate at last years Super Bowl) but caribou is GOOD! Nay! GUUUUUUUUUUD! In the last week we have had caribou roast, caribou stew, and tonight we had fajitas with sliced caribou heart. Cassidy, in typical fashion, had completed the nutritional value of caribou prior to allowing me to climb a mountain and shoot one. Turns out it is actually pretty healthy. Who knew?
This last week was, of course, Halloween. Like everything else out here, it was odd. First, there was a Halloween party Friday night at the School/Community Center/Police Station/Post Office/Clinic/Explosive Ordinance Device Offices/Church. It puzzles me that a community will not come together to help a family that may need items such as, say, a window or light bulbs, but has absolutely no problem flying in thousands of dollars in Halloween decorations and candy. They should change the name out here from Halloween to something more indicative of what really happens. Something like 'Juvenile Diabetes Day' or something more in tune with Pop Culture like 'A.D.D. Gone Wild.' There are approximately 25 people on this island under the age of sixteen and approximately 300 lbs. of candy was distributed. I was an English major and Cassidy a Psych major, so our math isn't great. But it just doesn't seem to add up to anything remotely resembling healthy.
The Halloween party was kind of fun, actually. We went with a Wizard of Oz theme for our costumes. It went over really well and Isabel was about the cutest Dorothy you will ever find. Pictures are sure to be posted if they aren't already.
Cassidy has been baking bread and pies all week. Her French Silk Pie is (and I am not overstating this) life changing. Her bread is what everyone wants their bread to taste like, but juuuuust can't get it right. I am constantly enjoying amazing dinners and baked goods. Life could be A LOT worse, I guess.
In addition to Cassidy's baking, she has been doing home pre-school with Isabel on Mondays. Wednesdays, and Fridays. Isabel tells me what she learned at lunch after class and today I was pleasantly surprised that she is learning to tell time. She has the basics (Big Hand/Little Hand) down and can tell you when it is one. two, three, etc... O'clock. Not too shabby, right? (We are filling out her mensa application online after this blog is posted...or maaaybeee...just maybe, she can fill it out herself?).
In addition to learning all her letters and beginning to spell simple words, she has also learned how to whistle. This brings an incredible amount of joy to the house and we now have a four year old that does her best Louis Armstrong impersonation (without the trumpet, ofcourse) and walking around the house. Right now it is adorable. Let's see how long that lasts.
As if Isabel wasn't adored enough locally and throughout the Tucson area, she has become an international sensation. My student-teacher, Mia, is from Denmark and has been giving her Mother back home updates on Isabel. The woman has been so taken by the pictures and stories that she has knit outfits for Isabel's Barbie Doll (again, pictures will follow). They arrived today and they really are amazing. Just to show a sign of generation gap, when I told Isabel that we had to send a 'thank you' card, she wanted to just type an Email instead. She just turned four a couple of months ago.
Cassidy just got back from craft night, which involved creating a Christmas penguin out of a 60 watt light bulb. Craft night is to Adak what coffee houses are to you in the real world. Even if you don't like coffee that much, you go just to get out of the house and meet some new friends. Until next week....