IDITAROD

The mushers started coming in to Unalakleet this morning. Mackey made it in first at 4:30am with King right on his tail. Jeremy went 40 miles upriver to a little cabin to meet Mackey as he went past.

Here is Mackey on the trail stopping at the cabin to "snack" his dogs.









One of Mackey's dogs waiting for a snack.














Here is our friend holding Mackey's sled for him. The duct tape is an old Eskimo secret to preventing frost bite, especially on a snowmachine at -30 without a helmet.






This morning it was cold as we went down to watch the mushers.






Here is King and his lead dogs before he took off this morning.




Updated: 11:16 AM AKDT on March 14, 2010

-24 °F Clear

Windchill:	-24 °F
Humidity:	76%
Dew Point:	-29 °F

Cross Country Ski Race!

The cross country ski team always has a ski race the Saturday before the Iditarod mushers come into town. This year was absolutely beautiful! Sunny but cold. Official reports say that the weather was 25- but it was a little warmer on the snow.




It was cold enough to freeze everyone's eyelashes before the finish.

















This year was additionally fun because there was a fellow from Australia who came up to work with the school district for the week. He had never been on skis before and did great, except for that one big fall just as he was starting off! He was a good sport.

















Tonight the first mushers will make it into town. Its going to be a couple long cold nights as we cheer everyone on that comes through! Lance is in the head with King right behind him. King rested at Kaltag while Lance rode straight on. Lance has got to be exhausted and needing a rest and King should be feeling good. We will see what happens when they get here. All I know is that these folks are tougher then me! City is busy and full of folks from the outside!

Our mayor, Middy, is still in there racing with the pack. I will post pictures when he comes through!

Ready for the Iditarod!

Here is Isa with two of her friends in Jeremy's (well actually his fathers Richard, but we get to use it until we send it off to him!) new basket sled.




The girls had a blast riding in it as we took it for a test run around the village pulled by the snowmachine.





Maybe next year the three of them can take it in the Iditarod! We just need some dogs.....
















Speaking of the Iditarod it started today and our mayor, Middy, is running this year! Go Middy!

To find out more about the Iditarod you can go to the official site http://www.iditarod.com/.




I was a bit worried about the Iditarod this year. A week ago it was 32 degrees and the river had overflow from melting snow and ice. I thought there is no way the dogs will be able to run in this weather. Well today it is cold, really cold, Alaska cold, with the wind blowing 30 miles an hour and it is only predicted to get worse. Perfect weather for this crazy sport and the crazy folks that run it.

Iditarod racers are some of the toughest people in the world.

They should be coming through here next Sunday.

Homeschool hats and cinnamon rolls

Yesterday we spent the day making a bowl out of scraps of fabric. Like paper mache you dip the fabric into glue paste stuff and put it on a bowl covered in plastic wrap. This was part of our very serious study of Africa and basket making, as well as a discussion of recycling and using everyday things in different ways.





Today, when the "basket" was dry, Isa was very proud of it and proceeded to immediately stick it on her head as a hat. "It is a basket, like in Africa", I state. "No", Isa answered, "it is my hat. It is my baking hat, I want to make cinnamon rolls."
"What? There are no cinnamon rolls in Africa! Let's make couscous", I reply. No she wants to be a baker not a cook and a baker cooks cinnamon rolls. I finally gave in by telling her "Well I am not going to help except to read you the directions. I will not knead or roll. This is your project."


Well here are the finished rolls that Isa made all by herself in her baker's hat. I really did nothing except to help her read the directions, oh and eat a few rolls!

Not bad for a school day.

school parking lot

This is a picture of the Unalakleet school parking lot.


Here you get a great view of the vehicles in the town, snowmachines, four wheelers, and one bicycle leaning against the school. No cars.....

Well there are cars in town but not many. I am used to it now and think nothing of it when I walk down the street and see all of these vehicles zooming up and down the street.

The only thing that is missing from this picture is a dog team.
I will see if I can get that photo for next posting!

caribou hair and beading

I had an interesting weekend. I took an accredited class from the university of Fairbanks on caribou hair dyeing, caribou tufting, and beading.
Yes this was for a college credit.

Here is a picture of the dyed caribou hair and moose hide.





After we picked out our colors and cut out a pattern you start working on your project, I chose a barrette.




Here is my barrette with the tufted caribou hair on it and moose hair around the outside. I am just getting ready to start beading.











After beading we put porcupine quills on our work. Our teacher, an Athabaskan artist, provided us with the quills.
Here are our quills soaking in the water.













Here is my finished earings and the barrette. Not too bad!

BRRRRRRRR

Today's Current Temp: -26 F clear Wind: 5 mph ESE  Windchill: -40 F