A Fine (dry) Fall Day...

After days (and weeks) of rain, we find ourselves with a fine fall weekend. The weather is crisp and cool - with clear sunny skies. (The high in the state today was in Cooper Landing - 40 minutes away...62 degrees). The past week or so brought with it "Termination Dust" which is the dusting of snow on the mountain tops. That snow is moving down the mountains and we know winter is not too far off. In the mean time we are enjoying the dry weekend...

The slide show (click here) is pictures from Ralph and Ron's visit to Alaska. After a cruise of the Inside Passage, R & R spent a week with us in both Anchorage and Seward. We had a wonderful visit and look forward to their return. We hear they will be back as they were so, so struck with the beauty of this great land.

Immediately below you will find - pictures from Ronn Hemstock's plane. For those who have not heard Hemstock's name before, he is my shop/cooking teacher. I was afraid that after he took me up with Heidi and I "threw up" for 55 minutes until touching ground, that he would never take me up again...but not so - we need a new picture of the high school now that the "old building" has been torn down. So here are a couple of shots from the air - also a shot of our house a few blocks aways.

View of all three school. The high school is top center above football field), moving across/down to the right is the middle school and further down on the right is the elementary school. (Follow the road). By the way - the road does not connect all three schools - there is a gate between the middle and high school. I actually have to go out to the main road to drive to these school. But I often walk to the middle school as it is just 50 short yards aways.

Seward High School

Seward High School (different angle)

This is our house (the yellow one)

Our House (different view)

Bear Pictures

As promised here are a few pictures from the bear skinning lesson a couple of weeks ago in our Outdoor Education class.



Coming tomorrow: pictures from our visit with Ralph and Ron - what a great time!



Bear Pictures (click here)

Only in Alaska

I came back to work today after spending 24+ hours with the Student Council at a meeting in Homer to this email from yesterday.

The Police Department just called. They will be setting off seal bombs west of Seward Elementary…basically behind the building where the big playground is. There are two moose that apparently have some students trapped. Please don’t go outside with your students today. And, alert your kids so that when they go for lunch, they aren’t in an unsafe area.

Not a happy request (to stay indoors) after days and days of rain - it was a dry day yesterday...I also understand that these same two moose were engaging in "foreplay" at the high school on the grass areas around the flag pole (outside my window). Came just short of a "biology lesson."

Hope everyone is doing fine!

And...

I think that big bright thing just coming over the mountians is...the sun!

Finally...

after 16 straight days of rain in Seward, I woke to (almost) cloudless skies. The fall colors are here and as anticipated are spectacular! Ralph and Ron are visiting this week, my hope is that the next bout of rain holds off for a couple of days so that they may see the true beauty of Seward. (They are still in Anchorage with Mary, coming to Seward tomorrow night)

Late Night Adventures

Lots of things have happened since my last post- where does the time go...

The Outdoor Ed group (part of Friday advisory) learned how to skin a bear last Friday. (Pictures to follow but will put in slide show in case you don't want to view)

Seems that I may have broken my right thumb on Saturday. Let's just say I "feel" - down a group of boulders. I am very thankful it was only my thumb because the potential for greater injury was huge! Including coming to a stop in 28 degree water in Resurrection Bay. We will know more on Monday when they take another xray - for now the splint is a minor inconvience.

The week is a blur - and here I sit on a Friday night - at school - at 11:20pm...As the Student Government Advisor I am responsible for the chaperoning set-up/clean-up of the Homecoming Dance. The Student Government puts on the first dance of the year (Homecoming). The good news - my group is only required dance of the year...(Sophmores = Winter Formal, Juniors = Prom, and they have their own group of advisorys). However, last year the Stu Gov did begin a tradition by doing a benefit dance - donating the proceeds to a group/person. (that makes two dances a year - uhm)

We are so late tonight in our decorating because most of the kids are on the cross country team and we had a big home meet today. It included - elementary, middle and high school teams. Lots of fun...but it ran until 8pm. Afterwards - I got pizzas and the work began...stopping at midnight - finish tomorrow. For the record, I never would have done this with middle school kiddos! High School kids need only minimual directions. We have a great group of kids this year, who are finding support and help from our newly formed "Spirit Club"

Big homecoming weekend! Go Seahawks!

Still trying to figure out how I am going to renew my CPR certification on Sunday with this thumb...but much to do before that problems presents itself. :-)

Finally - it has been raining for 12 straight days...no real end in sight. Today the dogs doaned their yellow rain slickers and we went for a walk in the rain. FALL HAS ARRIVED!

Later -

Truth be told!

Gov. Palin is a cutie, that's for sure...but her politics are so far "right" of mine we may not really be in the same time zone! My vote will not be for McCain...even with Palin on the ticket.

on a side note - she is doing some good things as the Governor...but...

Labor Day Camping/Fishing Trip

The long weekend brought the opportunity to take the motorhome and boat on an outing. Acting on the recommendation of a fellow principal we camped at Hidden Lake over the long weekend. Hoping to reel in some nice Lake Trout. Saturday brought one of the best days of summer to the Kenai Peninsula.

Our friends Karen and Joey joined us for the weekend in their new trailer - what fun. We took the boat out on Hidden Lake (check out the pictures) all day Saturday. What a day! The weather could not have been better - no wind and lots of sun! Unfortunately the weather turned on Sunday making fishing and boating less than desirable. After a brief stint (very brief) on Skilak Lake we headed for camp and an afternoon filled with games (and Guitar Hero).

We hope that you all had an enjoyable holiday weekend. Enjoy the pictures!