Fox and Snow

I don't know if this is the fox by the river, but here he is up by my house. I was getting ready to take a picture of the snow and the fox jumped up on the walk. He showed no fear even after the flash went off.
This is a picture of the first measurable snow plus an interesting light. Our house is on the left. This is the same walk the fox chose to use.

Kids on the ice. A teacher told me she walked out on the ice, also.
Looks like a snow river, now.
There is a lot to look at in the picture. Looks like snow in a day or two.
The big white blotches are big flakes that fell on the lens. this is the young man who teaches next to my room. He is from Fayetteville , Arkansas. His parents both graduated from Oklahoma State just like Susan and I. We might meet him and his wife at Tim's Pizza in Fayetteville if Susan and I stay a day or so after Sarah's wedding.

It was snowing and I tried to get a shot of the snow coming down against the gym. You can see the larger flakes. The students said when it is real cold the snow sometimes comes down like tiny ice balls. This is from the window in my room at school.
Here is Susan in her pretty red coat my sister gave her. I am trying to load some English software on one of the computers in my room while I am doing this. Behind Susan is the frozen Yukon River.
Here is the kid walking through the water on top of the ice on the river. It was in the twenties with no wind. A very nice day to walk around for Susan and I. Hope you like the movie.

The kids were taking advantage of the new snow for some fun on a sunny day. Never mind that they were sledding out on the river ice. If they get caught on the ice before it is judged safe they will be put in jail. The blue edge is ice covered with water. They were walking through the water and out on the ice. Their tracks can be seen far out onto the ice. Susan and I knew them and told them the ice was not safe. They just told us kids did this last year. I said "Well, where are those kids."

Here is the friend I was talking to you about. Susan and I were walking about 5 pm along the river. There he was near where I saw him before. On the camera his form is really small. I was pleasantly surprised to see the actual shot was much better. I hope he is not shot by the native Alaskans!!!!
He wanted us to see both sides! Susan's cold is much better. I was glad she could make the walk this evening. In folk lore foxes are egotists, but our fiery, friendly, fox, friend makes not boasts.
See. She is waving again. Across the way is an island in the Yukon River. We are going over there, maybe in December, to see how big the Yukon is on the other side. I'll take pics.
My sister and mother sent me these pants. They have orange in the plaid with an OSU symbol. Thanks a lot for the thoughtful boxes. I think I would like warm pullovers for Christmas, not sweaters. I will put a picture of one on here so you can see, if you needed a list. I wore these to both stores and the people looked at me like "Oh, Brother."
This picture is of small remnant of the river that is not frozen. The wind was very brisk this evening and we walked quickly about one half mile back to our school. For that matter all too soon we may not get much light. The veterans said we will have about 4 hours of gloomy light per day and that will be while we are at work. Someone is taking care of me because I have 20 feet of windows (it seems) in my room so I will see the meager light. Susan has big windows in her class room, too. I am not afraid, because my students put out a bright inner light that will keep all of us warm and happy. I called my nephew, Ryan who lives in Florida, using Skype at school. My students all wanted to see him and his family. They were so friendly to Ryan asking many questions. My students are truly good people.

October 18

Today, Susan sent me to take pictures of the developing ice on the Yukon River. You can see the ice forming along the river's edge. In the fore ground is some driftwood cut and piled for someone to use in their sweat house. The native Alaskans do not bath they sweat to clean their bodies.
It is cold today. The wind is blowing from I don't know where, certainly not the Sahara. You can see the ice start to pile up. A lot of the boats have been lifted out of the river and put up to be replaced with snow machines. That is what Alaskans call snow mobiles. Many are excited for winter. Safe routes are marked on the river and people go much faster than boats. Sometimes the river breaks through and leaves a couple of feet of water on the top of the ice. I have been told the snow machines just keep going, but the ride can become wet as well as cold.
Here is a fishery boat. The engines are as long as I am tall. Notice it takes three axles. One of my friends went out with a native to get fire wood. He said they would crash into the ice, back up and crash into it again when they go in ice that was thick. He said he has never been so cold.
The river piles up the ice on top of firmer ice making what looks like drifts. It will take a few feet of snow to make travel smooth over this river.
This is about three inches thick. This is a close up of the drifts of ice on the river. They are 2 to 3 feet tall in places. I walk from our house down through the dusty town along the icy river by to beautiful town dump which leads to the cold airport. From the airport I walk across a mile stretch of destroyed road which comes out at the health clinic. I think it might be about a two and one half mile walk. Last night on this walk I saw a pretty big red fox near the junk yard by the river. When I was behind the dump I turned around for some reason and another red fox was following me with ten feet. I talked to him about my dogs at home. He or she stopped to listen until I finished my story. I turned to leave and then turned back and the fox had vanished. Of course, I had no camera. I had my camera tonight in case I saw them again. No fox.

Gulls at the trash dump.

Bering Sea

The wind was blowing about 40 mph and the sand was blowing in our eyes.
Can you believe Susan got into the water. I sure did not. It seemed about 40 degrees.
This dog belongs to the math teacher in the picture with me. I think the dog felt sorry for Susan and wanted to help her get warm.
The Bering Sea was blowing in so hard the water was brown with a muddy sand.
This is a shot from the plane as we took off for Emmonak.

The is one of the streets in Emmonak. They have a silty gray mud when wet. It hardens on your shoes and comes off later in your house.
This is a nice shot of our house. The red tank is for fuel oil. The trees and grass are strategically placed for beauty and to let you know what season it is. See, we don't have snakes so we can have nice long native grass. We had our first light snow fall on Oct 1st. These boards are really slick with just frost. I am glad Susan and I have spikes that fit onto our shoes.
GHOST FOUR WHEEL RIDERS!!!! GETTNG CLOSE TO HALLOWEN!!!!! Look at the strange clouds in this shot.
A shot of the part of the High School. It is very old and needs replaced. Heard we are fifth one the list of new improvements. The elementary wing is a lot newer.
I still can't get over this blue glacier ice, really wierd. But not as wierd as ghost riders