Nelson Island Haikus

Got to leave this class
So boring Mr. Martin
Please can I visit?

My Christmas Story

My Christmas break was preempted by a little accident that happened on Dec. 10th, a week before I left to start my voyage home to Maryland. I took a little spill on the ice. Now I would love to be able to tell you that I was launching off of a 20 ft. snow bluff performing a perfect southern cross on my backcountry skis or that I was careening down the hill behind the village on my mountain bike with my dog in hot pursuit and washed out on a patch of ice tumbling for 100 feet, but no. No, I was simply walking my dog to a neighbor’s house. One minute I was walking cautiously, the next minute I was trying to pick myself up fast enough to get inside a building so that I wouldn’t go unconscious and die of exposure. After spending about an hour at my friend’s house looking at my dented face and applying ice as much as I could stand, I got a quick trip to the regional clinic here in Toksook. There I got an x-ray, called home to notify my parents, and then went back down to the house for the night where I was awakened every two hours on the hour by either my neurotic dog or my concerned friends.
The next morning, I flew to Bethel for a CT scan. Afterwards I hung out in Bethel for ohhhh……three more days due to weather. I returned to Toksook, taught for two and a half days and then caught my plane home. By the time I had gotten home, I had talked with a surgeon in Anchorage that convinced me that surgery was the right call. He referred me to a facial plastic surgeon in Baltimore and I had a surgical consult scheduled before I got home.
Christmas was good at the Martin household. I got a rifle for spring Ptarmigan hunting and a pair of ice cleats to wear around the village from now until May when everything turns to mud again. Everyone was pleasantly surprised and appreciative for the gifts and we later went to Grandma’s house for wonderful home cooked meal.
The day after Christmas I drove back down to Baltimore with my Dad for my surgery. We found out through my CT scans in Bethel and Baltimore that I had broken my eye orbital in two places and shattered my zygomaticomaxillary complex (cheek bone). It was my first time being under the knife, so I was a little nervous. I was out for about two hours and woke up with my face looking more normal and a small titanium “L” shaped plate fastened and securing my cheek bone. The only incision that was made was on my upper gums inside my mouth. From there the doctors were able to lift my cheek bone back into place and set the other shattered bones in their proper positions so that my face had some normal looking structure again. After a couple of recovery days at home, watching movies, eating soft foods, and pretty much being a slug, I was out in the field with Dad gathering firewood and playing with the dog.
New Years was fairly uneventful, but enjoyable just the same.
The next day I flew back to the frozen hinter lands of Southwest Alaska. When I arrived Bethel, the air temperature was 33 below zero and 55 below with the wind chill. Brrrrr! This morning I finished the last of my antibiotics and am waiting for the rest of the inflammation to disappear. I am looking pretty normal though, except for the cool scar on my cheek that reminds of the split second that I was in the air and then bouncing my face off the frozen ground. The hardest part for me is the next 4 – 6 weeks when I have to take it easy. I want to get out on the skis with the dog and start testing out the slopes around the village. Luckily the snow conditions are not that great for skiing right now, so maybe I will be able to heal a little more before we get enough snow to really have fun on the skis. I would still be excited to see some more snow fall during the next 4 weeks. My fingers are crossed.

Show me the snow!

Brrrrrrrr! It is getting pretty cold here in late November. The sun rises about 9 am and sets around 5:30pm around the time of year. When the sun is up, it doesn't get more than about five finger widths above the horizon. Non the less, Katja and I still manage to get out and explore the frozen wilderness. Yesterday, I hitched Katja up to my Mtn. bike and we rode up the hill, around the thumb, and down and around the back side of the hill. There is almost too much snow to ride a bike, especially without a powerhouse dog pulling you, however there still isn't enough snow to break the skis out. So, we have to keep using the bike and power through the deep crusty drifts of snow, looking for patches of exposed ground so that I can actually get traction and ride the bike. In these pictures of course, you can see that actual riding isn't very realistic. From this point in our ride, we head down this hill to the bottom of the valley, then follow the bottom of the hill around to the left and back to the village. We have to cross a couple of frozen streams along the way, which makes me appreciate my studded mtn. bike tires that I've been using for the past month or so now.
Katja has been amazing with the whole bikejoring experience. She loves to pull and when she gets on a trail, just wants to go go go. I was amazed at some of the deep drifts she was able to pull me through. You can see that the bay in the background of this picture is starting to freeze up as well. By the time I get back from Christmas break, it will be time for ice fishing again and there will be plenty of snow for skijoring
Classes have been very energetic lately. The students are very jittery and I think we are all in need of a little break. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas is soon to follow. My how time flies.
Thanks for reading,
Dirk

Happy Halloween!

So Halloween in the small native village of Toksook Bay is just like most other towns across America. It’s all about the candy! There are a few adults that do actually dress up, but mostly it’s kids….4th grade and down. I was going to go for something subtle, like wear my glasses that I have never worn in public yet, but I decided go with something a little more creative.

Side note…

We have been trying to attack our behavioral problems in more a positive manner. That is, instead of telling students “don’t do this” and “don’t do that”, we are focusing on the students that are doing what they are expected and giving them kudos or props. Telling them they are doing a great job. We do that through four mantras; be respectful, be responsible, be helpful, and be safe. When students are doing what they are expected to we give them a “Gotcha Card.” It’s amazing how this effects student’s behavior.

Back to original thought…













I decided to dress up as a human “Gotcha Card.” It went pretty well. Even some of the kids got it. Halloween doesn't always have to be "Who are you." It could be "What are you." Some of you might be saying, "what a dork", but who knows, maybe my quick sketch of a generic piece of paper on a white cotton shirt will be mass produced and sold all over the village. My legacy will have manifested itself.

Thanks for reading.
Happy Halloween!

The River of Frozen Dreams

Winter seems to have taken a firm grip on the land over the past 4 weeks, but we still don’t have much snow. I figure that it will probably warm up around the beginning of November, although I really hope it doesn’t. The snow that we got 3 weeks ago is still hanging around and towards the end of this week, we got another inch of powder. The temps have not gotten above freezing the whole time though, so the ground (aka soggy spongy mattress ground) has been hard as a rock for some time now. This makes it perfect to ride on, so Katja and I have been cruising up along the river for evening rides. The river itself is a little sketchy to ride on yet, although I have seen 4 wheeler donuts out on the middle of ice. I’m not going to risk it though. We can ride about six miles in about an hour, but only 2 miles of that is on the tundra. Tundra riding is still pretty slow going.
Fishing would be so much easier if I could ride all the way up to where the Dollys are hanging out. It takes me about an hour to get to the fish when the ground is soggy and boggy, but only 30 minutes from my house when the ground is frozen. It is hard to believe that I was fishing this same water about 1 month ago. Many things take forever up here, the mail, traveling, etc. The weather happens very suddenly.

Today, Katja and I went on our mountain circuit ride where we ride up to the top and then maneuver our way down the other side without getting killed. With snow on the ground it’s a little softer falling, but you end up falling more often, so I guess it evens out. I went over the bars a couple of times today. We had a great ride though. I must have been really focused on keeping the rubber side down, because all of the sudden, I saw blackness in front of me and hit the breaks as hard as I could. Too late, my front wheel sunk into the murky blackness and I had to catch myself, which meant that my foot sunk down into the bogginess as well. Surprisingly I was able to pull my foot out quick enough so that I didn’t get too wet. I tried to sneak around where the ice seemed a little thicker, but I broke through again. I quickly decided that I made a wrong turn and backtracked to another trail that headed up towards higher ground. Katja did amazingly well the whole time we were out. She is leaps and bounds ahead of where she was last year as far as skijoring (bikejoring) is concerned. I’m really looking forward to this winter when we get the skis out.

Changing of Seasons

I know that I'm getting too excited too early, but I can't help being energized with the first snow fall. Katja was pretty excited as well. Once again, she can get a mouth full of snow, which quickly becomes ice cold water, at full stride to stay hydrated on our endurance adventures. Early this week, we took a quick spin around the 3 mile x-country course after the ground has frozen hard and there was a light dusting of snow. The trail is alittle easier to pick out with a light snow. It's pretty difficult even in the best conditions. The wind was blowing pretty hard up on top of the ridge, so it meant that I cooled down quickly when I had to stop and round up my adventurous run away dog, who had taken off on another quick side venture. She has gotten much better at staying near me when we run, but there is just so much to explore out there, she just can't help herself sometimes. She healed the rest of the way back to the village, so I treated her to a left over steak bone in my fridge. The next day she in turn treated me with a nice steamy pile of poo outside my bedroom door. I guess on top of the dog food, the steak pushed over the edge. I decided to leave out any photos. That hasn't happened since the first few months she lived with me.

Today we rode to the top of the hill and then when off trail over the side towards "the thumb" to pick up another trail that winds around behind this ridge and follows the wide valley below. Again, Katja took off returning after a period of shouting for her. I was getting concerned that she had come across a fox and gave chase, which could last for a long while. I hope that never happens. Upon returning, I scolded her for running off and then we continued down the hill, following the snow filled tracks of the 4 wheeler trail. We flushed a nice size covy of ptarmigan, which normally would entice Katja to take off again, but she was able to contain herself this time. I guess she connected the dots. It has been cold enough that even the swampy ground is fairly frozen enough so that I don't sink my front wheel through boggy sections of the trail. We got back to the town relatively dry and worn out. Another successful outdoor adventure.

Fishing in the Fall

So last weekend, I made one last voyage up the Alakugaq to fill my freezer. I actually wasn't planning to keep any fish, but when I caught some good size fish, I changed my mind. I had decided to hike farther up river than I had ever been before. I also had dinner plans for 6 pm, so I knew that I couldn't spend too much time exploring.
I rode my bike as far as I could over the squishy tundra and then hiked the rest of the way. There were still many salmon swimming up the river, so I assumed that there would also be many Dollys following them to suck up their eggs. There were indeed a lot of fish in my usual fishing hole, but I wanted to explore farther up river, so I caught a few and then continued hiking
I knew that I was going to be wiped out at the end of the day, because I was already feeling tired as I hiked across the soggy landscape. Parts of the ground were solid and other parts were totally exhausting to get through. As I got farther up stream, the river got very narrow and the fish would spook and dart around