This is Why Kitties Shouldn't be Allowed to Sew!

 

     This video is from over 4 years ago when I first got Gwennie Poohbear.  I was staying in my friend's RV temporarily and decided to sew a dress of which Gwendolyn immediately wanted to assist.  Obviously she was not much help.

Figlet's Rescue (or Fig for short)

 

 

        Sorry for this delayed post but I was reviewing past posts and realized I never added the rescue of Figlet to my blog, Fig for short.  So here it is nearly 1.5 years late but better late than never.  So one cold frigid day in January 2021 during a red zone when student's weren't in school I was standing by the front door waiting for the principal to bring in the mail.  I heard whimpering so opened the door and felt the cold inward rush of the winter air but couldn't find where it was coming from.  I closed the door allowing it to warm up some only to hear it again.  So I reopened the door and walked outside in my ballet flats only to see a high school student holding a tied up dog about to walk onto the frozen sea ice.  I knew what this meant.  All too often in Diomede, Alaska they dispose of unwanted dogs once they reach the age of 1 or 2 years of age by shooting them on the ice.  Down came the students father with a rifle and away I flew over the snow to intervene.  Of course at that exact moment the principal returns with the mail and I am standing there with a dog and rope.  You are only allowed 3 pets via BSSD's former pet policy and being I already had 3 cats the principal said I could only keep her if I had a rescue to take her on the next flight.  So I called a friend in Nome who agreed to help followed by Best Friends Animal Rescue in Anchorage, AK who immediately agreed to take her.  And thus began Figlet's Youtube stardom when I sent them videos for future adopters.  

            Of course let me tell you it's not quite easy hauling a metal indoor dog crate over 20+ foot snow drifts to get to the arriving chopper.  Mabel, the new Filipino teacher helped me but neither of use could carry it up there (we couldn't get a plastic one delivered in time) and then out comes Bobby, an Inupiaq man who trots effortlessly over the snow we were slipping on, picked up the crate w/ one hand that neither of us could carry and dropped it over the snow drift for us near the tarmac.  These Eskimos sure have a better resiliency than we do for doing things like this.  So I slid back down to get Fig who at this point had spent a few nights in my kitchen with Gwendolyn trying to get through the door.  I asked a nice worker who was leaving Diomede from his 2 week shift to escort her, I even told him I'd pay him but he wouldn't accept money and away Fig went to Nome to her new home.  If you're wondering about her pink attire, well she was freezing and I had to protect her from the cold somehow so I fashioned a coat of mine into a dog coat for her, now if only I could have made her booties.

        If you're wondering how Fig got her name it's because they said they were going to shoot her because she wouldn't eat when in reality, they just didn't have dog food to feed her and she didn't want to eat slop.  So I took her inside and saw her eyeing my figs which she was immediately fond of in addition to oatmeal and butter and later cat food.  I offered her expired dog food the last teacher left which she also found agreeable but she preferred cat food instead.  Better than nothing I suppose.

P.S.  If the principal hadn't let me rescue her I would have quit and left with her, HA!  And Figlet was adopted by a wonderful family in Anchorage!  :)  Thanks Best Friends Animal Rescue for being willing to take her in a pinch.

An Eskimo Sledding Field Trip!

 

        Monday, May 16, 2022 was field trip day for ECE and K-1.  Originally we were going to go to Drum Island but after taking into account the melting snow, the children's ages and the distance we instead decided to go to the beach.  We didn't have enough adults to both drive snow machines and have one ride on the back standing up mushing style so we had to take them in groups.  Here I am riding in the sled on the way back to pick up more kiddos.  Of course one ECE child ended up falling off (a common occurrence even amongst the older children) but she was picked up by another teacher pulling the drift wood.  

                                                          The little one says, "Can I go?"

                                                                 Oodles of drift wood.

        While at the beach children dug in the snow with sand digging supplies, made s'mores and ate roasted hot dogs over the driftwood fire.  We had the school bus take the ECE students home so we would only have to take one trip via sled back to the school.  What a fun adventure.   I got a taste of what their Inupiaq ancestors felt traveling around with caribou.