November happenings

Since my last post I feel like I haven't had time to slow down and think let alone write anything...

The flood ended up not being too bad here. Some people downtown said it flooded as bad as it does in spring time. However, I don't know of any damages, except maybe some problems with snow machines and hondas. Thank goodness we didn't get hit harder. Kotlik, another village in my district, got hit HARD with ice. They were without water and sewer for a while, and I think that even now part of their village is without. But I'm not sure.

We were expecting flood again Wednesday of that week, and because of how our village is, when water began to rise quickly around noon on Wednesday we released school early. Many of the classes were around 50% attendance anyway because parents either had kept them home that morning, or had come to get them when they were concerned that water would rise to a point that they couldn't come get their children. I am glad our school was conscious of the situation and very grateful that no flooding occurred on Wednesday. I think they said water came within inches of the bank, but none spilled over on Wednesday.

On Thursday I was scheduled to fly to Mountain Village to present some training on Friday. After a phone call saying the lights were broken, and another that said our runway was too soft, I cried because I had been looking forward to catching up with some friends in MOU. Turns out everything works out. I ended up on a plane around 6 PM to Mountain and spent Thursday night prepping for presenting on Friday. After work Friday, I hung around MOU for another night and thoroughly enjoyed the laughter and conversation with some great friends. Saturday evening I went to KSM to visit some friends there and was grateful for a weekend break from work and stresses.

This week was tough. I had a few very frustrating days, and spent each evening working late into the night followed by early mornings. I wish I could say that I was completely caught up on my life--college, grading, prepped for this week--but I am not...

We spent Monday through Thursday conserving water as much as possible... For me, that meant to laundry, no dishes, and no showering. A Thursday evening text okayed us to use water again, so Friday morning brought a shower, but still no time to do dishes and laundry. Needless to say, my house is a disaster... Dishes are finally done now, I have only 2 loads of laundry left to do. And I need another day in the weekend so I can get caught up in college...

Thursday and Friday of this week our volleyball team traveled to Mountain Village for the regional volleyball tournament. I was disappointed to not be allowed to travel, but because of how many other staff members were out, I stayed behind. I was able to watch our kids play via VTC, which was nice, but its just not the same. Our team ended up second place, so season is over.

We've got a short week ahead of us, 2 1/2 days... Here's to some Thanksgiving crafts and fun coupled with some delicious food toward the end of the week! :)

xoxo
SJ

Front row seats... Go Braves!

Fans of all ages enjoyed the game. :)

Winter Storm 11/9/13

Yesterday afternoon was pretty windy, maybe rainy, I can't remember. About 7:45 last night Paul came to my door and said there was flooding by AVEC and we could potentially lose water, sewer, and power. So I filled a few totes of water, and began preparing for an evening (or longer) without water, power, sewer...

At about 8:15 I decided to go explore. Many friends who live on the other end of town were posting about flooding at their houses, and a friend told me it was knee deep at his place. So, I slapped on my knee brace, jumped into my rubber boots and went for a walk. It wasn't long before I decided that I was going to seriously freak myself out in the dark, so I wandered to Theresa's to see if she wanted to join.

We walked to the UUI building, right by our houses and water was HIGH, getting pretty close to the road... Then we walked down past the school, then to AVEC. Here are some pictures and videos. It was dark, so they might be pretty hard to see. The last picture is from today, I walked to the UUI building on my way to school and water is WAY down... 

I am so thankful that everything turned out okay here in AUK. However, please pray for the other villages. Kotlik was hit pretty hard, they're out of water and sewer because of the flooding. Nunam lost power, but I don't know of their status right now.

The current by my old house. Right by the school.

Current was pretty strong. 

Water across the road where the road hits the main road, I guess?
Where you turn to come to laundry instead of going around by PO...

Pretty smart idea, I'd say!

Akleng! Someone's bike.. :(

Current at AVEC, I think.

The current by my boots right by AVEC. Hondas made it through fine, though.

Water on the road by water treatment plant.

Getting the hondas up on higher ground. And water by water treatment.

The bucket on the right took a tumble with a gust of wind. Scared Theresa and I. :)
In the middle of the road...

Some crazies tried to run us over! Haha.

Headed back to the house. Water went down a LOT. You can't see very well in this picture.

Only about 35 minutes after we first walked past here. Water was down a lot.

35 minutes. water down. You can see where it was (the dark) and by this point it was
 back down to the side of the road...

This morning... Last night, we walked to here and the water was just inside the frame of this picture.
You can see the water in the slough. On the other side of that little hump is probably a few feet down to the bank.
I was in tennis shoes not rubber boots otherwise I'd have gone closer to the slough to check it out.

End of Quarter 1

So. Imagine that. Sammy Jo procrastinated report cards and grades until the final week. No wonder it was a  71 hour work week...

She vowed to be better about entering grades daily or every other day, then received an email that said not to enter any grades until further notice... Some bug with the gradebooks they're working on...

Ho hum. What's a girl to do? Well. Teach her hiney off, to start with... Mid-week boat ride to Emo for eggs. Handing out candy. Boat ride to check net. And halloween carnival. That brought me to a Sunday to catch up on college, lesson plan, and clean my house. I am not super proud to say that the only thing I did today was vacuum, dishes, laundry, and catch up on one of 2 classes... Here's to an early night and an early morning at work.

xoxo,
SJ

My in-boat TV entertainment was a little snowy Weds afternoon. 

So exciting to see white on the bank!!

Winter is coming!!!

Kinsey and Holly bundled up to go shopping. :)

Hope freeze up comes fast!

Lesson learned: Paper cupcake liners, no matter how squished they are
or how quickly the go in oven, they don't work like foil ones...
Spookly the Square Pumpkin, anyone?

The coolest costumes...