Yeah!!! I'm not writing into empty space! Thanks, Paul, for responding. You may be the only person reading, but it's worth it anyway. I actually had a dream about visiting you guys last night; I guess I'm just really looking forward to it. I've been eagerly anticipating a picture of Nate! Don't bother yourselves with trying to get a frame. I can work on that when I leave town in a couple of weeks. Mail it in something sturdy, though, and make "Don't bend" or something like that obvious; otherwise, they'll try to stuff it in my box.
Once again I had a packed day at the school -- 6 programs! No time for lunch or the restroom! Tomorrow will be my last day in a village school, I think, until March. November is booked with office work, a conference in Connecticut, and a quick trip to Florida. December includes a few programs in town in Kotzebue, then school's out for Christmas. No one has signed up for January yet, so unless that changes... February is full. I'll have alsmost two weeks at the Grand Canyon for training, and I think I can swing a full two weeks for a trip to TX!!!! March and April will be busy with four village school visits. School is out the first week of May, but there will be a birding contest and summer season to get ready for. Then, we start over again. Whew, the whole year's mapped out -- I feel tired already.
I got just about an hour to walk around today after school before it got dark. I got a few pictures, and if they're any good, I'll try to post them when I get back to Kotz. This is really a nice little town. I walked across my first frozen pond today, about 200 meters across. I have to admit that even though I saw people on the frozen river (which likely had less ice than this) and saw tracks across the pond, it was still a daunting feat for me. I just always wonder just how thick the ice is and if it's really going to hold me up! At first I could see the ground under the ice. Then I saw lots of white blotches which, at first, I thought were plants or soil or something right underneath the ice. However, I realized that they were just frosty bubbles on the bottom of the ice and that I was staring down into blackness, the depths of which I had no idea! I felt like running at that point but talked myself into continuing along slowly. I know this is something that even little kids feel comfortable with and take for granted here, but I had never walked on ice with liquid water below. And this was just a pond. I wonder how much I'll freak out when I walk or ride a snowmobile across part of the ocean in Kotzebue Sound!
On another note, I was dismayed today when I logged on and saw the news of the incident at Ft. Hood. I read somewhere that Ft. Hood is the base with the most casualties in the war, and now this... My heart aches for the families of the victims; another senseless act of violence.
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