October 21

(South end of un-named main street)

My phone was connected yesterday, and I have called about getting the Internet connected.

I washed my hair today and have a load in the wash machine. I leave home every morning with a clean shirt and pants and within an hour, there are dirt streak on my pants and/or mud splashed on the cuffs. Since roads are not paved, they have either dust or mud. The roads were originally made with river silt and that was probably glacial powder. So, they say, when you walked or drove a vehicle you could barely see for the dust. Then when they discovered the limestone to quarry and built the 16 mile road, they used that linestone, but as it pulverized, it became as dusty as the silt. Now the government oils the road a couple times a year.

I was amazed at the number of vehicles in McGrath. One of the first questions I asked Laural was how they got them here. A car can be brought in an air cargo plane, a truck has to come by barge and the river is long and not always deep enough for a barge. But, since most people live outside a mile of town, the vehicle seems fairly important. I may have to get a four-wheeler. It can be used year-round. The trick in cold temperature is to go very slowly. The inclination is to get where you are going fast and that just makes it colder.

I talked to a friend from North Carolina yesterday. She had her office in the CMMC for several years while she wrote a scope and sequenced computer learning program, Kaleidoscope, for the state of North Carolina. I told the assistant superintendent, about the program because it sounded like something that could be used up here and she was interested. Donna has expanded the program since the time I knew about it and when she said that Kaleidoscope is not just for computer education any more. It's for improving reading, writing and math skills, I knew I was on to something since reading, writing and math skills are the aims of the grant I'm on. She's working up a package and presentation to give to the Iditarod Area school superintendent. IASD is not happy with the learning aid program they have now, and were considering discontinuing it anyway

Yesterday the kindergarten put on a play and I was working so hard I completely missed it. Innoko Fish and Wildlife had their annual open house and I did get there for lunch before they folded up - hamburgers and hot dogs. I was able to meet a lot more community members. One of the rangers told me she has a fairly large nature library on the first floor and she is hoping I can find time to help her with it. They have a lot of the animal puppets made by Folkmania that I could never justify purchasing for the CMMC.

October 19th - Pre-Internet connection

This has been a very exciting week. I flew out of Portland last Thursday and after spending the night in Anchorage airport, flew into McGrath Alaska on Friday morning. The guy in the seat in front of me on the plane was smart enough to have his camera ready to snap pictures of McGrath as we arrived. I was not so smart.

After bragging about the winter sunshine in Alaska, I arrived to a very overcast sky and that has continued all week, probably because they are having unseasonably warm weather. There is usually (not always) frost on the front steps in the morning but it doesn't last long. For those who think Alaska is in 24 hour darkness during the winter (that only happens around the winter solstice and above the Arctic Circle). It gets light around 8 am with the sun rising about 8:30 am and it is light until about 6:00pm. Of course the days are still getting shorter by about 5 minutes each day until December 21. And we will have to endure the return to Standard Time.


(picture is north end of the un-named main street from inside air-field fence)

I was greeted as I stepped off the plane by my landlady, Laural, who runs PenAir here in McGrath. My plane was also met by the school superintendent and assistant superintendent. After coffee with the school people in the McGrath Hotel, (building at right in picture is McGrath Hotel) and departure of the plane on its return to Anchorage, Laural brought me home to the B&B. It's not glamorous, but I am very happy here. I have the front upstairs room just off the kitchen. The only problem I see is that the house is about 2 miles away from the school and district office. But, everyone insists that getting rides is no imposition. After I moved in, she took me for a drive and we visited the library, which is in the school district building. Laural is also the president of the library board, which is how I heard about this room. To celebrate my arrival, they got dinners that evening from the pub which specializing in Steak dinners on Friday evenings. Laural's husband Mike flew out the next morning for a conference in Fairbanks. He is the director of the University of Alaska extension here in McGrath.

I can't remember what I did on Saturday except that Laural and I went to two of the stores in town. Actually, there isn't much "in town" except the Alaska Commercial store, a warehouse, and the hotel which are just outside the airport fence. Everything else is rather spread out within about a mile. One store we visited is in a prefab storage building in a lady's back yard - very small, but very nice and clean. The other store we went to is crammed so full of almost everything that you have to move sidewise into an aisle and if you want to see what is on the other side of the aisle, you have to slide out and slide back in facing that direction. She has that place crammed and several other buildings, I'm told. She seems to know where everything is and was able to find a phone and a watch battery for me.

Sunday, I rode in with Laural and had breakfast at the hotel, then walked over to the non-denominational church. I was one of the 17 people, including the man preaching. Laural took me on a Sunday drive, out on the 16 mile road that goes to the quarry. We went as far as we dared before it got too soft to be safe (No roads are paved here.) Sunday evening the assistant superintendent held a reception for me which gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of the people from the school district office - a very good potluck dinner.

Monday and Tuesday I spent most of my time in the McGrath library or trying to clear out the office enough that I could sit down at the desk. The previous library director had pulled almost all the books off the shelves with some idea of rearranging, and then she moved to Anchorage with her husband without telling anyone what she intended to do.

Wednesday I flew in a bush plane to the village of Takotna just for the opportunity of introducing myself and looking around. The school in Takotna was designed by a prize winning architect, but the present teacher is not using it as it was designed. It was built to house the library in the center, with an elementary classroom at one end and the upper-grade classroom at the other. Since there are only 2 elementary students and 11 junior high and high-schoolers, the teacher uses the central room for classroom. (The library is basically a mess (that's mess not mass) of books and basically non-existent. They spent the first three hours I was there making slide shows on the computer or playing computer games, but maybe that's how he gets them coming to school every day and seem to be learning. One boy spent the whole day in the computer room and didn't even join the class for the two lessons.

Today Thursday, I flew out to Lime Village, an hour's flight south and east of McGrath, over mountains, in the middle of nowhere and with a gravel runway. The village has no stores and my tour of the village consisted of a trip to the Laundromat and showers, which by the way is very nice. I missed the village in full flora but have been told that it is the most beautiful village. Billy, my traveling companion and the school district computer guru, says he calls it "The shire." This village has no means of support and the teachers there are there only because they are so devoted to their profession. With an enrollment of 11, there were 6 in class today. School is not terribly important if, say, the father decides to go hunting that day or the child wants to work on his snow machine or just doesn't feel like attending. Other than the teachers and the janitors for the school and for the laundromat, no one else has a job and alcoholism is rampant.

I came home this evening to find that Laural had removed the extra bed and given me a computer desk, a wooden unit for the TV and a card table for my sewing machine. They are treating me wonderfully. But … my phone has still not been connected. Thus still no internet.