What the heck?! Where has the time gone?! How did I managed to completely skip April?! I'm using my job as an excuse, that 8 to 4:30 thing that pays the bills but gets in the middle of everything else in life. I'm not complaining about my job, it's just that it does take up the best hours of the day.
Spring has definitely sprung in the last several weeks. First the robins returned, followed a week or so later by its cousin, the Varied Thrush, which I still haven't caught sight of, but we often, calling from the trees. The crows came back, too (the ravens never left). Skunk cabbage began poking up flower stalks all over town next.
At the same time, the weather warmed a bit, and the rain nearly stopped. When it has rained in the last six weeks, it's more of a drizzle. Hard to tell if this is normal or not, since it's our first spring.
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| Sitka Harbor and Mountains. I really enjoyed Sitka. |
Another sign of Spring in Klawock: after weeks and weeks of having to see ugly piles of trash, some very big, sitting at the side of the road in front of many homes, the trucks were rolling this week and picked up many of them. People had been building these for over a month. I can understand not wanting to move items more than once, but I can't understand it being acceptable to start the piles so far ahead of the pickup date. A stack of mattresses surrounded by trash of all kinds just looks horrible. It is before the tourists arrive, but still, where is the pride in community? Very odd event. It does look great now, that's for sure, with all of that trash gone. We took advantage and got rid of the last of our moving crates. I had broken them down months ago, and got rid of most of the wood, but had three 4 x 8 platforms with runners attached; glad to have them gone.
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| Tlingit Clan Leaders and the Warming of the Hands Ceremony. Because clans were at war with each other at one time, meetings of clan leaders began with this 'ceremony,' designed to prove neither hand held a weapon. |
Speaking of spring, the black bears are still sleeping, despite the warmer weather. Someone told me they don't come out until the berries are ready, but that seems like it's going to be a few weeks, at least. The bushes are leafing out, and some have flowers. I've even seen bees, but no bears. Quinlan and Lakota got a good look at a doe recently, right on the road, but it was way too fast for them, and disappeared into the forest.
Another obvious sign we are in a very different part of the country, hearing standard Verizon ringtone! When was the last time you in the Lower 48 heard that ring tone? 1999 maybe? Cell phone are just as common here as in the Lower 48, no doubt about that fact.
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| Low tide in the Klawock Inlet. The fence is over a new culvert, installed in November, 2011, to allow fish to travel between the Inlet and the Klawock River. Notice the solar cells on the fence, powering a camera that records fish movement through the culvert. See the broad inter-tidal zone: high tide comes all the way up to the foot of the culvert. See the white house, middle of the picture: that is our landlords house, and our cabin is just behind it, in the trees. |
I went to another memorial service yesterday. It was my fourth since starting to work at KCA in January. I asked my boss if this was normal, and she told me it was not. Three of the people who died did so of natural causes, unlike the most recent death. Her's is a tragic tale of domestic violence, being taken from this earth way too early, leaving young children motherless, and just should not be happening at all in 2012. As far as we've come technologically, we still have a long way to go as a society. It doesn't help that the one mother in the nation who goes crazy with her tanning booth exploits gets ungodly amounts of attention, while poor families by the millions continue to struggle, financially and otherwise, and yet garner little in attention from the media. When will we declare poverty a project worthy of our full attention, as President Kennedy did with the space program, and devote the proper resources to sharply reduce poverty? Investing in people directly as this would do would bring much higher benefits to our society than the space program did.
Hope everyone is enjoying the arrival of spring. Remember, spring and summer go by much, much quicker than the fall and winter, so be sure and start planning now to enjoy it.
I was promoted to Transportation Planner last week, very cool. This sounds so much more impressive than Transportation Technician. :-) The Tribe also held a strategic planning session, their first, which is a great step forward. They have also assembled a much better staff, and continue to add to it. It is almost a completely new organization, and very focused on improving the life's of it's membership, however it can. It's a very exciting time to be part of the team.
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| Beautiful Native art in the Klawock School Library. Eagle representation on the left, see the hooked beak, raven on the right. |
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| Tlingit Moiety, Clan, House, Family |
Kathy was in Sitka again two weeks ago, for training. She at least got to stay in a much better place than her first visit there. She also met some new people, and had some fun as well as soaked up the training. She and her co-worker and boss all attended.
I've got an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon in Ketchikan, and then will have surgery to repair my torn rotator cuff. Luckily it's my right shoulder, so won't interfer with my handwriting. I have to wear a sling for two weeks, hoping I can still type with my right hand, but time will tell.
Well, the plane ticket to San Diego that I bought the night before I got the job offer from KCA will finally be used next Friday. Unfortunately for me, it won't be me using it: Kathy is going to San Diego for two weeks. I can barely stand it that she will get to see Henry and I won't. I miss him so much! He's talking, in English! (he's been talking for many months, just not in English!) I'm stuck here with Kathy's dumb dogs, while she flies off to see our precious grandson. Oh, and daughter and fiance, too. :-)
Only 19 days until the 13th Annual Prince of Wales Island International Marathon. I've been working on the committee for about four months. This year a half marathon has been added, and is outselling the full marathon about two to one. Including the relay teams, there will be about 300 people running and walking, very small compared to the previous marathons I've volunteered for, but none of them can compete scenery wise. Volunteering on this committee was a fun way to get involved in the community, meet new people, and make myself useful. This is the third different marathon I've volunteered with, and about the 16th event.
I could write about the scenery each and every post. The snow continues to cover the mountains in white white. Most of the ridges are sharp, adding to the beauty of the mountains.
The first tour boat arrives in Klawock on Monday, carrying up to 75 people. We, the Tribe, tried to get the the contract for a walking tour program from the City of Klawock, but this didn't work out. So, we are going ahead with our own, and will pitch it to the sport fishers who stay in the several lodges and cabins around town. We have heard their boats return around 2:00 PM in the afternoon, after leaving early to fish, and would love to have something else to do. We are lining up a native dance troupe, and native artists to sell their wares to the tourists. This will be the second year a tour boat has included Klawock on it's itinerary.
