$1000 Grocery Bill

How is that possible you may be asking yourself? Is it really that much more expensive to live in the bush (rural Alaska)? Possibly, but you see, there is a company called Span Alaska. They "barge" groceries up to us rural people from down in the lower 48. You really can get a lot better of a deal doing it this way. The only problem is that they require you to put in an order for 25 cases. For example, 24 cans of green beans is considered a case. So, after going through their catalog we put in an order. The groceries will come in on the last barge of the season. It sets sail from Seattle on September 5 and should roughly take a month to get up here. Needless to say we didn't buy any perishable items. Remind me in October when the barge gets here and I'll post a picture of what $1000 worth of groceries looks like. It better look it alot!

On a different topic, the other day I got a call at home from one of my Talent Search students. You see, while she was here at camp the State Troopers where trying to find time to come talk to her about things that happened back in her home village (I still don't know the whole story and based on what I do know I really don't want to know the rest of the story). Anyways, when she left camp I gave her my card and put my home number on the back and told her if she needed anything while she was in town (she was staying with her sister in Bethel) that she could call me. Well, I got a call one night asking if I had some money she could borrow for some food. Her sister wasn't getting paid for a few more days and they didn't have much food at home. Being the softy I am, I of course told her that I had some money she could use. Well, a few days after that call I got another call. Her sister still hadn't gotten paid and she wanted to borrow more money. Eric had talked to one of his coworkers after the first call and his coworker suggested that if it happened again to have them meet me at the grocery store and buy them some groceries. At least this way we knew what the money was being spent on. So, I met the girl at the grocery store and bought her some groceries. She was really good about asking about things before she would put things in the cart. She never asked about candy or chips, but she did ask about pop. I told her she could have 1 - 20 oz bottle. We also gave them some of the elk burger that we still had in the freeze from September. I'm hoping I don't receive another call from her. I'm glad that I am in the position to help her out, but I don't want her to take advantage of me. Good thing I will be heading out of town soon and will not have to be around if she calls again. Guess next time, I will be a little more cautious when hand out my cards to the students!

UFC - Brock Lesnar at the Target Center

So Raquel - since I'm going to be at your place on August 9, are you going to buy me tickets to see Brock Lesnar fight????

I just check for tickets and there are still a few $250 tickets left. There is also some $600 tickets left if you feel like splurging.

Okay, maybe if you're lucky I'll settle for the Pay-per-view!

Brock doesn't claim his South Dakota roots though. On TV they are saying Brock is "returning" to his hometown. He can claim he's from Minneapolis all he wants, but we know he was born and bred a Webster, South Dakotan!

Another Bites the Dust

That is, another summer of camps. We sent the last group of kids home today. This was actually a good group of kids and I usually don't say that about high school kids. Normally I don't go for the high school girl I'm better then you attitude. I went to high school with those girls and I couldn't stand it then and I can't stand it now!!!!!

Anyways, I will be enjoying 1-2 more weeks of work (depending on how I much work I have to finish up. Then it is off on the jet planes to go home. I will be "home" (in the SD, ND, MN) vacinity on August 5, returning to Bethel on August 23. While I'm home I am planning on visiting my nephews for a few days and then I'll be home at the farm for about a week. I will go to Edgeley to visit the in-laws for a few days and then I'm hoping to visit Leath for a couple days. Oh yeah, Leath are you going to be around around August 18, 19????? Then I'll be home for a few more days and then I'll head back to the cities to fly back.

Well, that's it for now. I'll write more this weekend.

Shout Out to the Talent Search Students

Hey there! I just wanted to say "hi" to all of the Talent Search students in Bethel this week for camp. They have been learning about blogging. Check out the KuC blog. This is the main blog page and here is a link to the blogs that the students have been writing. If you're bored , take some time to check out the KuC blog. You can also check out the KuC website.

Volcano Erupts

The other day (Sunday) a volcano on Okmok Island in the Aluetian chain erupted. It only spewed some ash, but still they evacutated the few people that did live on the island. There's actually a cattle ranch on the island at the old fort that was established there. Apparently they are making the cows fend for themselves :) For more information you can check out the Alaska Volcano Observatory website.Image courtesy of AVO/ADGGS

Normally I Don't Do Things Like This But...

I thought this could be kinda fun. I found it on my friend Karen's website. So here goes.........

Here are the rules:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. I can't wait to see what people remember.Can be fun and reminisce about the good ole days or new days as well.

So, I'll be waiting for all of your comments! Please forgive me if it takes me awhile to get back to yours. I have my last group of kids coming in tomorrow for camps, so I won't have much free time until Friday again.

Happy 4th of July (on the 5th!)

So how was everyones 4th of July? The City of Bethel puts on a parade and festivities on the local park. Vendors have booths and there's a little stage for entertainment. The big thing in Bethel are rippies. There was 3 booths yesterday that were selling them and there is always a constant line. All the local restaurants have food booths and then there is miscellaneous booths with native crafts. Of course, I can't forget the booth with fireworks and silly string. By fireworks, I mean the little snaps that you throw on the ground. I can only imagine how many box they go through of snaps and silly string. It seems like every kids we saw had a can of silly string and there were signs of many more empty cans lying around on the ground.

After all that excitement, I spent some of the evening with my stamp group ladies. We started playing around with the Stampin Up Watercolor Pencils and Water Crayons. I like the colorpencils better than the crayons, but the crayons are starting to become fun.

Well, that was a summary of our 4th. My freedom from the kids is only hours away. We bring in our 4th group tomorrow afternoon. It will be interesting to see how well behaved these kids will be.

Later gators!