Dogs, Puppies, & Bush Planes.....

Well, moose season has officially started here in the bush. Which really doesn't mean much to a non-hunter like myself, except that school is closed for the week and I had a week of inservices (training). I didn't update much because not much was happening. If I did, it would look like this:

I sat all day listening to lectures.
I sat all day listening to lectures.
I sat all day listening to lectures.

Granted, it was very good information and I had a delightful presentation, but not much to write home about.

Until now.......

**************

I have been really trying to walk more. Not having a car/vechicle has really helped me achieve this goal. So I was offered a ride home and I politely passed. Until I heard those magic words: "We have the four-wheeler."

Sweet! I'm in!!!

And I loved it! It was fun bouncing around over the puddles. At one point, we passed a bunch of kids, one of them being my student, who were out playing with their dogs. One of the dogs started running alongside the 4 wheeler. My student shouts out, "He'll bite your foot!!" I think "yeah, whatever" when this wolf hound lunges and snaps at my foot!!!

I hold up my finger and say with conviction: "NO!"

The dog pauses for a moment & gives me a perplexed look. The driver gives this dog a hand motion that sends him running back to his kids. Sure wish I saw what that was, because it was very effective.

Then it hits me....I may have to kick a dog here in Alaska.

It was only later, when I got home that I remembered the man who drove me home is legally blind. Whoops.

*************

So one of my inservices was to take place at a different school in my district. Not uncommon in any district. What made this special is that we had to take bush planes to get to the other school.

Now, just because it says we're leaving at 8:30 does not mean we are actually leaving at 8:30. This is life in the bush. Nothing really goes according to plan.

So I arrive at the school around 8:00. I had checked the weather (looked out the window) & the sky was clear. Of course, when we walked out a half hour later we were covered in a blanket of fog. It dropped on us like a water balloon. And bush planes won't fly in the fog. It's too dangerous.

So we just work in our classrooms, chit chat....pretty much keep ourselves busy. The hours pass & I'm wondering when will they give up & call it a day.

At 11:00 we were told to gather our things. We went down to the airstrip....and waited some more.....and waited some more after that. Our plane arrives & we take a FIVE MINUTE FLIGHT to get to Akiachak at lunchtime.

It ended up being a lovely day. Akiachak is much larger & more spread out. We were standing on the deck at the school and you could see out for miles. There's not as many trees so the land & the sky seemed to go on and on. I bet you would have loved to see it....too bad I forgot my camera.

After our condensed version of the inservice, they had to hustle us out to the airstrip to make our 4:30 flights. Now, our district is made up of 3 villages (Akiachak, Akiak, & Tuluksak) so there were people from two villages flying out. We were piled into 2 pickup trucks & convoyed out.

We had a ginormous bush plane waiting for us. It fit 9 people and 2 pilots. (I love that the plane seemed huge to me.) And FIVE MINUTES later, we were home.

It seemed so surreal to me to be taking a plane to go to the next village for a meeting. My life now has these moments that are just so completely different from anything I've ever known that it blows my mind.

***************

I was exercising (don't be too impressed, it was the 2nd time since I moved here) and I finally get to the cool down part. I look outside my window to see a puppy come out into the road & howl. It looked just like Captain, the puppy I rescued a few weeks ago. I run outside & call, "Captain!! Captain!!" The puppy had started down the road but he turns and starts running to me. The massive lake in front of the house slowed him down, but he got to me, whining & carrying on with his ordeal.

I pick him up & was asking him how he got all the way over here. One of my neighbors comes out & asks me, "Did you find another one?" I said, "Didn't I already rescue this one?" and laugh. I look down at the puppy....hmmmm....didn't Captain have a bigger white spot on his chest?....nawwww....

I call Captain's owner. "Are you missing a puppy?" I laugh at him.

"Nope, Captain's right here."

Oooooohhhh nooooooo......this is a different puppy. This is a different puppy! I found another puppy. But Captain's Owner (protecting the innocent) tells me what house he thinks had puppies that looks like Captain.
So I venture off to return the puppy. Still in my exercise gear & dripping of sweat. Fantastic.

No one was home at the first house, but I decide to bring the puppy to a local kid hang out right by my house. Thinking maybe a kid brought him over to play & the puppy walked off. There are no kids there. Great.

But there is another teacher whose dog just had puppies. She's not sure if she's missing a puppy (she's building a dog sled team) so she does a count. Yeah, she's missing one....a black one. Just like the one I found. So she's pretty sure it's her puppy.

Good enough for me!! Puppy is now safe & sound.

Seriously though, am I a magnet for saving puppies? That puppy was running in the wrong direction. I totally saved it! Or am I just a dork who runs out of her house in her workout gear to go chasing down a puppy? I'm thinking maybe the latter....