The sky seems to ignite a fire along the horizon. The combination of the fresh air, loads of snow and endless places to explore make this "fall" weather beautiful.

It's getting colder. Today was beautiful and sunny, the high temperature was 39°F. Tonight the low supposed to be between 5 and 10 °F. As it gets colder, it also gets darker sooner and stays darker later. Friday when I left for work, at 8 AM there were still stars in the sky. It doesn't get light now until almost 10:00 AM. Pretty unbelievable.

"Store Plane, Store Plane, Store Plane!"

This WWII fighter plane, continues a noble legacy of delivering fruits and veggies to an otherwise produce-less community. It is affectionately referred to as "store plane" or more accurately, "store plane!"

A produce deal goes down on the landing strip

We bought a bag of apples and a bag of oranges for $40.00. They are worth every last cent.

As I've mentioned before, we don't have any stores here in Manokotak. Most of our food is ordered in bulk, hunted, caught or traded. Once a month (approximately) a larger than usual plane circles the village, thereby notifying everyone that the produce plane is about to land. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the entire community stops what they are doing to haul a*& out to the landing strip to get the first crack at a very random selection of fruit, ice cream, chips and pop.

Last night, (during parent-teacher conferences) was no exception. When the the twin tail, WWII fighter plane was heard circling overhead, there was a mas exodus of snowsuits and 4-wheelers racing toward the airport. A few minutes later the principal announced that the school van was leaving for the store plane and we were all free to go. Nobody can compete with the store plane. Obviously.

This is bush Alaska.

More on "Big Bird"

I talked to several other people about this "big bird" today. Most people just offered their personal accounts or close relatives sightings of this enormous bird. I also talked to Kirk, the science teacher here. He said that he probably got closer to it than anyone after he chased it down on his "snow-go" a few Januaries ago. He also said that he saw the bird near a bald eagle and the size was not even comparable. He thought that there was no doubt that the wing span was at least 8 feet. It was brown in color with light speckles but its size and description rule out Steller's sea eagle.

We concluded that the only other possibilities (we could find) based on size would be the California Condor or the South American Condor. The South American Condor is extinct and neither bird could survive in this climate even if it did get swept over in high winds.

Kirk thinks what he saw was most likely an unknown species of eagle. Sadly, this bird has not been seen for the last several winters. Maybe this one?

No Joke, A Dinosaur Bird

Pterodactyl, or something similar to what some thought they saw

Scientists believe the Steller's sea eagle was mistaken for a pterodactyl

Here's something interesting: I found out that a few years ago there were several sightings of a bird, an enormous bird with the wingspan of small plane -- about 14 feet. It was spotted several times all over southwestern Alaska, specifically around Manokotak and Togiak. The most credible person to have seen the bird was our main pilot who's been flying in this area for over 25 years. Some people called the bird a giant eagle, others thought it looked like a thunderbird, and some thought it resembled a pterodactyl. After talking to a few people in the community about this Dino-like bird, I googled it and sure enough, there were articles all over, from National Geographic to ABC -- to my favorite, UFO Digest. Scientists believed it was most likely a Steller's sea eagle, a rare sighting for these parts and native to northeastern Siberia. The sea eagle can have wing spans up to 8 feet. Here's what the pilot who saw it had to say:

“You have got to realize that the thing I saw I mistook for another Cessna coming up on me. This was big, big, big. I have seen maybe 100,000 eagles, and I know that this was an awful lot bigger than an 8 foot wingspan. You would not want to have your children out with this guy around.”

God I'd love to see this bird. I suspect the late Robert Stack of Unsolved Mysteries would share my sentiments.

Expectations

Kids don't complain about being cold, tired or hungry almost no matter what. If they are, they learn and do better for themselves the next time. On this five mile walk at dusk, the girls pointed out beaver dam hotspots, demonstrated moose calls, talked about snow-go engines, and explained why the snow melts on one side of the mountain before the other. Multiple intelligences, eh?

I sometimes forget life and survival are completely different here than from anything that most of us know. Here, children learn about life and survival through experience, from watching one another, and through trial and error. Kids learn fast because they have no other choice. Decisions here carry a lot of weight; life and death weight. In many communities this type of "learning" would be considered neglect, but here, it's just life. Unlike anywhere else I've ever lived, kids here are not micromanaged, but rather are given full responsibility for themselves and for their families starting at a very young age, and they rise to the occasion.

Snow. October 4th. Believe it.

When I looked out the window this morning, everything had changed. More than just a light dusting of snow now blanketed the mountains. Only yesterday I was looking at the big patches of reds, greens and golds that splattered the mountain sides like big spills of paint. This just adds another new dimension to the beauty here. At a low of 20 degrees and a high of 40 degrees, it's still beautiful. Brisk, and beautiful.

This afternoon, my roommate Kirsten and I walked forever. We ran into a fox who didn't mind stopping right at our feet, staring and sniffing, then slowly sauntering off. Made my day.

Check out the sunset. Still amazed. 7:30pm. The sun sets at about 8pm and rises at 8:50am.The strange thing is that each night it sets five minutes earlier, and rises five minutes later than the day before.