Bodie, Blizzards, the Boys... We're Busy!

For those who haven't heard, we recently added a new member to our Snyder family. Bodie came to us all the way from the New Hope Cattle Dog Rescue Shelter in AZ. He went from 80 degree temps to AK, during (ironically) the worst winter Unalakleet has had in decades... but he has been the perfect addition to our family; he is an awesome dog! Part blue healer, part catahoula; he's mellow but playful, protective and watchful but gentle and easily accepting of new friends, very tolerant and obviously handsome. We got very lucky... he's been a blessing already. He wasn't sure what to think of all the snow at first, and when it's blizzarding outside, we can barely convince him to get off the porch, but he has a lot of fun playing in the snow when the temps and wind are reasonable (-15 F or warmer including wind chill). Yesterday, DJ and Jake took Bodie across the ice at the mouth of the river so he could run free, and Bodie spotted a rabbit... Woo-hoo!!! off he went. He had great fun in the chase, but is well-behaved enough that when a snowmachine approached and Jake called to him, he halted pursuit and came right away. He also got an "owie" as Daniel put it... broke one of his nails (the dog clippers still haven't arrived yet) on the ice... it bled at first, but it is healing. We also found a tic on his ear shortly after his arrival... quite the news for us, as tics aren't a common problem here, especially in the dead of winter. In any case, getting Bodie has been a great success all around, thanks to Bodie (he's awesome), all the people who dealt with us and Bodie who are connected to the New Hope Shelter (esp. Katie & Robin), Gayle (our Anchorage friend who picked him up from the airport after his flight from AZ and had him play with her dogs Snoop & Sebastian until she put him on the flight to UNK), Ted and Jim (our personnel director and sup. from our district who took Bodie from Gayle and saw him out to us), and of course Ginger, who inspired us to find Bodie in the first place.

So, as you can see from our picts (the first one below is of our store and old post office--you can only catch a glimpse of their roofs because of the drifts), we've had a lot of snowfall... more than normal. We've also had incredible storms with crazy high winds and 0 visibility, as well as huge temp. fluctuations. The sea level of our village always goes up a few feet during the winter, and we get drifts from the wind... but this year is a little bit crazy. School was even canceled for a day, and we had an early release due to weather--to our knowledge, that's the first "snow day" in the history of our school.

Speaking of school, here are a few picts of my school spirit and fundraising efforts. Our mascot is the "Wolfpack" or "Wolfy" and so my music students did pawprint facepainting, and I made sugar cookies to match. -Fun for the little kids, anyway. BTW: if you've never tried to make black frosting, I highly recommend using dry powder rather than liquid... but it still takes a lot if you want to get it dark.
We've been enjoying every moment of nice weather available when Jake and I aren't working. Although summer is definitely our favorite time in UNK, winter can be a lot of fun here too when the temps rise a bit and the winds die down at the same time. Deej and I took his TONKA Dump Truck out in the backyard... makes a great snow hauler. :-) And we have a perfect-for-a-3-year-old sledding hill (a 4 ft drift with a sheer drop one side) just off our back porch, so that's been fun.

Since becoming Full Circle Farm clients, we have not only been able to enjoy fresh produce on a regular basis--we also have been able to get varieties that are rarely to never at our store (leeks, artichokes, coconut, apples that are actually crispy, fresh green beans, super-sweet citrus fruit, etc.), and we've also been exposed to some obscure fruits and veggies that we haven't even heard of until now: persimmons, sunchokes, cara-cara oranges, and purple potatoes, among other things. So in honor of our love of FCF, we post this picture of Jake's purple potato soup. It looks questionable, I know, but it was actually quite tasty (once we stopped looking at it and smiling in dismay-this picture really doesn't do the very PURPLE color of the soup justice).
And it just wouldn't be a post on our blog if we didn't include a shameless collection of DJ and JD pictures. We know we're biased, but we just can't get enough of them. Hope you enjoy.




All is well with us. I just had my spring break this week, but aside from a few minutes of this post and one nice shower Jake gave me time for (shaving my legs is almost as rejuvenating as a workout, and much more relaxing), I have not had many non-sleeping moments of ME time. Gone are the days when break from work means a true break... but the time with the boys all week has been great; I'm very thankful for it, and look forward to 8 weeks from now when summer vacation starts. DJ starts school next year, so this is our last summer to enjoy both boys at home before he starts meeting more friends and wanting to play with them instead of us. He's already very excited about starting school, and he still has 5 months to wait.

Jake and I are planning to be in Western WA June 22/23-July 1, and Eastern WA July 2-9/10. If you'll be in the region and would like to meet up with us, just give us a ring, email, or you can even post a comment here; we'll do our best to see you on our trip! Love you all. Take care.

Janelle

Our Newest Little Snyder

More picts to come... Jonah Dathan Snyder (1 day old, @ AK Regional Hospital)
Jonah and Dad (notice the stuffed pink flamingo that Daniel picked out as a present for mom in the hospital... I don't think Jake would have agreed to it if he didn't know how much I just LOVE pink flamingos... thanks to Grandma Betty) :-)
Our view of the Anchorage Mtns. from the hospital room.

New brothers DJ and Jonah with their Nana Pat.

My pregnant self a few days before Jonah was born, waiting at our friend Gayle's house in Anchorage.
There's a park right next to Gayle's. DJ and I had a great time going there every day to play in the leaves while we waited for Jonah to come.
We just started getting boxes of fresh produce shipped bi-monthly from Full Circle Farms. So far, we have been very satisfied... eating healthier, spending less money, and enjoying food we don't normally have access to here in the village. We'll see how winter affects the quality of the shipments, but so far, we're planning to continue doing this. Yey!
This sunset beach pict was taken just before we left UNK in Sept. to have Jonah. The slough is now frozen, there's lots of snow on the ground, and ice is starting to form in the sound as well. Hopefully everything will be frozen over before the autumn storms hit... then we won't get a flooded basement! :-)

Jonah, with freshly washed hair... 6 days old.

DJ standing in front of all the boxes from one shipment of our Anchorage shopping sprees. (We got in more boxes after this, but this was the most all at once. We were unpacking for 2 days.)

We're all doing well. Jonah is still sleeping during the day and waking up all night long, so we're sleep deprived... but happy. More picts coming soon! Love you all.

Janelle

Moose Hunt

On Monday morning Ryan Woodruff (the HS's new math teacher) and I left Unalakleet at 6:00 in the morning to go in search of moose. We were at the top of White Alice just in time for the sun to rise. We rode out a little past the end of the road to look out in one of the open fields. We were just getting ready to move on further down the trail when we heard some people coming down the trail behind us. We waited and saw Conrad Woodhead (Janelle's Vice Principal), Perry Corsetti (a former teacher at the school who is now in the DO), and Joel Oyoumick (a son of the Covenant Church's Pastor here in UNK). We sat and talked for a minute before heading down the trail a little further. Conrad, Perry, and Joel stopped off at a little knoll not far from where we met up at while Ryan and I headed down the trail a little further. Ryan and I stopped at another good vantage point and we thought we saw something moving down in the meadow. We started walking down the side of the hill. When we got most of the way down the hill we realized that our possible moose was just a big stump. While we were standing there looking around a huge bear came running out of the trees about 600 yards from us. We stood still and just watched it. The bear stopped in the middle of the meadow we were walking down to and started eating berries. I looked up at Ryan and we gave each other a high five as we started sneaking up on the bear. We climbed down into a little creek bed and started following it to the bear. The closer to the bear we got, the more excited we got. When we got within 300 yards of it I laid down on my stomach and took my time taking aim and working on getting a clear shot. I had my scope on the highest power as the bear walked into my line of fire. I squeezed the trigger and the Bear sat right down. It started to move again and I fired again. This time the bear sat again. I then tried aiming above the bear and fired again. I ended up firing 8 times at the bear and finally it ran off into the trees. Ryan and I walked up to where the bear had been and we looked all over the place for a blood trail and we couldn't find anything. We didn't realize that while Ryan and I were stalking this bear, Perry and Conrad had been sneaking down the hill towards us. They came down and joined us and Conrad told me that he thought I had hit the bear at least 3 times. We kept searching and searching, but could not find any sign of it (I was told by Willa Eckenweiler that her and her husband saw it alive and well again in the same spot Thursday night). After Perry and Conrad gave us a ride back up the hill we decided to go our own way and head back home. Ryan and I were planning to just go right back to town and look for some spruce hens to shoot along the way; Perry, Conrad, and Joel were going to explore one more road before coming back to town.

Ryan and I stopped one time to check the readiness of the cranberries when we heard Conrad and Perry shooting. We almost headed back up the road to see if they had shot something and needed any help. After hearing a lot of shots we decided that they were just messing around, so Ryan and I started back to town. Just after I crossed the bridge I saw a huge moose off to the left-hand side of the road, just walking slowly towards a big group of willows. Ryan had just finished taking some pictures of the bridge and pulled up behind me just as I got my gun reloaded and ready to go. We started following this moose through the marshy area it was in and had gone about 30 feet from the road when it disappeared into the willows. We tried to think of the best way to stalk it when it walked out of the willows broad side to us. (I'll post some pictures of the moose before the first shot when I get them from Ryan.) I dropped down to one knee and took careful aim and fired. The moose stopped walking and just stood there. I knew I had hit so I fired again and it was another hit. I was down to a total of 3 shells left in my rifle and knew I had to make them count. I started walking around to get another clear shot of the moose and shot it again. Still it didn't go down. I shot one more time to try and hit it in the head to finish it off. I missed and the moose started running. It didn't go very far when it finally fell to the ground. Ryan and I started yelling and shouting (he even knocked me to the ground and it reminded me of trying to block Nate Simmons at basketball since Ryan is also 6'7"). We started to walk up to the moose slowly when it started to get up and I fired my final shot into its head. I then laid my rifle down and drew my pistol. When we got to the moose I fired two shots into his head and we left to go get the 4 wheeler and cart. We ran into Perry, Conrad, and Joel at the road, and they drove out to the moose to give us a hand. We were so thankful for the help they gave us. Ryan and I would have been there forever it wouldn't have been for them.



After we got back to town there was even more work to do. Janelle had Adrianna, Shelley, and Karis there waiting to help Ryan and I to cut, process, and package all of the moose. Adrianna has posted some pictures of this process on her blog, so you should all check it out.



Today the swelling from my bug bites has finally subsided. (I got bit by gnats so bad that my arms and hand swelled up to the point where I was taking 2 Benedryl every 4 hours all week long 'til Thursday night.) Because I could finally use my hands and arms again, I was finally able to cut the antlers off the head this morning. They measured 58" wide and it took me about an hour with a hand saw to cut it off. So now the antlers are bleaching and we can finally get rid of the smelly head. We have now given away most of the meat that we'll be sharing to people in the community. (It is Eskimo tradition to give away most of the meat from your first catch, and we have many people in the community to be thankful to for their generosity to us over the last 6 years, so we have shared with many people.) We ate fresh moose heart during the week, and enjoyed our first moose roast last night - yum!

More picts and posts to come. We've been crazy busy since returning to UNK the first week of August, and have gotten behind on our blogging. Take care. Love you all.

Jake

Baby, Baby!

Drumroll, please...

After much deliberation, consultation, and inspiration, we have finally picked a name for DJ's brother-to-be. On October 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, (TBA) Jonah Dathan Snyder will officially join our family. He is already making others aware of his presence by the size and movement of Janelle's midsection; everything seems to be going well.

We got the idea for Jonah from Daniel. Part of his bedtime routine is picking a book from the bookshelf in his room to read. When we started seriously discussing names, Daniel chose to read a children's version of the story of Jonah (that he had never read before). He chose the same book every night for about a week. We had asked Daniel about a lot of other names, and he said "No" to several, but he said "Yes" to Jonah.

For those of you who are so excited that you feel the need or desire to shop for Jonah: We just went through all of our boy clothes that have not been worn out, stained, or donated to the local church, and we know what we need and don't need. We could use a few newborn clothes, including a Halloween costume, and maybe a couple 3mo & 12mo outfits... but what we really need is 6mo & 9mo clothes. We don't need any winter gear (snowsuits, hats, mittens)... just regular clothes, sleepers, etc. for 6-9mo. We need socks for every size (they seem to get lost and/or wear out fast). Don't want to sound presumptuous, so don't buy if you weren't planning to... but we know some of you are already shopping, so we thought we'd let you know what would help the most.

Love you all.

In case you haven't heard, this is our latest news:

Janelle is about 23 weeks along... starting to look pregnant... feeling lots of kicks... strangely having some morning sickness (after an easy 1st trimester), but otherwise feeling good... and we know the sex, of course. :0) Everything looked good/healthy/normal at the 20 wk checkup.

Updates...

1. Janelle is now 15 weeks and 4 days along, and her and baby seem healthy so far. Her next prenatal is on April 22, but next ultrasound not until beginning of June. Her due date of Oct. 10 is developmentally accurate according to first ultrasound, but Dr. is recommending second C-section to reduce risks, and so baby will probably be scheduled to have its b-day up to a week before that. (October seems to be a popular month in our lives: Jake Oct 1, Teya Oct 7, Ben Rhemke Oct 10, Angela Pennock Oct 18, Sarah Hall Oct 30... the list is actually longer than that.) Other than Jake and Janelle both being sick with some kind of flu this week, things are going well health-wise.

2. Janelle just finished (April 9-14) taking her music students to regional festival in Kotzebue, and her choir qualified for state with a "Superior" rating... exciting for our very first year of an actual music program with kids that have only been in choir for 3 or 7 months of their lives.

3. On Thursday, April 17, Jacob's "Grandma Ginny" passed away. It is difficult, as always, to lose someone close... especially when we are so far from our families. We are very thankful for the time we and DJ had with her this past Christmas, and are thankful that she is not in any more pain from her Parkinson's. We love her very much, and will miss her. See MerchantFuneralHome.com, Virginia Snyder: http://www.webfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=178115&fh_id=10111&s_id=96382
A3C0A7A32CCB710F3564170FFD5
4. Dr. E had been sick starting Tues or Wed this past week. We called up to our vet in Nome, and after giving him a list of symptoms and Dr. E's temp, he sent us some kitty antibiotics. We started him on them Friday, and tried giving him chicken, and eventually Jake fed him milk by dropper. We decided that we would fly him to Nome if he wasn't better by Mon morning. When we woke up for church this morning, we found he had died during the night. With all we've dealt with this week, it was pretty tough on top everything. He was a good pet... tolerant of Rocky when they shared close proximity, of Jake when he twirled and "tortured" him, and of DJ as he learned how to properly treat pets. He was also special because he belonged to Dr. James Edmonds, whom those of you from EWU knew; we took Dr. E when Dr. Edmonds died in the car wreck.

5. DJ is learning something new every day, and becoming more easily understood when he talks. He knows some letters and numbers by sight and sound, and competes with Jake for sole possession of the remote, which he always uses to change to music stations so he can dance. He is a joy every day. Potty-training is going very well (again) after our first setback from traveling. He has a new babysitter. Although he misses Darlene, he is having a lot of fun, getting social interaction, and learning a lot with his new sitter, Bertha (the wife of one of our AK state troopers).

That is the scoop on us for now. Sorry so serious and sad in part. Life is always changing, and we're just having some tougher changes of late. We'll keep you updated on the significant changes, but we are very busy in general this time of year as school closes out in the next month. We will post more this summer. Love you all. Take Care.