I've Returned

Readers: I'm kind of opposite when it comes to weather and living. The winters are spent in in Alaska and the summers in TX. The following is my first column for The Delta Discovery newspaper (Bethel, Alaska) upon my return for another school year. It is a weekly column that I will post as I write them. Be sure and visit my other blog (kipscorral.blogspot.com) for more of your reading pleasure.
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Howdy all. I made it back for another year. Sure hope everyone’s summer went well. Ours was busy. We barely had some down time.
I arrived in Anchorage July 31st. My luggage showed up later. It wasn’t bad though. The flight from Houston, TX was an hour late to Seattle. My layover was only 1-½ hours. By the time the plane pulled up to the gate and we got off it was 12:35PM. My connection was to leave at 1:05PM. The flight attendant told me not to worry as the flight to Anchorage was only two gates away.
He was right. A flight to Anchorage was near by, but not my flight. It was then that I found out Continental had hooked up with Alaska Airlines – and the plane to take me to The Last Frontier was a terminal away. The race was on.
Running isn’t in my forte anymore so I walked as fast as I could. When I got to the correct gate it was the only time I was thankful that an airline was late. They hadn’t even begun to board yet.
Even with the delay my luggage didn’t make it on the plane with me, but it arrived on the next flight about a half hour later. No big deal.
After shopping and shipping items for a couple of days in the big city I found it was already Sunday and I was on a plane to Bethel. The flight was uneventful until we got to Bethel. The plane was coming in for a landing and then it pulled up at the last second. It made a wide circle and then finally landed. I heard two stories on why we were given an involuntary air tour of Bethel. One tale was “there was a plane on the run way.” It made sense. The other rumor was that the landing gear was not down. Now that was a bit more frightening and didn’t make nearly as much sense. I don’t know which one (if either) was true and quit frankly don’t really know if I want to.
Nevertheless, we made it safely to the terminal. The rain was falling in Bethel. No surprise there. For the last few years it has been raining the first day I arrive back to the Delta after summer break.
The next morning in Eek I was heading to the Post Office and some kids stopped me to show me something I’d never seen in my 12 years in the bush. They pointed to a telephone pole with a big transformer at the top. There, nestled and balanced next to the transformer, were crows that had been electrocuted. It was intriguing to say the least.
The week went on with work and a couple of days of inservice in Bethel. Then today, Saturday, August 8, 2009, I spotted an unusual and somewhat sad sight walking to the store. It was another first – okay second for this column. I was passing a steam house and noticed that the door had a hasp and lock on it. I can understand locking a house, a vehicle, storage sheds, and the like, but a steam house?
What can they steal? Maybe the lock is to prevent usage by other people while the owners are at fish camp or vacation or some other legitimate reason. I rightly don’t know. Now maybe locking a steam house is more common now days than I think. I can understand a latch on the inside as people are bathing, but to have to resort to putting a lock on the outside is sad in a way.
Well, it is getting late and I’d best close this article. Have a safe week, fish well, work hard, and find time to play and make time for family.