Flight to St. Michael

The plane seats 8 passengers and two pilots.  The pilots are not separated from the passengers so we were able to see everything that they were doing--checking gauges, turning off blinking red lights, etc.  The part that would have been a little unnerving for someone who doesn't like to fly was our ability to see out of the front window. 

It was a cloudy day, so after take off we spent a while in the clouds before climbing to 10,000 feet.  We were able to see exactly what the pilots saw....nothing but white.  They were using a radar to fly the plane.  I was able to see that from my seat.  It was a nifty screen with the plane shape in the middle and different colors indicating the increase and decrease in altitude (I'm guessing).  When we broke through the clouds the blue sky was amazing--a brilliant blue.  And below us were fluffy, white clouds. 

After a few minutes above the clouds we began heading back into the clouds as we descended into St. Michael.  Soon we were low enough that we were under the clouds and able to see the Norton Sound and the peninsula where St. Michael and Stebbins are located.  As we landed we taxied into the airport--a building that looked like a two-car garage.  It isn't manned.  The trucks that are meeting the plane drive up to in on the tarmac and then drive away.  We never went into the building. 

Steve, from the school, came and picked us up at the airport and took us to Anthony A. Andrews School to meet Carolyn (principal) and to get the keys to my house/apartment (and my laptop).  We were informed that we still didn't have power but they were working on it.  We got to our house and were greeted by piles of boxes and furniture in the living room.  What a great sight!!!  We spent the rest of that day unpacking boxes and putting things away.  We met Michael, one of our neighbors, when he brought over his camp stove and LED lantern for us when he heard we had no power.  We got power back in the afternoon and decided to do a load of wash before dinner and bedtime. 

Ellen ran the washing-machine and then we began to heat water on the stove.  Soon the wash was done...but the water did not boil.  We checked the burner...it was slightly warm.  We turned on ALL the burners...to no avail.  I turned off the burners and the stove went out.  Meanwhile, Ellen was busy with the dryer, however that too was without power.  Also at this time we lost our boiler (our hot water and heat).  Lights still worked and the refrigerator still worked.  Dinner was made on the camp stove.

Saturday--the next day--we walked over to the store to call Carolyn and let her know our power was half off again.  She sent over John and Preston to check our breaker box.  Later Steve came over to look also and decided that the breaker was broken and would need replacing.  In the process of finding this out we lost our remaining power.  That afternoon Carolyn came and let us in to our neighbors place so we could cook on their stove. 

Sunday--no power, no heat, no hot water

Monday--no power, no heat, no hot water.  We did take advantage of it being Monday and headed over to the school for hot showers and internet. 

Tomorrow I head back to Unalakleet for the New Teacher Orientation Training.  Hopefully, the tech person at the district office will help me set up my laptop so I can unlock it and use it. 

Pictures of my organized house will be up shortly:)