Love for the Peanut Gallery.

I go by “Kirby”.

Heck, that’s how I introduce myself. It’s the name that I answer to most. My wife calls me Kirby. Most of my friends, the same. Only a hand full of people call me Paul and even fewer know my legal name. And then there are those in my family that cling to the remnants of a nickname given long ago. I think Aunt Kris, Ryan and his brother Brendon are probably the last humans on Earth that call me “Peanut”.

Yep, this war hardened Marine. This former football coach. The guy living miles above the Arctic Circle….used to regularly answer to “Peanut”.

I’ve caught wind that my Blog is catching some regular rotations in the Lower 48. For those of you that find yourself here on purpose or by mistake, “Thank YOU.” Beware though, I will now have to refer to you as the Peanut Gallery.

If you’re here to catch up on my Alaskan Adventure – I’ll bring you up to speed.

3 days of school are in the books. I’ve got to know a few of the kids real well. And then there is a core bunch of girls whose names I haven’t committed to memory. Well, that’s not entirely true. I know their names. I just can’t match the names to the faces yet and then this weekend I went and switched the seating arrangement up a bit. It’s like shuffling the deck in the children’s game “Memory”. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

It’s Sunday evening and I should be off to bed. I’m not that tired though because I threw in an hour and a half nap this afternoon. I was feeling a bit under the weather.  A mild sore throat, the chills, exhaustion, and exposure to a new bunch of elementary students began to break me down. I fought back with vitamin C, throat lozenges, a heavy dose of water and a nap. We had to skip boiling up Beluga for dinner tonight – it didn’t thaw out enough but that’s all the better because the chicken noodle soup that we replaced it with has done it’s job. I feel good and so I’ll write – ya know – for the Peanut Gallery.

This weekend I took regular trips in to my classroom to knock out the busy work of Lesson Plans. These are the real deal though. It won’t suffice to scribble down page numbers. The District demands sited State Standards, Objectives, the whole nine yards. And so I dutifully plugged away at a Lesson Plan template over the last two days. I was mindful that I needed regular breaks though. I even wrote it on my whiteboard each time I walked in to the class. I’d write down a time IN and an expected TIME OUT…and that’s what I did. I left.

Rebecca Sullivan loaned me a nifty little 3 piece Fenwick fishing rod. She’s a cool cat. The school’s History, PE and Shop teacher. That’s a lot of hats for one teacher to wear but just how things are done up here. Anyway, their tackle selection left a little to be desired but I tied on a little Rattle Trap and headed down to the channel. I cast from shore for about an hour and regardless of what people’s perceived perceptions of Alaska are, I did not reel a fish in on EVERY cast. As a matter of fact, I didn’t reel a fish in on ANY cast. But I was fishing. And that refueled my tank.

Standing on the southern tip of the long spit of land they call Kivalina, I was reminded of many fishing trips in the Bemidji Lakes area. Specifically, I thought back to last Fall and the Loons that kept pestering us as we tossed muskie baits and dragged suckers. The loons got dangerously close to our baits often and we had to be cognizant of the fact that catching a loon would make for a hell of a story but even a bigger mess.

So, what reminded me of the Loons on Plantangenet?

SEALS.

I’ve now spent two afternoons casting in to the fluctuating currents of the channel and both times I’ve been under the watchful eye of a couple of spotted seals. I’ve never noticed them as I walk across the rock wall and down to the shore and they usually don’t show up until I’ve forgotten to even look for them. But there they are – peaking their dog like faces just above the surface and curiously wondering what the Hell I’m doing. I wonder what would be more of a circus to catch: a Seal or a Loon? I don't really want to find out. 

Besides school work and casting, this weekend we erected a kennel for Leah’s hounds. Bowser and Trudy are a couple of pups that she brought along but these dudes needed a space to spread their wings and they needed it bad. They’re sprouting up right before our eyes. And so we scavenged and scrounged and put together a great little play area between our two trailers for the dogs to run about. I do have to say that things went together about as smooth as could possibly be expected. We had a few scraps and zero power tools but I am proud of the team of Master Fence Builders that we assembled. Tom, Jon, Bill, Leah and myself will be available once school is over if anyone else wants to hire us.

Ya know, things are alright. I got emotional a couple of times this week. SKYPE is a God Send. I spent nearly 3 hours on the hook with the rest of the Kirby Krew, and the Ruds on Friday. Got to talk to my wife and kids again tonight. I’m eating well and have been welcomed around the village.

Oh yeah, a few think I’m from Texas. The hair and the beard are throwing people off. I think my rugged appearance resembles what they’ve seen Hollywood define as "Texan". 

Anyway, I’ll close for now…

Peanut Gallery – I salute you. Friends, Family, Strangers in the Night….thank you for visiting my family BLOG. My wife is one hell of a woman and a good writer herself. Please, check in often. I can’t promise I’ll always have something new waiting for you but I’ll try….because writing in here is good therapy for me. It settles my soul.  Comments are appreciated. A wise guy I once read said, "Comments are like Paychecks in the Blogger's world." 

Until next time.

All the best,

Peanut