andrew

for as long as i'm here, andrew will be working with me daily until 2pm. he is to arrive at 830, but is always 15 min early. always. ok, so that means i start my workday a bit early too. andrews dad flies for the school system and his mom stays at home and home schools the kids. andrew is a really quiet kid. he is so shy...kind of hides his giggles. but incredibly bright. everyone talks to andrew and he'll mostly respond with very short answers and is so shy it's hard for him to look people in the face. but today i experienced a different young boy. he talked my ear off - it was great. this kid knows all about fishing, where to go to catch a certain species, where the good quiet beaches are, enjoys moose hunting (already at 12 he's harvested one), duck hunting, and everything else there is to know about aniak. he knows how to drive a stick shift, has a dirt bike, etc, etc. it was so neat to watch this kid talk and look up from the ground. i'm excited to get to know andrew even more.
this morning andrew and i did more trees and drove a couple miles out of town to the gravel pits to get rocks for under the deck. it is so beautiful out there. we made prob 5 trips with buckets full of rocks. the last time i went, nat came so we could take pics. we walked for about 45 min down to the water and beach. this place is far enough away from town that you don't hear anything but the wind and river. we stood there awhile just enjoying the view, taking pics of lots of different animal tracks in the sand. nat and i talked about bringing the 4-wheeler down there to get away sometimes. this find makes getting rocks something i'm looking forward to. ty (the mountain man), we call him this because he will be living at the camps some hr + away for the summer, with one other guy that will arrive later in the month. i've seen this camp from the plane. it's on top of a mountain, with nothing but the trees and bears. i truly hope nat and i can spend a couple nights up there sometime this summer. ned "the plane mechanic" also came in. so this afternoon we had to take the 4-wheeler to the airport and pull the plane here. it's sitting out in the driveway. not something you see everyday...a plane being pulled with an ATV down the rd. only in alaska. a pretty good day...connected with nat a bit more. she made oreo shakes tonight..i have no idea how good they were. but they looked awesome!