The Tok Choral Society

“We Have a Dream”
When: Sat. Feb. 7 – 7pm and Sun. Feb. 8 – 3pm
Where: Tok School Multi-Purpose Room
$5 individual, $10 family

One of the organizations here in Tok for the culturally-minded is the Tok Choral Society.

The Tok Choral Society was started by Cam Bohman (her husband, Bill, was Tetlin Wildlife Refuge’s pilot) in the spring of 1990. When Cam left Tok in 1998, Mary Timm at Tetlin inherited leadership of the group.

Per Mary:

Our first semester we had 13 members; this year we have 29; average size is 22 or so. It is a 1 credit University of Alaska course, so it does require tuition payment, but we need the university to function (rehearsal, storage, etc.)

The 4-part choir itself is open to anyone 9th grade and older for univ. credit. Since there’s no other organized music in Tok (except for private lessons) we stretch the limits a little and allow young people, grade 5 – 8, in our group as long as they are accompanied by an adult sponsor…so our age ranges from 10 to 75.

Alaskans brace for volcanic eruption (MSNBC.com)

Alaskans brace for volcanic eruption
After 19-year break, Redoubt could roar back to life in days, scientists say

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A volcano just 100 miles from Alaska’s largest city has stirred back to life after nearly 20 years of tranquility, sparking a round-the-clock eruption watch, seismologists said Thursday.

The fresh wave of seismic activity at Mount Redoubt suggests that the eruption could occur within days or weeks, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported.

Read more…

Thanks to Peg, one of Living in Tok readers, for the heads up! We get our news a lot slower in these parts. I really need to pay more attention to online news!

Map: Tok vs. Volcano (Map lifted without permission from http://www.travelalaska.com/Transportation/roadmap.aspx). Hope they don’t mind the traffic this blog sends their way. Be nice and wave hello when you get there. Okay, Okay, I’m going now to ask their permission!)

Helen Seizes the Day in Tok, Alaska

At 35 degrees above zero – an 110 degree difference from the previous week – Helen Olson seizes the day to ski on her bionic knees (post-knee surgery). A drive through bank is so novel in Tok (they just opened in October). Helen was the bank’s first ski-up patron.

published with permission from Helen Olson

The Big Event in Tok: Burchell Dancers

I heard from some Tokites that the Burchell Dancers coming to town each year qualifies as a Big Event in the community. Next to sports, that is.

The dance show was held in the indoor basketball court. We got there early enough to be first in line for the ham dinner with mac and cheese and green beans. We also met the gal who runs Big Brothers, Big Sisters and will be picking up applications and consider becoming “Bigs.” This is something my husband and I have discussed in the past (as well as fostering).

Well, we had a BLAST at the dance. Our 2-and-a-half-year-old really digs music and dancing (as do we), and we got up to dance when the emcee called for volunteers. Before the show began and afterward, our toddler ran laps around the basketball court so clearly she needs some wide open spaces conducive to running (you know, like not -50 degrees).

My husband also asked about other activities scheduled in the basketball court in the evenings and found out the answer was nothing, zilch, nada (other than basketball games during basketball season). So now he is fired up to start teaching Tae Kwon Do in the community. He used to teach Tae Kwon Do to children in a small, rural community in Montana that was even smaller than Tok.

I’ve heard from several women here that afterschool and evening activities are much needed in these parts. I don’t want us to overcommit, but I feel like feeling we can contribute meaningfully to the community.

Happenings in Tok – Week Jan 26, 2009

What I really love so far about Tok is how welcoming people are and how they reach out to new folks. That can be quite typical of small towns but not always the case. Tonight, for example, we’ve been invited over for dessert and “stories of Alaska” by one couple. Then I’m joining several other women at the local bar for Karaoke Night – a girl’s night out.

I also received several notices in the mail – as well as saw a few events advertised on the Three Bears bulletin board, one of two bulletin boards that are the hubs of marketing for the community. Here is a sampling of some of the upcoming events.

Monday, Jan. 26 – 5:30pm-6:15pm – Pot Luck at the Tok School with a dance show starting promptly at 6:30pm. The Burchell Dancers will present the “History of Dance” including the Waltz, Tango, Cha Cha, Swing and Disco.

Friday, Jan. 30 – 3:00pm-5:00pm at the Tok Lions Clubhouse, an open house style presentation about the planned Tok Alaska Public Lands Information Center (APLIC) followed by a 5:00pm-6:00pm presentation. Snacks will be served.

Interview with Rick Thoman from NOAA

After “The Great Tok Weather Controversy,” Rick Thoman from NOAA stopped by to talk about the weather. Here’s a video of him up on mDialog (click on link or video image to go to site and play – QuickTime required).

Play the video…

Also received the attached PDF files and following note from Rick that may be of interest.

• Daily Temperature Comparison, Tok NWS Cooperative vs. C4591 (Turks on the Tundra, Weather Underground) – DOWNLOAD PDF
  
• Difference in Daily Tmerperature Extremes, Tok NWS Cooperative-C4591 – DOWNLOAD PDF
  

Read on for a note from Rick Thoman…

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

I made a mistake. I blame it on being tired and partially on my general increasing forgetfulness.

After quite a pleasant drive from Tok to Glenallen despite the general achiness and stiffness of long drives, I arrived in Glenallen with a serious need for coffee and a pitstop. Took care of business, got in my car, and headed back out into the evening dusk.

It wasn’t until Gakona that I looked at my gas tank and realized something very stupid. I forgot to gas up in Glenallen!

I debated about heading back to fill up the tank but felt I was far enough away from Glenallen that I thought I better keep going. I put in a call while I had momentary cell signal to my husband and asked him to figure out the next gas station between Gakona and Tok.

He called back to say Gakona was the next one. Of course, I had already passed Gakona and noted a big red “X” through the gas pump symbol on the sign of services along the highway.

“Where’s the next one?”

He asked his buddy who makes the Tok/Anchorage drive pretty often.

“I don’t think there is another one until Mentasta Lake,” he told me.

“I don’t think I can make it to Mentasta Lake on about 1/4th of a tank,” I told him. “But I could swear I saw at least one other gas station past Mentasta and before Glenallen.”

A Winter Drive – Tok to Delta Junction

We went for a drive over the weekend. I’m very destination-oriented so instead of just driving for a while to see what we might see, I wanted to try to get to Delta Junction to see what was there. I’ve heard that folks sometimes to to the IGA in Delta Junction (over 2 hours away) for their wider selection of produce and foods.

I have to admit when we walked into the IGA, I felt like a kid in a candy store. My eyes popped open wide when I saw the huge bins of fruits and veggies.”They have mangos!” I thought, even though I actually hate mangos. It just seemed so…modern that they had mangos in their store.

Here are some Alaska beauty shots from the drive.

Do you have any beauty shots from your travels around Alaska? Feel free to link to them!

Causing a Stir in Tok, Alaska

Well, I’ve been officially in Tok now for 28 days, and I’ve already caused a stir. And not just locally.

Since the Day to Day interview, I’ve heard that my video of me driving to the Tok General Store has been shown on a Chicago news station; then a Kansas TV station just did a Mommy Monday segment about the cold in Tok and showed some of my videos. I’ve spoken to a radio station in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and I slept through a live phone interview with a Toronto station (I still feel bad about that).

Also, as many of you know, NOAA has inquired into the -80 and -71 readings from the Davis weather station at my husband’s office. One of the guys is even coming down to check out the computer data from the station and analyze the positioning of the station monitor later this week. I’ll be sitting down with him over a cup of coffee and will interview him for this blog.

In the meanwhile, just about everyone I meet in Tok has heard about and is now reading this blog (Hi Tokites!). I know some people are probably wondering “why is she getting all this attention – she just moved here!” Well, it wasn’t my intention to draw so much attention so quickly, and it was just an odd confluence of events that started everything rolling.

But I did want to explain the reason I created this blog and the real purpose of the Living in Tok blog – something that may not be clear yet because all of this attention came far before I really got started.

The Tok Report – Car in Cold Weather

I’m playing around with Seesmic and seeing if my DSL connection will handle it. Here’s a little clip I just made about cold weather and vehicles. (I wish I could embed the video but WordPress.com doesn’t seem to allow it.)

Click for Video

What are YOUR cold weather vehicle stories?