Scarves of Serenity

It is bloody windy. We were hoping that we wouldn’t have to use our new windproof neckwarmers until August, but alas, they made their debut last night. Following Kathryn’s suggestions, our stylish ‘Scarves of Serenity’ are made of two layers of windproof fleece, complete with a drawstring at the top, and a snazzy trim of polar bear/igloo flannel (good for boogers). Amidst the chaos, all we need to do is to pull the neckwarmer past our eyes so that it overlaps with our toques, and, presto, two shivery sticks on the tundra become two serene sticks on the tundra! Although it was a bit cold, it was the first day we didn’t have to be covered head to toe for the bugs…yahoo?

Difficulties at Night

Since we switched to working nights, Heidi and I have found some tasks more difficult than normal. For example, brushing our teeth in the morning (evening). It seems that it doesn’t matter how early we get up, the helicopter is always ready to take us a half hour ahead of when we expect to leave. We have also found it difficult to sleep, with beavers practically flying through our tent several times per day and helicopters slinging stuff all evening. We have commandeered a superior tent, so now we don’t have to deal with leaky screens, leaky roofs, and smoke detectors inspired by leaks. We have found it difficult to eat. We had to deal with bugs when we were working during the day, and we’ve developed methods to deal with that, but it seems that we don’t get hungry at night, possibly because we are too cold/buggy/rushed to be ready before helicopter comes, or maybe our bodies think that we should be sleeping, not eating. The lack of non meat items available at dinner (our breakfast) has made it difficult for Heidi to pack lunch, so when I panicked when I realized that I had forgotten my lunch, Heidi comforted me with ‘Oh, don’t worry, you can have half of my pickle and cheese sandwich’. well, at least she’s got three food groups covered. We are more or less surviving on a diet of cookies and cinnamon buns purloined from the ‘land of milk and honey’, Boston Camp. We find it difficult to remember to drink. We have no excuse for this, other than digging through bags to find our bottles. Heidi and I expect to have kidney stones and diabetes by next Thursday.

PS Moms: We are joking about the kidney stones. and diabetes.