Hmmmmm. It has turned to 'Fogust'

This term was coined by Maury, one of our pilots, and relayed to me by Angela. The weather, unlike that shown in the photo above (our first night - we're staying on the barge to the right), has turned, well, craptacular! We are scheduled to leave for Nauyuk tomorrow, but we will see if the ceiling is high enough. Once again, we will be employing the dual helicopter strategy, where an A-star slings our gear and we follow in the long ranger. We have Mark on board again (hopefully - he should turn up tomorrow), a whole bunch of Heidi-friendly food, a boat that FLOATS AND an accompanying pump, and enough gill nets to hopefully catch some fish!!

I anticipate, however, that the tough will have to get going. Not going to lie - the weather is NOT pleasant. In previous years, Kathryn and I adopted song-writing as a coping skill. Marilynn and I had alter egos - Beatrice and Rosie, of course. Nancy and I have also adopted alter egos - Hank and Jim. It all started with us figuring something out and me saying to Nancy, "Well, there's your problem, Hank!" After looking at me strangely, shaking her head, and taking a bite of the stale marshmallow square in her pocket, she said, "That's right, Jim! The problem here is that your patches have been ripped off and replaced with duct tape (true story!)."

So, if you don't hear from us until August 25th, this is a good thing. If you do, at least we can take our boat that floats and go fishing somewhere near by!!!

- Hank and Jim

Heidi taking one in the chin and dissecting a disgusting carcass with tools from the first aid kit - excellent potential for large otoliths