Hello folks,
I haven't had much energy as of late to sit and type. The new position is very demanding and when I leave work in the evening I feel mentally drained. Although it is not a physically demanding job it is definitely mentally demanding. Of course that's not saying much for someone who obviously has a bit of a shortage in the brain cell department. After all, when the brain cell that remains on the right side of my skull starts bragging to the only one on the left about how intelligent it is, that left cell admonishes to look out the nearest window at the surroundings and the right cell shuts up darned quick. I was telling Patty the other day that although we had always wanted to move away from New Orleans to try something different, I never dreamed we would go from one of the warmest most humid areas of the Deep South to one of the coldest most northern areas of the far north. I told her it's like we moved so quickly and had so much momentum built up when we moved that like a flat stone skipping across the calm surface of a pond, we must have skipped past where we wanted to stop and when the energy was finally expended, we looked around and found we had almost missed the top of the continent.
I am sitting here on this Sunday morning in mid October and as I glance at the little clock at the bottom of the computer it states it's 10 AM here, right on the nose. I glance out the window and see a variegated landscape emerging from the reluctantly departing darkness. There is a red glow below the tundra behind cemetery hill hinting of the sun that may or may not appear in the cloudy sky. The temp outside according to our digital thermometer is 32.7 which is the range it has been in for the last week or so. It has been overcast for the most of that period and on some days we have been greeted with a beautiful snowfall and on others, rain mixed with snow and sleet. Hence the variegated landscape neither wrapped in its winter coat nor stripped down to its shorts like most folks during the summer. This makes for an interesting time of year when everything is just plain slick due to the constant freezing and unfreezing and everyone is relearning how to do the Kotzebue shuffle. This is the manner of walking developed by folks in northern climes that consists of short baby steps with hands out of the pockets to ward off the slick surface that sometimes has a tendency to appear in front of the face seemingly instantly. Now folks in different northern towns I am sure have their own name for it but whatever it is called I am sharing it with you underprivileged southerners in case you every find yourself in a situation where you are ice skating without the proper attire or equipment.
The plans for the day were for Cathy and Gary to come over and change the oil in all the 4 wheelers to zero weight because of the rapidly approaching below zero temps, but with the way the sky looks and with the winter winds out there that may be postponed. Yesterday we were at Cathy's place and she, Gary, and another friend Frank, were like a lot of folks here, working on their snowmachines. Ice is covering most of the back bay and Swan Lake now and there is loose ice floating in the sound so the more intrepid souls (definition of intrepid: fool) will soon be out literally taking their life in their hands. Most boats have been removed from the water (that reminds me of a story I have to relate) but yesterday there were a couple out on the sound motoring slowly among the ice out there I suppose trying to harvest the last seals for the winter. I did see one 4 wheeler that belongs to one of the naluaqmiut (white people) that works for the hospital hopelessly trying to ward off winter with a toy hula dancer tied to the front basket. This is wishful thinking of course as right now it's probably encased in a thick coating of ice.
The sun was out most of yesterday and the temp felt mild even though it was probably in the 30's. When the sun is out and the wind is down it can be quite comfortable. Patty and I talked about taking a ride down the beach as it could be the last chance until next spring but instead, I dragged her to the hospital with me where we spent a romantic three hours in the biohazard waste room packing medical waste for shipment back to Anchorage where it will be properly disposed of. Yep, we have no way of safely disposing of it here so it has to be packed and shipped down by air. Why do I have to do it? Well, my predecessor did it himself because it is medical waste and it goes through the USPS. Because of the liability it poses he wanted to make sure it was packed right. I agree with him in a way but I have some people working for me that I know will do the job right. After I get a handle on it, I will turn the job over to them. I did look at Patty yesterday as we were doing this and asked her if when they asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, did you tell them you wanted to be living in the arctic packing human biohazard waste? I know I did! I still try to connect the dots to see how we ended up here and it ends up looking like some elderly persons varicose veins so I usually just give up (and smile because we did end up here and we are making plans for the future; and if the plans don't come to fruition.... Hey, it's the journey, not the destination).
I mentioned a story I wanted to relate. There is a boat here that is owned by about six people. When someone leaves they sell their share to someone else. It has become known as the doctors’ boat due to the fact that quite a few docs have been involved. We were tempted last summer and again this summer to buy into it but we didn't, sometimes I regret it and sometimes I don't. Anyway the boat was stored for the last few winters in a spot in our parking lot outside the apartment. Since the boat was launched in the spring, the trailer has sat beside our building. There is one doc here in particular who is now the Medical Director and seems to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the boat. About two weeks ago we asked her about the boat as the water was freezing up and she told us they had another place more protected to keep it now and that was where it was. Now it didn't register with me that the trailer was still outside out bedroom window and Patty even commented to me about it last Sunday that the trailer was still here and it still did not register. Wednesday as we were eating the doc called me from our entryway. Houses and apartments here have an enclosed unlocked entryway so even if you forget your key or someone comes to visit, they don't have to stand out in possibly below zero or blizzard weather. These are called Cunnychucks here-don't ask me why. The hospital apartments have a telephone in the Cunnychuck's so dumb white folks can call for help when they loose or forget their keys. This is where the doc was calling from and asking for help because she couldn't get the trailer to latch onto the ball on her 4 wheeler. I helped her with it and commented on the fact that I thought she had said the boat was out of the water. She said the boat is out of the water, on a trailer, and stored at the aforementioned place. Seems the only problem was it was on someone else's trailer. This person found their errant trailer under the docs’ boat and promptly informed the band of owners of the error of their ways. The doc said some of the other shareholders were waiting to help her make the exchange and said she would call to take me up on my offer of help if needed. I did not hear from her and the next day I left a message for her to the effect that either things went alright, or they were all killed in the process. I thought nothing more of it until the following morning as I listened to my voicemail (yea, we're modern enough here to have that, darn it) and a long forlorn message that was left on my machine at 9:30pm the night before told a further tale of woe. Seems that when the doc arrived at the scene the disgruntled owner of the errant trailer had already removed the docs’ boat and replaced it with his. His 4 wheeler was stuck and unable to haul out the load so he had acquired a truck, which he hooked to the 4 wheeler, which was hooked to the trailer upon which, sat his boat. The doc who related this tale from her desk where she still sat 9:30 at night, told of how she watched helplessly as the real owner gunned the engine in the truck and dragged the 4 wheeler/trailer/boat combo out so fast that she did not have time to yell as the errant trailer, which the hapless owner did not secure his boat to, promptly disgorged his boat onto the shore. Now I wasn't there and I don't know this for sure but I can just picture them all standing there looking forlornly at the scene and I can imagine the rightful owner jumping up and down cursing all naluaqmiut in Inupiat.......... Well it seems that in the end it all worked out and I don't know if they can laugh at it, but I know I can.
Well it's 11:15 and Patty still snores in the other room. It's still overcast outside and the wind still blows. That brief redness I saw on the horizon earlier was chased away by old man winter I suppose. I am going to have to wake Patty up, shower off, brave the outdoors to go to the store to get the only Anchorage newspaper we buy-the Sunday edition, and although its tuff going, we'll just have to laze the rest of the day away warm and dry. (Unlike those poor souls working 7 days a week on the new apartments behind us trying to finish the outside and roofs of those apartments before the weather really gets bad).
So you folks down there take care and come Halloween, think about the kids up here with their costumes stretched over snowsuits. Don't feel sorry for them though, because they, like kids everywhere are simply having innocent fun and thinking of all the goodies they are working so hard to get.
The Sam's
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Last updated:
08/29/05