Nutrient-Rich Earwax Nectar

Days Walking - 8

I've decided to do what I can to better myself during The Long Walk. I'm picking up survival expertise daily, which is good and also life-preserving. Church has been teaching us medical stuffs.

Marina has started emailing me an Espanol Phrase a Day, to assist in the 'learnin' efforts. I think she's getting them from a bizarre, 'phrase a day' calendar... Today it was -

"Sabes coser botones?"

Which of course means: "Can you sew on buttons?".

I'm sure this phrase, now learned, will serve me well in my daily life. It will prove to be the quintessential phrase of my young life, and assist me in all manner of tight situations.

Rolling eyes.

Kwame has a minor frostbite issue. We've all been really careful, but things happen. Ok, I exaggerate - it's "Frostnip", thank you Church. Frostnip sounds almost cute, like little fey creatures of the cold that come up to nibble on your earlobe, lapping up nutrient-rich earwax nectar. But no. Frostnip is the least scary flavor of Frostbite. If Frostbite is a hard-boiled ex-con, Frostnip is his younger sister, who did a few weeks in juvie after stealing a lipstick.

When the aforementioned 'nip' was discovered and diagnosed, we threw up one of the 2 man tents. Now we haven't been using the tents because the wind is a pain and the shelters are a lot better insulated. But we are in a rush, so we set up one of the tents and got out the mini stove and warmed some water up to around 105 degrees F.

We then soaked Kwame's poor, damaged toes until the discoloration went away. It is the judgement of Adrian and Church that Kwame will be all right. He was properly covered, but was lacing his boots too tight, and that caused poor circulation, and the Frostnip of Doom crept in to do its evil work. Damn, it's like humans were not meant to inhabit -40F environments. WTF??

We were in a huge rush to unpack, so everything's a mess, (It was really very cool to see everyone pulling together in a crisis, even if it wasn't life-threatening... No one wants to lose any toes! It was our first Oh Sh*t! event, and it was lump-in-the-throat goodness, after the scariness was over) and anyone who's ever unpacked a TV knows it don't like to go back into the box. It's like that. Things that used to fit don't fit no moe!

So since we've stopped, we're having lunch now. I am partaking in a Pizza Lunchable, which I warmed all night with my body heat, for optimum not-frozenness. It's one of my delicacies, and it's the last one.

Litany Webb, signing off

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