Give It Up For My Homies!!

Days Walking - 29

Let's dive right into Commenter Queries!

My Man Kato was wondering about Our Animal Friends.
We've seen damn few critters. Spotted some Willow Ptarmigans, (The State Bird of Alaska, btw) but only in flight. And closer to Barrow, we saw a few Arctic Foxes. Have not seen any of the cute lil Foxes for quite a while.

No seals, sorry.

The other day, Church mentioned spotting some swans, but also - only in flight. On their way somewhere more comfy, I hope. There's really nothing here to eat, no shrubs to hide / dwell in, no reason any living creature of sound mind would choose to be here.

I have seen not even one polar bear... I'm torn when it comes to the bears. They are such powerful, compelling creatures. Like big burly doggies. But they are very strong and very hungry, and I am food.

I'd much rather see a polar bear from a boat, at a comfortable distance. I have a fear that a bear will find our camp one day. Maybe discovering an old camp from a week ago, and start tracking us, eating our trash (we only leave biodegradable refuse, fear not) and biding his time. He'll arrive one night while we are sleeping, and tackle one of the shelters (they do this to seal dens - they just dive in, using their body weight), instantly killing the occupants.

He can then eat them at his leisure.

We really should have a night watch, in shifts.
I've suggested it, but I was voted down.

If there are more animals, (has to be more out here than we're spotting...) they must hear us coming and hide out.

Oh. Um, by the way, I found my little plastic doohickies. The ones I thought someone had stolen? Yeah. For some reason, they were in with my mess kit. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until I actually confronted Gabe about it.

Gabe and I then had something of a tiff, and it seems that I am a whiney bitch, and he's something of a bastard. But I discovered that he had taken my sewing kit - or rather, borrowed it the other night without asking. So it wasn't a total loss. I'd thought I had mispacked it, and have been using Church's.

I feel bad about accusing him. I had gone up to him, planning to just ask nicely. It seems that I was in a bad mood yesterday (and today, according to a couple of people) so I guess that's why the conversation took on an adversarial direction. It's no excuse, I was in the wrong. You don't go accusing people. Especially when you're gonna be spending so much time with them.

Next time something goes missing, I'll be sure to be more passively concerned, and not accusing. It's pretty obvious that 'Stuff' is too important to me right now. Materialism is bad. Even when it is survival equipment. Which the plastic doohickies weren't. It turned into a The Gods Must Be Crazy moment. Ugh.

Robin and Kthrne- we tried to provide for every contingency, but of course we can't. A lot of what might seem like sage planning was convenience. A couple of high quality (expensive!!) med kits from REI will cover a lot of the items that I mentioned the other day.

Also, if a person wants to plan for an outdoor trip these days, all they have to do is type in a few simple search strings into Google, and you can see what a lot of other folks like to take on their expeditions. Like the Romans, we just steal everyone else's bright ideas. So far, so good. Wish I could claim we're geniuses.

Kthrne emailed me super thoughtful music selection suggestions, and I can't wait to check them out! (May Shatner Himself Smile Upon You)

Heather - thanks for all your quality advice!! This girl went so far as to email me with useful info while comments were down. You rock!

Celia - Hi Sweetie! Where is your blog? I clicked on your link, but nothing. Too busy skiing, I suspect! :o) Yes, your divination skills are correct - that was in fact, the Poop Tent (of Stinky Fame) in the pic the other day.

Lucas - What's the deal with posting comments, with no link to your blog, my man? Why you gotta be front'n? Hmn. Post my voicemail posts as mp3's... I'll ask Dad to look into it. Marina's not much for file conversion. Allow me to break it to you right now, Lucas - my voice is in no way sexy. The men who have claimed it was so were mistaken - and are now dead, the bodies hidden.

Kevin, what's with the hidden blog? You make me ever so curious! You post good questions, I'm sure your blog is great. Why not let us in? No pressure, dearie - just curious.

Hmn. It seems that I am forbidden to scrap my short story and start over... :o) Robin, are you offering to be the first victim / test subject? I don't want to unleash crap on an unwilling world. Thanks for the kind words about my writing!! Smiles.

My crack team of commenters are unequaled in all of virtual space!
Hugs for each of you!

Litany Webb, signing off

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