What's This 'Flup' Stuff?

Days Walking - 51

Well today was a sh*tty day, I must say.

Somehow, even all bundled up, Anneli managed to get frostbite on
her left wrist. Turns out, she was getting some kind of rash all up
and down her left arm, and her glove was chafing, and she kinda scootched the irritating, rubbing cloth out of the way subconsciously. Wait a few minutes - - and then Owie!

Church and Adrian attended it right away, but Anneli's skin is now an unhappy, unhealthy color.

We quickly erected one of the small tents and got some water warming. In treating frostbite, it's really more of a cleanup than a healing process. Like after a nuclear incident. The damage is done, and it's all about quarantine.

First we had Anneli pop some pain pills, cause rewarming a frostbitten area is apparently pretty painful (I hope I never know this from experience).

We heated enough water (to 106 degrees) and immersed her wrist. You have be careful not to bump the sides of the water container until the skin discoloration goes away - you can cause more damage by bumping around.

We kept replacing the water, to maintain the temperature, until all the skin discoloration went away. Then we made a bath of warm water and antibacterial soap, and let her soak for like 10 minutes.

She let her wrist air-dry, and then Church applied ointment and sterile gauze and medical tape. Anneli is going to have some scarring, but she probably won't need a skin graft. Church is researching the rash now, it may be a reaction to the new wet-naps we picked up in Deadhorse. No one else is having an issue, maybe Anneli has sensitive skin.

In other news, I'm getting sick. I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a lot of sinus drainage. I'm swallowing a lot of gunk, where is all of this coming from? My head feels heavy and swollen and puffy and there's pressure. My eyes feel as though they'd really like to pop out. You know, just for a few minutes.

And the poop tent is broken.
As I described before, it's one of those insta-tents with the bendy tubes inside for quick setup. We gathered around this morning for our morning ritual... and instead of the poop tent's usual energetic 'poof!' it went 'flup'.

We're all - "Flup? What is this flup stuff?"

It turns out, one of the bendy tubes has broken free of its binding and thinks it's gonna escape north and to freedom. Ha Ha not on my watch. The poop tent is now on the injured list, the one side does not support itself.

Now, while squatting, you have to either support the floopy half, or let it droop down on ya while you're attending to busyness. Just when you thought potty time could not get more fun. Gabe is working to repair the poop tent as I speak. Good Luck and GodSpeed, Gabe.

Kato, your 'In Da Ack' rhyme was inspired and hilarious! Thanks for sharing it. Why are you wasting time working a coding job when you could be at home in your studio - laying down mad tracks for your new album? You are a funny funny man!

In nature news, we came across what can only be polar bear tracks this afternoon. According to our carefully studied information, we were much more likely to see a bear - or signs of a bear - while we were walking the coast, but we did not. So why is this one so far inland? Obviously, a nearly 2000 pound eating machine can go where it likes, I'm not gonna tell it where to go.

When we first saw the tracks, we were all like "Cool!"

Moments later, we were looking around, wide-eyed and worried. Any second now, a lost tribe of rogue polar bears will jump us, just like the angry diamond guardian apes in Michael Crichton's Congo.

If you never hear from us again, it was Da Bears What Done It.

Avenge our deaths, and make sure to grab some arctic diamonds while you're running past our half-eaten corpses.

Litany Webb, signing off

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