The beautiful winter wonderland melted away quickly on Tuesday and immediately turned into mud. All mud. Everything covered in mud. The weather has been soupy, dark and foggy, which grounded my planes out to the village this week so after waiting at the airport for hours each day I am now officially stuck in Bethel for the week.
New phrases I'm slowly becoming accustomed to:
"Lower 48", "Down states", "Weathered in", "Weather hold", and my favorite "On the road system".
I didn't fully grasp the significance of that one until moving up here. Not being on the road system and being dependent on bush planes for everything from groceries to being able to get to work each day definitely complicates life.
Another complicating factor this week, MUD. I've never seen such mud. Bethel has one paved road, the rest are all just packed dirt which is fine when it's frozen solid or dry, but with so much precipitation lately the streets have turned into gloppy, sticky, thick, wet mud. Walking to and from work the last couple of days I have been immensely grateful that we splurged and bought rubber knee high boots, rain pants and waterproof jackets since I have literally been coated from head to toe with a mist of mud. I know it's a bad day when I feel grit in my mouth and look in the mirror at the end of the day to find mud residue on my face.
Our next door neighbors work for the district as well and offer us rides every morning. Dave usually takes them up on it to avoid the weather and the walk, but I feel like it's so hard to get exercise here that I'm trying to continue walking. The upside is that since it's now pitch black until around 10:00 it's a peaceful walk with bright stars when it's clear, and little crystals covering everything that look like sparkling diamonds when it's cold. Days like today the darkness complicates the walk as cars try to avoid as much mud as possible by driving on the very edges of the road where pedestrians walk, making the spray that much worse when they don't see you. Or sometimes they do see you and seem to delight in spraying hapless passerby, or at least it feels gleeful when you're on the receiving end of the spray.
Anyway, a delightful morning. I'm really, really hoping the weather will either dry up or freeze up before next week so I can get back to work and stop wearing waterproof everything.
1 comment:
First of all, way to WALK!! to work even. Mud...YUCK. Perhaps you could look at it like you have the chance to walk though natures spa every day or at least until the plane can come and get you again. Thanks for sharing. So proud of you for blogging!
Post a Comment