High and Dry...Wishful thinking.

It started out well enough 

Best day of the field season so far, we might have actually hit double digits today and no wind to boot. Things are looking rosy. That is until the various insect larvae begin their rapid climb to the surface of our many thawing lakes. It wasn’t looking so good last night though. Turned out to be a bit on the noisy side; one pair of very amorous Sandhill Cranes was getting it on into the wee hours and the dreaded night screams made an appearance. Save for the heat in the tent being utterly unbearable I slept rather soundly and arose to the singing of the birds and bright yellow light streaming through the white walls of my little tundra abode.

So how did I celebrate such a wondrous day? I got good and wet. Should I not be able to achieve my objective as a helicopter pilot, I managed to at least eliminate another possible trade as an alternative career choice. Plumber can now be stricken from the list, along with roofer. Just when things seem to pick up around camp and my mood improves I somehow find the most effective way of bring myself back down to earth. Today’s chore was to reroute/reconnect the dry plumbing.


But then fate stepped in 

The “dry” is a bit of a misnomer, it is truthfully the wettest building in camp as it is where the washing, showering and “drying” of wet dirty work clothes occur. Our particular dry is special. It has two sink basins, three showers, and a pair of washers and dryers. Each one of these fixtures has its own drain of course. But none of them are tied together in anyway; they all just go under the floor and out the back of the building. Or that was the intent when the building was initially constructed. What we actually have is six individual drains, seven if one includes the kitchen, spewing their fluids in many different places most notably right under the dry. Today I began the arduous task of trying to tie them all together and ensure that the grey water actually ejects itself a suitable distance from the back of the building. Three and a half hours wallowing like a pig in shit. Fortunately the shit as previously mentioned is self contained in another building but almost two months worth of shower and laundry water wasn’t all too pleasant. And I have only completed half of the project.


And kicked me in the ass! 

I could go on and on about how the dry and kitchen should have been plumbed: Like raising all of the showers one foot and connecting all of the plumbing inside of the building, ensuring a couple of things, especially in winter. One: you will be warm and dry when connecting all of the various sections of pipe and two: all of the connections will be solid and free from the hazard of freezing because the last thing you want is broken plumbing inside the dry. Well none of it happened and guess what? The plumbing froze and broke and I went for a swim before any of the lakes completely thawed. But I won’t go on and on about how it should have been done. As it is, it looks as if a deranged group of gibbons bodged together my fix.

There was good news today. I may just get that gin.

Pinch me!