Let them eat cake... and humous and...oooh? Is that fresh fruit?

It has been a while I have been told.

I would love to blame it on excess but sadly it is not the case. I chalk
this one up to good old fashion laziness ! So since the last report my
shoulders and frail ego have healed and believe it or not without the
aid of good old fashion beer. Bitching and moaning appears to be the
order of the day. I believe that to the best of my ability I have made
it clear that I have no intentions on strapping on the hoop and burning
the 'nads again.

So what now?

Well...a little bit of tundra gardening. My prized crop right now is
plywood and 2x4's. It's like having my own little potato patch out here,
only there is no dirt no maintenance and sadly no potatoes either.
Everyday that the sunshines a little bit of the wood grain pokes its way
through the snow. Given that now we are quite near 24hr day light the
little wood grain grows rapidly as it sucks up the rays. Yesterday I
harvested about a dozen 24" 2x4's. Two days ago it was two 4x8 sheets of
5/8" T&G and a half sheet of 1/2". Today I have seen what may turn out
to be another couple of sheets of of the 1/2". Who knew that so far
above the tree line you could grow quality dimensional lumber?

As the snow disappears so to does the lake ice. Most notably it is along
the fringes where the lakes meet the land. Much of the ice on the edges
is still stuck or frozen to the ground while closer to the middle much
of the lake ice has "popped" free. The result being a big sloppy messes
all around. It looks like a giant slushy nightmare and available in all
the favorite flavors. Visible from camp I can see Root Beer, Lime and
whatever the blue stuff is. Currently not a lot of the ground work is
being done as a result of such sloppy conditions. Doesn't taste so good
either. Throw in the run-off from the tundra and our water tanks have
the appearance of a well steeped tea. Doesn't make for a pleasant site
and for the next couple of weeks the gas is going to be toxic.

The big excitement around these parts is the food. The camp is on its
third set of cooks. These two appear to have a much larger repertoire
than fish sticks, pork chops and breaded fried chicken!. Garlic was
recently discovered in a meal and the deserts are now being constructed
using a multitude of hand measured ingredients as opposed to previously
preferred method of tearing open a box. Word on the tundra is that fresh
vegetables maybe on the way in and that a pineapple was recently
sighted. Good times shall abound!

I now have new room-mate. The consulting geophysicist has recently
returned from Senegal and has now rolled out his sleeping bag on the
other bed in the shack. His first night didn't bode well for yours
truly. I swear he was sawing logs mere moments before his head hit the
pillow. Fortunately he can self adjust that problem. However the next
morning he tells me to be aware that he has this habit of waking up
screaming.

Oh boy! This ought to be nerve racking 2-3 weeks.