Wednesday, November 15, 2006

There's no single explanation

There's no central destination.

I went to the coffee shop with Meg this morning and guess what? They were out of coffee! I almost yanked the barista over the counter but instead, on the urging of Meg, tried decaf. Never again I say! Gawd. What was I thinking? No familiar jolt. No spring in my step. No....zzzzzzzzzzzz...oh man, sorry, drifted off there. I won't say which coffee shop was out of coffee but it starts with Lu and ends with Lu's.
Chatted on the phone with Sam's dear friend Mary from KC. Man. If all his friends are that nice, I better dial down the 'tude a notch before I meet them all in person.
Ran dogs yesterday and froze parts of my body I didn't know I had. Online it said that up in hills (where I train) the wind chill would make it feel like minus 50. And yeah, it did. I had those chemical warmers in my mittens and my boots and my hands and feet were still cold. I had something in my eye so it kept watering and eventually froze shut. I'm still using a four-wheeler, as there is still no snow. I mean, really, what fun is a nice cold Alaska winter with no freaking snow? The machine almost didn't start and the seat was frozen solid so it made for a pretty uncomfortable ride. The only consolation was that the dogs were amazing. They're handling the 13-mile route very well. Even Bull who I have come to rely on as my most consistent leader is lunging in his harness whenever we stop. Usually, in the course of a training run, I have stop a couple times to untangle dogs or line them out onto the right trail. Fussing with them usually keeps me a bit warm. But yesterday, they were perfect so, really, I didn't have to stop at all. Except that by about seven miles I couldn't feel my feet or hands, so I got off and ran some laps around the team and did jumping jacks in front of my leaders. It mostly just scared the bajeesus out of them. I must have looked like a lunatic (more so than usual) but I have to keep from freezing some how.

This weekend I'm covering the Top of the World basketball tournament. It's an NCAA division 1 tourney with college teams coming from all over the Lower 48. I got a gig covering the team from Southeast Missouri State for the newspaper there. The team arrives today, so I'll meet them at the airport to introduce myself and get some (hopefully) funny reactions to the frigid temperatures here.
Also this weekend is my handgun course. I think Sam's a little nervous. Crazy lady with gun skills? Yeah, I would be too.
Well, I think that's it for now. I'm heading to Whitehorse in a week or so to say goodbye to Trish and Graeme. They're two great journalist friends who are moving to Africa to work. I have a list of things to bring back from Canuckland so if anyone around here wants anything, let me know. Though I haven't got my green card yet, I did get a letter saying that I'm now legal and that the card is on its way. I am now a permanent resident of the US. God help us all. Me especially. Are you there, God? It's me Springy.
Peace.

5 comments:

Mary said...

You could make a killing on the candy bar black market if you brought back some Crunchies. Mmmm....Crunchies...

AKbushbaby said...

Silly Chilly. Have you forgotten where I live? This is rootin' tootin' town. I'm going to have a holster around my thigh at all times. And one around the other thigh with a flash of whiskey. I am Alaskan now. I have arrived.

AKbushbaby said...

I guess I meant flask of whiskey, but flash works too. Oh Chilly, I'm sure you could get used to that but...wait...who are you?

AKbushbaby said...

Hmmm. Interesting. I know the mayor of Crazytown personally. I should introduce you.

Anonymous said...

Hey Annie Oakley, did you holster that gun yet? I think the fans wanna hear about your day with firearms. I know I do. mf