The Great White North

...are in the Arctic. If they found fish in the waters around our cabin, it would be a gold mine! You could fancy up the cabin a bit and charge tourists a gazillion dollars to come out there because in truth, it's breathtakingly beautiful. Rugged. Pristine. AND. Sugar Sand Beaches. Not even kidding. If the temps were, you know, maybe just a few degrees warmer, you could really relax on the beach...assuming a polar bear doesn't happen by....some kinks still to be worked out for my resort idea, obviously.

Though there was no running water or any plumbing, the cabin was actually quite comfortable for me. I chose a top bunk which allowed my feline tendency to enjoy being high and spying on others to be satisfied. I felt safe and out of the way up there. I could retreat to the "upstairs", as I started calling it, and get out of the crew's way as they gathered their gear and prepared to leave for the day. In fact, the 'upstairs' would often be too hot, if you can believe that, because we also had an oil stove that we'd burn for heat. It worked really well. I wished I'd brought some shorts many nights. But, my upbringing in the South taught me to channel my inner shellfish and simply not move. At all. That way, I didn't overheat.

And, despite the terrible sounding bathroom situation, it wasn't actually terrible. Because it's cold, there was little smell unless you raced in there right after you saw someone exit. In that case, you deserve to smell stink cause that's just dumb to enter the shitter right after someone else. I will likely never use lavender Pine-Sol in my life again, but hey, there are some casualties in this life.

We had lots of food, though the choices were somewhat limited as the days wore on. We did not get any more food drops while I was there. Earlier in the season, gathering ice was a big job to keep the coolers stocked and food cold. It was cold enough when I was there to keep all the ice frozen in the coolers. In fact, our water jugs began to freeze outside. So, I didn't have that responsibility. I cooked every night except one. That was an exercise in creativity sometimes. I feel that food is important for keeping energy and spirits up. If you worked all day in difficult conditions and then came back to yuck food, it would be a major attitude killer. I tried to change things up but I did have to repeat some meals.

We had a generator and plenty of gas so that wasn't really rationed which was awesome. All in all, I really can't complain. I kept myself busy enough, but not really that busy. Sweeping, planning meals, making coffee, cleaning the cabin, cooking, washing dishes, collecting water, burning trash, playing solitaire...so much to do.

I even managed to take two modified bird baths. By modified, I mean I took a saucepan with hot water into the bathroom with a flashlight. I found a piece of relatively clean cardboard about 2 ft by 2ft and stood on that so that I didn't have to stand in the dirt and sand on the floor of the bathroom. Then, I squatted like a caveman and washed my underwear. Once clean, the undies became my washcloth (because I failed to bring either washcloth or towel). That's right, I was using my own underwear to wash myself...hey, it's cloth too right??! And, it's clean now! It's very difficult to wash your body and keep the water contained to your 2 ft x 2 ft piece of cardboard. I didn't want to get water on the floor because it would freeze and someone could slip in there. Did I mention it was chilly? Finally, I rinsed my hair with the now dirty-clean water and wrapped my hair in my old shirt (remember, no towel). I figured drying my hair with the dirty shirt would serve to both dry my hair and give my dirty shirt a little shampoo smell. Win-win. Don't judge people. You weren't there! And let me tell you. Those nasty little caveman showers had me skipping out of there like a fresh clean daisy with a pep in my step!Read more