This one's for you, Nanook. Happy 4th!

July 4, 2005

A big thanks to Russ for the Fireworks he blew off in the driveway before I left. Looks like that’s all I get - I can’t believe no one cares up here. I tried to celebrate tonight with baggies filled with acetylene but I couldn’t get anyone to light them.

It’s hard to explain the number of Caribou that we have seen, but it must be in the thousands. From one end of the valley to the other they just walk by, 10-20 wide. We had one straggler that ventured into the tank farm just below the batch plant. She walked up the road past several people and stopped, looked around and headed off.

The only thought we had was that the wolves must be close behind. Last night Lance and Stacy started on the night shift. Around midnight they drove back for "Lunch" and 4 Caribou ran along side the truck for about a mile. They said it was an awesome sight to watch them run.

Well for the past two days the temperature has been in the low to upper 60’s with no wind. HOT is the feeling and all of the expats are still wearing their work coveralls and hooded sweatshirts. Mosquitoes are the only reason to keep covered up. I now have my own personal bottle of Russian Bug Juice. You get up in the morning, apply a light dose of bug juice as if it were after-shave and proceed to breakfast. A more liberal dose after breakfast and apply every 35-45 minutes thereafter. If you stand in one place long enough you may want to put the hood up. The Russians I work with (Stash and Dimitri) will take pity on me now and then and give me a hit of their spray that lasts almost two hours.

They tell me the horse flies are on the way. I can’t wait. The Russians want us to save as many as we can for fish bait.

Until next time, you’ll find me standing next to the smokers for bug protection.