Pneumonia is Out — Rabies is In

Life is returning to normal. Yay! Although, I’m not quite sure what normal is any more.

My pneumonia is no more. It took two peanut butter shots, enough fluids to sink a battleship, umpteen days of nothing but rest, and a small—OK, a big—miracle. But when I went in Sunday morning (we got a call at 9 AM asking why the blazes I hadn’t come in for my daily recheck yet), I was pronounced pneumonia free! I was now just really sick! Yay! Life is looking up!

So on to other things. Alakanuk is trying its hardest to blow away. No kidding. We’ve been having crazy winds here for two days now — about 50 miles per hour, with gusts up to 70. This might not be a big deal in most cities or towns or desolate places, but here, where buildings are up on stilts, it is. A big deal. It makes houses shake. By the time this is over, we may end up in Oz.

And why are buildings on stilts? Because the Yukon River floods every year. When an Arctic Circle of snow melts around the same time the rain hits, the results can be quite impressive. It even washes all the garbage into the ocean. The garbage dump is cleared out of a lot of stuff, and so is the town. Most people here look at that as being a good thing. Seriously. I’m sure the fishes really appreciate it. But what these people don’t think of is that all the villages up river are “cleaned out” the same way. Yup. It stinks being at the bottom of the trash (and crap) flow. That is why we boil and filter water here.

So—we have now officially entered rabies season. You’ve heard of cold and flu season? Apparently, there is rabies season too. Strange that it coincides with lack of sun. I wonder if it could have anything to do with deficient vitamin D? Anyway—turns out that a crazed fox raced out of the trees and attacked a landing bush plane. Tried to chew the tires right off of the thing. Of course, it had about as much success as a Chihuahua attacking a speeding Buick. But the pilot had enough sense to stay in the plane. No cargo is worth risking rabies for. Now the fox hunt is on. So far, no luck. Either the poor thing has died, moved to warmer climates, or got blown away to Oz.