Minor News sez...

...It's still snowing. I didn't shovel again this morning, but will do so when I get home this evening.

So the other evening I dropped by my neighbors' house, and the conversation opened thusly:

"Have you had dinner?"

Yes, thanks, I had... ahhh... well, I ate a leftover chicken drumstick while standing in front of the refrigerator. Then I had a PBJ. Then I thought I should eat some veggies, so I sauteed some spinach and ate that. Then I was still hungry, so I ate a chunk of cheese. So I'm good, thanks!

There was a pause.

"You know how you buy bags of dog chow, and you give each of the dogs a scoop? And you can also get cat chow, and I'm sure you get rabbit chow?"

Aaaahhhh... Yes?

"They should make something called Bachelor Chow, for people like you!"

Aaaaaannnnnddddd... here is a video of a behbehelephant playing in a pile of sand.

You're welcome.

Miscellany

First of all, wowee to the awesome aurora this solar storm is causing. Unfortunately, it's been cloudy chez moi.

Secondly, here is some morbid humor for your day. Check out this ad posted for three adorable Pomeranian pups for sale:


Not much respect for little dogs around here!

Here we have Miss Millie B. Doofus, Supreme Ruler of the People's Independent Republic of Bunnistan, lounging in one of Linden's favorite positions:


And the dowgs:


Also, also: My local friend H, who did her bachelor's degree in Portland, OR, informed me that when she was living there, the first time she went camping, it did not occur to her to bring a flashlight or head lamp. And she was properly astonished when night fell. Wow. Fairbanks is a different place indeed!

Conversation with the kama'aina

(Or whatever Alaskans call their equivalent of kama'aina)

Last week's Saturday ski, the first of the season, was a little rough. My legs were not in skiing shape, and I was uncoordinated and overheating. My arms ached, my thighs ached. I understood then why people roller ski in the summers. To recover my battered self esteem, I decided later to shovel the driveway and walkways. V, who was reading on the couch, assessed the situation and decided that it was unacceptable. He came outside and intercepted me along the path to the shed.

"I can do that."

Yes, I'm sure you can. So can I. (insert big cheesy grin here)

"I'll do it for you."

You think I'm going to let myself go soft just because you're here?

"Yes."

...
...
...
...
...

(a few minutes later, during which both of our big, competitively cheesy grins start to make our cheeks ache, and our lips are dehydrating and cracking from being frozen into place, and spittle is literally freezing on our exposed teeth...)

"Do you have another shovel?"

No.

"I'll rock-paper-scissors you for it."

Fine.

I won. :)

He went back inside and lasted maybe ten minutes. Then he came back out and started making kindling. No argument there. I detest making kindling!

Shocking the local boy

So last night the boy was showing me some Inupiaq leg strengthening exercise. "Can you do this? It's pretty hard."

I told him, Yes, I absolutely could do that. I could also do it while making circles with my hips.

"Wha?"

As it turns out, a background in Tahitian dancing is not that common around these parts.

Yes, actually, I can make a circle with my hips. I can also make figure eights with my hips, in two different planes. I can also write my name with my hips, and make six circles within a circle, with my hips. I can make circles with my hips while standing, kneeling, and squatting, while walking backwards and forwards, and balance a book on my head while doing all of these things.

Then I proceeded to waste half of my morning looking up beautiful music and dancing. Here are some you might be able to enjoy. I'm not sure how it would sound to you if you didn't grow up with it. The vids are kind of pointless (they are mostly for the audio content), so I'll only give links.

Love this song. Was taught a dance to it by a beautiful and sensual dancer from the Cook Islands, named Poko. I wonder what she is doing nowadays.

Also love this song. Still sing it sometimes when berry picking solo, to make anti-bear noises.

A song about being "a child of the sun". I think I am going to name my cabin Fare o Te Matana--house of the sun--as a call to the sky.

Here is an edgier one, with a modern techno edge. Electronic music is big in the South Pacific. Unexpected, huh?

Finally, here is some fantastic dancing:


This is labelled Rapa Nui, but I think it's from the Cook Islands:


Yeah, I can do that, but I'm not that good. :)

Regular silicon2tanana reportage will resume tomorrow. :)