incoming.

blueberry muffins, sausage, fried eggs

macaroni & cheese, green leaf lettuce with apples, dried cranberries and a honey mustard vinaigrette

beef braised in coffee-sherry BBQ sauce, sauted spinach, big fat yeast rolls

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It’s quiet.  Big hunks of ice and rock in the middle of nowhere quiet.  A morning heavy with a silence that makes me stop and inhale deep through my nose.  Despite the instant formation of ice crystals on my septum, the air smells warm, almost sweet.  In this rare windless moment I regret my big furry hat as I scuttle across our rocky yard with an arm load of linens for the bunk house.  I am cook, secretary, and innkeeper.  Today our rotating cast of characters will be +three network techs, -one electrician.   The bunk house exterior resembles the mobile office at a construction site, a glorified train car with a heavy metal door reading “EXIT” and “Butcher Boy™” that I can only assume once belonged to a walk-in freezer.  Furniture consists of four stacks of bunk beds, a couch and a couple dingy arm chairs which I have tried in vain to sweep the dirt off of.  The gas preway heater at the south end of the room does it’s best to slow-roast all occupants.  Bravely waging battle against the swiss cheese construction which is little help in deterring the prevailing winds.  I deposit the gift of clean sheets to each unoccupied bunk and try to fluff sagging prison-striped pillows.  The hodgepodge of odd wall hangings and sharpie testimonials adorning the walls give the place a nostalgic summer camp feel.  At least that’s what I tell myself as I imagine master electricians and network specialists stepping through the freezer door.

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