Stranded

Thanks to freezing rain and the prospect of an ice storm, flight 42 to Anchorage has been canceled, so I am stranded in Bethel until tomorrow.  To add insult to injury, I've developed a minor case of impetigo, a Staph infection most commonly seen in small children and wrestlers; luckily, I am paranoid enough to have brought Bactroban with me so I can slather my right philtrum with its strong antibacterial formula TID.

Thankfully, I also have the tendency to bring too much food with me on these excursions to rural southwest Alaska.  This time, I cooked and froze lentil soup, chicken casserole, and runza (a Nebraskan treat made of ground beef, cabbage and onions with allspice & coriander, enveloped in a delicious homemade dough).  The food gets transported efficiently in my checked baggage, and is usually still frozen by the time I land in Bethel, because the cargo hold on the plane is very chilly.  I must confess I did eat runza for breakfast this morning (Beef!  The breakfast of champions!).  For the rest of the day, I will most likely imbibe hot tea, munch on popcorn, and watch 1000 consecutive episodes of "The West Wing" on DVD.  Any television show or movie about medicine, hospitals or Alaska (or about practicing medicine in hospitals in Alaska) is strictly off-limits.