“Fishing?” Abel asked us amiably. We were in the gnome truck on the way back from the field. I just smiled because I had no idea what he was saying.

PR Jeremy had the situation under control. “Oh, no, not us, we were on the tundra.”

Abel is one of our BASC drivers when we are without a proper vehicle, say, a truck, Batmobile, or sleigh. “Huh,” he said. “You guys smell like fish.”

We like Abel even when he is being a big meanie face- we did not either smell like fish! I haven’t even seen a fish since… Saturday, when we had sushi delivered from Osaka. The rest of the ride would have been awkward if we hadn’t had other things to talk about, namely that Abel has been absent for the past month. He’s just returned from an exciting internship with Senator Ted Stevens in Washington DC!

Since Abel was gone for a whole month, he didn’t even know that we’d been demoted! By demoted, of course I mean that we are no longer Scientists because we no longer live in the SCIENTISTS building at Dario’s. We now live in Hut 163, which logically says “Max Planck Institute” on the side.

The status of the hut is good; for a week or so we were unsure how all members of the household would take to the situation, but a couple sleeping bags, a portable heater, two new ratty spring mattresses to replace the air mattresses of two of the hutmates, and the ability to make and consume Science Juice in the comfort of our own home helped to create the pleasant atmosphere we now enjoy. We also have our own laundry facilities, though it’s still one bathroom between six people. Actually, the laundry isn’t only ours either. Just the other day while we were in the field a call (not directed to or answered by us) came over the radio that the Shorebird People (cousins to the Loon People, naturally) were in need of a pleasanter place to wash their clothes than the shores of the Chukchi Sea.

Jobby chose to be jaded about this. “Oh yeah?” he said to no one in particular. “I wonder where you’re going to find a washing machine, hmmmmmm?” The menacing jaeger who is never far away had no answer for this. On the way back in from the field that day, another BASC person had an unsurprising message for us: the Shorebird People were going to stop by and do their laundry in our hut, if we don’t mind. Score one for cynicism!

In other news, tomorrow we can’t go out to the field because some new people are coming in and BASC said that they could use our coats and boots.

OK, so that is a lie, but we are mentally preparing ourselves for the day it becomes a reality.