A frenzy of activity

The Bottle Washing Fairy has arrived to help mind Jade and get us out the door to Nepal. Every night on Murphy Dome lately is a frenzy of packing and checking the gear list and making more lists.

Last night, Alec and his mom were sewing. I was exhausted after having spent the day writing about an Alaska Supreme Court decision about a family trying to get death benefits from a mining company that doesn’t think the mine worker who apparently disappeared into a tailings pond in 1997 is dead. There were no witnesses and a body was never found, just a submerged bulldozer.

Some people from my company’s corporate office are coming to town next week and we’ve been told not to worry but I still worry. My industry is ailing. More layoffs were announced at Alaska’s biggest newspaper while a paper in Seattle folded its print edition. I am leaving on a three and a half week vacation the same week my newspaper is getting a look-over from some top dogs.

I can just imagine what could happen.

Where’s that slacker, Bohman?

She went to Nepal, sir.

Get rid of her.

OK, maybe that’s a bit arbitrary, especially since I am a hard worker and my bosses seem to like me. Still, I don’t think anyone knows what’s in store for Fairbanks’ only daily newspaper and if we are anything like papers elsewhere, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, if it gets better. Damn you, Craigslist.