You write well.
I think the answer is that you get used to it and it just becomes normal.
--R
On 2/11/13 1:40 PM, WILTON wrote:
OK, all the talk of snow and ice reminded me; here's another
Sondrestrom tale:
TENDER AMERICAN & A TOUGH GREENLANDER
By Wilton Strickland
One evening at dinner in early December, 1978, while I was Director of
Engineering at Sondrestrom Air Base, Greenland, a friend reminded me
that a popular movie was playing at the base theater. Because it was
very cold outside (chill factor about -85° F) we rushed to the theater
hoping to get in without standing in line outside, but we were too
late; there was already a line of about 25 people. Though I was
wearing thermal underwear and boots, regular pants and shirt, a down
ski jacket with hood and gloves, I was worried about getting frostbite
on my uncovered face. (I had gotten some frostbite in Michigan about
5 years earlier - I knew I had to be careful.) While standing in line
a few minutes before getting to the ticket booth, I hunched down
behind my friend trying to shield my face from the wind. I also
covered my face lightly with my hands and, for some additional heat on
my face, exhaled my warm breath into the space between my hands and
face. The line moved along reasonably well, and I soon got inside and
enjoyed the movie.
Before getting up the next morning, I could feel my forehead tingling
and itching, and when I looked into the mirror to shave, I saw a red,
vertical streak about ¾" wide down approximately the middle of my
forehead - I had frostbite again! As before, the skin on the frozen
area came off, and the area itched for years. 'Til just a few years
ago, I could still see the red streak on my forehead occasionally.
At Sunday lunch a few days after the theater incident, somebody
mentioned that some sled dog teams were down at the port, seven miles
away. (Tourists from Europe would occasionally fly in and charter
native Greenlander sled dog teams for two-week trips from Sondrestrom
to a small village on the coast or out onto the ice cap a few miles
away.) After lunch, a couple of friends rode down to the port with me
to see the dog teams.
When we arrived at the port, only one team was still there. The
driver/master was busy rounding up his dogs and hitching them to the
sled. (In Greenland, the 12 to 14 dogs forming a team are hitched to
the sled individually in a wide, fan pattern; in Canada and Alaska,
the dogs are hitched in pairs to form two straight, narrow rows in
front of the sled to facilitate passing between trees.) One-by-one,
the driver attached a rope to each dog's harness and placed the dog in
position in front of the sled. As he would turn away to another dog,
those already in position would watch the driver/master closely, and
when the master was looking away from them, they would hurriedly dig
into certain cardboard boxes on the sled. The driver caught them
doing this two or three times and scolded them harshly while kicking
them back to their places in front of the sled.
During the few minutes the driver was getting the dogs in place, I
stepped outside my truck several times to take photos. The chill
factor was still about -85° F. Because I could not operate the camera
wearing gloves, though, I removed them, focused as much as possible
from inside the truck, then stepped outside, quickly refined the
focus, took the shot and got back in the heated truck in just a few
seconds. Before I could finish the photo each time, though, my
fingers, nose, etc., were tingling and hurting from the cold. I'm
certain that, if I had been outside for a few more seconds, I would
have had frostbite on my fingers and nose. During the entire time,
however, the Greenlander was wearing nothing on his head, face, ears
and hands. What under garments he may have been wearing I don't know,
but his outer clothing was blue jeans, a plaid shirt and boots/mukluks
- no additional parka, etc.
He suddenly had all of his dogs in place, made one final and quick
motion to attach all of the tow ropes to the sled at a single point,
and flopped quickly down on the sled as the dogs took off. In a flash,
they were down the sloped shoreline and moving rapidly down the frozen
fjord, the driver's head, face, ears and hands still exposed to the
extreme arctic conditions.
The mystery to me in all of this: How could my exposed skin freeze so
quickly and the Greenlander's not under the same conditions at the
same time? Had the Greenlander's blood become so acclimated that it
contained some type of "anti-freeze" factor, allowing him to tolerate
much lower temperatures than I? I still don't know the answer to that
question, but my simple explanation, meanwhile, is that I was an
extremely tender American and that was one VERY TOUGH Greenlander.
Wilton
----- Original Message ----- From: "Curt Raymond" <curtlud...@yahoo.com>
To: "Diesel List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2013 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] BLIZZARD!!!! AHHH!!
Standing Randy, I was standing...
I'd just replaced the main gas line and had to have the seat off for
that. You don't sit in deep powder snow anyway, you stand and carve
steering by shifting your weight.
The seat is in my basement drying out, apparently the tarp over the
machine was leaking, the "padded seat" was full of water and frozen
hard as a rock!
-Curt
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:57:10 -0600
From: Randy Bennell <rbenn...@bennell.ca>
To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Subject: Re: [MBZ] BLIZZARD!!!! AHHH!!
Message-ID: <511914d6.1060...@bennell.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I assume he is tough as nails too. Did you note that he has taken off
the padded seat on the sled and rides it sitting on the cold hard body
of the machine!
Randy
On 09/02/2013 8:15 PM, Dieselhead wrote:
Sir, You are a true connoisseur of old iron. Wankel panther, 240D,
IHC M, Snappers, Cub cadet, tons of colemans. You need a
Versatrailer. Got a 45-70 Springfield trapdoor?
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To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
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_______________________________________
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For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com
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To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
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