52 Lists: List your essentials

I wrote this list on Tuesday. A lot has happened since then. I've traveled to and from Nome, presented at a conference, started planning a trip to Montana, and Unalakleet has declared a state of emergency regarding water, well in this case, the lack thereof.

Something happened to the pumps or the line from Powers Creek. This wasn't noticed until the tank had 6 feet in it. Unalakleet is supposed to start conserving at 10 feet. Whoops. Then I think people thought it would be fixed and taken care of pretty fast. Conservation really didn't happen and before long the tank was drained. Nothing in it.

The temperature dropped. No water was going into the system so on Saturday morning a meeting was called and everyone pitched in and Unalakleet got a pump into the river and brackish water into the lines. Unalakleet learned a little from the last time the line broke, everyone turned off the intake in their water heaters and water is being pumped directly into the system, not into the tank. I have never been so happy to flush a toilet.

We're still hauling drinking water. But things are looking up. Not everyone's water pipes froze, and they're going around and thawing the frozen lines. No ground lines froze. Phewf. THAT was the huge worry. Needless to say an essential that I was overlooking and should have written on this list: water. Running water preferably.