Last afternoon, as we were driving around the Mendenhall area, I overheard the two girls sitting in the backseat discussing what to do if we came up on a bear…

Tasha: “You slowly back out”
Niki: “What if the bear is too near?”
Tasha: “Then you run”
Niki: “What if the bear can outrun you?”
Tasha: “Then you lay down and just act dead?” [I think she remembered a story of a person who did the same and the bear, convinced that he was dead, walked away]

Niki, was completely unimpressed with the tactic of simply laying down in front of the bear and then acting dead.
“That is silly”, she said. “The bear is going to be – Wow! FREE MEAT!!” 🙂

Sipping my first cup of coffee and looking out into the completely cloud engulfed town of Juneau, I called up my mom for our daily call. The girls were sleeping and I had a lot of time at hand. So, today’s discussions with mom went a little deeper into her local weather than it normally does. Of course, she had numerous questions about Alaska. In her mind, Alaska is a huge sheet of white ice that we are all slipping uncontrollably in with every step – perhaps brought down by the weight of seventeen layers of clothes she has conjured in her mind that we must be wearing. I did not bother to mention to her that I was talking to her wearing shorts and a polo shirt. That could have quickly degenerated into a “thanda legey jaabey” admonition.

Going back to the weather in her place, after complaining about heat and rain (and the only reason she did not complain about cold is that the temperatures have not gone below 80 deg F (26 deg C) yet), she concluded that the best would be if it would rain during the night and have bright sunshine during the day.

Now, that did not compute in my mind. I thought rains during the day would be good to bring the temperatures down in that oppressive humid environment. Also, for me, I cannot see the beauty of rain fall if it happens in the dark of the night. After thinking thru a few more angles, I asked her “Keno bolo to?” (“Why so?”).

“Jama kapor sukhatey hobey na?”, she promptly replied.

So, apparently, come hell or high water, she needs the bright sunlight during the day so that she can dry her bundle of washed clothes everyday!!

That was very funny to me. Just the silliness of my assumption that everybody has a washer dryer and that drying clothes to her trumps all the discomfort of a muggy, hot day…

“Tai to, tai to”… I hastened to agree!!