Sciatic nerve, celebration of life

Arghhh. For the second night in a row it looks like I'm going to get less than three hours of sleep. This doesn't have anything to do with Alaska, but has everything to do with a sciatic nerve.

I've done something to trigger a problem with the sciatic nerve in my right leg. It doesn't "hurt" so much as it is incredibly uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable to move the leg one way or another, like the nerve is swollen or somehow shortened, and sleep is next-to-impossible. I'm currently alternating hot and cold packs, taking a ton of Aleeve, and fidgeting like a crazy person.

While not sleeping the last two nights I've learned two things about Talkeetna.

First, the local canines all get together and howl at around 3:00 a.m., which is very cool to listen to. Second, at this time of the year in Talkeetna it gets darkest from about 1:30-2:15 a.m. It's not completely dark, but that's when it's darkest. Right after 2:15 a.m. it starts getting light pretty fast.

In other news there's a "celebration of life" on Sunday for a woman that died in a car crash last week. I never met her, but her name was Jessica Stevens. I overheard people talking at the post office, and it sounds like all the locals will be at this gathering.

They joked about shutting down the town, but I imagine they'll run with a skeleton crew. If I can walk again by Sunday I hope to volunteer for some of the things they need. I think it's cool that they call this a "celebration of life", and organize it the way they do.