Coffee, Cartons and Curdles.

Sunday was another nice and mellow day. After we got off shift and changing clothes we had coffee party in the morning since there was no brunch today due to ship offload stuff going on. It's a huge downer to not have the special treats that we get at brunch such as fresh fruit, cheeses, real eggs and waffles. Oh well. Our coffee party was good. We go to all lengths to have good coffee rather than the swill they serve in the galley, even if that means crawling under tables to find an outlet to grind fresh beans.

The cargo vessel, the "American Tern" made it into the pier and is busy at work bringing in all the supplies for the next year. The vessel looked like a Lego ship when it first arrived with the many colored milvans all stacked up. Each color means something different and designates where the milvan belongs. Ship offload operations have been going on for a couple of days around town and with all the bars closed during this time it's been pretty quiet. I've kind of liked the mellow feeling. They've had several areas closed off to vehicles and pedestrians as they move all the large cargo pallets around on flatbed trucks. It makes it a little longer of a walk to get places but is much better than being smooshed by a pallet of blazin' redfish! The cold storage building is right next to my dorm and there have been pallets lining all four sides of the buildings with such food items as 165-lbs of pretzel twists, 770-lbs of pasta and spaghetti, 90 cases of gingersnaps, 50 cases of shortening, etc. I was much more interested in the entire pallet of Snickers bars. This will be the dry food for the whole of McMurdo station for the next year. There is an entire other freezer storage building that houses all the frozen food. Now there's food storage for you!

Today I was excited to hear that I had mail! This is always good news and never bad...until today that is. It was a box of goodies from my dear, lovely friend Emily in Colorado. I thought it was a bit odd that it came double wrapped in plastic bags. I cut the bags open and the box was mooshy and soaked through. I tore open the box and got a face full of the nastiest smell of them all...spoiled milk. Em had mailed the box early November and it's now February 8th. My other dear friend here, Diane, had really wanted some eggnog during the holidays. Em sent a carton of it in a ziploc bag thinking it would be a funny joke. Had it stayed contained in the bag it may have been funnier. I blame Diane for this whole mishap! :-) As it was it had leaked all over everything; the treats, Lucky Charms, CD's, a book, Cheetos, notes, marshmallow fluff and the Peter Pan pen. I did my best to salvage all that I could and washed everything in a sink full of soapy water. I think all but perhaps the book have survived. The entire station smelled like two month old milk vomit and it took a lot of open bay doors, windows and such to clear the smell out. I accidentally got a bit of the wretchedness on my shirt and had to trade it out with a clean one to wash it in the machine. Nasty!! Hopefully I'll be able to get the smell out of my nose one of these days. Anyhow, thank you Em for the goodies, despite their haggard appearance here, they have been enjoyed! And boy am I loving a good fluffer-nutter sandwich!

Freshie Perfection

Today I'm back working in town driving Engine. After lunch we finished our inspections and came back to the station starting to smell like heaven. There was a group borrowing the firehouse kitchen to prepare food for their work party tonight. Everything was made from scratch, including taquitos, sopapillas, pork carnitas and guacamole. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the kitchen to see one entire counter covered with beautiful avocados and another full box of delicious tomatoes. It was truly a sight to behold. When I came in to take a photo they insisted that I have a tomato and an avocado. I do think it was the best avocado I've ever eaten and the tomato wedged with a little salt and pepper was very tasty too! Simple things make the biggest impact. I learn this lesson over and over here. It's a good one!

Bowling with Rooty-Tooty's!

Last night we had another little A-shift party. One of our Lt.'s, Drew set up cosmic bowling with rooty-tooty's. We had convinced Chief that she needed to get out of her little cubby hole (her office at the firehouse) and come play. Unfortunately she ended up having to work late and said she'd try to make it once she was done. Diane and I stopped on our way to the bowling lanes to make a drink on the bumper of Engine 1, the reserve engine. Too funny, but tasty drinks!

Then we headed over for a few games of pin knocking. There were quite a few people there and we all had a blast. The bowling lanes are pretty worn and less than even or smooth, but we still managed to have lots of fun and get some strikes too! Chief did show up towards the end and had a drink or two and I think may have even tossed a bowling ball down the lanes. Rooty-Tooty's are a nasty sounding drink that is pretty popular down here this year. It;s made with Root Beer Schnapps and orange juice. It sounds terrible, but actually wasn't too bad. I thought it just tasted like homemade root beer. I guess that it's a popular drink as the liquor has been very limited and rationed and yet there always seems to be another bottle of Root Beer Schnapps for the taking. The fact that it only costs $2/bottle may have something to do with it too.

After the bowling time was up Diane and I took Chief over to the crevasse to hang out for a bit. She didn't want to go with the firefighters only because she needed a break from anything work related. We chatted with some of the guys in the crevasse and then all headed home to bed. It was a pretty early evening which was nice and everyone had a lot of fun playing and hanging out together away from the firehouse.

Today at work I was to go out to Pegasus for the C-17 landing. It was pretty uneventful until the airfield manager and then one of the shuttle drivers in Ivan the Terrabus drove away from the plane way, way too close to the wing. Our estimates were between six and ten feet, far within the approachable limit of fifty feet! In this picture you can see Chief and Lt. standing in the tire tracks of the Terrabus. It was stressful to say the least. Unbelievable... The rest of the time Lt. Hartbarger and I sat in Red 5 and chatted, snag with the oldies on the radio, tried to keep my hands warm above the defrost and then listened to my iPod. It was a decent day even with the exciting stress of a near miss with the Terrabus and aircraft.

Working Here and There

Last shift (Friday) we did some good training again on patient rescue with the stokes litter and rope rescue. Pretty fun stuff as it usually is and at one point I got to be the patient, lucky me. They tied me all in with three different lengths of webbing and then carried me like a suitcase, standing straight up and upside down. It was a titch uncomfortable, but it worked for it's purpose and kept me pretty much in the same position in the stokes litter without sliding up or down. Really, the scariest thing is just hoping that they won't drop you on your face!

Yesterday was a pretty slow day. It was Sunday and the one Southbound plane cancelled due to weather. That left us stuck out at Station Two on the flight line for 24 hours without a thing to do. Both Diane and I slept for seven hours during the day, did some work on the computer, read some, made a tuna sandwich (sounds boring, but it's the first one I've had since I've been here) with chips and a diet coke, and then slept another seven hours at night. The highlight really was sitting at the table reading with my tuna/potato chip sandwich and a nice cold diet coke. Felt like home until I looked up and realized that yes, I was still trapped in this tiny trailer with five other people for the rest of the shift. I took a few pictures of the bathroom here on the flight line. It's kinda yucky since there is no fresh water and what water there is to flush the toilets comes from a melted snow water holding tank and is a lovely yellow-y, orange-ish color. (Insert sarcasm here) It also smells lovely what with the holding tanks and all. Not the most delightful experience. The water is completely non-potable so you have to bring your own water to brush your teeth and such. It's hard to see in the picture, but the sink water comes out yellow-orange. Mmmm. The primary colored blocks on the mirrors that have a vague resemblance to a bad preschool theme are a nice touch though. It's not nearly as posh out here on the flight line as things are in town.

At one point during the night I got up for the obligatory march outside to the bathroom building across the way. It had been stormy and snowy all day, they closed the road out to Willy Field for a while, and we had community fridge food for dinner as they didn't bring a hot meal out. I really do think that I might be the weather curse on the flight line. ;-) Needless to say, the views outside were really beautiful. It was roughly midnight, the light was a little softer, the clouds were starting to lift somewhat and the sun trying to peek through. No longer was there the stark blinding white everywhere, it had faded to a landscape that was full of many shades of blues, purples and pinks. Simply gorgeous...

Full Duty Once Again!

The best news is that on Saturday morning my physical therapist cleared me to return to work full duty. Today I'm back on shift for the normal 24 hours and am happy to be back and on a more normal schedule. It'll be nice to have full days off again. After such a busy day yesterday I was a teensy bit worried that I'd be sore and feeling it today. To the contrary, my back is feeling great so far so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll only continue to get better and better. Even after a good hard I'm-gonna-need-a-shower work out this afternoon I'm still feeling great! I feel positive that there will be no more LDB for me!

Although it is a Monday, due to the football playoff games that were on today the Chief declared it a light day. She started off the day by saying "Okay, get those truck checks and inventories done quick. There's football on!" Love her! Some found the day a bit tedious though and found other ways to deal with their ADHD issues. Bobby Brady built a hat out of cardboard and duct tape that holds two cans of soda with straws to drink from and a large bowl of popcorn. It's a practical party addition. Yarnes made a duct tape wallet. I have to give him credit, it looks good and the finish work is divine! ;-) They are clever guys!

The day is now winding down and I think I'll go settle in with one of my three books till bedtime. It's so good to be back!

What a Great Weekend!

Today was a fantastically fun day! I suppose it actually started last night (Saturday) with the Summer Beach Dance Party hosted by the Wasties at the Waste Barn. I really had to convince myself to go rather than stay in bed and watch a movie. It was great to get out, hang with friends and dance the night away with everyone. It was lots of fun!

Woke up in time Sunday morning to go do the Scott's Hut 8k Race. As I'm not allowed to run I walked it with my friend Mike. He's such a nice guy for walking with me so I didn't have to walk it alone. He's got a jacked up ankle too so that may have been part of it. The weather was warmish and the day was gorgeous! Just a windbreaker and hat and we were nice and comfy. We did it in 63.33 minutes and I now am posted as the last, and longest, finishing time on the rec board in the hallway for everyone to see. If they understood that we walked and that many of those who finished just a few minutes ahead of us were runners it might not look quite so pathetic. Never mind though, we had a great walk.

After the race we all had brunch where we sat for a couple of hours and ended up having a coffee party there in the galley. Coffee parties are when one of us brings the French press and good coffee along with real milk-from-a-cow. It's a fantastic treat!

Finally Diane and I convinced one another that although a nap sounded really, really good, we needed to head over to Scott Base for the polar plunge. We were both having a hard time motivating ourselves to get there, but got up the nerve, changed clothes and off we went. This was an experience that I did not want to miss out on at all. I mean seriously, I bought the t-shirt months ago and haven't been able to wear it until I do it. It was fantastic!!! It was super cold waiting in line with a blanket wrapped around me and then having to put on Diane's cold, wet shoes and the wet swim safety belt around my waist. The overcast, slightly windy day didn't make things feel any warmer either! Once the technicalities were out of the way, I somehow managed to get myself to jump into the freezing 28.5 degree Fahrenheit water. It was super cold and instantly took my breath away. I opened my eyes underwater on instinct and it was neat looking; bluish-grey and kind of murky. Then after only a matter of seconds you surface and gasp for a breath as the cold squeezes it out of you when you first jump into it. It was tricky getting my arms and hands to work to crawl up the ladder and out of the hole. Then they wrapped the blanket back around me and we were done. The strangest thing is that immediately after you exit the water you are so cold and your body is so shocked that neither of us could speak for a minute. It was so cool and a once in a lifetime experience! And the feeling of salt water on your body and in your hair felt great! I forgot how I love the ocean water. It pretty much was way too much fun in a freaky weird sort of way! Needless to say, although we'd have been happy to have just had a nap that afternoon, the plunge was the best part of the day. After watching a few more plungers and doing a bit of browsing in the Scott base store to warm up we were ready to go home. The shuttle was too full to get back to town and so we ended up walking nearly 3/4 of the road back to Mac town before getting picked up by the ambulance that was heading back to the station. A very busy and pretty active day around here. Once I got back to my dorm I lingered in a hot shower to try to make my hands work again and then had dinner followed by a really interesting science lecture related to the science and scientists of the Shackleton expedition. A great day overall and my weekend was a blast!

Skuas, Seals, Ships and Stuff.

This posting is likely going to be a little random as it covers a few different days and events.

So, in chronological order the skuas get to come first. As I've mentioned, they are scavenger birds and eat anything they can get their evil little claws on. People food is probably the thing that those living in McMurdo eat most. These pictures of the skua perched on top of the food waste bin outside the galley is a perfect example. They are wicked little stalkers that swoop in from behind and steal your edibles. Don't so much love em'!

From here we move on to a photo that I took the end of December while I was walking along the Hut Point Ridge trail. I had received a report of penguin sightings at Hut Point so I headed down. No penguin to be seen. I'm still hopeful! The sea ice has broken up near the shore some creating these melt pools. It was a gorgeous evening around ten o'clock and the bright blue of the water was really cool. The temperature was pretty warm and the sunlight was really pretty. I think if you look closely you can see the Icebreaker far off in the distance in the upper left corner and a big fat seal lying on the ice on the far side of the pool. Ice slugs...

Next are a couple of pictures of Diane and I one night walking back from burger bar at Gallagher's. We decided to stop by the McMurdo sign on the way home so we could see what was going on with the Russian icebreaker. There they were making circles out in the ice. At this point they've been in all the way and back and forth in the channel breaking up the ice. I think they have a broken propeller now and so are limited on the amount of breaking they can do. It's unfortunate that the channel hasn't cleared out at all and is just full of broken ice now. The supply ship and fuel tanker may not be able to get all the way in to town the way the channel is. We'll have to see!

Then we have the night that was meant to be a simple toast of champagne and fresh berries with our friend Marty. Unbeknown to us it would end up being a late night of partying with some of the congressmen that were here in town for a few days with Senator McCain and the congressional delegation. The best thing about having d/v's (distinguished visitors) in town was that the food was delicious! Anyhow, we hung out being lazy in my room for a while till we worked up the energy to head to the Crevasse. Had we known that "important" people would be there we'd have work clothes other than the jammie-esque kind we had on. The two Congressmen that showed up were Mr. Costa from California and Mr. Gingrey from Georgia. They were too funny just chatting and socializing like the rest of us and even learning to thumb wrestle. After a perfectly placed comment about chasing and interns they made a quick departure. It was great! Here also is a picture of our friend Jawn with Senator McCain at the reception that was held earlier that evening in the galley. You could only request an invitation if you were from one of the states that was represented and then they would pick and choose who was allowed to come. No worries for us. We heard that the party was a little slow even though there were free drinks. We had more fun at our party. And I still get to know that I could have easily stolen Senator McCain's Frosty Boy at dinner a night or two prior! I should have only because really, who can say they stole the Senator's ice cream?! ;-)

Party Time!!!!

The holidays down here have been full of all kinds of parties. I already wrote all about the Fire Department Christmas party that we had. Super lots of fun! Then we spent New Years in the Crevasse at the ANG party along with popping in on other parties. It was a really fun night. Lots of people, loud music and everyone dancing, one of the guys was making balloon sculptures and hats, talking with people, lots of laughing and even a reading of an Edgar Allen Poe poem. Oh yes, the obligatory drinking too. It was a fun night to hang out with friends and bring in the new year.

The next day was Icestock, the big outdoor town party with live music all day. Ice stock also is the time for the big town chili cookoff competition. There was lots of great chili, taquitos, queso dip and of course chips and salsa and adult bevies! I hear they had t-shirts but the rumor is that they always order way too few and they sell out super fast. I didn't go until around lunch time and therefore missed the shirts. Bummer for me as they were kind of cool this year.

Then, two nights later we had another fire department party with townies invited as well. We had the party at Gallaghers on Monday night since the bars are closed and we could use the space. It was a theme party as most are down here. This was the first annual Super Hero and Super Villain party. The rules were that you couldn't come as a known hero/villain and had to make up something new. There were fantastic costumes and we were all impressed by the creativity shown in the final products. There was The Spanish Fly, Harsh Incontinent, The Mad Ladler, Flatulence Fighter, The Morning After Fairy, Captain Lame Man, The French Tickler, Gluteus Maxxximus, The Apple Busters, and many others. Diane and I went as a dynamic duo. She was Captain Cabana and I was Mai Tai Girl. I'm not a super big fan of costume parties but she talked me into it and off we went. I had a ball! It was pretty laid back, lots of fun and great to hang out with co-workers in a more casual way. And another thing, even though it's been warm here lately, it's still cold walking around outside in flip flops, a grass skirt and coconuts! Brrrr!!!

Christmas-ish Time

Christmas came late here in Antarctica this year. See, it was like this... Santa can only come as far South as New Zealand as the weather is too unpredictable, foggy, windy and too cold for the reindeer to fly so far without any place to stop. After he leaves presents in New Zealand they are flown down here on planes, mostly the C-17's, for us to enjoy. This year the plane got a crack in the windshield and couldn't fly until a new windshield was flown down from the United States. That meant that our Christmas presents didn't arrive on the goodies from ice until several days after Christmas and have continued to come for the last couple of weeks off and on! I've received many wonderful boxes of lots of friends and family. It has been so fun for all of us to have such a fantastic variety of goodies from home. Having treats from home are fun since none of them are available here. The latte machine has been incredible, the chocolates from my family were gone far too quickly, the blanket is super snuggly, and I'm really enjoying all of the books and games as well. We did have a little Christmas tree that I skua'd right when I arrived in October. It still lives on the top of the little tv/vcr in our room and gains new decorations all the time. It's getting to be quite festive! My guess is that it will stay up until I leave the ice the mid/end of February and then it will go back to skua to live another year in someone else's room. What a story this little tree could tell!