|
Nov 25 What a great day. After the huge feast yesterday
about half the cargo department took a trip to visit Robert Scott's hut at Cape Evans. The hut was built in 1911 and is virtually
untouched from when Robert Scott died returning from his trip to the South Pole. It took about an hour to drive across the
ice in a passenger Delta.
|
|
| Loading the Delta for the trip to Cape Evans |
Along the way we saw several Weddell Seals and I saw my first Penguin !
We were stopped to look at a seal and about 300 yards away an Adelie Penguin spotted us and started coming our way to
check us out. We held real still and he came within 20 feet from us and then walked across the ice road ahead of us.
He was adorable and not afraid of us in the slightest.
| An Adelie Penguin |
|
|
| My first Penguin |
When we got to Scott's hut it was just amazing to see everything just as it was when Scott failed to return
from his trek to the Pole. I took over 100 photos inside and around the cabin and regret that I can only show you a few due
to limited space. It was sobering to walk through the cabin and see the men's clothes and dishes and the food they left. To
see this is one of the main reasons I came to Antarctica and I will never forget the feeling of how isolated they were back
in 1912.
|
|
| Scott's Hut at Cape Evans |
|
|
| Scott's Hut to the left behind me |
Nov 24 Happy Thanksgiving ! We had Thanksgiving on
Sat Nov 24 to allow everyone to get two days off in a row since almost everyone has Sunday off. The Thanksgiving
dinner was pretty amazing. We had shrimp cocktail, assorted relish trays, turkey , stuffing. green salad, mashed
potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberries, fresh fruit, pecan pie. pumpkin cheesecake, apple pie and of course pumpkin
pie. It was not quite the same as spending the day with my family but the meal was great and I even managed to watch LSU get
beat.
Nov 17 The weather has been great all week and we
have been able to get in plenty of flights from New Zealand and to the South Pole. On Thursday my cargo team
worked all day down on the sea ice runway loading and unloading planes. Here are a few photos that will help you get
an idea of what we do. Between planes we hang out in hut 19 which sets on skis, is a mile and half out on the ice but
has electricity, heat and even internet access. The sea ice is approx 9 ft thick.
|
|
| Cargo hut 19 on the sea ice air field |
|
|
| Cargo staged to be loaded for a flight to the pole |
|
|
| Inspecting the pallets before loading |
|
|
| Inside the LC-130 aircraft |
|
|
| LC-130 waiting to fly to the South Pole |
Nov 16 We got mail and Freshies !!! Over 11
tons of mail came in this week and we have more coming in soon. I got a new towel which I really needed and a few other things
to make my life a bit more comfortable. Sunday we will have fresh fruit for our brunch and I can't wait. It has been almost
a month since I saw anything but canned fruit.
This week my team challenged another cargo team to bowl at the two
lane McMurdo bowling Alley. It was built in 1961 and has no automatic pinsetters or ball returns. It is so odd to see
people doing the pinsetting. The score cards were dated from 1972. It was a fun evening and great to get away
from work for a bit.
Nov 14 Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. During the
week of bad weather when we could get no flights in all we wanted was a plane to land. Now the weather has been clear
all week and the planes have been landing faster than we can handle. It started on Sunday when we had an early C-17
flight from New Zealand. It came at 5:30 am when only one cargo crew was working and my team was asked
to come in an hour and a half early to help work the plane. We were told the galley would have a hot breakfast for us at 3:30
am. When we got there we discovered it was left over spaghetti from the dinner on Sat night. While we appreciated
the effort of the galley, we were not thrilled to look at a plate of spaghetti that early in the morning. It was a very
long 14 1/2 hour day for us. Since Sunday we have been getting at least one C-17 flight every day in addition
to 5-7 flights to the South Pole. The cargo has stacked up so fast that we have not had time to process and deliver
it before more would arrive. Yesterday we did get our first mail since Oct 17. It was mostly stuff that had
post marks from early Oct. I got the sunscreen that I ordered online the first week I was here.
I have been getting quite a few emails asking what you can send
me for Christmas and I have to tell you that the cut off date to get packages here by Christmas has passed.
As much as I appreciate the offers to send me stuff I really do not have room to store anything and since I have to
carry everything out in Feb I have no excess space in my luggage. With that in mind and since letters arrive much
faster than packages if you want to send me anything please send a Christmas card which I will save and open on Christmas
Day.
Nov 8 Here is my brush with celebrity. As many of you know, NBC's Today
Show and Ann Curry have been here the last week broadcasting live from McMurdo. To be in sync with the time in
the US they were filming about 2 or 3 AM. Quite a few people here were excited about being seen on TV and stayed up
all night for the chance. Since I do not watch the Today Show and did not know who Ann Curry is I was less than
thrilled and was sound asleep every night when they were filming. Yesterday Ann Curry did come into the galley
while I was eating breakfast and sat at a table adjacent to mine. I still did not know who she was but the people
I was sitting with were pretty excited. The NBC crew and Ann Curry flew out today. They had plenty of luggage
and of course being in cargo the task of caring for it fell to us. Here I am with Ann Curry's bag. Let
me tell you it is a very nice bag and quite heavy. When you see me you can shake the hand that carried
Ann Curry's bag if you want.
Nov 6 Another restful day off. The storm that came
in yesterday is still hanging around( today's plane from NZ was cancelled) so it is a perfect day to stay inside, read, clean
my part of the room and nap. Since many of you have sent similar email questions I will answer them here instead
of individually. Yes I am having a good time here. Every day I look forward to going to work and I have a big
grin on my face all day. My job is fun and even though it tires me out I really enjoy it and the people I work with. This
is one of the best adventures of my life and I would not have missed this for anything. What is the worst part about
being here ? That is easy. The worst part is being away from the people I love. I do miss everyone and will be so excited
to see you in March. What have I been reading ? I finished "Innocents Abroad" by Mark Twain two weeks ago and enjoyed
it so much that I checked a book of his short stories out of the library and enjoyed that too. Right now I am reading
his biography. By the week end I will head to the library again for something new. I usually go to bed about 8:30 and
read for half an hour before I go to sleep. 5 AM comes around pretty quickly.
If you have mailed me anything and wonder why I have not thanked you it is because
I have not received it. We have not had mail since Oct 17. Because of weather delays we are over 200 tons behind schedule
in shipments of science cargo. Until we get caught up, mail will take the lowest priority. When mail finally does arrive
it will feel like Christmas. Right now there is approx 9 tons of mail sitting in Christchurch NZ waiting to be shipped down
here. Believe me when I say that we discuss mail a lot down here.
I have noticed this week that the cold is not bothering me as much
as it has and that I am not as exhausted after work. I have fully adjusted to the climate and the work routine down
here.
|
|
| Bill ,Eric and Ben repairing dunnage |
Nov 5 We had a sudden storm today and it sure was
fun. The morning was clear and calm and just after noon Eric and I took a truck load of cargo down to the sea
ice runway to ship off to the South Pole. Just as we arrived the wind started howling and within 10 minutes we could
barely see from one end of the truck to the other. I was concerned about getting trapped down there so we jumped in
the truck and headed back. Just the short period of time we were out of the truck dusted us with a layer of frost and with
my back to the wind it filled my pockets with snow. Here is what Eric looked like driving back to McMurdo.
The drive back was almost a whiteout. We could not see anything and just crept along following the line
of flags that marks the edges of the ice road.
By the time we finally got back into McMurdo the visibility had improved but the wind was still
howling and blew the rest of the afternoon. My team spent the rest of the day inside repairing dunnage that
goes under our pallets. The flight from NZ was cancelled and everyone stayed put.
|
|
| Bill and Ben with the "hurry up" ramp pallet |
Nov 3 The wind has been back the last 2 days and
the windchills have been just awful. Yesterday my team had just finished delivering the 108,000 pounds of cargo that came
in the day before. I was looking out across the cargo yard and way off on the edge was one small box about 2 ft
by 3 ft. I thought that we must have missed it and I was sure it must be an important piece of scientific
equipment. I bundled myself up and walked into the wind ,just about freezing my face to discover that the box was a toaster
oven for the South Pole that was not needed for another month. A sense of humour is a good thing to have around
here. Two days ago the load planners told me about 8 am that they needed cargo to be shipped to the South Pole
that day and that they wanted it built into a ramp pallet. Ramp pallets fly on the hydraulic rear ramp of the
C-130 and have certain restrictions as to height and weight. They also require a 6 inch walk way down the left side
of the pallet and a 20X20 inch cutout built into the forward right side corner. My team had never built a ramp pallet
before but I told the load planners we could have it done by noon. They said that was not soon enough and that
it was needed by 10 am. I told them " No Problem " and set 2 of my guys, Bill and Ben , to work building it. Right
at 10 am they finished and I took the pallet paper work into the load planners and they said "Oh don't worry about that ramp
pallet. The flight was cancelled".
All you can do is laugh and move on to the next task.
|
|
| Part of our 108,000 pound cargo shipment |
Nov 1 Well I have been here a month and thought I
would share some things I like about Antarctica and a couple that I do not. First of all the scenery is breath taking.
Every where I look there are spectacular mountains. Each day the light is slighlty different and the views are always stunning.
About 5 or 6 times since I have been here I had seen a mirage called " Fata Morgana" . At certain cold temperatues when
I look across the sea ice the land appears to have huge cliffs that just are not there. I have tried several time to capture
a photo of it but it never turns out well. There is info about it on the web if you want to know more.
I really like the people I work with. The members of my team are hard
working and very smart. They accomplish every task I give them without having to watch over them. Having such intelligent
team members makes my job so much easier. I really enjoy my job. It is hard physical work and the hours are long but
every day I learn something new and the work is always interesting.
Now for a couple things that I do not like. Some of the people I share
building 155 with are pigs. They make a terrible mess in the bathrooms and do not clean up after themselves. The floor
I live on has 2 shower stalls for maybe 100 people. They are small stalls with almost no shelf area to put soap and
shampoo on. Some of the people think they own the shower and leave shampoo and soap in there all the time or I
should say they used to do that. Several weeks ago I started gathering up all the stuff left in the shower and throwing it
away. I think word has gotten out that if you leave your toiletries in the shower it will not be there the next day.
Now if I could only find the pigs that blow their noses on the sink counter tops and do not clean it up. I think some of these
people think Mom is here to clean up after them. I have discovered that small cuts take a long time to heal down here.
Almost daily we get little knicks and cuts on our hands that never seem to heal. Some people think it is due to poor
nutrition from the food but I think it is because our bodies are fighting the cold every day and not so much energy goes
into healing .
 |
|
|
| My first Penguin |
|
|
| An Adelie Penguin on the sea ice road to Cape Evans 11/25/07 |
|
|
