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Dec 31 I am sad to tell you that I found out last night that my cat Gus died unexpectedly
back home. He was such a great cat and I will miss him terribly. With this I say good bye to 2007 with a heavy
heart.
| Such a great cat |
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| I will miss you Gus |
Dec 30 The big news this week is that one of my room mates quit his job here and
flew back to the US today. He was a cook and just got fed up with his work environment and wanted to go home.
He was a good room mate and we hope that his space will stay empty the rest of the season.
I have some photos to share of the Basler DC-3 crash. As it turns out the plane
did not flip over but all the seats tore loose and the passengers had a wild ride. They were so lucky to escape with only
minor injuries.
I am off 2 nights this weekend for New Years but have to work New Years eve.
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| The last photo I took of the Basler DC-3 before the crash |
Dec 25 Merry Christmas to all of you.
Thank you for the great Christmas cards. It was so nice hearing from all of you. Since I work night shift
my Christmas dinner was served at midnight. It was quite a feast. We had Beef Wellington , King crab legs, shrimp cocktails,
tossed salad, twice baked potato,and tons of desserts. I am stuffed ! Tonight it is back to work but the weather is
still nice and New Years is just around the corner.
Dec 23 This has been an exciting and very busy week down here. I am fully
adjusted to working nights now and really enjoy it. Last Weds my friend Tony Hunter, the air field supervisor, had to
work in town for the night so he put me in charge of running the strip. It was the most fun I have had since
being down here. My team really helped me out and everything ran smoothly. Two days ago the Basler DC-3 crashed at one
of the remote field camps. No one was seriously hurt but the damage is bad enough that it will not be recovered and repaired
until next season. Rumor is that the plane flipped over during an emergency landing. This week we also had a cargo air drop
at the South Pole from the C-17.
This week a group of scientists launched the first of several long duration balloons that will circle
Antarctica. The balloons are huge and we were able to see it at an altitude of 120,000 ft. The payload they launched was named CREAM
and if you click on the links below you can find out more about it.
LDB CREAM Tracker
Long Duration Balloon (LDB) CREAM
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| I am pushing a sled of cargo up to be loaded into an LC-130 |
Dec 16 This weekend I am transitioning to night shift. I worked 12 hours Friday
and then stayed up for 24. My team reserved the bowling alley last night at 1 AM and we bowled for 2 hours.
It helped keep us all awake. I slept pretty well most of Sat and am staying up all night tonight. I report
for work at 6 pm Monday. I will be working night shift for the rest of the season. Since the sun does not set working night
shift is really no big deal. We had a real heat wave here most of last week with temps in the high 30's. Several days
I worked with no jacket. It was sure a nice change from the bitter cold of a month ago. We have been sending lots of cargo
to the South Pole. Here is a photo of me pushing a sled of cargo up to an LC-130 and a photo of the snowmobile I ride
at the air field. Time is really flying by. I have less than 70 days until the season is over.
| My ride at work |
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| Mt Erebus in the background |
Dec 9 It has been an interesting week. The sea ice runway here at McMurdo degraded
enough that we moved to a snow runway about 40 minutes away. It is called Williams Field ( Willy Field) and is named for a
sailor that died here in 1956. The runway is on top of approx 25 ft of packed snow sitting on approx 250 ft of ice floating
on approx 1,800 ft of ocean water. It is an interesting thing to ponder when I am standing out there. The first day we were
working out there I saw another penguin. An Adelie Penguin came walking by about 200 ft away . He watched us for a little
while then went on his way. None of us had our cameras but now I look for them every day. Here is a photo of our ice town.
All the buildings you see are on sled runners.
Besides the Air Force C-17 and LC-130 aircraft we also use a Bassler to support some of the remote
science camps. It is an old DC-3 that has been converted to turbo prop engines.
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| Loading the Bassler for a remote science camp |
Yesterday I met the oldest person on station this season. His name is Joe and he is 78 years old. He
is a retired farmer from Illinois and drives a shuttle down here. He drove my team back into town from Willy Field .
This is his first season and loves being down here.
Dec 2 I have been on the ice 2 months today. Time
is going by fast and I can hardly believe the season is almost half over. This week I was able to take a short trip
from McMurdo to the New Zealand run Scott Base. I visited with Sgt Paul Dixon of the Royal NZ Air Force who runs the Kiwi
cargo department. Scott base is very small but a nice place. It only has about 85 people based there
compared with the 1000 here in McMurdo. I was impressed that everyone there takes their dirty boots off before entering the
buildings.
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| My visit to New Zealand's Scott Base Antarctica |
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| New Zealand's Scott Base Antarctica |
Yesterday was Ann May's birthday and we gave her a card and a small gift.
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