Still Here

The winter folks gathered to champagne toast the last flight off the continent. Nobody comes or goes after this. Taken sometime towards the end of Feb.

The ladies I work with from front to back Meghan and Rebecca. This was taken during a welcome back photo shoot for our six wheeler which we just call "seis."

What I see when my eyes are closed...sometimes when they are open also.

Wintery picture of the McMurdo sign looking out on the bay and the Mountains

Picture the fuelies took of their fuel delta out on the sea ice. Affectionately reffered to as Delta Sharron.

The view from my window today.

It’s Easter Sunday today. I woke up this morning to an Easter basket outside my door, complete with a painted hard boiled egg, chocolates, a sugar cookie, and a few assorted candies. So, that answers that question for everyone….Yes apparently the Easter Bunny does visit Antarctica. Either that or the work is contracted out to a wedel seal or some other animal that may be able to deal with the elements a little better than a bunny. Also, at brunch today there was an assortment of homemade doughnuts, which were extremely good. I quickly made myself sick by eating at least one too many, but I think it was worth it. Also, present at brunch was an assortment of “good cheese.” Apparently, we haven’t run out yet.

Usually Easter is a time of the year when signs of spring are visible. Unfortunately, there are no trees budding or flowers starting to bloom here. Instead when I look outside I see nothing but grey light and blowing snow. The current weather conditions are winds at steady at around 45 knots with gusts up to 72 knots and the temperature is 5 degrees which isn’t bad at all but the wind chill is – 22 degrees F. Condition 1 has been declared which basically means don’t move. There is no visibility outside because of the snow and wind. Ropes have been strung from the buildings so that people can get from their homes to the galley and get food without getting lost and freezing to death just steps away from the building. Of course you would have to be a complete idiot for that to happen. As I write this my whole room is shaking from the strong winds outside. Is hasn’t really been light for about a week now. When the sun is up it is usually just kind of grey outside, similar to what it is like during the winter in Seattle I suppose. The last day that we are supposed to be able to see the sun at all is April 22. After that it will be completely dark for a couple of months. I asked someone the other day if gets real dark or if it is kind of like dusk lighting. They responded by telling me that it gets darker than you ever thought was possible…a whole new category of dark. I’m not sure if this person was just speaking of the sun or if they were thinking of something more personal, I decided not to ask anymore questions.


As for the Doctor drama, there has been one recent incident. The other day I was coming out of the bathroom at work and was startled by the Doctor standing outside the door. I said hello and he immediately told me that he was out looking for the greenhouse but couldn’t seem to find it, so asked if I could point him in the right direction. I took him to the door and began explaining to him how to get to the greenhouse. As I was giving him directions it was obvious that he wasn’t paying any attention to what I was saying. Also, he was shivering the whole time I was speaking to him, which is no surprise considering he was walking around in jeans and an unzipped leather jacket with a t-shirt on underneath, and just a baseball cap on his head. After I finished giving him directions he left to continue his search. I was pretty sure he was never going to find it and started to wait for the page calling for the Search And Rescue team to be sent out for him. Apparently, he eventually found it. I thought it was a bit odd that the Dr. was out strolling around town during business hours on a weekday, and couldn’t think of why he would need to go to the greenhouse. Later, I found out why he was on a mission to find the place. Apparently, he and the safety guy (who is another crazy character) were out at hut point and saw steam towards the bottom of Mt. Erebus, the active volcano on the island. First, I can’t express how happy I am that the Dr. and the safety guy are hanging out. I couldn’t have asked for a better pair. It’s not completely unlike Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber. I wish I could tape record every conversation these two guys have, I’m sure their discussions would be better than anything anyone could ever dream of. So, these two guys saw the steam at the base of Mt. Erebus, and freaked out. They were sure that they were looking at a steam vent that had recently opened. And, this freshly opened steam vent of course meant that Mt. Erebus was about to blow, destroying all of Ross Island and its residents. They both knew that they had to warn everyone else of the catastrophe that was about to unfold, or better yet, stop it from erupting? The doctor immediately went on a search for the one scientist who is here this winter. Of course, the scientist could stop the volcano from erupting, and everyone would be safe to go on with business as usual for the next couple of months. The doc found out the science guy, known to many as “science” (yeah clever right), was currently volunteering at the greenhouse. Without wasting anytime, not even to put on a hat, the doc began his quest for the greenhouse. When he finally reached the greenhouse, he told science what he had seen and pleaded with him to do something. Science explained to the doc that the steam he saw was most likely from the ocean water (a kind of lake effect) and not the volcano. He assured the doc that everyone would be o.k. because Mt. Erebus was not about to explode. I’m guessing the doctor didn’t listen to a word science said to him though, a suspicion that was proven true the next day when, again the doc searched out science to warn him about the volcano and try and form some type of plan to stop it from blowing. This all happened the beginning of last week. I haven’t heard any new developments since. My guess is that the doc is still really worried about it and perhaps he and the safety guy are secretly building some type of safety vessel that will keep them safe when molten lava starts to spew from Mt. Erebus.