Can you hear me now?

Sorry for the long delay on postings. It's been a bit crazy here and I've been waiting to get some pictures onto my computer.

So since the last post my days have been a little more interesting. Saturday was chores and intentions of a good long nap. The nap never happened but I did get a little rest time with a DVD on my laptop. I was invited with some friends to go over to Scott Base's summer beach party. I had thrown a sundress into my luggage but neglected to get a pair of sandals in there. Oops! I ended up wearing the sundress over my swimsuit and my tennis shoes which I ditched at the front door. It was pretty fun and just downright crazy to think about a bunch of nutty folks wearing summer beach wear in the Antarctic windy snow!

The next day at work was Sunday which is meant to be a down day. I was scheduled out at Station Two on the Ice runway. We got out there, did truck checks and then tried to have breakfast at the Ice town galley. There was nothing really out there to eat but two day old pasta and meat sauce. What made it more tortuous was that Sunday is brunch day and we were missing Belgian waffles, fresh fruit, real eggs and the like. After a few phone calls and about an hour and a half we got them to bring us out some waffle mix and whole eggs. It took a good amount of scrounging and creativity but we were able to manage some waffles and cheesy scrambled eggs out of it. After breakfast (now lunchtime) the weather was starting to get pretty windy and so we hunkered in for a long game of risk. As the day went on the storm moved in like a lion bringing super strong winds and lots of blowing snow. The weather turned from condition 3 (the best) to condition 2 and then right to a closed runway road and then condition 1 (the worst which means total lockdown) while we were scrounging cheese toast for dinner. The storm was banging something around on the roof of the galley and it sounded like there were large slabs of plywood flying about and banging into things above us. Because of the condition 1 we knew there would be no fresh dinner brought out for us and just wanted to get back to the station before it was horrendous. (FYI: All of these pictures are from the morning after as my camera batteries didn't want to play during the big storm.) So we bundled back up in our gear and headed back in the blizzard to the station with a bathroom stop on the way. The bathroom is a separate building as is the galley and everything else out there. The wind was so strong that it nearly blew me away, literally. Coming around the corner it caught me and my Lt. had to grab me from behind with both hands and push forward with me just to get back to the firehouse. Once back in we strung the life line outside between the firehouse and bathroom so that we wouldn't get lost and not find our way back. The blizzard was such that you couldn't always see even the building next door. The firehouse had a dome on the roof that you can crawl up in and see the views out. Diane and I spent lots of time watching this incredible storm and feeling awed by the power of a category 1 storm. We dug in for the night and woke up the next morning to condition 3 but surrounded by a totally different landscape. I woke up at 7:00 am and had to rush out to the bathroom. On my way back I had to dig out the life line that had been buried in several places by the drifts. It required a shovel so it was a two-trip job. From there I began the four and a half hour job of shoveling out the doorways to buildings and digging out all five of the ARFF rigs. This was no ordinary shoveling job. In some spots the snow was taller than me. Antarctica produces the driest snow on the planet indeed. It has no moisture in it and the strong winds compress it into a solid styrofoam like snow. Although not particularly heavy, it's very compacted. It was an exhausting job indeed. Once the airfield manager allowed them to drive one vehicle out on the road to the runway which was still closed we were finally relieved by B-shift at lunchtime on Monday.

After a little lunch and hot tea to try to warm up my completely chilled body, I took a pain pill for my already really sore back and meant to have a nap. As is typical for me, the nap never happened and I spent the time trying to get some pictures of my camera before the two sets of batteries I have died (The rest are in my boxes.) Another bonus is that that day, Monday, I became silent...literally. My voice just simply decided to take a sabbatical. I think it left for a warmer place. It's always something! Emily came over and we watched a movie after dinner while I waited for my new roommate to arrive. I wasn't thrilled about having one, but have been really lucky to be solo for the last 20 days. Becky from Vermont finally arrived about 11:00 pm as I was just trying to get to sleep. This is her second year down and she seemed nice in the two minutes that I chatted with her before falling asleep. Thank you Mr. Valium...

Now it's Tuesday and I'm back at work again. We did our station chores and truck checks this morning and then spent several hours doing driving time. I did my first hour of driving the engine today around town. It was fun to drive, but you have to pass by the same buildings numerous times to get a full hour in since the town is so small. It was good to drive around and do some area familiarization at the same time. All of the buildings in town are identified by a number and are in no order whatsoever. There are no street names and so you just have to memorize the building locations and number to know where to go. Afterwards my Lt. told me that I had done a really good job so that felt good. Even better was that I backed into the bay in one shot! Yay for me! Then came D/O class again and now it's down time for the evening. It's been a titch rough today what with a super miserable back and no voice whatsoever, but a good one anyhow.

Tomorrow I start my first three-day off as my Kelly day is Thursday. I'm planning on lots of R&R and hope that my voice decides to return for more time in the Antarctic. It's so frustrating not being able to talk to anyone and have them hear what I'm trying to say.
Another flight last night with lots of package and flat mail, but alas, still none for me. Grrrr, I'm starting to get really grouchy about the lack of my stuff. I sure do hope it comes soon. Finally receiving some mail and/or packages would be a huge mood lifter for me.