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...