Recapping Our Latest News...

Another from my collection of pictures. The sign seen from the road on the sea ice leading from Ice Town to "The Rock" of McMurdo. Please note that there is no distortion of colors in this image. The ice really is blue here.




My apologies for not updating in a few days. I've been somewhat busy and haven't had the chance to actually sit down and plug into the network for a while.

I'm back at Station One this evening, waiting for the "big one" to finally come, knowing that it isn't going to happen. Half of the crew has gone over to the galley for trivia night, leaving all of us mainbody guys back at the station.

For as much as everyone seems to believe that the winfly and mainbody guys are getting along, I've found the former to be fairly cliquish when it comes down to it. The latter does not exemplify social perfection, though I'd like to think that we're trying to make the extra effort to try to integrate since we are the invaders.

Life here at Mactown continues to prove itself interesting. The weather here has been nice lately, with highs coming into the low teens. This has made sweatshirts acceptable wear around town. We are starting to see some melt in spots where the sun beats incessantly all day, though nothing too significant.

Yesterday, Fleet Ops went around with backhoes and dug the snow out of all the ditches that line many of our roads. I'm presuming that this is in anticipation for the coming melt which from what I've been told leaves "rivers running along the roads". The only irritation that came with this was the fact that they deposited this snow back in the middle of the roads, leaving six inches of dry powder that presented the consistency of sand when walking through it.

Town has finally become slightly less crowded lately. The Aussies have finally departed (much to the disappointment of many as they were exceptionally pleasant to have around) and more people have finally made it down to Pole.

Of course, with the departure of people destined for other places, that left more beds available to us. Temporarily, at least. After being delayed due to the lack of beds and weather over the last few days, a C-17 with passengers destined for McMurdo and other locales descended upon us today, taking another large portion of beds. This is of less concern than before, however, as most of these people are actually scheduled to stay for an extended time here.

While many of you back in the States enjoyed another Halloween this year, we were not left out of the celebrations.

Halloween is likely the biggest event that McMurdo sees all year, and everyone comes out for it. Sadly, I was working that day, but our crew still made it down to ensure the safety of all. The event is held in the "big gym", which is nothing more than a converted Quonset hut with a less than regulation size basketball court and rock climbing wall.

Soon after the party officially opened, we started to see the parade of costumes that made there way past the firehouse. First, it was a slow trickle with the errant walking banana or giant pair of scissors. Later, it became a steady stream of cross-dressers, vampires, and moose.

I'd like to point out two observations that I have made regarding Halloween. First, there are an inordinate number of men dressing as women down here. My personal speculation on this matter is that it is a result of the combination of the lack of women here (roughly 28% female according to my source in housing) which makes men more likely to do something ridiculous and the lack of normal social barriers (this place in unique in every aspect, might as well push the boundaries a little bit more). Also, the second observation comes from the number of and complexity of costumes that I've seen. Apparently, many people pack down the materials for costumes when they come down, taking up valuable pounds of their permitted luggage that they can bring down. I've never seen a place where costumes are taken this seriously before.

The party itself was interesting. The music was good, the costumes outrageous, and the people fun. The only shortcomings were the facts that I was stuck wearing my fireman costume and the fact that the entire event had the feel of a high school dance. (Not that it was a bad high school dance, but an odd feeling for a bunch of people ranging from college age to old.)

In other news, I finally was able to make it up Observation Hill the other day. I do have some pictures from it, though I haven't even had the chance to download them from my camera yet.

For as steep as Ob Hill appears, it is actually not a difficult climb at all. As long as you're careful to keep a sure footing in the patches of ice and volcanic gravel, it proves to be easy. There were a few spots along the path up that made for excellent places to sit and enjoy the view. Despite being a breezy +4, I stayed warm sitting on the rocks with my big red and blue jeans. From my sitting spot about halfway up Ob Hill, I was able to enjoy a spectacular view of town, Mt. Erebus, and Ice Town.

When I finally reached the top of Ob Hill, I was greeted with an almost jaw dropping view of everything for miles around. In addition to the previously mentioned sites, I was able to see all the way to Scott Base (the Kiwi station just down the road), White Island, the Long Duration Balloon Facility off in the distance, Black Island, the pressure ridges, and numerous other landmarks.

Also, at the crest of Ob Hill, there is a cross placed as a monument to the failed Scott expedition to the Pole. It presents itself as a rather sobering reminder as to the power this frozen continent truly possesses. From this cross, however, you can see everything that these explorers strove to discover. As immense and harsh as Antarctica is, it presents the perfect challenge to those who wish to discover the unknown. While Scott failed, the words on the cross, "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." exemplified this spirit. This is the same kind of spirit that I've found seeping through my own self, much more so lately as there has been fewer pressures to quell it.

With these words and an incredible view of the world in which I live, this gave me ample material for thought. My perch on top of the hill left me above everything within reach. Some thoughts drifted back to "home", and others to what the future holds in store. There is no doubt that I have significant changes coming my way in the near future. Many doors are open to me right now. I have almost nothing to really tie me down at this point in my life. I have a growing desire to see more and more of the world. It will be interesting to see what path I take, though I am almost certain that it will be down one less traveled.

Changing pace, my words will now drift back towards the firehouse. I don't recall if I've mentioned this already, but I've completed almost of of my required tests to get turned over as a wagon driver. I only need to get some pump time now and I'll be fine.

Engine 1 went over to the Vehicle Maintenance Facility today for a routine checkup. This put the newly returned Engine 2 in service for us, sadly, leaving some things to be desired.

Engine 2 went out of service several weeks ago when she refused to pump. Since pumping is the primary task assigned to an engine, this was unacceptable. After a trip to VMF, it was returned to us with a working pump. Unfortunately it also came back with a fairly considerable leak. After coming out of the gym from PT this morning, we found that about half of the 750 gallon booster tank had found its way onto the ground.

Not an ideal situation, for sure.

Leaking trucks not being abnormal here, we will put up with it until her twin, Engine 1, returns from VMF.

Also, just to add some extra confidence to those who think our fleet is in tip top shape with new trucks, we watched some videos of some of our new Red units having their systems charged with monstrous failures. For one, the foam system was charged and subsequently dumped from the rear of the unit straight onto the ground. For the other, the proportioner failed, leaving a poor finished foam mix.

These problems have been addressed, supposedly. It's hard to say for sure, however, since we are not typically permitted to discharge agent due to the environmental impact involved.

In other fire department related news, the first in flight emergency of the season occurred yesterday on B shift. An inbound C-130 declared an engine failure several miles outside of Ice Town. As the C-130 has four engines, this is not typically considered a serious event, though it did bring Station 2 to their hardstands in the event that something bad did happen. Our services were not needed, however, as the skier made a safe and uneventful landing.

Also out at Station 2, the first wildlife control call for the season came. An errant Adelie penguin waddled its way onto the runway, creating a hazard for both the inbound aircraft, and the all powerful entity that oversees operations here with distaste for harming the local fauna. While we are not officially not permitted to disturb the local wildlife, we become penguin herders in situations such as this due to both the danger presented to the C-17 turbines from ingesting our well dressed local and from the need to prevent potential screams of bloody murder and statements that we were violating the Antarctic Treaty.

Apparently a good time was had by all over at Station 2 during the roundup. It was remarked that everyone was surprised as to how quickly the little fellow could move when being coerced away from certain doom.

More penguin herding is sure to be in our future as the sea ice slowly disintegrates beneath us, leaving (hopefully) plenty of opportunities to complete my mission as assigned by my old boss.

As a final note for the evening (the sun hasn't gone down, but I'm trying to pretend it has so I can sleep shortly), I would like to confirm rumors that I have grown a mustache. I know many of you will be shocked, appalled, and just plain disgusted, but I have made the conscious decision to extend my facial follicles as much as department policy permits me.

It is not as raggedy as some might imagine, being much more full than the famed "Mexican mustache" that adorns many adolescents and much less creepy (this has been confirmed by others) than those stereotypically sported by child molesters.

Just to note, facial hair down here is the norm. As unpleasant as it would be in the sultry summer heat of Maryland, it proves itself to be nice and warm in the total daylight and balmy negatives of Antarctica.

That is all for now.