A Week or so in McMurdo

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've found myself spending less and less time at a computer lately (which is actually very enjoyable) and more time doing things like sleeping, reading books, and breaking things.

As a lot has happened in the last week or so, I'll just give a brief recap of the events that have occurred.

Event 1: We had a "fire" on station. It was a burnt up blower motor for a furnace that smoked up a building and produced no fire. An event that would typically last about ten minutes back home with just an engine and a truck took forty firefighters, two engines, a tanker, an ambulance, and about two hours to clear. It's a harsh continent.

Event 2: The transition can't decide whether or not it wants to fall apart or not. The trip to Pegasus has either been really long or really short lately. Judging by how we get tossed around in the back of a Delta, I'm going to say that the shortcut transition is not long for this world.

Event 3: Santa finally made it into McMurdo on a C-17. Since the management up at "The Company" have finally found it in their hearts to give us our long awaited package mail, roughly six to eight thousand pounds descended upon our rocky home bringing with it much Christmas joy. I was included in those happy McMurdites to finally see some mail.

Event 4: The Russians were in town. Sort of. A Russian cruise ship about 16 miles away flew in passengers on antiquated Russian helos for the all inclusive tour of McMurdo. The passengers weren't actually Russian, but had a mix including Americans, French, English, and other people from not so poor countries. I volunteered as a tour guide for these tourists. As I now consider myself a local, I was a little surprised as to how many things that they were taking pictures of. This included our trash receptacles. Each to their own, I suppose. They were treated to a mini tour of town, herded through our store, and corralled in the coffee house before we finally jettisoned them over at the road to Discovery Hut. All in all, I'd have been very disappointed by the tour after having spent $14,000 for the cruise. As an Antarctican, however, I don't care and am a little glad that we got rid of them before they got hit by a pickle (my major concern as a tour guide).

Event 5: Since nothing really catches fire around here, we have become "blasters" of ice dammed culverts. A lake formed by melting snow somewhere uphill of town is near the point of overrunning its banks, ready to unleash a torrent upon town. As a result, the culverts in and around town need to be unclogged so we don't wash out our roads. This has meant that we take the Tanker out, hook up a 3" line with a special fitting made out of some pipe and have us try to break the ice loose.

It's not a very effective method to clear fifty feet of near solid ice. About forty minutes and three thousand gallons later, we had moved less than three feet. After our failings, the real blasters were called and explosives were used to clear it. The first attempt didn't work very well, but did blow out the road and set some of the wood beams on fire. The second attempt apparently worked better, though I haven't seen the results. Hopefully they are done blasting, though, as waking up to a whumping sound and the building shaking isn't much fun.

Event 6: Tanker 3 may not be returning for the rest of the season. Apparently while they were in the middle of blasting culverts the other day, the PTO driven pump seized. It did so in such a fashion that it completely stalled out the engine, a considerable effort considering the torque of a Cat motor. Surprisingly, it didn't destroy the transmission or engine. While we're thankful for that, a spare pump probably doesn't exist on station and parts are probably not here either. We'll see if it comes back on the roster. Instead, we'll be running both of our engines instead in a "wagon pumper" combo. As cool as that it, it still leaves us with about a 2500 gallon deficit in immediate water supply.

Event 7: The lights aren't always on here. Due to some construction going on over in the power plant, Penguin Power and Electric (PP&E) is only running on two generators plus an emergency "Cat in the Box" generator. The other day, one of the main generators decided to have a major breakdown, and we reverted to the Cat in the Box for our power needs. Unfortunately, the remaining main generator had to go down for routine service. This left us with considerably reduced power for a night while they got it back on line. While we didn't completely lose power, we couldn't really do anything. Even the bars closed. If something happens to either one of our remaining generators, things will be going black here for some time.

Event 8: Tonight was both the firehouse Christmas party over at Hut 10 and the town party over at VMF. As can be expected at a firehouse party, things were entertaining. Secret Santa went well with the typical range of firefighter gifts to include booze and used urinals.

VMF decked out their shops for the occasion. Bays typically filled with mammoth equipment were instead cleared and made into lounges, dance floors, and bars. It was about as festive and fancy as can be expected for a heavy garage.

Event 9: Christmas is tomorrow. I'll probably even put on my suit for dinner. Even got a haircut the other day. Classy, I know. Very unlike me (especially considering I'm sitting here in my grease stained uniform after crawling under Engine 2 patching leaks that seem to appear from everywhere).

Well, that's all I have for now. Short, I know, but it'll have to do. Now to get some more coffee so I can stay awake long enough to cover the Midrats dispatch.