Happenings

We've settled into a nice routine over here. I'm loving spending my days with K and H--couldn't ask for better co-workers.

And the evenings are packed with more and more activities each week. So many that there aren't enough days of the week and Mondays are now doing double-duty as knitting night happens while we go to astronomy classes taught by one of the long-time scientists here. I'm only understanding half of what's going on, but it's nice to have little bits and pieces of info about what is going on here with the sunset patterns, moon cycles, and what we're going to see when the sun finally goes down. I've now spent nearly 8 months total at the South Pole and I've yet to see the night stars here, but that day (literally!) is coming....

We're also trying to make sure we're as ready as we can be for having to respond to emergencies in the even more extreme cold and dark. Now that flag lines are up and medical caches in out-buildings are all established, Team 4 (Medical) took a tour to make sure we all know how to follow the flag routes to each building and where to find supplies and sleds (in these temps, few to no vehicles are going to work and if someone is injured outside of the station we will have to drag them back by sled). I took this picture looking back toward the station as we walked out to South Pole Telescope.

And the need to be able to respond to emergency calls outside the station was driven home the same day we took that walk, when we had two (false, thank goodness) fire alarms in an out-building called Cryo. Nearly all the alarms we've had this year have been false alarms in Cryo because of some sensor problems that no one can figure out how to fix. But we have to respond each time as if it was for real, even when it happens multiple times in one day, as it did on Christmas, or in the night (the first of this day's Cryo alarms was at 4:45am...painful!). In this pic (also looking back toward the station), you can see Team 2 (Fire) members heading back to the station after the Stand Down call, all gussied up in their fire-fighting gear, and casting long, long shadows with the sun getting so low. And by the way, it's not a bank of clouds you see across the sky over the station, but steam from the power plant.