Hello to my munchkins

You'll have to take my word for it that this is me standing next to the ceremonial South Pole marker with this message for my nieces and nephews.

SR (more recognizable and apparently less afraid of the possibility of frostbite) also wanted to say hi from the geographic pole marker.

Hi, Lovebugs!

Weekly snapshot #4

It's "warm" out, but man, is it blustery! I can't believe the photo of the view toward South Pole telescope turned out as clear as it did, because today's flight was cancelled due to the windy weather. This year continues to surprise with its varied weather, wind, overcast days, and even some snow falling, all of which is (as I understand it) unusual in a place where it's typically clear blue skies all summer long. Makes things a bit more interesting!

Golf at 90 South

SR found a set of golf clubs in a closet of recreational equipment that he sweetly took it upon himself to clean out and organize. So of course we had to go out and have him hit a golf ball at the South Pole. Which turned out to be easier said than done. (Dad, he requests that you not watch the first video, in which he both whiffs and somehow lets go of the club on his follow-through. The second video = success.)

Weekly Snapshot #3

A bit cooler again this week, but really, to me it's impossible to tell much of a difference between -28 and -14. As long as the wind isn't blowing and I'm bundled up properly, it's nice and comfy out. And today we got a plane in for the first time in nearly a week! There were five scientist winter-overs, some of them now here for more than a year, who had been scheduled to leave on Thursday and watched flight after flight get cancelled. I think by the time a plane was on the ground tonight, there was no more bitter left in the bittersweet of saying goodbye to South Pole!

Elephant Man

The Air Force is responsible for flying USAP participants in and out of Antarctica, and part of their contract is that a professional fire crew must be on hand at all times when a plane lands, is on deck, and takes off again in case of fire. So South Pole has a fire crew of at least a half-dozen people who have nothing official to do when there are no planes landing or taking off, which can happen for days on end. Lucky for the rest of us, our fire crew is an amazing group of people who go above and beyond to help out in any way they can when they are not on duty. This has been pivotal for me as I've been trying to get a grip on store inventory and moving things--especially heavy things like beverages--from one place to another. And there is some rearranging going on in the station, so that the largest storage place for store merchandise is turning into a maintenance workshop. I'm trying to move a ton of merchandise either into the store or out of the station, into the out-building pictured here. It's called the Booze Barn. :) At the same time, we're receiving our first of three big orders of the year, which arrives to the Booze Barn a couple of tri-walls at a time, needing to be unpacked and sorted.

So one day recently, a few of the firemen agreed to come out, helped me unpack a couple of tri-walls, and even brought the "Elephant Man"--the vehicle they use to go out and monitor the Air Force planes when they are here--over so I could take a ride in it back to the station and haul a bunch of merchandise back with us.

Only in Antarctica.