Sunset Festivities

This weekend was that of the sunset. It lasted a few days, coming in and out under cloud cover or clear skies. I had a few good walks outside and enjoyed it a lot. Not as much time with the low light like I expected since the sun dives so quickly torwards the transition, but it will be back 'soon'

Skies behind MAPO:

I spent part of Friday and Saturday at the 'Sugar Shack', a small building that has a gas stove in summer for the worker's breaks. For the winter, it was moved to the end of the berms and the carps switched the gas stove for wood stove. It takes several hours to thaw out, but it got reasonably warm and we were able to cook smores over the coals. First time in several months I've gone 'out' on a Friday night. Here are the guys outside of the Sugar Shack.

Friday night was the Sunset Dinner. We all enjoyed our well presented beef or salmon as the sun skipped from window to window just above the horizon.

Another dressy affair. Here's Leah enjoying her wine and the view:

At some point, the dinner table turned into a bouldering cave. Here's Brian starting his feat: down and around the table without touching the ground:

Not to shabby after waiting five months:

On Saturday the sun was just a sliver so we could look at it through the telecope. Here it is behind the South Pole.

The sun maybe the most regular thing in our world, and yet we never got sick of staring at it for the whole night. We saw a bit of 'green flash', where light bends enough to scatter the green light our way.

And that's it. It's winter now for real. My sunglasses are in the drawer, I have to turn on the lights in my office, my window shade is up, it's getting wicked cold (-85F today) and now it's time to wait for the light show!

I'm getting a little snap happy now that the sun is getting low. Only about a week to go!
This is the view from my office window. Anytime I forget I am at the South Pole, I look out here and am reminded again:


Last weekend we had a emergency drill out at the Ice Cube Lab about a 1/2 mile from station. I didn't do much for the drill because it was off site. If we have an emergency in the station, then I report to the power plant to monitor things there if there is a fire or a spill or what not. Here is the trauma team taking in Sven on a stretcher:

A few pictures from around station. The front of the garage and shops archway:

The Old Dome. The guys are doing demolition of the buildings inside of it this winter, and supposedly at some point, the whole thing will be torn down:

The ARO building is in the 'Clean Air Sector' and they take atmospheric data and samples:

Antennas near the ARO building:

Someone walking back from ARO to the station:

Ice Cube Lab where they monitor neutrinos from deep drill holes scattered through out the area. Today I was out there and got to drive a snowmobile back and it was fantastic. The sun is so low, the station is covered in fog (from the power plant exhaust) and it's eerie as ever. A beautiful time of year:

On Saturday night we had a wine tasting party to try the Australian red wines we carted up the stairs two weeks ago. It was pretty classy since we decked out the galley, the hor's devours people made were delicious and everyone showed up dressed for the occasion. Kari, Laura, Katie:

Some guys were even sporting ties, including two of our favorite foreigners, Sven and Robert:

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The weather turned for the worst and the windchill dipped below -100F for the first time. It's a real windy day and snow crystals are stuck over all the windows so it's looking pretty dark in the station. The sun could not set sooner for me. I am quite excited about darker skies and stars and auroras.

The cold weather is doing some weird things to the station so there are plenty of complaints about hot and cold spots and I'm learning to just deal with the important one and find myself calling the Denver office a whole lot more. I'm learning a lot, but it's hard to keep up. That stage of a new job when you're ahead of the game because you haven't been given that much tasking and everything is new and exciting is now over for me. So, it's time to sort out what activities I'm really going to get into this winter.