Antarctic carpentry

  You don't find a lot of hardwoods in Antarctica. Actually, you don't find any plant matter at all. The only indigenous life forms you do see are the occasional penguin, seal, and the evil skua birds. Almost all the lumber here comes from America, with a small amount from New Zealand. There are lots of SPF 2x4's and A/C plywood. I have seen some amazingly creative stuff built out of construction grade lumber. The carp shop has every tool you might need to build just about anything. There are about 40 people who work on the carp crew, this includes carpenter helpers, carpenters, painters, and foremen. Many work in the shop building all kinds of stuff related to McMurdo, as well as field camps. This may include crates, lab tables, cubbies, and even outhouses. Many other people go to local field camps and do maintenance and other carpentry related jobs, some also go for weeks at a time to deep field camps where they set up structures for research. I am currently on a crew doing a "refresh" on building 155. My job involves patching lots of drywall in dorm rooms, texturing walls, painting, and replacing ceiling tiles and carpet. Next week I will be crawling under the building in a tyvek suit armed with a hammer drill and a jack hammer to break up a two foot thick glacier of grey water that has been building up under the kitchen for a number of years. My boss is intent on finding some rare beer cans that are rumered to be under there. Apparently back in the day, the Navy had its own "Operation Deep Freeze" beer brewed for McMurdo.
  Each Christmas day the carp shop holds an event known as MAAG, the McMurdo alternative art gallery. The carpenters, along with anyone else on base, are encouraged to make an art project for this event. Some of the projects from years past are pretty amazing. People have done lots of performance art, as well as installations, and other large sculptures, such as human sized hamster wheels. Lots of creative minds down here.
  Here are some pictures of the carp shop.