antarctica: It's winter and it's cold

It's been an interesting season so far. Two weeks ago we had an emergency medical evacuation after the power plant mechanic had a heart attack. It took a lot of people working around the clock for a week to get the runway ready to land a C17 to get him out. The day before the plane came in (one day ahead of schedule) my coworker and my boss were notified they were fired and getting sent home on the plane, along with two firefighters. Replacements were hired, but since the flight went ahead a day early, they could not get here on time, neither could the load of fresh produce.

The last sunrise/sunset was on April 24th. I got to go on a trip out to castle rock on the 23rd, however, the sun was directly behind Mt Erebus so I didn't get to see it. I did get a few photos of sunlight on the Mountains. We still had normal day and night for a short while, but each day gets shorter by about a half hour. As of today, it didn't get light until noon and was dark again by 2:00. Soon it will be dark out 24 / 7 until mid July. People are starting to take vitamin D supplements.

One amazing thing about winter here is the auroras, as well as the stars. There is quite a bit of light pollution on the base, but a short ride out of town takes care of that. I don't have any pictures yet, but I will try to post some soon.

McMurdo has a radio station which along with our TV and news feed, is run by the American Forces Radio and Television Services, AFRTS, yes, it is pronounced A- farts. It only broadcasts for about a mile, but we have an impressive catalog of records here. From what I hear, it is the last remaining vinyl collection on any US base. Every other Wednesday evening I have a radio show, The Vinyl Frontier, where I dig through the record room looking for obscure titles and such.

As for work, I spent the first six weeks of winter painting the Helicopter hanger. I'm very happy not to be a painter anymore. I think I can still smell xylene fumes emitting from my skin. I'm now back to remodeling the second floor of building 155. There are about 40 rooms to finish by winfly. I got my work cut out for me.