Last sunset

  This is an interesting time of year as the days quickly get shorter and shorter. We have a few hours of twilight each day which will soon fade away completely, then the long night begins. I got to go on a trip out to the runway to see the last sunset a few weeks ago. We watched it from the remains of an old aircraft that crashed there forty some years ago. All my photos turned out blurry since my camera does not work well in the cold. I'll try to get some pictures to post later on. 

  There is not too much to report as I've just been working a lot on the 210 remodel. This winter seems to be going by fast. I realized that my week nights seem to follow the same routine: Monday band practice, Tuesday radio show, Wednesday trivia , Thursday American night at Scott base, Friday go to bed early, Saturday laundry, Sunday brunch and work in the wood shop. It's hard to believe mid winter is next month.

  Here are some photos of the last sunset, the 210 project, and some random photos of McMurdo that I took while there was still light.

Building 210 with the temporary furnace known as the purple people heater.

We have our chop saw set up in a mil van outside due to lack of space and fire danger.

New structural steel and temporary cribbing.

Installing the new I beams.

DJ

Mil vans outside the frozen food warehouse.

I don't know what goes on in this building, I think the meteorologist works there.

Cargo lines.

Back of the carp shop.

The paint barn.

Front porch of the carp shop.

Icebergs, Emperor Penguins, Etc.

I'm finally feeling settled in and ready for the winter ahead of me. The last flight went out almost a month ago (sorry, no pictures, it was cloudy) and since then I've gotten to know many of the 141 other people here at McMurdo, as well as the 15 people over at Scott Base. The days are getting shorter and shorter and it's only a few weeks until the last sunset. The remodel project I'm working on is going well and keeping me very busy. I'll be posting some pics of that soon. For about three days we had a giant iceberg floating off of hut point. I thought it would freeze there since it didn't seem to be moving, but the next morning it was gone. Seriously, this thing was the size of a large building and it literally disappeared over night. Crazy. Aside from that, there has not been too much happening lately. I was lucky enough to see a group of Emperor penguins over at Scott Base. They've been hanging out there for a few weeks. Pretty cool. We are in the middle of our first two day weekend of the winter. The nice thing about winter is you get a two day weekend once a month. Today there was a horseshoe tournament over at the heavy shop, which generally happens the Saturday of each two day weekend. I only lasted two rounds. Better luck next month.

It's getting colder

I'm starting to get settled in after a few weeks here, though I don't move in to my winter room for a few more days. The weather is looking much more like winter as the wind has been blowing nonstop for days and the temperature is slowly dropping. There is still much wildlife around and I was lucky enough to see a group of penguins at hut point the other day. I've been keeping busy with the remodel  of building 210. The interesting thing about projects down here is that you can't just go to the hardware store if you are missing parts, nor can you easily contact the architect or engineer if there are mistakes on the plans. Not that anything like that would really happen, just saying. There is not too much else to report on, other than the last plane leaves at the end of the week following which we will be isolated for the next six months. 

McMurdo from the top of observation hill (notice the National Science Foundation logo  painted on the fuel tank this past summer)

The sea ice is melted all the way out to Scott Base

Hut point. The buildings behind Scott's Discovery hut are work centers for the Antarctic Heritage Trust  personnel  who have been restoring the hut and preserving the artifacts within.

Adelie penguins at hut point.

Back on the ice

  After a nice four month weekend I am back at McMurdo station for another winter. As odd as it feels to be here, it is nice to be back. It's the tail end of summer and lots of people are leaving as well as winter-overs arriving. There is much open water as the sea ice is gone all the way to Scott Base. There is still much wildlife about including Adelie Penguins, Wedell Seals, Orcas, Menke Whales, and of course, Skuas. The temperature is dropping and winter is definitely in the air.
  I was hired on to remodel Building 210 which is going to be a huge project that will last well into summer. For all I know I may be here for a full year again. I'm not sure about the music scene this winter but I am hoping for the best. There is still a few more weeks until all the winter-overs are here, and with any luck there will be enough musicians for a few bands.
  As it is cloudy and windy outside, I don't have any pictures yet, though I will be sure to post some in the next few days.