The plan for today was to head out to Lorne and replace the
Freewave modem. Some of the sites closer
to McMurdo do not use the satellite system but instead use a wireless modem and
a repeater site at White Island. Lorne’s
Freewave modem was not working earlier this year so it was pulled and we hand
carried a new one down. The flights were
going to be earlier so we had planned an early breakfast. Walking to breakfast it was clear that we
should be cancelled; it was snowing hard; big Flakes with limited
visibility. After breakfast, we went to
the lab and waited for our report to terminal time. Then the email came in all helicopter
operations suspended today due to low visibility. Snow Day!!!
The snow was quite beautiful. The flakes were falling slowly at times. It was a welcome change to see the station
covered in white instead of the volcanic rock brown and blacks. Although the flights were canceled there is
still work to be done.
I went back to the dorms to do my “House Mouse”
cleaning. In order to reduce costs there
are activities divided up between all of the residents. My duty was scheduled for Saturday but we
were flying Saturday, and in the field, so I skipped them until another day; today. My duties were to clean the laundry
room. That doesn’t sound so bad at first
but then when you put on my OCD tendencies it took an hour and a half. Everything needed dusting since there is lint
in the air everywhere. The floor had
tons of lint to be swept, I mopped, washed the tops fronts and sides to the
washers and dryers. There are three
washers and four dryers. I even swept
under the shelves and around the machines.
Empty the trash. Break down the
boxes. I am not sure anyone did this job
in the past. I didn’t mind, it was a
change of pace from the science.
After House Mouse, I relaxed in the room till lunch. After lunch, back to work. I worked on the prototype and discussed a new
plan with the team. Looks like I will
tackle two sites alone while the others go off to raise stations (this is when
you have to dig done to find the power system, add a tower section and move
everything up due to snow accumulation).
Helicopter to Lorne, and Twin Otter to Gill. Both sites require electronics only fixes,
perfect for me.
Of course, this all depends on the weather!
For some reason I can't comment on the blog from my phone, so I finally had a chance to log in from my laptop to comment. Very cool to see pictures of the places you're going! I didn't think you could upload pictures so it's really neat to see the places that you discuss in your post. Keep the posts coming! We're loving the updates! Hope you're doing well. :)
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