Tonight is the last official group gathering for the season. Since my date is not here and I don’t have my tux anyway I didn’t go to the Prom. It was kind of fun to see what everyone dressed up in though. I did go to the Coffee House for the last night of operations. I had a glass of blush Chablis and bid a fond farewell to some friends and the Coffee House.
The fuel tanker finished offloading yesterday so the freighter will pull into the pier today. We also sent the DC-3 home to Canada today. What a long flight that is. I hope he has a good auto pilot and relief tube.
The pictures are the tanker “Paul Buck” and the Coast Guard ice breaker

We had a “hard blow” yesterday. That did two things. It made it feel very cold here and it blew all the broken up ice out of the turning basin. As I look at this huge expanse of deep blue water I’m amazed as I remember back just two months ago when there was an ice runway in that very place on which we were landing C-17 aircraft. Today I could clearly see 5 Minke whales cavorting in the sound. I didn’t see any Orca’s today but I know they can’t be far behind because where I would normally see 50 or 60 seals I only saw 5 this morning. They clearly know when they are in danger. I wonder how they know and how they communicate that information to each other.

As my time here runs out I find myself thinking more and more about meeting Deni in Tahiti especially since the weather is becoming colder each day now as fall and winter approach the continent.

Tonight is the last night for the Coffee House as it closes for the season. It was always a nice place to have a glass of wine and share conversation in a very restful environment.

I went to a presentation last night on Sharona’s work with the Peace Corps in Senegal, Africa. The people she worked with and the poor living conditions (according to our standards) were very moving. She lived in a thatch roofed mud walled hut while she was there. One of the things she was trained to help the people with was making a mud enclosure for their cooking fires. The enclosure helped them burn two thirds less wood than they are currently using. It also cooks their food in less time because of the concentrated heat of the fire. The spirit of the people is great. They accept their lot in life because they know no other way. Medical care is very limited. Food is mostly grown by the village. Disease claims many from early ages on. I didn’t see many old (over 40) people in any of her pictures. She said they love to dance on celebration days and sing as they go about their daily work. At least they live in relative peace in Senegal although there has been some recent unrest as their current elected leader is moving to change their constitution so he can remain in power.

I am moved by the service our citizens provide to this day in the Peace Corps. I remember learning about it when I was in elementary school but until recently had forgotten it still existed. It’s still a great outreach from our country and sadly doesn’t get much publicity or recognition because they spend all their money helping people not patting themselves on the back. I don’t know that I would have the courage to leave the life I live to reach out to people in true need around the world or even in our own country for that matter. Thank God for people like Sharona and the example they show to these needy people.

After a short visit at home when she leaves the Ice, Sharona will be returning to Senegal to continue her work on her “own dime”. She showed a brief movie that she made the last time she was there. I was happy to see the list of people who are putting their money where their mouth is in helping these people including Bill Gates and his wife and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The picture I’ve attached is Sharona standing in front of a janitor closet she decorated in a Japanese motif while she was here. There certainly still are some good people doing good things in the world.

You can tell things are getting slow here as we come to the end of the season. Our flight schedule has cut back drastically. The good weather we had all year allowed the Guard C-130’s to get way ahead on getting supplies to the South Pole. Next week we start sending a C-17 to Christchurch every other day as the pace of sending folks home quickens. The big tanker ship should be in any day followed closely by the cargo ship. The parking lot outside out dorm turns into a huge staging area for ship delivered cargo. Goodbyes with the associated exchange of personal information continue.

The big event of the day was returning the TV we’ve had in our room the entire season. It belongs to one of the controllers and her husband who are getting ready to head home. They are reclaiming personal equipment for storage until next season. Thankfully the housing folks were able to provide us with a TV that had been turned in by someone who recently left the station. It’s a smaller TV but has a remote control! I think our old TV (which really is old) was built before the advent of remote controls. It had a channel selector, a volume control and an on/off switch. Do you remember what life used to be like when you actually had to get up out of your chair to change the channel or change the volume (If you can, like me, you're older than dirt!)? Ah the simple life.

Sorry I misspelled it in the last blog. We went on a tour of this research vessel last night after dinner. Our guide was very knowledgeable of his ship and gave us a great tour. He was telling us that the scientist/researcher has proprietary claim to any findings/data collected for two years from the time of collection for publication purposes and then most unclassified information is released to the public domain. This ship is much nicer than the Coast Guard ice breaker as far as creature amenities.

As we were approaching the ship on the ice pier we noticed a large crack that ran from one side to the other. It was about 6 inches wide and deep enough that we could see water in it. I don’t know what they will do if the crack continues to grow as it appears it will. The next ship to tie up is a huge oil tanker and depending on the wind it could put great pressure on the pier.

We sent another controller home today and three more go on Friday.