Snow Sculptures

The snow here is very interesting - nothing like I've ever seen before.  It comes down powdery soft.  Indescribeably soft.  The only way I can think to describe it is "powdered air".  It is very fine, but coarse at times - very much like the texture of sugar you would crush under a spoon.  When compacted, it has the strength of concrete, but has the look, feel, weight, and... sound... of styrofoam.  Here are some shots I've taken of our snow in some of it's unique forms.

A block of snow I pulled out of a snow bank.  I should have put a marker next to it, but it measured about 3'x2'x2'.  I guess it weighed maybe 3 lbs, or so.  It was less than half the weight you'd expect it to be for it's size.  The upper surface was impenatrable (had been gone over by a bulldozer), but the lower half was powdery and "scruntchy" like styrofoam.  One of my roomates drives a bulldozer in Fleet Ops.  He says that even with their biggest dozers, their blades will sometimes just scrape and chatter along on the surface of the glazed snow.



I liked how the wind sculpted these contours on a hillside.



I see an old man huddled over a campfire with a cloak over his shoulders.  What do you see?



RAISED footprints!  The snow was previously compacted by someone's footsteps, then the wind blew away the lighter snow around them, leaving the footprints standing above.



I took the picture because I liked the sharp, defined edge of the snow at the top of the cliff.  What I hadn't realized was that in the background you can see what has been named the Big John crack (I don't know how it came by that name).  This crack in the sea ice originates at the tip of Hut Point and continues out in the sea ice for probably a mile or so.  At the top left of the photo (not too far from the crack), you can see the road leading to our Ice Runway.



Wierd.



I thought this was an interesting perspective:  Archeologists tell us we can determine the age of an artifact if we know the age of the surrounding strata forms in which it was found.  We're told the volcanic rock that makes up Ross Island is some 13 million years old.  Given that these layers of volcanic grit lie about 20 inches below the surface, I'm going out on a limb and guesstimating that this culvert formed over the course of some 20 million years.      :-D



Really thought this snow pattern on the sea ice was fascinating.

Took this video during one of our recent snow storms.  I liked how the wind was sculpting the drift to a razor's edge.

ATO

I thought you might be interested in seeing some of the people I work work with.  A few weeks ago, our department (Air Terminal Operations) held a party prior to everyone breaking up into their teams and shifts.  These pictures were taken and posted around the cargo bay for everyone to put a face with a name.  There are over 90 people in ATO, which includes Cargo, the Movement Control Center (where I actually work), Shuttles, and the Post Office, but these are either people I see most every day, or friends that I made prior to going to shifts.

These are our bosses:  "Billy T" Turnbull (L), and Pete Cruser (R).  Billy is in charg of ATO, Pete is his manager and is the one who hired me.  I think Pete looks like Kenny Loggins of the Footlose era.  This picture was taken in Pete's office, which is so crammed full of toys (literally, toys) that's there's almost no space to walk.  His window sill has, I dunno, maybe a couple hundred Pez dispensers lined up in it.  Both guys are very well liked by everyone in the department.



These are our Shift Supervisors, Shannon Kalsta and Dave Hanney.  They oversee the MCC and the Cargo Bay.  I'm on Dave's shift.



The four Load Planners.  Molly Moorman (L), Melanie Miller (front, center), and Jen Gebo (back, center).  I got to be friends with Jen while we were training in Christchurch - this is her first year as a Load Planner, too, but had been a Supervisor in the galley for the last few years.  She taught Jr. High science before coming to Antarctica.  Of all the people I know here, Jen would be my best friend -  she is really nice and helped take me in, introduce me to people, and show me around McMurdo.  Melanie is the Senior Load Planner, and is also on my shift with Dave.  Molly and Jen are currently on the night shift with Shannon.



Some of the cargo handlers in the bay.  Luke is on the far left.  I don't see him much anymore, but he's really nice.  Kevin, in the back, is Jen's husband.  He's pretty nice, too, but also on the night shift.



More cargo handlers (Cargo, by far, makes up the largest workgroup within ATO).  Gift, the girl in the blue shirt, was another one of my better friends and also kinda took me in while we were in Christchurch.  She's on the opposite shift, now, too.



The Airfield Supervisors.  They're the counterparts to Shannon and Dave.  Ray, on the far left, is from New Zealand and is a mountain of a man.  It's kinda hard to tell, but the others are sitting on a handrail, and he's standing.  Also on the night shift, but really a great guy.



The Air Transportation team.  They work in the MCC office with us Load Planners.  Their job is to process passengers coming in/out of McMurdo - kinda like gate agents.  Tom Hammon, in the background is their Supervisor.  A really nice guy, he reminds me a lot of Carl Mitchell - smart, nerdy, and very helpful.  I like him a lot.  Tricia Sadler, on the far left, is from Alaska and is a semi-professional photographer.  She has a website for her photos, where she has some really fantastic pictures from all around.  The two girls in the front row, Jamie and Talia, are on my shift.



The Post Master, Kathy Soutter, and her workers.  Because we tag mail as cargo, we Load Planners are officially certified Postal Clerks!



This is "SciCo" (Science Cargo).  They are responsible for sending science shipments (and anything else) out of Antarctica.  Juan Basurto, the older man in the back row, has been doing cargo here for the past 25 years.  In honor of him, the US Advisory Commitee on Antarctic Names officially named a mountain after him - Mount Basurto.  That's pretty cool!

This is Gideon "Gid" Wych.  He's the Cargo Supervisor from Scott Base.  SUPER, super nice guy and is always as cheerful as can be.  He always wears some sort of silly hat.  Usually it's this one, but sometimes he'll have on a hat that looks like that  "sock monkey".  Gid was invited to our ATO party and in return, he's going to host us (the Load Planners and Air Transport team in MCC) for dinner over at Scott Base.  I keep telling him I want one of their uniforms, but he just laughs and says he'd like to have one of his own, too.  They have the best ECW of anyone.  We have our big parkas (Big Red), but they have these really nice, black insulated wind pants and matching parkas.  On the back is their Antarctic logo - an emporer penguin, who's back is also their national symbol - the fern leaf.  You can almost see the smaller version of the same logo on his chest.

So, there they are - the people I see and work with most everyday.

Follow-up to Grey (Part II)

Grey, what did you think about that big tractor that came inside the airplane?  Pretty neat, huh?!

Guess what else the big C-17 can carry inside?  This came in to us on Monday...!!

This helicopter was brought in for the New Zealanders (we call them the Kiwis), who's base in on the other side of our island.  They are going to use it to look for penguin colonies.  You  can see the Kiwis in their orange and black uniforms.  They were very excited to get their new helicopter.



I think it's very neat to see a HELICOPTER inside of an AIRPLANE!!  What do you think about it?

This is what it looks like when it's ready to fly.  What a FANCY helicopter!

All In A Day's Work!

Hmmm...What can we add to the backyard to make it a fun place?



Oh...I know!
We will need 4 boards....

 Two Painters...

 Working very hard...

 Playing very hard...hmmm...wonder whats in all those bags?

 Working very hard...cutting out the sod.

 Finding Grubs...and working very hard...

 Wow!!!  Why would we need to clear out an 8 'X 8 ' spot in the ground? 

 Oh...there are those boards again!

 Layed landscaping material...

 And Finally...SAND!!!!!!  Yeah!!!! 

We made a sandbox!!!!

Fun fun fun!!!!

We added seats to at each corner!

Branda and I hauled 2500 lbs of sand....TWICE!!!

What a day!  But it's well worth it!  The kids love it!

Special Blog for Joleigh (Part II)

Joleigh, you are such a smart little girl!  You're RIGHT!  They put this tube into the ice so people can go underwater and see what's down there!  It's not a very big tube, so it is a very, very tight fit to go down inside!

Grey, you asked if I was going to go down inside?  I did! 

I didn't take these next pictures, but this is what the Observation Tube and the sea ice looks like from underwater!  (You kids will get to see what I saw, but you'll have to wait until my video comes in the mail!)

Looking back up from inside.

I have a couple of questions for you, Joleigh Button (maybe Grey and Mommy would like to guess, too!):

Antarctica is a very, very cold place!  Do you think it's colder above the ice, or in the water underneath?

How do you think the divers stay warm in the water?

Follow-up to Grey

Grey, you're so smart!  I KNEW you'd get it!  You're absolutely right!  The Delta with the flat bed is used to carry cargo between the airplanes and our cargo bay where I work!  The big, heavy pallets are taken on and off the Deltas with big forklifts!  (I have a video in the mail for you, showing the forklifts at work!)  The other Delta, with the big "box" on the back is used to move PEOPLE between the airplanes and our building!  "Ivan the Terra-bus" is what I rode into town on when I first got to Antarctica, but Ivan isn't always big enough for all the people that sometimes comes in on the airplanes, so they use Deltas like that one to carry even more people!

I'm glad you liked the big tractors!  They're fun to watch!  I went to a lecture and they told us about how they drive the big tractors all the way to the South Pole and back.  It was very interesting!  Your idea that the tractors come to Antarctica on cargo planes was very good!  They DO!  But the LC-130 airplane isn't quite big enough for these huge machines - they come in on the C-17 Globemaster!  It's a big, BIG airplane!  (You'll get to see this tractor drive out of the C-17 on the video I made for you!)

This is one of our tractors inside the C-17.  Can you imagine a tractor this big INSIDE of an airplane?

This is the C-17 taking off of the Ice Runway.  Do you see it's fat belly?

This picture was taken a long way away, but you can see how big the C-17 is next to the LC-130 Hercules.  The LC-130's are big airplanes too (they're they two planes with propellers to the left of the C-17), but they look tiny next to the Globemaster, don't they?

I'm really glad you like the pictures and answering the questions, Grey.  I like playing this game with you!    :-)