Pegasus

There is an old plane crash out by the Pegasus runway, and some folks went out there last weekend. The plane, named Pegasus, is actually the namesake of the runway. It's out on the permanent ice, a few miles out of Mac Town. I found this picture on the common drive-- it was taken by Kiwi mechanic Ken Barlow. There are two PistenBullies idling in the foreground, and a few people standing on the old planewreck in the background. This picture was shot in the afternoon-- we're starting to see some light! Three weeks to the first sunrise.

A month till sunrise!

On August 19th, the sun will break above the horizon, for the first time since the 24th of April. If you go out to hut point in the afternoon, you can see a little bluish sky in the west. The sun is closest to the horizon when it's in the north, but the mass of Mt Erebus blocks us from ever seeing the midday glow. This photo was taken with a telephoto, so it greatly exagerates the tiny bit of glow we really see on the horizon. It's still pretty much pitch black all the time.

My coworker, Antz Powell (http://www.frozensouth.com/) had to go out to Black Island (where our satellite communications station is located, about twenty miles south of McMurdo) to do some emergency repairs. As soon as they got there, a big storm hit, and they were stormbound for a couple of days. At one point, the winds hit 123MPH! Yowzer! We were hit by the other side of that storm, and I think our biggest gust was around 60MPH. This has been a mild winter from what I hear-- we haven't even had a severe weather condition one yet (http://youtube.com/watch?v=qz2SeEzxMuE).

I've been sleeping really well for over two weeks now. Here's hoping that the insomnia is a thing of the past-- it was no fun! And the sun gets closer every day.

A Frame

Well, we had a nice camping trip out at the Kiwi A-Frame. It was really not nice camping weather outside, but that never stopped us before! It was probably around -25F with a winds of around 20kts, with a maximum of -40F with a wind chill of -70F. We drove a Kiwi Hagglunds out to the Kiwi A-frame, and spent the night. It was all cozy warm inside, but a bit inhospitable outside. I got a chance to play my mandolin a tiny bit, but I'm still not ready for prime time. A great time was had by all. We somehow scrounged four "sparkler" fireworks, and we used them to spell out the word "COLD". Quite impressed with how it turned out. L.

Sleep!

As of last post, I was in the middle of a rollercoaster drama with insomnia. I tried everything I could think of (warm milk, exercise, reading, light therapy, food, no food...) to get a good night's sleep, but the vast majority of nights I would sleep for the first four hours, then tossing turning hell. I did Ambien every night for a week, but couldn't stand the side effects. The days after taking it I felt more and more "out of it", until I was starting to see things that weren't there. There aren't supposed to be any cats in McMurdo. Eek.

I've been thinking and reading up on it, and just on a lark decided to try taking multivitamins. With no freshies for months, the diet here is not exactly what I would call healthy, but I never thought to take supplements. I started taking a multivitamin every day, and coincidentally the sleep problem completely disappeared. So far I've had nine good night's sleep in a row, which is heaven. I can't say for sure that the vitamins did it, but it sure looks that way. I'm continuing to do the light therapy, and exercising every day. I'm also using earplugs, which seems to help a lot. It's not that my room is loud, but the white noise emanating from the heater ducts might have been contributing to my waking up in the middle of the night.

Last weekend we got together for a group photo of the town. You can't see me very well-- I'm in a black parka and fur hat near the right edge below the two doors.

Going camping tonight. Heading out with some friends to the Kiwi A-frame on the ice shelf to get away from town a little bit. It's not the greatest weather, though not unusually cold for this time of year. It's -24F with about a 20mph wind. It's been calm for the last few days, but the wind just kicked up. It's crazy, but it feels really warm out when it's -25F and calm. I'll probably melt when I get back to the real world.

Midwinter Dinner

This last Saturday was one of the biggest events of the year, the Midwinter Dinner. The galley gets all fixed up, and folks drag out their fanciest clothes. The wintersolstice is a big deal-- the days will now start getting longer! It is pitch dark 24/7 now, but in six weeks or so we'll be seeing some pale light on the horizon, and the sun will officially rise on the 19th of August. I did the math and realized that I'm already three weeks past the midpoint of my contract-- time is flying!

Doing better with the insomnia. I had a month with only maybe three good night's sleep, and it was really wearing me down. I went to the doc for some pharmaceutical intervention, and I've been sleeping like a big dog since. Catching up, in fact. I slept all night Saturday night, but still managed a six hour nap on Sunday, followed by another full night. Guess I needed it!

In this week's pictures you can see the galley all dolled up, some friends dining, and some group shots. The bunch of scruffy looking characters is my work group (I'm the guy in the wild celtic shirt-- my tux was at the cleaners).

Polar Plunge, Sleeping

Well, I think I'm starting to get a handle on the insomnia thing... I've cut out naps, and I sit in the light room staring at the lights for twenty minutes or so first thing every morning. I have been sleeping better, and hopefully I'm over the really heinous part of it. Last night I watched a piece on 60 Minutes called the Science of Sleep. It mirrored exactly some of the dificulties I've been having. I've never gone without sleep completely, but a week of four hours a night was leaving me feeling like death. This last Friday and Saturday night I had completely normal, all-night sleep, and I felt like I was about ten feet off the ground the next days.

This last Saturday Scott Base hosted a "Polar Plunge"-- the second one this year. The Kiwis cut a big hole in the sea ice, and rigged up a ladder to get people out. There was quite a good turn-out, some jumping in their birthday suits, and some preferring a swimsuit. I had DA duty that night, past the time for jumping, so I had a good excuse why I couldn't do it. (In the winter, the general population takes turns doing Dining Attendant duty-- basically washing dishes in the galley. It only hits about once a month for each person.) I did show up after my shift in the scullery, but stayed toasty warm and dry. Maybe next year...

Ob Hill, Sleep

I didn't think it could get any darker, but we haven't had any moon for the last week or so, and it's like the bottom of a white-painted well. With all the snow on the sea ice and ice shelf, the meager light of stars and planets is reflected, so it never really gets pitch dark. There are a lot of street lights in McMurdo, so there is a lot of light pollution. With all this darkness, I'm finding that my sleep patterns have started to suffer. I have had mild insomnia for most of the time here. I usually go to bed and sleep well for about four hours, toss and turn for a couple of hours, then sleep okay until my alarm goes off. I frequently have spectacular, technicolor dreams during those last couple of sleep hours. I have had some great flying dreams, and some that seem more real than reality. Spooky. Most days I have a hard time making it all the way through without a nap. I haven't read up on the latest research on light depravation, but based on my own experience, I think my body is trying to establish a new cycle. I bet if I had no job or other commitments, and slept when I felt like it, I would sleep for four hours, be up for four hours, sleep for four hours...

We normally have only one-day weekends, but we get a two day weekend on the first weekend of the month. This, thank God, was our two-day weekend. Not a minute too soon. I got up at a descent hour on Saturday morning, and had an urge to go for a hike. I put on my ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear, and headed out. I walked down to Scott's Discovery Hut on Hut Point, and then back through town to Ob (Observation) Hill. It was dark, slick, and windy, but I made it to the top. I'm so glad I did that-- it is all too easy to get sucked into the inertia of reading and napping with no exercise on weekends. If any of you find some interesting research on circadian rhythms and light depravation, please pass it on. Thanks,

Lee