There's just a little bit of light out there - enough to see where the sun is circling below the horizon, not enough to see by yet. When it's behind (and below) the El Dorm you can see the box shape up on stilts; when it's behind the Dome you can see its curve. It's not much yet but it makes us all feel happy. It also means that we're seeing our last good auroras: the moon will be up soon, and by the time it sets again the sun will be much stronger. Fortunately we've been getting some good, clear days with all the stars and auroras out. Unfortunately, the day I scammed a work trip up to the New Station roof wasn't one of those! Oh well, no harm done.
We've still got a ways to go yet but McMurdo will be getting their 4 Winfly flights starting in just a few days. 90 people out, 340 in. I'll be back on radios for backup support, but they might as well be flying to the moon for all it'll affect us: they're 800 miles away, a lot warmer, and a lot brighter. I thought that this would be the hardest part of the winter: knowing that McMurdo has people in and out, mail, freshies, change, etc, and we've got 2 months to go yet - but I don't feel like that right now. Even though the routine is a bit monotonous and I'm looking forward to leaving, I still feel like cherishing what we've got left of winter. My counterparts in McMurdo get to face 6 weeks of working with annoying new people, training them, explaining the system, etc: once we get new people here I'll probably be gone within a week. Just enough time (I hope) to say hello to incoming friends.
I finally got around to implementing my new work tourism program: I spent a day working with the electricians, and a day with the plumbers. Good fun, something different, and an increase in my general understanding. I'm hoping to visit the carpenters next week - ssshhhh - haven't asked the foreman yet.
Station life is mostly cruising along pretty smoothly, although we've had some minor fusses that got escalated due to nobody having anything better to talk about. The proper disposition of 2 bottles of sake left behind by summer staff was a discussion topic for a whole week a little while back. Oh my! If that's the worst we've got, no complaints. Fingers crossed for the next 2 months.
Our July came in as the coldest July since record-keeping started in 1957, and the second-coldest month recorded period. We're all pretty happy about that, especially the weather observers - they were both pretty smug when we bagged the record.
No website at the moment, murkworks got hacked pretty bad - big thanks to my friends who run it, for recovering the server and getting email back online while in the middle of moving, surgery, and an arson wave. Whoo! Some folks have all the excitement. So if your email to me bounced a little while back, please resend.
Okay enough chatter, it's dinner time. Take care, thanks to folks who have sent me pictures!
Best,
-Sarah