June 10, 2008 – Live from IPY day
Each morning Barry Lefer and I take turns walking to Sat Camp to fill air canisters for Katrine Gorham’s experiment. She works through the night so we try to help her out so she can get a little sleep in the morning. On my way down I spotted a BIRD! Yeah, a BIRD! I didn’t expect to see any wildlife while at Summit Camp. There were actually two birds and I chased them all around Sat Camp with my camera so I would have proof. I was finally able to snap a few pictures from far off. Because there are two birds, one might assume that they are a breeding pair. However, I am guessing it is two male birds because a female bird would have stopped and asked for directions long before she ended up at Summit Camp! According to those folks who have spend time at Summit before, birds who get "blown” up here on the ice sheet don’t fare so well…it is just too cold for little birdies and there is no food.
Two birds showed up at Summit Camp. They looked cold, hungry and lost.
This morning at 1:00am a very exciting thing happened in camp: I finally got a shower!!! It was the best 3 minutes of hot water I’ve ever had. But, when you’ve waited 10,060 minutes (that is 7 days) for a splash of water, 3 minutes feels like heaven. I tried to get pictures to show you all what the shower looks like but they didn’t turn out. The room is too small. But all you have to do is picture a shower with plastic white walls, a spout and knobs and you can envision this "heavenly” place! Also managed to wash my long johns…I am a new man today!
Sunglasses are a must, even at MIDNIGHT! I took this picture on my way back to camp at the stroke of midnight looking at the sun through my glasses. You can see just how valuable good sunglasses are to us Summit Campers!
Today was the "Teams” live from IPY (International Polar Year) webinar. We had good attendance from classrooms all around the country even though most schools have let out. We had 10 scientists and grad students in the office of the Big House all sharing and talking about this experience. It was great! It will be archived on the PolarTREC website and I will share the link when it becomes available.
Food update:
Lunch: Breakfast for lunch, I am allergic to eggs so I had leftover pork chops, they were just as good the second time.
Dinner: (are you ready for this?) Green curry shrimp, coconut white rice, stir fry veggies, salad and cream pie! I had two helpings of the shrimp! No wait…I think I had three!
The food at Summit Camp is definetly something to write home about. On this night Rosemary (the cook) made Green Curry Shrimp. I ate until I had my fill…then I ate more!
Stay Warm!!