Dear Natomas Charter Students,
I just received my first email from my guest/substitute teacher Mrs. Anderson and I am so excited to hear that you have been enjoying my journals! You asked really thoughtful questions and I appreciate knowing what things you'd like to know more about. I'm sorry I didn't receive your first batch of questions from earlier in November – my satellite connection is very sketchy. I'll respond to as many questions as I can here, and add some more to future journals.
Diving
Sending divers into the lake is a great way to make first hand observations of what's down there. Ian and Tyler do have different questions that they are focusing on, but they work together and help one another answer those questions and in the end, each of their primary questions compliments the other. Each dive is between 30-60 minutes long, and they can do up to two dives each per day. The dive hole must be about 4 feet across in order to be wide enough for the diver and their equipment. They find the hole again when they want to come up by following the tether, or else someone on the surface can pull on the tether, if necessary.
Ian getting ready to dive.
Camping Out
There are many questions you asked about life in the endurance tent, and whether we are all getting along. We all get along brilliantly and have become a second family! Even when we are doing something that's not that fun, we joke and laugh often. No one wants to be "That Guy", so we all do different things to pitch in and do what needs to be done. If someone leaves a mess in the kitchen, it's okay because they are probably the same person who's schlepping water up from the lake for us, so it evens out. As many of you pointed out, the endurance tent isn't very big and we must run a gauntlet of legs to get from one side to the other, but we spend almost all day, everyday down on the lake, not inside.
Hanging out in the endurance tent.
The Weather
There were MANY questions about the weather and temperatures here, too. Yes, it's cold!!! Really cold sometimes! I'm guessing that most days are between about 10-20°F. We keep expecting it to get warmer and it doesn't! The last few days have been cold, windy and cloudy, which means we are running out of electricity for our devices (no solar power). Last week, it actually snowed here (only flurries), which was remarkable because the average accumulation of snow here is only about 1cm/year! There have been a couple of windstorms, and we think the windspeed during one of those reached 60mph but we don't know for sure because it actually broke the anemometer (the whirlygig windspeed measuring device)! Sometimes we need to wear our Big Reds, but other times we can wear the less insulated version of it – Little Red. It gets warmer inside the endurance tent, so we thaw out our food there, but sometimes it's still pretty cold, even inside. The best plan in that case is to just go to bed!
A gloomy day on the lake. You can see how big the ice formations get, though!
Sled tracks through the dusting of snow on Lake Joyce.
I appreciate all of your well-wishes that you expressed in your notes to me. I think of you often and look forward to talking with you in person about my adventures here. That will be very fun!
Sincerely,
Ms. Coleman