Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 01/04/2009 - 15:11
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Oden Antarctic Expedition 08

Hello Uncle Jeff,

Have you seen any baby seals lately? How about baby penguins? Any leopard seals?

 I have some cool news to share with you. Today my mom called to me and my brother to come downstairs to see a mother deer and her fawn walking in our backyard, and to our surprise, they came right to the window and stared us all straight in the eyes! Then they proceded to eat my mother's herb garden which my mother was not too happy about!  Dad took a video with his new Flip camera... he was very excited about that! Well I hope that this picture in your mind brings you to the warm and cozy home that you will soon be experiencing.

                                   waiting anxiously to see you again,

                                          Rach <333

Tue, 01/06/2009 - 10:12

Jeff Peneston

Rachel,Wow, it is so cool that you and your dad got to see the deer up close and I hope he had fun with his new video camera.  You know that I have been having fun with mine!  Remind your mom that she can always plant more deer food, I mean herbs.   Baby seals and penguins???  Well, we have not been very close to the penguin nesting areas or the places where the seals have their babies.  However, in my Jan 3 journal you can see a one year old crabeater seal that I helped the scientists catch and work with.  It weighed about 200 pounds but it was less than half grown.  Its fur was also much softer than the older seals.  While we held it down with the net it made the kinds of fussing sounds wiggled around as a small human child might make in a similar situation.   It was fun to release it and to watch it wiggle away.
Regarding leopard seals, the answer is YES!!  Last night I watched one on the ice, very close to the ship.  It was huge and powerful looking.  As it looked up at the ship and headed for the water, we noticed that it had left half of penguin behind on the ice.  I bet it came back to finish its black and white meal!
I can’t wait to see you and your family again.  I will bring lots of pictures to share!  
Love,
Uncle Jeff