AVA @ BI

All season, I've been passing out flag stickers representing the Antarctic
Vexillological Association. My friend, Gid from Scott Base slapped one onto
his water bottle right away. This week, he was tramping/camping at Black
Island and wanted to make sure that the AVA was well represented on this
desolate piece of volcanic rock!

Evening Tea at Scott Base

It's always a pleasure to receive an invitation to a
meal at Scott Base. Especially when it's their evening
meal. While our food has been pretty good at McMurdo
this year, the Kiwis don't have to cook for 1100 people,
so it has a lot more of a personal touch. Our counterparts
and friends from Scott Base, David and Gid, invited the
day shift ATO office workers over for the evening. They
must have planned the meal in advance, because we had
real hamburgers and chips for dinner. Really delicious.
Like you would make at home, and not institutional.
Afterwards, I was able to practice my barista skills on
their espresso maker. After doing this for several years
now, it never has gotten easier to foam milk made from
powder! Everyone had an enjoyable time and far too soon
it was time to come home. I'm looking forward to our
next visit to our friendly Kiwi neighbors.

McMurdo Birthday

Yesterday, I celebrated my birthday for the 6th time
in Antarctica. I feel much older than 6 years old,
but I'm pretty close to 6 years old in dog years I
guess. Anyway, the Air Services Reps were nice enough
to decorate the Flight Board in honor of my day and
also did some nice decorating in my desk area. As you
can see, my desk is a fairly bleak cubicle, so any
decorating certainly helps liven things up. When you're
on the Ice and from the United States, you technically
get two birthdays. One in Antarctica, and for me, one
in Colorado since it's nineteen hours behind us, on the
other side of the International Date Line. Our Kiwi
friend, Gid, from Scott Base brought me over a delicious
piece of chocolate mousse cake from the Kiwi baker in
honor of the day as well and everyone enjoyed it. I've
had more momentous birthdays, but this one was very
calm and enjoyable.

Emperor Penguins!

Up until today, I had never been closer than a half mile to
an Emporer Penguin. Today, I was much closer than that!
There are 13 Emperors just off the Pegasus Field road that
have been hanging out there for the past ten days or so.
Our friend and co-worker, Gid from Scott Base offered the
Air Services team a sort of end of season thank you trip to
go out and see the penguins. Lynn got to go as well so the
trip was that much better.


I was amazed at how they had no fear of us at all. Of course
we couldn't get too close because of regulations but they
really just saw us as big red penguins.


I learned something about their...well, let's just say
Number 2 habits. I know this sounds gross, but when it is
pink, they are eating krill and other small sea animals.
When it is green (like it was in the area surrounding all
13 of them) that means they are living off their own internal
fat. I believe that, because they were miles from any open
water at all and have been at this very spot for a while now,
not heading back to the sea.



This guy looks like he/she is wearing a shawl, but it's really
just it's feathers from being a youngster. It will look like
the others after the rest of these feathers moult.


I loved zooming in with my camera on this guy. He was so
uncaring or maybe oblivious to my presence he just ignored
me while I was giving him his shot at greatness! "I'm ready
for my closeup, Mr. De Mille".

We had a great time and it was fun to get everyone together
one last time before things start winding down for the season.
Add that to the fact that we had the opportunity to see such
a magnificent group of birds made it extra special!

Yay...Ice Cream!

Our friend and co-worker from Scott Base, Gid, came over today
bearing gifts. These gifts were two containers of ice cream...real
ice cream! Scott Base is a much smaller operation than McMurdo
and their proximity to New Zealand allows them to have the real deal
over on their side of the hill, as opposed to the McMurdo's version
of semi-dairy-semi-betteroffnotknowingwhat'sinthis Frosty Boy.
It was absolutely fantastic as the entire office and the cargo handlers
shared and shared alike. The fact we haven't had real ice cream
for months and the fact that New Zealand's ice cream tastes so good
(I think it's the quality of the milk) made it even better. It's probably
a good thing we don't have it more often, or I'd need my own plane
to go back north!

Dinner at Scott Base

Tonight we had the fortune of joining our Kiwi co-workers
Gid and David for dinner at nearby Scott Base. They were
wonderful hosts and after a nice glass of wine, we enjoyed
a nice steak, Indian dahl, and broccoli and cauliflower
casserole. YUM. The food at Scott Base is always the best!
Of course, I discovered while I was at dinner that I forgot
to put the memory chip in my camera, so I wasn't able to
get any photos! ARRGH! After dinner, I got to make lattes
for some of our dinner companions. It was fun being a
barista again! Then David took us on a tour of the station
and we got to go to some places that most folks don't get
to see such as the Library. It's one of my favorite places
and I haven't seen it since 2001!. All in all, a great
visit to a very cozy spot, just a few miles from McMurdo.