Windy Days

It is very windy today. 23 knot winds (about 26 mph) with higher gusts means that every time I go outside I end up chewing more volcanic ash and dust. Yesterday down at the airfield it was so windy we had a ground blizzard. A whole new blanket of snow and none of it fell from the sky (well, at least fell from the sky yesterday). Every time I went outside, I looked like a frosted cupcake. But you could look up and see the sky...some of it was even blue. And at least the high winds are blowing all the broken ice out to sea, finally. There is actually open water near town. This increases the number of seals we see, and people are seeing Adelie penguins just about every day. A lot of people have seen whales, but I hear that most of them are seen with binoculars (something I would bring down if I came down again). If it wasn't so windy, I would go up Ob Hill today to get some nice panoramic shots of the water, but it's blowing so bad, I'd probably get blown off the hill.

I think the tanker ship is waiting till the wind dies down, because I haven't heard anything about them needing line handlers for it. Which means it'll likely come in tomorrow, when I'm working. It would be neat if it came in on Sunday, since most people are off work then, and the whole town can turn out to see it and take pictures.

The store and the bars close down next week when the vessel gets in for supply. The store shuts down so they can do total inventory and so they don't have to worry about the NavChaps buying beer. The bars shut down so the NavChaps don't drink beer either. So every one is buying beer to stock up for the next 2 or 3 weeks. Especially since it's Super Bowl next weekend.

NavChaps are the Navy Cargo Handling and Port (I think) guys. They get shipped down here to help off-load the supply ship, and from what I've heard, they caused some major issues in the past...getting drunk, vandalism, theft. In the main dorm (the one with the galley), some of the rooms are inside, with no windows. It gets pretty warm up there, so a lot of people will move the tiles in their ceilings to give the heat somewhere to go. One of the things I heard was that people should put their ceiling tiles back, because in the past NavChaps have been known to climb through the ceiling to other people's rooms and steal stuff. I've heard they've been known to steal from people if they're rooms aren't locked up, and that you should put all your valuables away so they aren't sitting out. I've heard that in the past, the NavChaps have gotten drunk and started fights, vandalized things, bothered the animals, etc. So because of all that, there are no open bars and no open store for the duration of re-supply. Doesn't really bother me much...I don't drink, I don't live in a dorm that has ceiling tiles, and I lock my door all the time anyway. My only complaint is that there will be no Burger Bar for that time.

I haven't been out to Pegasus lately, but if the C-17 gets delayed enough tonight, I might be out there tomorrow. They are evidently waiting on a part that as of this morning was still in Aukland. Currently, the ETA for the plane is 1800 tonight, but that was as of 11am. I've heard it's been delayed further. I've been told (and I've done some research on the subject) that Emperors molt for several weeks, and they molt between end of January and beginning of March. So the 2 that were out there on Tuesday will likely be there for some time (they don't move much when they're molting), and there may be more coming. For some reason, they like to hang out near the runway lights. I saw some pictures of them molting, and they look very mangy. Smooth feathers in some places, big bunches of fluffy feathers coming out in others. Kind of like when smooth-coated dogs blow their coats in the summer and they get all those tufts that can be pulled out. They also evidently shed the bottom part of their beak (weird). At any rate, with the amount of time I'll be spending at Pegasus come February, I should see one. I hope.

I am hoping the weather stays good for most of February. The first sunset is on February 20th, the day before I leave, and it'll likely be early in the morning (around 2 or so, I think) and last only about an hour. I plan to stay up to see it the night before I leave, so I can sleep on the plane. That is, unless it's overcast, in which case I won't get to see a sunset. It's already starting to get a little darker at night. Not like twilight (which will be about what the first sunset will be like, not true dark), but just a little darker, so you can tell the sun isn't as high as it was.

I mailed out another package today, the second to last to be mailed from here. It won't get in the bag to go out on today's flight, but it'll go out on Tuesday. It's mostly clothes and books. The last one is waiting for a few more odds and ends to be added, and then it'll be sent out end of next week, to go out on Friday's plane. After that, what I have is what I have until I get to NZ and ship off another box of stuff that I won't need there, like my uniforms and cold weather gear.

I can't believe how much time is flying.