Summer brings new friends

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Summer is here. I have the AC on occasionally, except for the zoom room, which the AC is on all the time I am in there. Since we had so much rain awhile back, the mosquitos are unbearable. I called for air support from a pest killer company. June brings new fawns in this area. We have two new ones in the back yard, learning about the world. There was a nice Pitts Special that showed up at the EAA 690 breakfast this past week. I picked up another traffic control device. I will add an appropriate relay and sell to someone with a man-cave or bar. Wisdomino is certainly keeping me busy. I am a professional networker now. A lot to juggle.
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Yesterday and today we are having some significant comms (Antarctica speak for radio) issues to deal with. The diversity of equipment I have to work on is great. Everyday I get to learn about a new radio of some sort. Today I worked on complex NASA equipment for monitoring spacecraft telemetry.

Last night at dinner I was laughed at by a janitor (with a degree) by saying that we are doing all this for science. He thought I was joking. I was not. There is a purpose to all of what is done down here, the dishes, the toilets, the radios, the aircraft are elements of a grand mission of discovery. It is to push human understanding forward. I suppose if you didn't see or appreciate that fact this might be a tough place to work. If you do see it... it is a calling. I spent some time trying to figure out his purpose. Sure the program can not all be perfectly focused on science (no human endevor of science could ever be), but the overall thrust is clearly and sincerely focused on science of many different disciplines. We are here for the same reason we send spacecraft to other planets. This is a special place on earth in this regard. The best place to get the reasons why we are here is the official website www.usap.gov

The vehicle show is a 1957 Tucker Sno-cat. This one unlike the previous one I took a picture of it is fully functional and an original to the program. Much of the stuff here that was brought here since the early 1900s is still here. If it is useful there is no need to retrograde (send back to the US). The other picture shows an exciting sight... Far off on the bulding top there is a bird. This is exciting for experienced people. This is a sure sign of summer. It is a Skua (Skoo UH)

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