Summer Starting to End on the Farm

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It has been good spending time on the farm. I really had forgotten how quiet and dark it is here. It can actually be a bit unnerving. The leaf doodle bug was put to work in the forest. However, it looks like the car will be going back on the road. We can say it failed field trials,but that would only be partially true. The better utility value at this point is more suited to getting a teenager back and forth from high school. The mycological aspects of the farm did not disappoint. The pics of these shrooms are not photoshopped. The coal stove (very heavy) is loaded on the truck. It will be rebuilt in Georgia if I can save it. Coal stoves are increasingly out of production. When they are gone they are gone. The small wood stove is now in its place. The pic of the red sky in morning was indeed a warning of weather. We had strong storms and tornados in Upstate NY. Although I was travelling much that day in the area, I missed the worst of it.
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I volunteered in the galley this morning for 4 hours. Time went fast. I cut and arranged fruit for the weekly monster brunch we have here at McMurdo every Sunday. Since I have professional cooking experience I was not relegated to the dish tank, although that would have been fine. I will do it again. The experience reminded me that there is so much for people to explore if they just step off their normal course just a little bit (anywhere on the planet they may be). I am now an insider in the galley. I really need to be conscience about my job since I get to travel and go on mountain tops and so on. Most folks on station are pretty much experiencing the station. They do not get the trips that I do. Greatness starts with gratitude. Gratitude starts with goodness. You can't fake it.

I am working on a great presentation when I return. I have music. I have images. I have video. I have the public speaking skills. The combination is working out well.

In the following satellite image of the Ross Sea area you can see the sea ice is breaking up (if you had seen this before). The island in the lower left is my home, Ross Island. Mt. Terror is an old volcano on Ross Island (one of the three points you can see on the island). I am planning to be on the summit Tuesday. The dry valleys are off to the left, primarily at the nine o'clock position. It takes about 40 minutes to fly to the dry valleys in a helo. That will give you some scale.

The other little guy below is getting a lot of attention form some scientists this year. I had lunch with them (the scientists) a while back.

Comments

Anonymous said…
So, what is your little white friend?
9:38 AM
Charles said…
The little white guy as a sea slug. I do not know the scientific name. There is a warm water variety and they are trying to determine how much of the adaptation is genetic versus environmental.
12:22 PM
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