Back to the "Deep South" in Duluth GA

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I get a kick out of hearing the term "Deep South" in 2026. It is a crazy incredibly outdated label. I think maybe I should start saying the "Deep Northeast". I am a Yankee. My family came over on the Mayflower and moved to Upstate NY via Connecticut. Terms used in the revolutionary and Civil war days are generally inappropriate. My family is all but totally out of NY State now. I find the term "deep south" to be of the same thinking that the movie "Heidi" is what contemporary Europe is like. Watching the fireworks in Rochester, NY from the back yard of a house in the city made it look like a real war zone. It is a long drive between Berkshire, NY and Duluth, GA. Most of the 35K miles on the truck were spent in between. I drove the truck about 3k miles in 2-1/2 weeks. It was great to spend time on the farm. It was good to make some progress on needed repairs and improvements. I also felt good about making some new friends up there. I will be...
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Whoo Hoo!. I am getting a trip to pole. (We don't often say South Pole since it is pretty much redundant). I will getting a week long visit at pole filling in for a tech who will be on R&R for a week. Sometime between 1-15 and 1-20 I will be heading down there. It will be good to see the differences between mactown and the brand new South Pole Station. I will see the dome before it gets shipped back to the states and ends up as a mueseum or a bar... or both.

I took this pic in the dry valleys a while back. Critters just get lost I guess, really lost. This is many many miles from the sea.

I went to another session of cruise ship tour guide school today. We may get a couple of ships in January.

I do miss being home for Christmas. It was choice, a tough one. I am here. The thing I don't miss is all the BS and hype about Christmas from the advertisers and all the stress and all that. There is none of it. The holiday is a lot easier to appreciate as a solitude and a personal event rather that a "made for TV" peer-pressure *not really* competitive buying frenzy it is back in the states. Give me a break already. We have a town Chistmas party in the Heavy Shop this coming Saturday night. They pull all the equipment out and wash the floor real nice. I bet you can hardly tell it is very busy heavy equipment garage. I bet you can hardly smell the diesel and gear lube.

I am headed over to Scott Base tonight as something different. Work is kind of slow. We are working on problems and fixing stuff but the consequence/fixability ratios are getting close to unity.

I have a bunch of small presents that Bonnie has shipped to me to open on Sunday.

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