Here are 2 images of the famous (infamous?) bunny boot. They are definitely warm, but they also make your feet and socks damp by trapping all that moisture. There is a built-in air chamber to act as extra insulation. When you wear them on the ground, you have the air valve closed; when you fly you must open the valve so that the air chambers don't expand so much as to cut off circulation.
The first skua appeared yesterday. Sorry, no picture of that yet. They're big, brash, burly gulls, built as ruggedly as a tank. Like the crows and ravens in Flagstaff, they raid the garbage bins searching for any food scraps they can find. Unlike the hometown heroes, though, they will also dive bomb people who are carrying food from the galley to their dorm rooms. Some people get freaked out by the bombing run that they drop the tray and--voila!--the skua has its feast. Several times they have taken it a step further and clipped the person in the head to make absolutely certain that they drop their meal. There's a real love-hate relationship with the Skuas down here. Some people hate them and dream of horrible ways of getting rid of them and others like them and encourage them with food scraps. Looking at it from a distance, it's rather funny.
The morning of the second day at Happy Camper I threw my back out and chose to suffer through the rest of class to learn all I could. The weirdest thing about it was that all I was doing was putting on my Carhartt bibs. I had put them flat between my sleeping pads and sleeping bag so that they'd not freeze, but would rather dry out. In the morning I unzipped the sleeping bag and pushed it aside and as I slipped my legs into the bibs--voila!--bad back. It has definitely put a crimp in things the last few days.
As soon as we got back to town I went in to the clinic, which was getting ready to close for the day. They kindly took me in and treated me. I've been in each day since then and gotten help from the Physical Therapist. Four days later I can finally see improvement and anticipate being able to get back to work soon.
I've been pretty much confined to either being flat on my back or walking around. Sitting--as a computer--leaves it frozen back in place and erases any progress. The muscle relaxants have made it difficult to read and television doesn't much interest me. I'm looking forward to getting back.
The other big bummer has been to probably have lost all my images from Happy Camper. But just in case they can be salvaged, I took them to Arnold in IT and he said he'd give it a try. Luckily I had the presence of mind to not take any photos on the now emptied memory card. Fingers crossed on that! If they are recoverable, be sure to look back at the Happy Camper posting in a few days.
Note: Arnold DID recover the images and I've posted some of them in the Happy Camper posting.
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| The only boot with valves? |
Spring in the Southern hemisphere officially began on September 21st, but Spring's first teasers are beginning to finally show here. For the last few days and today the temperatures have been in the high 20s or even the low 30s and all McMurdo is starting to defrost. There are muddy little rivulets flowing along many of the roads, iciccles are forming on the buildings and vehicles and the snow has become soft and yielding.
The first skua appeared yesterday. Sorry, no picture of that yet. They're big, brash, burly gulls, built as ruggedly as a tank. Like the crows and ravens in Flagstaff, they raid the garbage bins searching for any food scraps they can find. Unlike the hometown heroes, though, they will also dive bomb people who are carrying food from the galley to their dorm rooms. Some people get freaked out by the bombing run that they drop the tray and--voila!--the skua has its feast. Several times they have taken it a step further and clipped the person in the head to make absolutely certain that they drop their meal. There's a real love-hate relationship with the Skuas down here. Some people hate them and dream of horrible ways of getting rid of them and others like them and encourage them with food scraps. Looking at it from a distance, it's rather funny.
The morning of the second day at Happy Camper I threw my back out and chose to suffer through the rest of class to learn all I could. The weirdest thing about it was that all I was doing was putting on my Carhartt bibs. I had put them flat between my sleeping pads and sleeping bag so that they'd not freeze, but would rather dry out. In the morning I unzipped the sleeping bag and pushed it aside and as I slipped my legs into the bibs--voila!--bad back. It has definitely put a crimp in things the last few days.
As soon as we got back to town I went in to the clinic, which was getting ready to close for the day. They kindly took me in and treated me. I've been in each day since then and gotten help from the Physical Therapist. Four days later I can finally see improvement and anticipate being able to get back to work soon.
I've been pretty much confined to either being flat on my back or walking around. Sitting--as a computer--leaves it frozen back in place and erases any progress. The muscle relaxants have made it difficult to read and television doesn't much interest me. I'm looking forward to getting back.
The other big bummer has been to probably have lost all my images from Happy Camper. But just in case they can be salvaged, I took them to Arnold in IT and he said he'd give it a try. Luckily I had the presence of mind to not take any photos on the now emptied memory card. Fingers crossed on that! If they are recoverable, be sure to look back at the Happy Camper posting in a few days.
Note: Arnold DID recover the images and I've posted some of them in the Happy Camper posting.
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