Week One

It's been nearly a week since I've been back and I've been inundated with nothing but managerial tasks that have me catching up with the rest of the firefighters that have been here for a month or longer at a ridiculous rate. I'm slowly picking up where I left off as far as ideas and projects within the firehouse. At the same time, I'm taking on new responsibilities and forging new personal and professional relationships...both in and outside of the firehouse. This year has proved to be a hell of a lot warmer than last year. We've been averaging daily temperatures around 0 degrees plus or minus 5 degrees or so. I've been walking around in a normal ball cap and sometimes even a short sleeve T-Shirt. There seems to be a little more tension amongst people this year than last, however. Because of an apparently crappy win-fly season, there seems to be a lot of resentment from the winter-overs and winfly folks towards the summer employees...more so than last year. Hopefully this will all subside by the time Halloween comes around.

While I was away from Antarctica, I was constantly thinking about the place. I have certain "photos" engraved in my memory (some forever) but they don't compare to the real thing; actually seeing those images rather than imagining them in some lesser mental format.









It's not as cold as one would think by the looks of these pictures. With the proper clothing and acclimatization you'd be amazed what you're body can comfortably tolerate. Surprisingly I didn't take my first photo till about two days after I had gotten down here. I promise though I'll post up more as the season progresses. Everyone stay safe...