12 December, 1997

Hi Every one,

Still cold, 10 degrees F. again, not a chance for any melt water today. The snowmobile was not running well so Keith took the ATV and transfered another pair up to their small camp and stayed to help them for few hours while I stayed in this little camp and cleaned up. When I say small camp it is really just a 10 x10 hut and an out house. We had brought in our own food supplies and there is a little bit of other food left around that we could use. You can keep food any where, there is not a chance of a mouse or bugs or spoilage. Its sorta like living in a refegerator here with the light on all the time. The big problem is that when someone leaves the hut and the stove is shut off everything will freeze. Keith returned around lunch time and then Paula brought in more supplies by helo and took off with a sling load of yellow U-BARRELS. Make a good guess what was in them. Everything here must be helo'd in and then out. Keith and I both worked, measured and sampled what we could this afternoon,we are both being helo'd out tomorrow morning. That will probably be my last day here in the dry valleys doing field work. I doubt if they will spend more helo time on me to send me here again. We worked on the snowmobile and put a new suspenson bracket on it. Laying on ice trying to work on machinery with gloves and parka on is not fun. Got the repair completed and it sure rides a lot smoother. I'm scheduled to leave for New Zealand the 19th and will probably spend the rest of my time at Mcmurdo working in the lab and doing reports. Pretty normal day today. I'm Ok and still doing fine. See ya