“Were gonna tell them to make a list, then chill. No, list – Chill...”

At least that's what James hopes will happen on the Crew's first day. “We need a day off, but with the crew coming in on Tuesday I don't see that happening.” he had said moments before.
I doubt it will happen, but we have our hopes. As you no doubt guess, my day started with the alarm at 0710 to go get the weather data and check the genset before the morning sked. Usually I set my alarm for 0710, (But am woken up at 0630 or earlier when James' defective alarm clock wakes me up early, We destroyed that clock today. Well, removed the batteries...) take 10 minutes to drag my sorry carcass out of bed, (When it usually only takes me between five and ten seconds) run out with the Kestrel in hand, tie it to a guy wire, pee, fill the genset, come back, shiver for a few minutes, let the temperature stabilize, read the unit, run inside turn on the radio and report the weather and tell Polar Shelf that we somehow, through no fault of our own, managed to survive for another day, look around, and decide what to do next. Usually.

This morning I was getting my socks on as slow as ever, trying to understand why one didn't fit correctly, when I heard the genset sputter and surge for a second. Bang, I am awake, seeing the world with crystal clarity. Realize that the sock that doesn't fit is really a glove, grab the correct sock right beside it, not surprisingly it fits, and I throw the rest of my clothes on, and all ahead full tilt boogie down the ladder, somehow not dying on that dangerous thing and remembering to grab the Kestrel. Out the hatch I go, Begging for the genset to run for another two minutes. I again somehow manage to tie the Kestrel off and get the genset out of the shelter in time. Since these Gensets are diesel, for all but one fueling, (The afternoon fueling where we down the unit to check the oil.) we fill these things hot, and this morning is no exception. Off comes the fuel cap and in goes the fuel while the little power plant nearly sputters its last. When it's surging is nearing continuous, the fuel finally makes its way through the fuel filter and to the injector pump and the engine catches and resumes it's usual purr of power. It's actually kind of a pleasing sound out of this little 3k unit. I fill the generator, slide it back into it's warm enclosure, and stretch. Usually they don't take this much fuel and I had to switch gerry cans in the middle. Then I remembered that it was filled early as James was showing Jason, our new Inuit guide and helper how to fuel all of the equipment on the station.

Remembering the sked, I book it back in, stopping to grab and read the Kestrel and in I go, run back upstairs I turn on the radio right as my 0729 alarm goes off. I pause to take a breath and I hear it. “Miean Ice Cap, Miean Ice Cap, Resolute Two Six, How are things out there?”
And it starts, Our morning check in, our "Sked".
“Devon Crater, Devon Crater, two Six, Good morning.”
“Two Six, Good Morning Barry, Our Skies are clear, unlimited visibility, Winds are about 1.7 knots from 170, temperature is -13C dry bulb, 34% humidity” What came next was mostly unreadable, but I could pick out a request to repeat it, verifying clear skies. I repeat the message a little louder, Still no intelligible reply, hearing a mention of a sat phone call. I promise to call as soon as I hear the end of the sked and clear the radio net. After every one has finished their reports, I give Barry a call on their Iridium (Which, by the way, is crap here. The antique MSAT works better, when it works.) and relay my message, starting with, “Ahh, Such are the vagarities of HF...”

0740. Well that was fun. I forgot to pee as my bladder reminds me vigorously and back down the ladder I trod. Oh well, It's not like I'm going back to sleep this morning. Usually I can stagger through this half asleep and get another hour in, but not after that little surge. Besides, I have to work on the MSAT, the shower, the water heater, the drain plumbing, help with electrical, I'm going to try to get some pictures prepped for the 4800 baud link (Whoo hoo... Squidwert again...) and whatever else this day may bring...

What did it bring? Well, a couple of hours working with the MSAT, including about fifteen minutes with a tech who was spending as much time talking to his kids as me, and his final word? Try it outside or it is bad. Fun. Then, what else, more fun with the Internet. This basically entails babysitting a connect to get a few bits of e-mail in and out. This was followed with some work on strengthening the stand that the water heater sits on, (I have a great picture of me sitting on the shelf. It ought to be strong enough now for the 120 pound water heater and water.) and plumbing the water heater in. This took some time as I was distracted by several projects (Including answering Robert's e-mail and working with the MSAT tech.) and helping James. Finally the water heater is plumbed in and secured to the bulkhead with “Plumbers tape” steel strapping screwed to the 2x4 header. That should never break. James reworked all of, and rehung four of the stateroom lights, he expects to finish tomorrow and get several of the junction box's installed. Afterwards He and Jason re-assembled the jigsaw puzzle that is the loft deck.

Late lunch, then Jason and I removed the shower and built a small set of stands to raise it about eight inches. It is currently perfectly level and finally drains correctly! This will help keep the shower floor from freezing (A dangerous condition) and give us a place to rework the waste plumbing. Right now the individual pipes just drop out wherever. We are combining them all into one gray water drain and one “Yellow Water” drain. This should make freeze and ice mitigation significantly easier. It may also have the unintended side-effect of producing a heated shower floor. Since James hadn't gotten to the junction boxes in the Prep room yet, I just temped together the drain plumbing so that we could have dinner. After dinner, Jason cleaned the water tank, so we can again use it for potable water, and I fiddled with the MSAT again. I believe that we will be able to use it, but it will require some programming on their side. I probably won't be able to find out until Monday. Since James has had a head-ache since he finished working on the lights (Probably the very hard working angle,) he went to bed early. Jason went about cleaning the ice off of the doors and fueling all of the equipment, I am working on blogs and my first report from here. And, Well, I guess then I will go to bed.

Tomorrow, I expect to finish all of the plumbing that I have parts for and God willing, get the newly arrived snow melter incorporated into the system, James will have finished all of the stateroom lights and all of the junction boxes that he can get to and has parts for, Jason will do some clean up and continuing to be our helper and getting as much water in that tank as possible. He, by the way, makes a great helper, and often has tools and parts in my hands right as I reach for them without even asking once he realizes what I am doing. I am going to turn him loose on some storage projects tomorrow and see how well he does on his own. Barring a flash of wisdom and luck, tomorrow will be another, but hopefully our last 2400 baud day.

Good Night! Sleep well. Some of what I just wrote will get dropped into my first official report, See if you can tell were that is... ;)
If you actually read this far, please let me know, because I'm not sure any one actually is... Reading this far that is. Well, Just plain reading any of it.