More Questions and a Medical Evacuation Flight

Another set of scanned postcards.

More questions. Thanks Chris.

speaking of $$, do you need to carry cash and a wallet there?  Is everything paid for?

On Fridays after dinner I walk through the store or as we call it McMurdo Wal-Mart. I am always looking to see if there is anything new out. I will pick up either two six packs of Speights Ale or two bottles of New Zealand Dashwood pinot noir (the limit is 2). Along with that I will buy a bag of tortilla chips or a can of beer nuts. So that is the only day I carry a wallet. Except for toiletries everything else is paid for. 

is the sky starting to lighten more and more?

 Yes...and it is very exciting to see the world again!

Are there any roaches or bugs in the dorms or cafe?  Those things can come in on fresh produce in the egg /larvae form

 I have not seen any bugs in the dorms or work areas. When I first arrived there was an occasional flying insect in the galley that probably came out of the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen the doctor does a monthly inspection of that, the outside loading dock, and the walk-in freezers and refrigerators. He says that after he inspects the loading dock he enters the walk in freezer and 'warms up' in there! 

In the warmer months do they have mosquitoes outside?

There are no mosquitoes or any insects in the Antarctic. There is nothing for them to exist on.

Are you really excited to see the sun again?

Extremely excited. From about 11-1 each day you can see people stopping and staring. Everyone is thinking the same thing.

What's the first thing you are going to eat once you get to NZ?

A large piece of fresh fish, fresh vegetables, fruit and a huge glass of fresh milk. Also fresh cheese as I really miss that too.

More fun facts

The continent is roughly 14 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles). The USA is only 9.36 million square kilometers (3.6 million square miles). The distance from Washington, D.C. to McMurdo station is approximately 14,830 kilometers, or 9,920 miles.

Scientists work on all kinds of unique projects in Antarctica, including penguins, Antarctic cod (they have a special antifreeze agent in their blood!), whales, seals, global warming, climatology, meteorites, glaciology, astronomy, volcanoes, UV radiation, and more. Scientists also study humans in Antarctica, doing research on how the human body adapts to cold and how the human mind and heart react to extreme isolation. (I was wondering what I was doing here!)

A cool patch I found on a Christchurch store's website. I'll visit that store when I get off the ice.

My neighbor Chris sent me this picture as a reminder of Tropical Storm Fay from 2008. In front of my house that's me, my daughter, and two dogs in our canoe. The dogs are lousy at paddling. After this Jocelyn paddled around a news reporter and his video guy through the neighborhood.

The Penguin Timer - but who's counting!

A below the horizon sunset. The light to the lower left is a tractor on the ice pier.

Sunset...

followed by a beautiful morning!

Last week a Pisten Bully broke down on the ice shelf. A friend of mine drove out and towed it back to town. Photo credit to Rich.

A friend became ill Sunday and a medical evacuation flight flew in yesterday, Thursday. After one hour on the ground the flight departed for Christchurch with the patient. Fortunately it was a beautiful windless day.

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	Patient Rescued From Antarctic Research Station By CHRISTINA NG Aug. 9, 2012— abcnews.go.com An Australian Medical Team Has Rescued an Expedition Member After Medical Emergency A medical team has arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, after departing the U.S. McMurdo Station in Antarctica where it rescued a U.S. expedition member who suffered a medical emergency. The patient, who for privacy issues has not been identified, landed this morning in New Zealand. The patient was to be transported to a local hospital there, according to a spokesman from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The Australian Antarctic Division assisted in the rescue and provided its A319 Airbus and a medical team to help, the Australian government division said in a statement. The rescue team had been waiting for a break in the weather to make the risky trip to the Antarctica research station. The team's plane left Christchurch Wednesday evening en route to McMurdo Station, according to the Australian Antarctic Division. The NSF coordinated the operation, but remained mum on most of the details. NSF spokeswoman Debbie Wing told ABC News that privacy issues prevent the foundation from revealing the patient's name, gender, age or illness. "The patient's condition may require treatment beyond what can be provided at the station's medical facility," the NSF said in statement Wednesday. The NSF said the American patient is in stable condition, but the McMurdo medical facility is "equivalent to an urgent-care center in the U.S., and is not equipped for the type of procedure being contemplated." The Australian team was positioned in Christchurch and had been waiting for weather and lighting conditions to allow them to make the dangerous trip to the bottom of the world. Antarctica is in the middle of its six-month winter. It is now dark at McMurdo except for a brief period of twilight at midday, making the flight risky. A live webcam positioned at McMurdo showed that it was 30 degrees below zero Wednesday. McMurdo is about 2,415 miles south of Christchurch and about 850 miles from the South Pole. "All nations work together very cooperatively in these sorts of emergency situations in Antarctica to provide support when and as required," Australian Antarctic Division Director Dr. Tony Fleming said in a statement. This risky rescue was not the first of its kind. In October 2011, American researcher Renee-Nicole Douceur suffered from a suspected stroke and was rescued from the pole by the U.S. Air Force. And in two separate incidents in 2010, New Zealand helped two Americans get out of McMurdo due to illnesses. Douceur described the weather conditions that can hinder such a rescue operation. "As the sun starts rising the weather can start to act up a bit and become very stormy. Weather like anywhere can be very fickle, it can change in a moment's notice," she said. The most famous rescue was of Dr. Jerri Nielsen in 1999. Nielsen, the doctor at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station, diagnosed herself as having breast cancer after she found a lump. She treated herself with chemotherapy agents delivered by parachute from the U.S. Air Force until she was rescued. She even performed her own biopsy procedure. After her rescue, she was treated and her cancer went into remission, but it returned in 2005. Nielsen died in 2009 at the age of 57. ABC News' Joseph Simonetti contributed to this report. The medevac flight came with some fresh fruit that we enjoyed for dinner and again at breakfast this morning. It may seem silly but fresh fruit is a really, really, big thing here! (the comment section was somehow embedded in this and I can't figure out how to remove it - one of the many unfriendly issues I have had with blogspot. As a result I have continued this post onto the next one.)