Canceled again

Canceled again at the last minuted when dressed, packed and set to go (at 5:30 AM).  We are beyond frustrated, especially when we hear from friends at McMurdo that the weather looks okay.  But the weather at the base itself is different from the conditions at the ice runway 12 miles away.  It's the US Air Force that makes the final call.  Wimps (just kidding, Dean).

 That's my luggage above--two of Dean's many aviator kit bags.  In addition to clothing and the food I mentioned yesterday (which is bound to rot at this rate, as did my prior avocados and bananas), those bags contain:
  • Tupperware containers for taking food away from "the galley"
  • An electric kettle and a large French press
  • About 8 pounds of pipette tips.
  • A styrofoam box for lab reagents
  • A few handbooks on emergency and wilderness medicine and point-of-care ultrasonography
  • Eight skeins of New Zealand wool and one pair of knitting needles.  Also, an unfinished sock and its associated wool and needles.  
  • And, of course, a towel, the most massively useful thing you can have even though I do not expect to encounter the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.
I wish I had brought my pillow.


Comments

Unknown said…
We cross our fingers for you: tomorrow will be the day!
If it is not a secret, I am curious about the pipettes and lab reagents: are you going to look for Helicobacter pullorum in emperor penguins' stomachs?
September 3, 2019 at 5:24 AM
JP said…
No secret. Planning to do some point-of-care, viral sequencing with the minION to see if we can rapidly identify pathogens that could spread quickly through the base.
September 3, 2019 at 2:56 PM
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