Good Day Sunshine

Current Weather
Temperature: 30F
Wind Speed: 3 knots
Conditions: Beautiful!

You'll all be happy to hear that the blog post subjects are piling up quickly, and disappointed to hear that I'm unmotivated to actually write them now that the weather has finally made a solid turn in a good direction. We've been getting much more sun lately, and even a few sunsets. Which, at this point in the season, start at around 8PM with the glacier turning to unrealistic shades of orange and green. The sunset continues until the glowing orb actually reaches the horizon at 11:45PM, and the clouds and mountaintops reflect brilliant golds and pinks. Then, at around 1AM, the line between sunset and sunrise blurs, though I have yet to stay up for the rise at 2:30AM. Maybe the solstice will be a good night for that. It still boggles my mind that it simply refuses to get dark in this part of the world. Here's one of the recent good ones:

And since the weather has been better, I've finally gotten out to play a bit more. Last week I visited the penguin colony on Torgersen Island for the first time this year, amazingly. I had probably been there twenty times by this time last year. But, last year I had a penguin dry spell while the chicks were new and tiny, so I hope to make up for that in the coming weeks as they begin hatching. For now, the Adelies are still sitting on eggs, and bursting into raucous song for no apparent reason:

The other side of Torgersen is quieter and has a great view of station. I snagged this picture of a contented, sun-soaked Kim:

Oh yeah, I know its been rough these past few weeks without the full use of your hands, but you can all uncross your fingers now because Kim is back! Proof of her sweet powers of persuasion, the Raytheon and NSF doctors turned her around in Punta Arenas in record time. Her wrist is healing nicely, and she doesn't need surgery!

Ugh, my radio is squawking static something fierce right now. It's very distracting. Turning up the music now. Nope, it's my fault, the damn thing is scanning. Why is it scanning?!? It was on 27 just a minute ago! Why is the keylock off?!? Every time Lily asks me to be the temporary OSAR leader, my radio goes berzerk! Aaargh! Ok, maybe not every time, maybe just this time...

...

... and a terrible time for it; we just had an OSAR call out. What are the odds that I'd be writing about it just minutes before? Lily and Tracey started having engine trouble at Point Eight and were being pushed onto the rocks. So this was my first call out as the acting OSAR leader. My role was to beat feet down to the boathouse and prep the OSAR boat while the rest of the team dressed out. When they arrived, I got to frantically bark orders. Ok, that's not true; the leader's role is really just to overview/supervise the operation, consider the situation and its requirements, and decide who goes where. With this experienced crew, it's an easy role. I started up the OSAR boat, replaced an empty fuel tank, threw in a tow harness, and sent the first three responders out. Then it's just a waiting game.

Turns out their motor had just stalled and was stubborn about restarting. But it did eventually restart, before OSAR even got there. So they were able to return unscathed and under their own power. Which I guess isn't very exciting, but I definitely still learned a few things.

Hmm, I guess I can bring this post round full circle by adding another blog subject to the pile: OSAR.