The Cabin and Risk

I can say it was a good week. There were a couple of days between good and bad, but what can you expect in life. I went on a hike with Mr. Boyle, Chief Casey, and our temporary HS while our permanent HS is on mid tour. Took a hike out to the cabin, which is a small hut that I assume we built. Hiked on the frozen ocean, and Haley froze her outer coat, and was still not cold. At least she did not show it. You probably cannot tell from the pictures that we are standing on the ocean, but it is like a huge land mass up here when everything is frozen over.
The cabin is barely large enough stand up or lie down in. It does have a wood stove, so I suppose that you could survive in it. The wallpaper and interior decorating consists of old beer boxes and to be honest is in desperate need for repair. The fridge works, so I suppose that is all that matters.
It was a very nice day. Only negative 12 degrees and virtually no wind. I probably sound crazy to anyone that lives in California to say that -12 is a nice day, just hear me out here. It could be 100 below zero and have no visibility. That is a bad weather day. You saw in my epic story how challenging it can get up here. 12 below is nothing, I can stand out in that without even zipping up my jacket. I suppose the arctic has toughened me up a little. We had a nice hike back and then got to see Bob the muskox gracefully absorbing the loran tower radiation, but he has gotten a little meaner.
In addition to this great day and hike, We got a group here that enjoys playing Risk. It was an intense game and the dominating tyrant turned out to be Chief Casey, he seemed like such a nice guy too. I did pretty well until my forces were trampled through by a cruel and merciless tyrant. I tried diplomacy as a last hope, but my attempt failed. It was very fun. Now that my birthday is coming up and I am sure you will all agree that the it is more important than the Super Bowl. And if you don’t, then I won’t worry about it. Don’t worry, were still friends. That’s about it, have a good day. Enjoy that beautiful California weather and the sunny skies of Mexico.

All In A Day work

  

  What can I say, it’s not epic, you won’t write your mother of how exciting the week was up here.  The airplane might excite a child, but other than that it was a typical week up here.  I won’t go into the fact that everything seems to be falling apart, incinerator, transmitters, and generators.   Knock on wood; it will all get fixed in time.  Now to the ordinary Port Clarence News.

  The busy couple weeks are over and the admirals have come and gone.  The effective maintenance and operation of the station impressed them.  The weather is back to normal and cold as it normally is, but still beautiful up here.  The log flight flew in at sunrise with the admirals aboard and brought many necessary supplies, such as beer.   Food was brought too, but no one gets really excited about the food even though it is probably more important.  As you can see it made for a nice picture of the C-130 coming in on final approach and the people in the silver suits, that is the crash crew.   That Is my billet during the log flight.  It is a fun job, you get to be outside and do a little bit of everything.  The log flight also delivered our Sno Go, which we need now that the Osh Kosh is out of commission. I didn’t mention that before, I suppose the last storm was a little hard on it.  After we got everything unloaded and had a talk from the Admirals and master Chiefs, the log flight left Port Clarence to its isolation once again.  That’s all there really is to say.  I wish my family luck as they are bound to get underway again soon. Have a wonderful day.  

 

P.S. like I said, here are the pictures of a log flight.

 

The Most Epic Story of All Time

It was a good storm best described as a sample of the ninth level of Dante’s Hell. Visibility was at about five to ten feet if you were lucky. Forty mile an hour winds carrying an ominous wall of snow and negative 50 degree weather. Our brave plowers and snowcatman braved the storm for a log flight that was not destined to hit the ground. The runway was cleared, but more work was to follow the next day. We awoke to a five-foot burms around the station. Walls of snow replaced our doorways to the outside. But even then we did not give up. We struck bravely and valiantly with our shovels and plowers, once again winning the day. The storm soon lost its momentum the sky’s cleared, for Alaska that is. I will start from the beginning. I warn you that it is not a story for the lighthearted.
It started on the fifteenth day of the first month. The sky was clear, the weather cold with good visibility. The storm came in quickly with its walls of snow and isolating nature. I was not sure if when it ended if we would still be in Alaska. The wind picked up, the snow flowed with it. Our log flight was due for the next day, but the storm did not care. It stormed through the night as we rested for the fated battle the next day. At 0530 the equipment was warmed up. Log Flight ETA less than six hours. The Osh Kosh was the first to face the storm clearing a path for the plows and loader. We had cleared our way out of Newbay, now we headed for the runway access road. Slowly but surely we made our way to the road and then the runway barely able to see ahead of us. The doors were clear, and we hoped that the weather would clear before the C-130 arrived. Unfortunately, the weather did not go our way. The C-130 came and went claiming it was too dangerous for them to land. We had believed it to be so earlier, but the Air Station chose to send the plane anyway. The Runway was clear, we were good to go, but Destiny had other plans. We would have to wait to face the real battle.
The night blew through with freezing temperatures, forty mile and hour winds and a constant wall of snow. It had penetrated our defenses and was invading our keep without mercy. The five-foot burm attempted to isolate us from the world, even more so than before. The sinister storm maintained its wall of white frozen water. This time we waited before we attacked the offenses of the storm. First we had to clear newbay, a mound of snow blocked even the Osh Kosh from getting out. Our brave canine scouts protected us from the indifferent muskox, without them we would have surely lost. Haley irked it enough to stay our of our way. We gathered our forces, our shovels and our icebreakers and broke down the wall. Even then it was several hours before the other equipment would be able to brave the storm. Baron Bob and Lord Lewis took charge of the battle. Sir Gardner and Squire Rambo went to man the plows. Squire Stephanie manned the loader. Peon Watt covered the watch and handles station communications. Lord Morgan and King Boyle lead the attack on blocked exits and doorways. In time we were victorious in both missions. The storm began to clear and the end was near, yet there was more work to do. The plowers worked late into the night but the battle was won. KPC Keep had won the day.

P.S. Copyrights to this story start at Ten Billion Dollars, I may negotiate.

Bob the Muskox

It is not as exciting as a Polar Bear, but it is wild life close up.  I named him Bob, don't ask me why, it just sounded like a good random name for a muskox.  No offense to anyone named Bob.  It appeared about 1100 at the super tank and was being harassed by Haley, the dog.  So the station took a short break to observe the wild life that was visiting us.  It is kinda cute in a really hairy, mini buffalo sort of way.  Not that buffalo are not beautiful animals, they are just too large to be considered cute.  The muskox is small enough to still be considered a cute animal.  So now I can say I saw a muskox.  

  A little about the muskox.  They are about six feet long and four feet tall and their hair sells for about eighty dollars a gram.  They live in herds of usually around twenty animals and defend the young by making a circle around them.  There natural predators are wolfs, and large bears such as grizzles and Polar Bears.  Also known as  Oomingmak to the native peoples of Alaska.  The entire herd is around in the summer and we supposedly see them a lot during those months.  Some theories to why Bob chose to hang around our water tank is that he was banished from the herd in a dominance struggle.  Sounds like a brutal world up here.  It is really cold and you have to perform.  Bob has been friendly though, not really threatening anybody.  Yeah Bob is a pretty cool muskox.  

  Other than that is was a pretty typical day.  Went to work, cleans a bunch of stuff up and got food.  It was a good day.  Have a great day and I will talk to everyone soon.     

Ping Pong

I am sorry that everyone missed our dramatic Ping Pong tournament. Full of suspense and several Egos bruised. Some big Talking, but the results said it all. Pojar is the champion, In second DC1 Elasik, and in third just placing, but with honorable mention, yours truly. I came back from the losing bracket fighting for the championship, but was defeated again by DC1. The championship round went into overtime, which is something that I could not have done to Pojar. It was a fun and entertaining tournament because of the people that played. We had a bro show up. For more details, look up “my new haircut” on youtube. Not the best ping-pong player, but an entertaining character none the less. Heck has now moved on to the sunny skies and warm weather of Florida, I suppose this was a celebration in his honor. Kniffin, the local bro is soon to follow and in about two months this station will have a new crew. Most will have moved on to the duty station of their choice. Amazing how fast things change.
It is still cold up here, the moon was very large this afternoon. Everyday we are gaining about eight minutes of sunlight. I have not noticed to much yet, but the weather has cleared up and maybe, just maybe the outside will open up again. Now that the weather has cleared for the moment maybe the aurora will be visible tonight.
As for me, I am enjoying the time I have to live, breath and experience life. What else would I want to do, complain? I choose to wakeup every day and have a good day. Even if I am banished to the Northern Frozen Tundra of Alaska. Have a great day and I hope to hear from everyone soon.

KPC New Years

Happy New Year everyone. I hope that you had a wonderful time and didn’t party to hard. We had another party up here, beer and music. Counted down even though our new year came last, five hours after the great ball falls in New York. I was on duty so I was not able to drink, but I still had a good time dancing and listening to music. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the station was pretty much dead the next morning, but I suppose that is to be expected when you are up till the morning hours. I attempted to watch a horror movie, “Quarantine,” but fell asleep about and hour into it. I pulled a jay, who is very skilled in falling asleep during any movie. We probably should have started the movie before 0130 but it was New Years and we were looking for something to do.
There is still not much sunlight and the sky is still filled with the fog of winter, but it has its own beauty to it. What is amazing is how fast the weather can change. It will go from no wind to twenty mile and hour winds in a matter of minutes. Then calm down in the same time. I hike when I can, but this time of year, it can be difficult to find.
I really do miss being around the places and people I have grown accustom to. I miss being able to just go to somewhere new and meet someone I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, I like the people I work with, they are a great group of people. In some respects I can really relate to them, on others it is a challenge for me. I don’t tend to be a drinker as most of you know. I have my moments, but most of the time I don’t drink. There is a lot of temptation to drink because there is not much to do. No one really forces you to do anything, but it would make the time go by faster if you were to partake. I usually go outside and look for the stars or the aurora. Take pictures and do what I can to pass the time. The video games worked for a few weeks, but they are pretty boring now. I did increase my max for bench to 185 pounds and I am eating a lot. I get along with everyone and work well with everyone. But the next few weeks will be busy. I am the only non-rate and we have Admirals and Master Chiefs visiting the station the 20th. So I will be the only person cleaning the station for their visit. It will keep me busy.
Life at the station is like being underway or so I have been told. You see the same people everyday. As much as they are you friends and confidants, they are also you supervisors. The chain of command is always present however absent it may appear to be. I have to be constantly aware of my actions knowing that someone is probably watching me. It adds a new dynamic when you cannot get away from the place or the people. So be it, it is just another adventure to learn from. I miss being able to go outside and look at the stars, just sit and think for a while. The cold temperature and high winds make that a little more difficult. On occasion I am able to go out to the runway and just relax. I enjoy it when I can. I suppose that when you cannot do something, you appreciate the times you have done it in the past and the chances you get.
Well there you have it, my new years thoughts.