The Whole Wide World

I had insomnia the night before last and gave my Mama an overdue call at 6AM when I should have been fast asleep, but had been awake for three hours after only two hours of sleep. It was so nice to hear her voice and catch up. Here I am halfway to light and I thought it kind of fitting that halfway through winter one of the questions she asked me was ‘if there aren’t scientists there, what are you all doing there?’ It’s a good question, so I thought I’d give a breakdown of what we are all doing down here freezing our butts of in the dark, wishing for fresh food and non frozen nature things.

Berg Field Center-repairing all the field equipment used by the science teams during the austral summer months.

Vehicle Maintenance Facility-keeping all the vehicles on station running.

Galley-keeping us fed.

Store-that’s me!

Lodging/Janitorial/Post Office-keeping the station clean, laundered, mail sorted, preparing things for the summer season.

Waste-sorting and packing out all the waste on station. Everything gets sorted and shipped to California.

Fleet Ops-keeping the runway groomed, snow cleared on station, moving heavy things, preparing the ice pier.

Firefighters-keeping us safe.

Power Plant-keeping the lights and heat on.

Water Plant-keeping us hydrated.

Carpenters-repairs and maintenance around station.

Boiler Mechanic-boiler stuff.

IT-keeping us connected.

Fuels-keeping the fuel tanks fueled and also inspecting everything for the summer.

Obviously my descriptions are not all inclusive, and I may have inadvertently left a department or two off but the point is we are the largest station on the continent and it takes all of us to keep things running until the austral summer arrives!