"You can do six of anything..." per Lisa Parks

     Lisa says you can do six of anything.  She was initially refering to our workouts at the gym serveral years ago however adapted the saying to everyday life.  I would always remind her of this at the most opertune times.  I am now reminding myself of the same saying.   I have about 6 months to go.  Thus far I enjoyed the summer season at the South Pole much more than the winter season.  The summer is incredibly busy with always something to do or people to do them with.  The winter season reminds me of a very slow pace life that you might find on a Carribean island when you don't have to work.  Most of you know I have a hard time sitting around for extended periods of time.  (unless it is on the boat) Except of coarse here it is covered in ice rather than sand/water and the tempertures are 80 below zero.  There are 46 other people here at the station.  I can walk the halls on our day off for hours and not run into anybody.  I tend not to be a reclusive person and like to keep busy.  It will be an interesting 6 months.  But as Lisa says you can do six of anything.

     My last blog was quite awhile ago.  As above not much happens during the winter.  From a medical standpoint that is fortunate. We have 2 trauma teams in the winter.  The second team is considered "advanced" even though none of them have any experience.  Currently I am training them how to draw blood and start IVs.  Something I last did about 20 years ago. This is Matt and Shelby practicing.  Anyway... since the last blog Ralf and I continue to operate the store on Friday evenings and have maintained our "theme nights".  The mushrooms and potatoes never took off but the lavender is beginning to grow nicely.  Still playing volleyball, a rare game of Settlers, watching a lot of movies and reading books.

     Our sunset dinner occurred on Saturday, March 20.  As usual the chefs out did themselves.  The menu was designed by Matt, our local artist.   Matt spends a lot of his free time painting and playing video games.  He is trying to teach  me to be a gamer.  So far I have made it to level II of Super Mario.  Dinner, especially desert was fabulous.  Dinner was followed by a party in the pool room, complete with disco lights, dance music...  Our next special dinner will be in June to celebrate "mid winter".  The actual sunset occurred sometime on Tuesday.  We did not get to see a green or blue flash.  A weather front moved in pretty quickly Tuesday and Wednesday so we did not get to see the fabulous colors that are usually present. (pic)  Gradually over the next several weeks it became darker, colder, and windier.  We began to see "yukimarimos".  These are little balls of snow that are blown across the landscape.  They are the size of golf balls but if you try to catch one and pick it up they just fall apart.  With all the drifting that has occurred with the winds it is pretty funny to watch people try to catch them.
     For the astronomy buffs the first 2 stars that were visible were Sirius and Canopus on March 30th.  By April 2cd we could also see Alpha Centauri and Jupiter.  At this time the sky is filled with stars.  It reminds me of sailing with Mindy and Reinhart.  When I was on night watch there were so many stars visible it was difficult to pick out the constellations.  Here at the South Pole most of you know that there is no "South Star".    The southern cross is easily visible.   Based on star maps for some reason a lot of the constellations are triangle based.  They are not quite as interesting as the northern constellation.  The amount of iridium flares down here is amazing.  They are usually every 8-9 minutes with a minus 8-9 magnitude.  We have even seen some prolonged tumbling flares.  The auroras are spectacular.  Our radios have been programed with an "aurora" channel so when one pops up an announcement is made on the aurora channel and you can go check it out.

     On April 13 around 1930 we reached an all time low, minus 100.7!!!! Several people managed to become members of the 300 club and received their commemorative patches.  To become a member of the 300 club you sit in the sauna at 200 degrees and then run outside to the geographical pole marker.  Clothing is optional however usually most people only wear their bunny boots and a gater.  I missed it due to playing volleyball.  Hopefully there will be another -100 plus so that I can earn my patch.
     Easter came up really fast and was uneventful.  Ella and I did paint ping pong balls and hid them throughout the station for people to find.  As of last week they are still turning up.  One of the things that happens as it gets dark is that all the windows are covered/blacked out to avoid light interference with some of the scientific experiments that occur during the winter.  In the galley the windows are about 3 feet by 3 feet.  We took large pieces of cardboard, painted them with various designs to cover the windows.   Matt drew me an outline of Antarctica and I filled it with one of my mazes.  The starting point is the South Pole and ending at McMurdo.   My sister would appreciate the maze as that I drew one, slightly smaller for her in college.
     Some winter over statistics that pertain to PAs/women include:  I am the 4th PA to winter over however it is noted that Heidi Lin had 5 winter seasons here.  The first PA to winter over was in 2002.  I am the 170th woman to winter over since a station was established at the South Pole in 1957.
Check out Cody's blog at www.antarcticcowboy.com