The end of the light season is upon us. While it is not yet technically sunset the sun is definitely going behind the mountains at night. I took these yesterday just before 2200h. It is currently 2330h and I would call the light level twilight(ish). I go onto nights tomorrow so I might even get to see a little bit of dark before the end of my night shifts.

Photographic evidence exists:

As you will recall, 24 July 06 was the grand opening of PEARL and the new building at the weather station. I was lucky (??) enough to participate in a demo Ozonesonde launch that was later aired on Global. Someone (Pierre) had the foresight to take pictures of the event for later use.

Considering the only way to beat blackmail is to get it out in the open and take your medicine before anyone uses the pictures as leverage against you(there's a line up), here is the goofiest pic that I have of me running with the Ozonesonde and trying not to trip.

Thank you for the picture Pierre.

Once a year the Canadian Coast Guard comes to Eureka to deliver most of the supplies we need for the year. They carry, among other things, non perishible food, equipment, cleaning supplies, weather supplies, jet fuel and deisel. They arrived Sunday morning. Sunday and Monday they spent unloading the barrels of jet fuel and supplies. Today they are stringing the lines and running hose so they can pump deisel into our tank farm.

This is the cruise ship that visited yesterday. We turned into a tourist haven for about 3 hours then went back to normal(or whatever)

Last month someone dropped a helicopter from 30 feet when the engine failed. No one was hurt but the helicopter was effectively turned into a lawn ornament. They picked it up earlier this week.

green stuff in a puddle

sounds scientific eh?

that's it for pics from 1 Aug.

Artic Poppy

PEARL lab

Another shot of bunnies

Me

Some scientists

On 1 Aug some scientists and I went on a hike. This is where we ended up.

Another iceberg

A sleepy fox

This is also from the PEARL to Skull hike. Rock climbing in steel toed work boots is, perhaps, not the smartest thing I have ever attempted. Another thank you to Keith for the pic.

I love the Artic

This is a pic of the Icefields on Axel Heiburg. It was taken on Aug 9 (I think) when a couple of us hiked from PEARL lab down to the Skull Point transmitter. It was about 7 KM.

It's alive!! Actually I found a way to make the pics small enough to upload between outages. The quality won't be as good but the pics should load faster.

Here is a pic of frisbee golf. It is very fun. Thanks to Keith for the pic and the golf course.

So, yesterday being my birthday I opted for the infamous "If I don't tell anyone they won't get me" plan. It was successful to a point, in that I managed to not have anyone here find out about the 10th anniversary of my 23rd birthday from me... Clint, remind me to thank you properly when I get home.

I did sort of ask for it. When Clint mentioned he was having trouble finding a suitable e-mail address to fink to I should not have said "Neener Neener Neener you suck I got a free birthday so there".. ah well, hindsight I suppose.

As I am currently working the night shift, I went to bed after lunch thinking that, as there had been no embarrassment at lunch, I had got off scot free.

Just after 1900 I got up to make a phone call to find I had been saran wrapped into my room. It is nice to be appreciated. Thank you for going to the trouble everyone... just try to keep in mind that phrase about payback

Happy birthday to me...

OK who's the wise guy that sent me snow?

No really, it just started snowing here. Ice on the puddles yesterday, snow today. It's like regular seasons only faster.

I love the artic.

Good morning avid readers. The attempt to upload pics the other day went horribly wrong. It seems my patience pills were not nearly strong enough to overcome the frustration that is intermittent net access. Oh well thank goodness for text!

Today there is ice on the puddles. Not significant ice mind you but ice none the less. Yesterday's low was -1.0.

Lots has happened since I last posted.

On 24 Jul a 737 landed here (no really) carrying 40 or so scientists, important Environment Canada people, politicians and members of the press. They were here for the grand openings of PEARL (Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Lab) and of the new operations and quarters building at the weather station. A chaotic day was had by all but it looked like it went well from my vantage point under the weather office desk. I did end up on TV attempting to release an ozone sonde attached to a raven balloon (I'm the one in the red shirt running with a styrafoam box). The 10 knot winds made for good tv. I managed not to trip and the sonde went upwards so I call it a success. For those concerned: yes, I will be buying a round for having the bad taste to get on the news.

The current CANDAC (Canadian Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Change) operator, Keith, has a frisbee golf course all set up out behind the weather station. It's a blast! All the fun of golf except you play with a frisbee.

Between 7 Aug and 15 Aug it rained 30.8 mm. This is a significant amount for the area and has successfully turned our landing strip into a sqiushy mess. The staff change over scheduled for the 13th was delayed until the 15th because of the weather, all part of the fun of northern travel. We finally got the outgoing staff away and the incoming staff here plus one scientist headed up to PEARL with her new instrument.

Pics of all that plus a couple of hikes and a few rounds of frisbee golf to follow if we get properly connected. Otherwise, I will attempt to write more.. maybe.. hehehe.

Hi everyone (assuming this gets through)

I'm still alive up here. Our data link has been on the intermitent side so I have quite the backlog of pics to post. I will try again this afternoon but I will have to go take a patience pill first.. lol

Hope everything is good out there!