Sigh

The first evolution of the National Science Foundation's chartered fleet of Hercules, ski equipped (LC) 130 cargo aircraft has been completed. We have a peaceful 10 days to catch our breath before another exciting show; April 21 - the 25Th. Meanwhile the NY 109Th Air Guard has flown away to their home base in Scotia, NY for a short R and R before taking to wing again on a week long re-fueling mission to Alert Bay, Canada high on the edge of northern Ellesmere island.
The remainder of this month's flights are for the staging of the upcoming inland ice traverse (known as GRIT: Greenland Inland Traverse....unfortunately there is not an open contest on renaming this most uneventful of acronyms) from Thule to Summit Station by tractor. During May, there will be almost three weeks of flights, mostly to the North, to Thule supporting an ongoing ice coring project called, NEEM, as well as the traverse. During June and July, at the peak of the arctic summer a magnificent attempt will be made to choreograph the movements of airplanes, cargo and passengers; as the solstice reaches its apogee so does the intensity of the myriad of researchers studying Greenland.
Despite a day of bad weather up on the ice cap (the story about the tents being blown away has been corrected by an eye witness at the camp; the tents were not blown away, they merely failed) preventing any flights, mechanical problems with the planes, technical woes and the infamous learning curve (where is the curved part anyway?)we were able to get 5 missions flown in successfully moving almost 70,000 pounds of stuff, from people to fuel to snow machines.
Today is clear and cold and bright but not warm. Steve detailed his grandfather's fishing pole while I cleaned up our community kitchen. Since the 25th of March, we have been sharing our limited space with all of our fellow staff as they made their ways and way-lays to and from. Now the place has come to a calm of five quiet souls from a boisterous hurricane of 15.
On Monday we will begin putting together some of the cargo we have received so far this year for the season's upcoming research projects. One such item is a canister of high-test "Cajun" bear spray and a box of heavy gauge electric fencing. The archaeologist who intends to bend his or her face to the briefly yielding polar earth, diligently sweeping away sand and grit with a paint brush, does not desire to be interrupted by "Nanook" the great white bear.