At midnight last night I was still awake. Altitude induced insomnia frequently occurs. We are eating allot of avocados and bananas. This has nothing to do with altitude induced insomnia, but has everything to do with grammatical errors. We also make fresh squeezed citrus juice. The supply of these tropical fruits is abundant enough for us to continue with our "Pago Pago" diet for at least two more weeks. Tonight's diner menu:
Potato leek soup, Cornish game hen with wild rice and wilted spinach and beet salad with a balsamic reduction followed by stewed fruit and scones. For breakfast we have been religious about eating our oatmeal which we garnish with flax seed, walnuts, prunes, soy milk and maple syrup. There is an alternative motive to this abundance of fiber rich foods: the more the toilets flush the less likely there will be any freezing of the outfall pipes.
We have all been riding the spinner cycles (well, all of us except Steve. Since there are only three bikes, Steve "rides" the rowing machine). We work out to cadence specific rock music, selected by our staff of one time bike racing, Andy, or to the directions of the pro cyclist on the DVD. Recently Andy remembered that there are some videos of the Tour dE France around, so now we will be using these as the carrots in front of the donkey cart while at, over 10,500 feet above sea level, "adrenalized" music pushes us into anaerobic states of joy.
Oh and for work? Well, I screwed a 24x6 inch piece of plywood over an intake vent on a diesel powered heater which lives outside inside a plywood box. This, to prevent snow from filling the box over the winter. The heater is only used during the summer to heat the inside of another arched tent where the "do not freeze" science cargo is stored.
Meanwhile, the science technicians, Andy and Kate, launched a NOAA weather balloon with it's carefully calibrated ozone sonde. Steve and I watched. Then I closed the enormous garage door by hauling away on a chain. Glad to be able to utilize my old tall ship sail raising skills, I was nearly tempted to break into song:
"Cape Cod girls they have no combs.........."
But I did not.
Steve got out the soap and the vacuum and has begun talking about shampooing the carpets.
During lunch Andy and Kate have been watching original episodes of Flash Gordon. Steve now wants a shiny black cummerbund. I am secretly fashioning GBI (Galactic Bureau of Investigation)insignias for all of us to wear on our uniform......eh em, I mean, parkas.
Today it is snowing softly, There is not enough of a breeze to change the course of the light powder to anything other than 90 degrees straight down. That's not true, as I look out the window, the 2 knots of wind is just enough to put the Angel dander on a bit of a slant. Yes, Angel's have dandruff too; they don't try to cure their dandruff, but are pleased as heavenly punch that they do have it. This is a very noble act, or I could say, "Angelic" since all the skiers of the world have found such infinite amounts of joy from skiing down, in and through this stuff and are endlessly abundant with giving their prayers of thanks.
Now I must go skiing in order to prepare myself for my day's work.
