Just a really short post for today.
The NARL hut I'm staying in has a nice picture window with a view of a lake, at least the view is nice during the summer. As requested, here is the view of the lake today. As you can see, there isn't much to see which is why I didn't include a picture in my last post. The view is right along the shore of the frozen lake. I included the poles or else the camera didn't have anything to focus on. This is looking southwest towards Barrow. The lights are most likely the incinerator which is right next to the road to town. This afternoon, I went further northeast a few miles to see the erosion from last weeks storm. The road to Point Barrow is almost non-existent once you get past the whale baleen "palm tree". The ocean is still
open water and until it's frozen, there will be a lot of fog. The temperatures feel almost tropical compared to Fairbanks with temperatures here being right around 30°F. (This is an old picture of the "palm trees" taken quite a while ago.)
Much of today was spent making changes to the network and testing. It was done without any impact to the handful of users still around. Tomorrow, I need to make some unexpected changes to the VoIP system to accommodate the network changes. At 1:30pm, there is going to be a talk by a group of researchers from JPL. I'm told that it should be interesting.
Later on in the evening - I was just moved to another hut since there was plumbing problems with the last one. This time it is one of the larger, four bedroom houses (vertical walls instead of a quonset hut) again with a nice kitchen and living room. Here the windows face the ocean but it's too dark and foggy to see much.
Much of today was spent making changes to the network and testing. It was done without any impact to the handful of users still around. Tomorrow, I need to make some unexpected changes to the VoIP system to accommodate the network changes. At 1:30pm, there is going to be a talk by a group of researchers from JPL. I'm told that it should be interesting.
Later on in the evening - I was just moved to another hut since there was plumbing problems with the last one. This time it is one of the larger, four bedroom houses (vertical walls instead of a quonset hut) again with a nice kitchen and living room. Here the windows face the ocean but it's too dark and foggy to see much.
Richard - It looks much colder than 30F. Such a different colour cast, so cold looking - it's hard for me to imagine. Too bad you had to move once you were settled.
ReplyDeleteThe second picture is an old one taken in January so it is really cold and dark even though it was early afternoon.
DeleteThe first picture is pretty much what the view out the window was from the hut. It was relatively warm being just below freezing though the wind was starting to pick up.
It helps to be flexible up here and the logistics provider tries very hard to make everyones stay as trouble-free as possible.
Somebody with a weird sense of humor must have felt the necessity to "plant" those "palm trees".
ReplyDeleteIt definitely looks way colder as it is. Brrr!
They've been there for a while and they are a real novelty. What's not to like about palm trees on a sandy beach. They fronds are made of whale baleen the filter system inside of a whales mouth.
DeleteHoly crap....I actually went for a swim to day in the pool!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to a real winter... The ocean is still open if you want to go swimming and join the polar bear club.
DeleteRichard:
ReplyDeleteYour first photo really looks cold. I've never been anywhere that cold before. I think the problem is that we don't have the right clothes to handle that temperature. We just wear a couple of layers of summer clothes and run from the car to where we are going.
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
Yes you have, it's only 30°F and I'm pretty sure it gets colder than that in Vancouver. The fog and blowing snow just makes it look a lot colder than it really is.
DeleteYour lake photo is fantastic! Are you kidding? That's beautiful! A keeper for sure. Wow. Brrr. The warm lights. Really nice, Richard. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see more!
More pictures of somewhere colder? I plan to trying to get some photos of the waves and the washed out roads tomorrow when it's light out.
DeleteI like the lake photo. It is cool and eerie at the same time. Eerily cool perhaps.
ReplyDeleteStrange, I looked at the lake photo and thought meh...
DeleteI had to fiddle with the white balance, exposure, sharpness and saturation to get it to look like the view out of the window.
You can keep the cold, we on the east coast (NJ) are hunkering down for Hurricane Sandy, it's going to be interesting tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll take the predictable cold over the unpredictable hurricanes and tropical storms any day.
DeleteI hope you and your family stay safe...