My job 3 meals a day

At 12:00 I woke up freezing put on another layer including Claire cap I borrowed and the scarf she made me – you saved me.

Forest Rock just outside of camp-- the best light is between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.

I woke up long after sunrise—oh I forgot the sun never sets here!

6:15 came too early. John was already in the kitchen and prep for breakfast was simple. All the breakfast food we had was instant oatmeal.  While I was in the kitchen everyone else was busy. They had to remove the ATVs from the various tents and get them all in working order. Set up the bathroom or as they call it the poop tent. That location will be a blog of it’s own. 

Then they set up the pantry tent behind the mess tent. Leftover food that can be kept for a year is stored in, of all places, an old ambulance style Humvee. They have found that a metal car is safer from hungry bears than a tent like building. This is vehicle is called Mars 1.

Ambulance style Humvee or food locker

So the extra food is put in the pantry and tent and I’m left to explore.  Included in the pantry are over a hundred pounds of sugar, same with flour and rice. Gross moment of the day: opening a cooler full of liquid egg cartons. They need to be refrigerated and even then have a 1 month shelf life.   The Gross moment of the day may become a regular feature of this blog. 

Using fresh Veggies, garbanzo beans and pasta (from the Humvee) and the only spice I’ve been able to locate (lemon pepper I bought at Wal-Mart) I throw together a soup!  Mark loved it.

I got electricity to my tent today! So I can do everything including recharging the battery the runs my CPAP at night. As long as 5 car batteries do not die in the next 3 weeks I’ll have no problems. They currently store 6 back up batteries at camp.

First Visit to the Poop Tent. Off about 50 yards from the core is a white and orange tent and a large bin and a couple 55 gallon drums with the word PEE on it. This drum has a funnel and is the male urinal. Women use a picture and dump into the funnel. In the tent is a convalescent commode which is lined with a plastic bag. Once you use the facility you simply tie the bag and put a fresh one in. The used bag goes in the bin. The PEE barrels will be returned to Resolute Bay the bin contents will be burnt and the ashes taken to Resolute for disposal. Actually it is nice with a locking door and almost all the comforts’ of home.

Dinner is fried ham with onions and barbeque sauce and instant mashed potatoes with some cheese and a couple seasoning packets I brought from home.  I found a ziplock bag labeled milk in one of the bins in the pantry, Little things can make you real happy.

Pascal arrived by plane and everyone else busied themselves unload the plane and then loading 3 ATVs onto the plane that are being returned to the Canadian Space Agency.

Before I knew it it was 10:00. I did a brief check in with Pascal and then hit the bed!  Yes I have a real bed or at least a foam pad on an elevated platform. Pascal and I are the only ones currently sleeping near the core. Everyone else is up on a flat spot above us in tents.

 Day to at camp is complete