Blanket Toss and rain

Snow to flooded fields, relives only more surprises.

More field work and visiting birds are everywhere! Some very curious which I had not seen since my trip to the Galapagos.

Ducks resting just a couple feet from me and the tram line work.

The snow is almost completely gone and the field is now flooding and the land is exposing the ball like moss and polygon shaped areas about 10 - 12 feet wide.

Depressions in the ground from hexagons like patterns everywhere.

A local BASC member pulling materials on snow sleds via a bike!

Today... out to the field once more and I learn that what takes 4 hours will take 7 hours. I also learned that a sunny day can change in minutes as my hands turned red to purplish and I was forced to retreat to the control shack and layer up my clothes. Rain off the horizon with winds shifting made the temperature drop fast! From 38 to 28 degrees in minutes. This is the first time it has rained since I have been here and it added a somewhat gloomy setting to the field, even though the rain was more of a slight sprinkle, it means that more is to come. This will affect our field work, as our sensors require little to no rain.

Blanket launch!

What was made gloomy was quickly changed once again as the locals held their first Blanket Toss of the season! No rain, half or more of the towns people and people being flung into the air... and ... whale meat! Lots of whale meat.

Whale meat everywhere.

Whaling is totally illegal for the non-natives, however even the locals have very strict rules, they are never allowed to sell it and they cannot hunt unless they need to eat. There is a quota for the amount of hunting in the season. After the opening talks and prayers people ate and mingled. There was also dancing and even more blanket tossing.

Whaling Crew Flags, successful whaling season and the fruits of labor are shared with everyone.

The participates are decided by the whaling captains whom have had a successful season. There will be 3 parties of the 3 main crews, but I believe that there will be more (smaller) ones to come.

Little kid walking around.

After the quick visit, I got to eat and then hours of typing (field data) along with several other smaller task (all work), followed my the more relaxing... blogging. Also there is a good gym in the BASC complex which I hope to be going to soon.

The BASC gym with weights, basketball, ping-pong, pool (billiards), and a "climbing" peg board.

Also, check out Amorita's blog! www.prancingfawn.blogspot.com