October 16, 1975: Thursday

It snowed last night, a fine white powder undisturbed by the wind. Kay would be out with a broom sweeping it off.

Spent the morning trying to explain to Peter Barrett exactly what I was, so he wouldn’t expect too much out of me. Especially after he caught me trying to be a sedimentologist.

They had a memorial service for Jeff.

Chaplain Merlin Howe (called Merlin the Magician) looks like a cross between Radar and Bohaty, with a Baptist accent. He got run into yesterday by Orville

Dr. Treves took a helo ride with Mike Wing out to survey a route to the site. Calvin took Peter over to Scott Base to call Wellington.

Mac Center called and told me to meet the helo with a truck. I ran down to the garage, and to the Chalet. No luck. They gave me trouble because our truck was gone. Very frustrating to be blamed for doing your job.

Fought off that feeling, went down to the pad, explained to Dr. Treves what happened and carried his bag to the hotel. Nobody told me anything about this flight, and then expects me to take the responsibility when things go wrong. I attribute the feeling to fatigue.

Lost contact with the game after 3 innings. Reds 2, Red Sox 0.

Spent the afternoon metering 600 meters of steel cable onto a makeshift spool, and 1050 feet of white cord onto Max’s spool.

Met Henry Harris, a hydrologist who’ll be working for DVDP in the Valleys. The surveyor from Scott Base was here. He needs 12 hours to get an accurate fix. We give him 5. He’ll take sun readings. He wanted astro shots. Unfortunately the stars don’t come out.

Went to bed at eight and wrote this Friday morning.

Here’s the plan. Monday Dr. Treves, Mike Wing, and Peter Barrett will take the snowtrack out to the drill site. Monday Calvin will take two Navy trucks out to flag a road. Tuesday I’ll take a helo out with a crew to cut a hole in the ice for the current meter. I’ll be in charge of loading the helo.

Henry is a big Danny Oestmann. There’s a Navy officer who looks like Hawkeye.