Defibrillate The Echoes

ND fans around the world are raving about the great upset the Irish pulled off over the weekend, tripping up the favored Blue Devils of Duke. The Dukies were obviously overconfident due to their higher national ranking but the Midwesterners had a completely new strategy for the game; they scored some points. The early going was neck and neck, scoreless until just before halftime; then the Catholic Coaches received advice from on high that they could not win without points on the scoreboard. The new strategy seemed to work when the Irish went ahead 7-0 late in the 2nd quarter. Notre Dame then tried an innovative new concept, reminiscent of Knute Rockne's invention of the forward pass, when they actually tackled a Duke ball carrier. In the ensuing melee, surprised Irish defenders found themselves in possession of a brown ovoid leather object which referees assured them they now had the right to use to try to score again. Against all tradition they did.
At halftime coach Weis decided that the new game plan was working and they would try it again in the second half, where it was successful two more times. Luckily the Duke team was not videotaping the ND signals; had they too figured out that scoring points can lead to winning games it might have been close.

Back To Reality

Well I’ve had a few weeks to adjust back to the real world - things like cold temperatures, traffic, work - and I thought I’d put together some final thoughts about Wake, as well as finally get around to posting some photos.
Temperature – that was really an adjustment at first. I’ve had the experience of going south for a week in the winter and coming back to the cold reality, but after 6 weeks it was really a shock. I think I’m almost ready for winter now.
People – it was funny for the first few days getting used to seeing people you didn’t recognize and know. And no one waves back.
Patients – there are sick people all over the place here. No wonder I can make a living doing this.
Almost nobody has ever heard of Wake, unless they are from the WWII generation. Sometimes after I explain a little they think they have heard about it. A few people saw the History Channel show about the return of the Wake defenders to the Island a few years ago.
It’s amazing to think how much money our government spends keeping that one little island more or less functioning, and then to realize that there are dozens (actually probably hundreds) of similar installations all around the world that require similar expenditure. It makes it easier to understand how our government manages to spend TRILLIONS of dollars, if not why.
I still can’t imagine people spending years out there, but then I guess if you don’t have a family it is a good place to jump in and be part of one. It really is the “Island of Lost Boys” in a lot of ways.
People ask me if I would go back. I think I would actually enjoy it every now and then, but not for 6 weeks; that was just a little too long for me. I don’t think Nora would think much of the idea either.
Overall it was an interesting and enjoyable experience, if not professionally challenging. I had an opportunity to think about the priorities in an isolated facility like that and how it should be organized, not that those are likely to be major issues for me in the future. The Thais I met were universally warm and friendly, polite to a fault, great people to be around. If you don’t mind being totally separated from the opposite sex you can spend time in a tropical paradise and get paid for it. It was a pretty sweet deal for me.

I am going to try to keep up with the blog, for a while, see how well it works as a way of keeping in touch with people.You're all still welcome to comment as you see fit. I am glad to be home and hope to be actually speaking with folks but maybe this will fill in the gaps. God knows we have to find something to do with the time we used to spend watching football.

Groundhog's Day

I know I’ve been home for a month now but I did have a few last comments I wanted to make about my time on Wake, if only for the sake of closure. I have been on several different treadmills since I got back, and having a hard time sitting down to write.
I did get a couple of dives in the last week on Wake; I went with one of the rat team guys, Peter, who is a very experienced diver. He grew up in Rhode Island and worked diving for shellfish as a teen. We went out on the wreck of a tanker which sank just outside the marina about twenty years ago. (One of the standing jokes on the island is everyone wants to know whose idea it was to hire a tanker named the “Stoner”. the other has to do with hoping that the “Hooters” plane has an in flight emergency over the mid- Pacific.)
The wreck was pretty cool, the near end in about 40 feet of water and the far end in about 60-70. After we went around the wreck for a while we swam out about another 50 yards where the depth was 90 feet, and then we came to the edge where it drops precipitously; so close to vertical as makes no difference. You can look straight down over the edge and see nothing at all. It is a very eerie feeling. The Captain told me later that the Air Force has radar depth charts for all around the island. The contours go 20 feet, to 40 feet, 80, then 3000.
When we swam back in from the edge we were followed by a solo Bumphead Parrotfish. He seemed to be curious and just stayed behind us until we got to fairly shallow water. He posed well and I got some decent pictures.
Friday night the 26th we hung out at drifters; I had a few more beers than my usual two so that explains why I felt so crummy when I got up at 5am to check in for the flight to Honolulu. The plane arrived around 8 and we had a few hours to get the regular island doc and the new medic introduced and oriented/reoriented. The medic spent the last year at McMurdo (Antartica, for those of you who don’t recognize the name). I think he made a good move. I don’t know much about the beer supply or male/female ratio at the South Pole, but an increase of 100 degrees in the average temperature has to be good for your outlook on life.
The plane took off at 11am Saturday carrying me away from Wake and back to Hawaii where we landed at about 5 pm on Friday. I decided since I had another shot at it I wouldn’t have any beer on the Friday night repeat. I just went to bed early.
Thanks to some vacillation on the part of the Air Force with the biweekly flight schedule I missed my original flight from Hono to home and couldn’t get rescheduled until Sunday night the 27th, so Saturday and Sunday a small group of us who had just escaped from Wake did a little touring around the area. The local biologists took us for a hike into a nature preserve. They say that unless you hike up pretty high into the mountains you won’t see any native flora or fauna. We got up far enough to see a few things although the birds that we hoped to see eluded me. We also hoped to get out to Pearl Harbor but ran out of time.
I flew out of Hono Sunday night, arriving in Minneapolis on Monday morning, then a flight to BWI arriving around 3pm. The shuttle home was very welcome; I don’t think I could have driven myself. I was pretty exhausted but I guess the torture of the long flight did tire me out enough to spare me some of the jet lag. I was a little out of synch at first but got adjusted reasonably quickly. Good thing – I was off Tuesday and Wednesday, then on at Milford (local home hospital) at 7am on Thursday. Back to reality.

One Week To Go

Okay I know I haven’t been very diligent about keeping up with the blog. No excuse really, just lazy I guess.
Not a lot happening over the last week; we did have a plane come in last weekend, so there’s fresh eggs, fruit and salad back on the menu. We played volleyball Saturday night on the beach behind Drifter’s. The sand is full of big chunks of coral so lots of people were complaining of cut feet and scraped knees the next day. That seems to be the most common injury we see. I actually have a fair amount of experience with ocean related injuries, like jelly fish stings, and sting ray envenomation, but those don’t seem to come up much, either in my experience or historically from what I can gather.
The Air Force sent a crew to do some kind of sampling and testing on the water supply; with them is a young woman, so the odds have improved 100% for the men. Now when you go to Drifters there are two clumps of guys, instead of one.
The mystery rat has been identified. It is rattus tanezumi, the “asian house rat”. Speculation is that it came with the refugees from Viet Nam who were housed here after the Saigon evacuation. They are still working on the e”rat”ication plan. The problem seems to be that the rats are too well fed. They don’t like what they’re being offered and there isn’t an approved coconut flavored rat poison. I know I’ve felt like I would die after drinking Pina Coladas; we should just ship the rats to a Sandals resort.
We took a walk on Wilkes Island this afternoon. It’s the southeasterly most part of the atoll, and a bird sanctuary. There are zillions of birds nesting there and they were none too pleased with our presence..The main characters are black footed boobys and red footed boobys, as well as a frigate bird I got a lot of cool pictures; also collected some bird dropping specimens.
Tonight was the big Wake Island Ping Pong tournament. I watched some of the Thais play –it was pretty scary. I did not enter.
Only a few more chances left to dive. We’re going to do a lot this weekend if we can. I also want to do a little more kayaking around the lagoon before I leave. I might even try to take the catamaran out. I’m definitely a short timer now.

photos at 12kbaud

I’ve decided to try to post a few pictures; I’ll let it run while I go for my after dinner walk. If this works ok maybe I can add a photo or two each night and let them upload through the night.

... okay, well that ain't gonna work; tried it about 6 times and it just won't fly. So it goes. Nothing else new. I did notice ND managed to get a win. Rah, Rah! The echoes are still snoring.

Rattus Indeterminus

The rat guys are really an interesting group. I’ve been following their efforts; never really had much contact with real life field biology, even though that was my early life choice for a profession. They are actually having some fun with a true scientific challenge. They thought they were coming to deal with just one kind of rat; then they thought they had rats and some kind of mice. Now they have determined that what they have is two different species of rat, the common Polynesian rat that they were expecting to find, and something that they have not been able to identify as yet. They are doing all kinds of measurements of feet, ears, teeth, tails and organs to try to make a taxonomic identification, but they have reached the limit of their library on the island, and of course the internet is ridiculously slow for sending (and receiving) pictures which they are trying to exchange with colleagues who are experts in Asian rats that they may not have seen before. It makes a difference in knowing what kind of bait to use for the critters as well as what kind of traps or poisons to try. They are quite enthused by the challenge and I can appreciate that.
The clinic remains boring, weather remains hot and clear, except when it is hot and raining, and all is well but I do miss home. I don’t see how people do this for a year, or as in the case of many of the Thais, many years. One of them has been here for 21 years, going home to see his family for 6 weeks every year. It is very good money for them, so I guess that makes it worthwhile, compared to living in Thailand where they say jobs are scarce and pay much less. I suppose you make your choices based on your circumstances; I’m glad I don’t have to make that kind of choice.

Guess Who’s coming To Dinner

I had never of “bonefish” before last spring when Ralph and I went to Belize, but fishing for them was the big thing down there. Apparently it is all the rage because they are good fighters. According to the guys here who are really into it this is one of the best places in the world for bonefishing. Bonefish are a fairly uniform and widely distributed variety of bottom feeders that occupy salty and brackish shallows in the tropics, so this certainly is their kind of place. They are a little tricky to hook because they are good at hitting and taking your bait without you getting the hook set. If you do hook them however, they fight like crazy for a relatively small fish (most of them are in the 14-24 inch range, with some up to about 3 feet).
I borrowed some tackle and went down to try my hand at it the other night and it was just as described. I used some of the rainbow runner we had caught on the fishing boat and froze and just started casting in the place these guys said they had such good luck. I started getting hits almost immediately but it took a few minutes for me to hook one. They do fight like crazy. I fished for about and hour and caught 3 of the bonefish, a large thing that looked like a sea bass but with a lot more (and bigger) teeth than the ones at home, and one of the smaller silvery blue fish they call a papillon. I let them all go.
Later I was talking with a couple of guys who had been fishing in the same spot; they had set up a small standing height table of scrap materials in the shallow water and one of them was cleaning a fish he had caught when the other guy yelled and pointed out about a 5 foot shark swimming right toward him in the shallow water. He slapped his fishing rod at it and it swam away; then they threw a bloody piece of cut fish in the water and it came right back. They hooked it and fought it for a good while before it broke the line. I thought they said there were only small sharks in the lagoon.

Thank God For The Barge

I have been writing some entries over the last few days intending to sign and post them, then not getting around to it. For some reason I cannot sign on to the blog from the computer in the office, so I have to do it at night. It is so tediously slow it is maddening.
The big excitement for Wake over the last week was the barge, which comes from Hono every 6 months with food, fuel, and whatever large volume supplies are needed for the next 6 months. There are a lot of construction projects upcoming so the barge delivered something like 100,000 pounds of concrete, and a couple of large trucks. Also a new sail for the catamaran which you can sail in the lagoon with the morays if you like.
Unloading the supplies and then reloading the various and sundry things that they don’t want to leave on the island , like old trucks and equipment took Tuesday through Saturday, and actually a few hours on Sunday morning. We kept an ambulance manned (well, occupied) at the marina where the crane was lifting cargo containers off the barge
for the whole time they were working. Mostly quiet evenings all week; everybody was pooped.
I got a tour of the tugboat from the captain and the engineer, took some pics of the engines and engine room; very interesting, and the engineer was a real motorhead, just loved talking about any kind of engine, but especially diesels. He also liked to talk about his cat.
The tug and barge finally got under way on Sunday afternoon, and things started to get back to normal. We had a going away party for a couple of folks who are leaving on the next plane. One of the Air Force guys, and a woman who has been here on and off for several years. I’ve gone diving with her a couple of times. I didn’t realize until she mentioned it at the party that she had been here as a child when this was an active base. She went to grade school for several years on the island.
One really good thing happened from the barge coming here; when I went to drifters for the party I saw that the beer menu had been expanded dramatically; now we have Guinness, Sam Adams, and even Red Stripe (no Dogfish Head Jim, sorry). So we should be good for the next 6 months, or they will be; at my rate of consumption, I’m sure the Guinness will last ‘til the end of October. .

That's a Moray

Sung to the tune of Dean Martin's "That's amore" (after a few Guiness)

There's a thing on the reef, with big shiny white teeth - it's a Moray
If he's big and he's mean, and he's slimy and green - it's a Moray

Put your hand in the crack and you won't get it back - It's a Moray
When you're movin' your hands, best take care where they land - Watch for Morays

When some teeth catch your eye. and an eel wriggles by - It's a Moray
when something, bites your fin, and throws off your trim - It's a Moray

Keep your fingers in tight and you won't have a fright - It's a Moray
When you're moving by feel and then up pops the eel - It's a Moray

When an eel bites your thigh, as you're just swimming by - It's a Moray
When you scream, and you beg, but it still bites your leg - It's a Moray

Watch you don't get a shark, When you search, after dark - for amore
When you're out of your depth, and you run short of breath - that's amore air

When he's fanning his gills, Better head for the hills - It's a Moray
When your light, in the night, gets swallowed out of sight, - It's a Moray

When your horse munches straw, And the bales total four - That's some more hay.When you're down and it's dark, Over there - that a shark?, No - It's a Moray

When you ace your last test, Like you did all the rest - That's some more "A"s! When your boat comes home fine, And you tie up her line - That's a moor, eh?

When you've had quite enough, Of this daft rhyming stuff, that's "no more!", eh?

A Better Mousetrap

A Better Mousetrap
Umbra on live trapping

Q: Dear Umbra,

In discussing potential remedies for a mouse problem with a fellow congregation member, I recounted how I recently trapped four mice in our home and transported them gingerly to fields and parking lots a couple of miles away. To my surprise, she expressed dismay ... Isn't it better to give mice a fighting chance to reestablish themselves in the wild than to break their backs or necks in those time-honored, spring-loaded Tom and Jerry devices?

Didi
Harvard, Mass.

A: Dearest Didi,

I'm with you. A tough transition to a new environment is better than death by mousetrap. This is not only my personal opinion, but ...

Read the rest of Umbra's answer at http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=11CA0:CA22DAF4A2A900FAF75145FA12142E81

Top Ten Reasons Frank is on Wake Island

10. Needs to break in a new pair of sandals on the coral studded beach.


9. Since the average temperature never gets below 76 degrees, Frank has a grant to study fungi and mold during this rainy season. He has begun collecting smegma from the full time workers on the island.


8. The one place on the planet even Frank cannot get lost on.


7. Frank bet there was no place with a higher ratio of men to women than freshman year at Notre Dame. Obviously he lost.


6. Someone told Frank the peak of Wake Island is at 13,410 feet. Unfortunately 13,392 feet are underwater. Hiking the summit will not be much of a challenge.


5. The Wake Island medical facility needed a doctor who could do it all. Frank thought the Air Force needed a Renaisance man, not that the facility looks like it was built in the 1400's.


4. Wake has a great airfield to practice flying. No crowds. Unfortunately, Frank didn'trealize he needed to be rated on a C-17 and have access to20,000 gallons of Jet-A fuel.


3. Frank heard the fishing while snorkeling was great on the island.He did not understand that meant the large Moray eels had a great timefishing for snorkelers.


2. Notre Dame football. If you are going to be away, this is the season.


1. Nora has been planning to do a small change to the kitchen, but nowseveral walls will knocked down.

The Plane, The Plane!

Well I am a few days behind. Nothing much happened on Friday, but Saturday was the big day - every two weeks the plane comes from Hono (as in lulu) and brings all kinds of goodies. Regular employees coming back from vacation, new employees just getting their first view of the island, supplies, especially fresh fruit, always a case or two of someomne's favorite beer, one guy even has a couple of burger king whoppers couriered out to him biweekly. I got the meds and emergency supplies that I felt we were deficient in and that made me happy. The big excitement of course was the 22 year old EMT from Vermont who came to fill the position here for a month until the new full time person gets here. Try to imagine an island with lot of young men who haven't seen a woman younger than their mother in a year - it's a scary vision. But it's working out well I think; she's an athletic type who will eat you for lunch if she thinks you are implying there is something she can't do because she's a girl. She knows her way around an ambulance real well and is working as hard on getting that up to speed as I have been in the clinic. She got introduced to the Ioke Beach House right away, with the appropriate warnings about the spices, and the glass refilling thing.
Yesterday the barge came in loaded with several hundred tons of supplies for the next 6 months; two big dump trucks, something like 100,000 pounds of concrete, enough gasoline and diesel fuel to keep us going (I think the jet fuel comes in separately on a tanker), god only knows what else. (Actually I think Jeff the logistician knows.) I watched them bring that barge in the narrow channel into the marina and it went without a hitch. Sort of boring, but impressive nonetheless. Today they started unloading the barge, a complicated ballet with the crane lifting containers off the barge, then forklifts loading them into flatbeds to be transported around the island where they have to be lifted back off the truck with a forklift and then unloaded or stored. The trick is that there are a limited number of forklifts and flatbeds, of different capacities, and so it has to be arranged for the right size forklift to be at each place at the right time, and as you might recall, forklifts drive kinda slow. It's an interesting dance, appreciated best by listening to the radio communications. I actually stayed in the clinic cleaning up and organizing today; Diana,(the EMT) was stationed down by the marina with the ambulance. The moment they started unloading, the rains came and stopped everything for a while. They were able finally to get going and everything went well, at least from my perspective - noone got hurt. Diana had time to go through and find all the outdated meds and supplies in the ambulance and was otherwise bored. I'll take bored anytime.
The plane also brought the rat team. They are doing testing to find out what kind of poison will work the best on the rats of Wake, and then they are confident that they can get rid of them. That will be interesting although I am sure it will happen after I leave. They say that one of their main concerns is whether the hermit crabs will eat all the rat bait; most things that are used to kill rats won't affect invertebrates, but then what if the birds eat the hermit crabs? They say they have never seen a place with so many hermit crabs before, so they aren't sure what the ramifications are. They're going slow for now.
The consensus is that the Mets did have the worst choke of all time,that ND has a good chance of going winless, and the Jets just continue to stink.I think, from a Martin sports fan's perspective, that I picked a good fall to do this.
Well that's all the news from Wake, where, as Carolyn said to Diana, for a woman coming to the island, "the odds are good, but the goods are odd".

I've quit drinkin, but me brother had a few

Well I went to drifters and we all had a few rounds and toasted Jim's 50th and his upcoming trip to Bangkok. I was given several suggestions as to how you should spend your time there but this is a family channel. I also smoked a cigar in your honor. It was an interesting night; as I walked out the door to head to the bar it started pouring, but from where I stood the full moon was shining clear in the sky. Weird.
Phol tells me that he imports the root for the wasabi and it is variable in potency. If the stuff I experienced was low potency I don't want to get near the good stuff.
I talked to one of the environmental guys tonight and he said that they burned most of the stuff from the beach clean-up. I saw the pick up truck of one of the archaeologists at lunch and there were pieces of aluminum that were clearly aluminum from an aircraft- from the size I would guess from an empennage. The rest just remains piled up. And I can't get voted off. The Air Force says they have to have a doctor here, though god knows why.
Well I have to get to bed; tomorrow is Friday,, not that that means much - our work week is Tuesday to Saturday.
Lagorn

Happy 50th to Jim Martin and belated BD to Dan

Well I actually did remember Jim's birthday today even before being prompted by the matriarch. I still say I was the first since my email was relatively early this am, at least a few hours before the Thai working day. I guess I'll just have to sit in the back of drifters with two bottles of killians, having a beer with me brother back in the old country. (an old joke; maybe you've heard it)
The mailing address they told me is actually PO Box 8, Wake Island. HI 96898. I was down at the air field terminal today for a meeting and for a moment thought I should go check if I had any mail. Then I remembered that the last mail delivered here was when I arrived.
Chugach is the corporation that runs the island, and if anyone is looking for a job in an out of the way place, they're the ones to talk to. Seems like half the Americans who work here knew someone else who worked here first.
I have been trying to learn at least a few phrases in Thai; my spelling was a guess; interestingly the phrase list I was given spelled it sawasdee khrap. The hardest part that I haven't got a handle on at all is that the inflection can change the meaning of things according to what I am reading. I don't think I'm going to learn a lot of this language. So I'll settle for sawasdee khrap. AlsoI know that the food is phet maak.
There was some discussion about the disposal of the beach garbage but I think most of it is going to be piled up in the dump so that it will be there to be spread back around the next time a typhoon shows up.
I got up early this am and watched the moon set as the dawn was just breaking; really cool light and scenes and did get some photos, but, same problem. It would take a week to upload 2 or 3.
I forgot to mention the chickens. The thais have been raising chickens here for a long time, and of course when the typhoon came they go left behind. They survived and so every morning you can hear the roosters crowing. Phol (Po) goes over to Peale (the northeasterly most part of the wake atoll where the pan am terminal once was) and collects his eggs about once a week. So at least we know they are heterosexual. I was looking at the list of all the people here and noticed Lhongdoong and Phatdeek (or something very similar) .I had to check and make sure I hadn't mixed some weirdo spam with the list.
Well I'd better get going if I'm going to make it to have that beer with Jim.

Wake Island Info

Just checked the web for Wake Island information. Not sure if any of this accurate.

Address info:
The atoll's mailing address is Wake Atoll 96898 or Army Post Office San Francisco, California96501. If one uses the Army Post Office address in sending mail to Wake Atoll, one must not write Wake Atoll anywhere whatsoever on the envelope!

A Job listing on CareerBuilder.com:
Heavy Equipment and Maintenance Supervisor for the Chugach Alaska Corporation

CarMax.com:
No used cars for sale.

Matchmaker.com
No heterosexuals listed. Probably a good idea not to visit Pravat (the rhino) Metharo's beach house after dark.

The beach house

Well last night I went to the Ioke beach house and had a sampling of various things, some made with the fish we caught. I think I have discovered that my disdain for lemon grass has been because I have never had it in the proper mixture; when it is mixed with the hot chili that they use it is very tasty. Po made a Barracuda soup that was fantastic, although they served me a bowl that was mild, then brought out the high octane stuff, saying they thought it might be too hot for me. I have to admit it was right at the edge of what I can handle but it was really good.
They just kept bringing out food; also insisted on refilling the wine glass every time it got low. I think you have to stop eating and drinking with something left over or they feel they have to keep serving.
Po also made some sashimi from the tuna tonight and brought it to the bar (Drifter's Reef, known as drifters) along with some of the hottest wasabi I have ever experienced.The moon is full tonight and it is very calm and quiet, until it starts to shower, and then it pours like crazy for a few minutes and clears up again. I got up early this am (around 5am) and it was still dark and the moon had set. The stars were great. Tonight I went for a swim in the lagoon behind the bar and then just hung out with one of the thais who was fishing.He only caught one little thing but it was so peaceful and pleasant out we just stood there for a while. Several times we saw small morays (about 18-24 inches, about the size of a small black snake, come right up to the edge of the water, actually partially out of the water, and then wait there for smaller fish to swim by and then they lunged out to grab their dinner. Not something I expected.
Well I am pooped after getting up so early. I'm trying to get in the habit of joining the early morning workout at the gym and maybe watch what I eat a little. Sowatti Khrap

The Animals of Wake

One of the interesting side stories this weekend was the arrival of several other "expert" teams beside the blowing things up guys. One was the archaeologist who came to inspect and collect the human bones that were found here a few months ago. He was looking around where they were found to see if there were anymore. He didn't find any.
The other group was the "rat team".There are lots of rats on the island, rather small brown critters that actually look more like large mice than rats. The thais tell me there was no rat problem until the environmental people came in and said that they had to get rid of the feral cats on the island because they might harm the birds. Now there are no cats and lots of rats. Actually it turns that though officially there are no cats or other pets on the island, the thais are well aware that there are 2 cats, one a pet and one feral.
There is also one dog, named Toro, who I met tonight and who has a very interesting story of his own. Toro's owner has been here for over 10 years. In the past when this base was controlled by the army, the personnell were allowed to have pets. When the AirForce came in and ultimately decreed that no pets were allowed, the dog could not leave because of hawaii's strict laws requiring a cert by a veterinarian prior to entry; no vet on the island, no entry to HI. Then when the typhoon came last year and they evacuated everyone, they refused to allow the dog to come, so the owner locked him in one of the housing buildings with a bunch of food and water. When they came back to check on things on the island in one month, he was fine and has been so ever since. He is a definite heinz 57, stubby legged lik a dachshund, and has a Michael Jordan thing going with about a half inch of his tongue sticking out all the time.
The other animals are the birds, some kind of albatross that is all dark brown, and a shore that is all white with fake looking black eyes and a long pointy beak. It's larger than a cardinal but smaller than a sea gull. It is very good at hovering into the wind, looks almost like a hummingbird in slow motion.And of course the ubiquitous hermit crabs.
So the non-male population is: 3 WOMEN, 2 CATS, 1 DOG. I think we need more dogs.

The echoes are comatose

I had thought of Bill's recommendation and tried it but on a computer that ultimately simply could not get on the blog, or at this point on the internet at all. Now I'm able to connect my own laptop from my room and that is a much better solution.
I did finally go snorkelling in the lagoon right behind my quarters and there are a lot of fish in there. There are 2 old bridges, one built on pilings that burned about 7 years ago, and one that was originally built back pre WW2 of concrete. That one is under water completely at high tide and only partially exposed at low tide. I was swimming along the edge of that bridge when I saw a spot that I thought was a likely place for a moray, lots of rocks piled up, so I took a breath and dove down to look. Just as I headed down about a 5 foot moray came from behind and swam right under me and into the spot that I had thought looked good. So I guess I think like a moray. He was big; at first he was so wide I wasn't sure what I was looking at.
The next morning we headed out for the annual beach clean-up; everybody on the island got together, split up and went to opposite ends of the ocean beach and then walked along picking up junk.It was very hot and intensely sunny; you could hear everyone sigh when the sun went behind a cloud for a moment. It was about 1.5 miles for each group, and we picked up 10 large dumptrucks full of stuff.Think of how small this island is and how big the pacific is, then think how much junk is floating around out there.
I was pretty exhausted so I had lunch, drank alot of water then took a nap, but was woken up by a big BOOM. I forgot about those EOD guys. There was a 100 pound bomb not far from my quarters that was quite live thank you and we are glad to have it gone. I can't imagine what it would be like to be on this island being bombarded with hundreds of those.
This am I went out fishing with a couple of guys and the island fishing captain. I really thought they were pulling my leg about having to get your fish in real fast or the sharks would get em, until we pulled in something that is locally called a rainbow runner, (it actually has rainbow stripes on the sides) that would have been about 2 feet long except the last 8 or 9 inches were bitten clean off. Then we caught a small tuna and watched as a really big shark came up and just took it and the hook and leader. I think he was just following us around. That happened altogether 5 or six times; I kept imagining the shark out there saying "please sir, I want more".We did come back with 3 roughly 15 pound tuna, a three foot barracuda, a similar size Ono, which is one of the most popular eating fish out here, and that 2/3 of a rainbow runner. Oh, and I hooked an albatross, but he wasn't a keeper. That was pretty weird getting the hook out of the bird and setting him loose.
The captain cleaned the fish and we brought it down to a fellow named Po - I'm not sure of the speilling - who is the proprietor of the Ioke beach house. He has fairly elaborate kitchen, a vegetable and herb garden, and the beach house itself which is like a large open gazebo, right at the shore overlooking the lagoon. It is a beautiful spot. Apparrently there is some form of traditional pecking order among the Thais as to who is allowed to have a beach house. There are a limited number of spots that the government will allow to be used and they are controlled by the folks who have been here the longest. Po and the 2 others who have the Ioke beach house are known as the elders. They hang out at the beach houses in the eves and days off, but don't sleep there.
Po served us a beef dish - lap moo - for lunch and warned us that it would be spicy hot; it really was. Then he deep fried some of the tuna as a snack and it was great. Tonight he is cooking a lot of fish. In fact I should be heading down there shortly.
I have been taking pictures and I hope I can figure out a way to get a few of them on line before I come home but I'm not sure.The lagoon is the most beautiful turquoise, and the sky is an intense blue. The sunsets are amazing. The stars have been pretty good considering the moon has been pretty bright so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing the stars on a moonless night.
Travel here took essentially 12 hours from BWI to HON, then an overnight there and a 6 hour flight from hawaii. People do a lot of fishing diving kayaking bicycling, and night time is poker and drinking. What else can you do on an island 2000 miles from anywhere and no women?
I really can't think of anything that I desperately need. I keep meaning to get the mailing address but I 'm still not sure. Someone told me that it's just a generaly delivery adress with a zip code, but I don't remember the zip. I'll try to remember to get it tomorrow. And no, I don't want to talk about the ND game. Maybe I can just stay here until the season is over.

Dinner on Wake

Well sometimes in a place like you just have to subsist on what you can obtain locally, even if that means having to put up with fresh lobster tail for dinner. Unfortunately I didn't get to go snorkeling after dinner since I locked myself out of my room and had to round up someone to let me in, and by that time it was dark. I think I'll go look for the 6 foot morays in the daylight.
Bruce - it is essentially all men; only 3 women in the place that I know of. The media availability is pretty slim. Internet as I have mentioned is slow, slow, slow. TV is 3 channels of Armed Forces Network, which shows a potpouri of different news and sports offerings. The commercials are somewhat different, all by and for the millitary, and they get somewhat nauseating after a while. You would go nuts.
Many of the Thais have built beach huts along the shore from whatever materials they can scrounge or beachcomb, and they usually spend the weekend evenings out there and that apparrently is the best place to bring your caught fish to be cooked. I plan to check that out this weekend, although by tradition you must be invited to the beach house by it's owner; hopefully I've gotten on somebody's good side.

Lies the HR person told me

I'm pretty sure the hr person (the one from colebrook) told me it hardly ever rains here and then only briefly. Then someone told me yesterday that the rainy season is just just starting. It rained &/or was overcast most of yesterday and last night. This afternoon it's beautiful again. I think I'm going to go snorkeling after dinner in just a little while. I'm told there are 2 huge morays near the old bridge foundation right behind the chow hall.
I've been warned to be on call on Sunday for the EOD team which is coming on a C17 from Honolulu to remove a number of UXO's found all around the Island.(EOD =Explosive Ordinance Device; UXO =unexploded ordinance). Since the Typhoon last year people have found a lot of stuff that had been buried for a long time. I jsut hope they don't start until after I get back from fishing in the morning. The boat goes out about 8am and the line is they always catch a bunch. They say though that you have to pull your fish in really quick or the sharks will get 'em.
For some reason I am still unable to send email from here (spent about two hours trying to figure that out yesterday), but I am receiving, so send to me and then look here for any reply.
Speaking of which, Jeanne, you can see that I am not a good person for a recipe chain letter (unless you want the "recipe" for Mexican Cheese Chicken!!!) so you better ask someone else.
Well it's chow time, so I'm off to try something spicey and unpronounceable, or maybe turkey a la king, depending my level of boldness. Aloha
ps Bill you're invited.

Wake is awake but the echoes are sleeping

Well, yes I am alive and on Wake Island. I've had all kinds of problems getting on the net, and then even more getting onto the blog. For some reason I just couldn't sign on from the computer in the clinic so had to wait until I could get set up to use my own computer. I think I can get it to work now, but we'll see.
The flight here was fine, two days travelliing but I arrived not too messed up. The island looks just like the pictures but is actually bigger than you'd think. I went diving the next morning on the wreck of a Japanese freighter sunk during WWll; didn't look much like a ship though. Lots of fish, some interesting shellfish and a couple of large seastars. I'm going to try to upload some pictures but I don't know how that'll go with the slow connection.
I've seen one patient so far. The food is pretty decent, dining hall style; some of the Thai dishes are very spicy.
It's interesting to walk around and not have to worry at all about biting insects - there aren't any. You do have to wear shoes all the time because the beach (and everything else) is coral and will tear you feet up. You also have to watch out for the hermit crabs crawling all over the place. They're just like the ones they sell down in Rehoboth, but some of them are the size of baseballs. It takes a little getting used to,especially at night when you see something that looks like a rock sort of rolling itself along the beach. And when you hear noise from the water that sounds like waves lapping, there aren't any waves in the lagoon so what you're hearing is fish - lots of them - jumping all around. I was walking at the edge of the lagoon and just about stepped on about a 14 inch flounder.
Unfortunately I was able to watch the game last weekend. I may have to stay here for a long time.And as slow as this connection is it may take the whole 6 weeks to get an entry in. Photos maybe by next year.

Hey Frank, Bev & I are watching the game but we really miss you being here with us. Both our seasons are shot of course, so I'll not be gloating or even ribbing you a little. Its too bad. I like it better when we are both going for the national title. Oh well, maybe next year. I hope you are getting along ok and enjoying a pacific paradise. Your pal, Larry.

Finally (I think)

I have flight times and numbers, finally, leaving out of BWI on Thursday am the 13th and arriving in Honolulu at around 4:30 pm. I stay overnight at the airport hotel and then get picked up at 0545 for the ride to Hickam AFB where I will board the once every 2 weeks flight to Wake, departing Hawaii on the morning of the 14th and arriving on the the afternoon of the 15th. The flight leaves again for HI in 2 hours giving me lots of time to get oriented by Dr Osman who will I'm sure be in no rush to leave after being on the island for a year. Besides, after the flight leaves Wake on the afternoon of the 15th it arrives back in HI on the evening of the 14th!

I think I have everything I will need, except I need to buy a lot of sunscreen tomorrow.

Next post should be from somewhere in the Pacific.

Hurry up and wait

Well after after rushing like crazy to get everything ready to leave on the 30th to be there on the 1st, the schedule has been changed. I got a call late on the 27th asking if I could delay for two weeks; something to do with the travel plans of the doc who's out there now. So the next morning I called back to a hospital in Geneva NY which had asked me if I could cover a few shifts this week and headed up there on Tuesday to work Wed and Thurs. Did that, now heading home on Fri AM.
New schedule - leaving on 9/13 for Wake. Meantime I think I'll take a few days off.

final/ probable/ tentative travel plan

Looks like I'll be flying out of BWI 8am the 30th to Minneapolis then an 8 hour flight to Honolulu to arrive purportedly around 3pm their time; then flying out of Hickam AFP at around 6 am on the 31st to arive on Wake something like 10 am on the1st (the int. dateline thing). Then I leave Wake on the 13th of October, arrive in Honolulu on the 12th, and fly from there to BWI arriving early in the am on the 13th. Strange.
There apparrently is snail mail to and from the island but I haven't got the address yet, nor do I have any idea how long it takes. I think it's likely that anything mailed to me will arive after I leave, so I guess I can't ask Jean to mail me any cinnamon rolls.
One thing I've been wondering the last few days is whether the recent report that the Russians have resumed long distance bomber patrol missions over the Pacific will affect the activity at Wake. I think that's fairly likely; it may be more interesting there than I had planned. They were as close as Guam last weekend, which is fairly close (600 some nautical imiles) by middle of nowhere standards.
I work my last 2 shifts for the summer at millville saturday and sunday then 3 days to pack and get out the door. Looks like if you want to comment I'm going to have to add each person individually, so just drop me an email if you're interested. Frank

plenty of time to read

I've previously mentioned to several folks about suggestions for books to read. Erin suggested adding any ideas to this blog. The photos of the library at wake show a fairly large collection but I don't know what all is in there. In any case I'd love to have a list of books to pick up before I leave .
Still haven't pinned down the travel but I will be leaving on the 30th am arriving in Honolulu in the evening, then flying out of Hickam AFB early am on the 31st in order to cross the international date line and arrive at Wake on the 1st of Sept.
Going to meet Ryan and Tim at Hooters for lunch; maybe hit Browseabout (our local really good bookstore) afterward.
Kathy was able to post a comment so it looks like I have it set up right. If you can't get in to comment and want to send me an email and I will add you.

bugs

I never did this before so I'm not surprised it didn't come out perfectly the first time. apparrently the way i tried to paste my email list into the team members didn't work so now i am doing them one at a time. If anyone wants in and can't send me an email.

Wake Up The Echoes!

I am trying to join the 21st century. I don't know how diligent I will be in keeping this thing up to date but this should be the best way to keep in touch with friends and family while I am lost and working so hard in the pacific.
As pretty much everyone who knows me has heard, I will be leaving very shortly to spend 6 weeks on Wake Island filling in for their doctor who is leaving for well earned vacation. I am still trying to get a feel for what it will be like but I'm looking forward to the adventure. I just hope that my s__t magnetism doesn't work on the other side of the International Date Line. They had a super Typhoon last year; what could happen this year?
For those who want to know about Wake , I suggest the Wikipedia article on Wake Island. Also I found this web page of photos by a guy who's been there a few times. http://www.mcgrathimages.com/Gallery/Locations/Wake/
Some pretty cool pics. I intend to add to take a whole lot myself, and post them if I can. At this time the internet access on the island is a low baud rate dialup line so I may not be able to post photos until I come home. I'll find out about that when I get there. Meantime I 'll just post my whereabouts and travel plans here.