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. .
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
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?
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
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
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
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.
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".
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".
Thursday, September 27, 2007
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
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
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
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.
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.
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