20 June

Happy Science Holiday!



Kristen (the oldest offspring) is out in the Bering Sea for a month and a half on the US Coast Guard Cutter, Healy doing scientific research in chemical oceanography. She sent us these photos from the Northern Chukchi Sea and thought they were perfect for the Summer Solstice. She said that “summer in the Arctic is in full swing and at times it was difficult to distinguish the glass clear water from the sky.”

I’m celebrating Solstice with the purchase of my new PLASMA CUTTER! I picked it up last week from Air Liquide. Had to have another 240 receptacle installed in the shop by our very talented electrician but now I’m wired for (more!) power. Thanks to Larry (that’s him at the Air Liquide dock loading me up) for

helping me to better understand all that was needed for my upgrade to the Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52 and for our electrician, Michael who keeps us safely powered up. I’m not quite ready for production cutting as I still have to sift through the manual, though I did already watch the DVD… New tools, new instructions mean a new learning curve. I just finished reading the

manual on the new camera Daddy-O and Gus bought me (xox) They surprised me with a new Sony Cyber-shot 14.1 mega pixel(!) camera. My other one was Will’s hand-me-down –this one is sleek, has sweet, mega optics and even does these cool, moving panorama shots. I’ve already taken tons of pics of Tauzer, the garden and my flowers –but I won’t bore you with them –yet.

Summer Solstice is a big deal here in Alaska –well anything having to do with sunshine and daylight is a big deal in Alaska! This weekend officially kicked off Solstice with parties, bands, BBQ’s, markets and festivals. Gus asked us what Solstice was and after we described to him the differences between the Summer and the Winter Solstice he said “Oh I get it, it’s like a science holiday!” So Happy Science Holiday!



Kristen, out in the Northern Chukchi Sea on the USCGC Healy. Here is a NASA Arctic Voyage 2010 Blog link that also has some great information and photos!



3 comments:

ang design said...

wow news toys, how cool hope you have lots of fun with your new cutter and the new cam now theres something to get excited about..woo great arctic pics too!!

Orion Designs said...

ooh, a plasma cutter -- Rick will be jealous!

Linda Starr said...

Gee I thought where you live in Alaska looked beautiful, the artic is really something, love the shot of Kristen on the ship; have fun with the new plasma cutter, sounds complicated, but worth it. I have a Sony cybershot but it's at least five years old, bet your's has all kinds of great features on it.