Getting ready

Getting ready for Antarctica is a lot of work.

First I needed to sell the house I'd bought when the kids were going to school at CU Boulder. Everybody graduated! The house is scheduled to close in a couple weeks. It was an incredible amount of work getting it perfectly cleaned and fixed up, but we did it.

Passing the medical qualifications seemed like an endless process. The interesting part was the treadmill stress test. Even though I was seeing spots by the end from lack of oxygen, the doc said I did better than most 30-year olds. Hooray! All those years at the YMCA paid off.

I hate to shop, but this week I made a trip to REI to get travel clothes. Cold weather and work clothes for Antarctica are provided, but I wanted to get some nice long underwear. Oooh--didn't know they come in black.

Pat and I are raising a service dog puppy, Ellie. When we got her we didn't have the Antarctica job offers, and were supposed to keep her for 1-1/2 years. Now we'll be giving her up in late September just before we leave for "the ice."