Kornkob’s Corner

Soon there will be a wedding site to link to.

Seeing as I was part of a large layoff at Raven, I’m now looking for work.  You can see my various skills and history at my profile on Linked In.

This weekend spend a moment, 3 breaths, before you eat that hamburger or take a pull off that beer, to remember what Memorial Day is for.   It’s not a day of PTO or the ‘official start of grill season’ (whatever that means).

It is the day to remember the boys who did horrific things and made terrible choices because we asked them to.

Yes, we may not agree with the politics that sent them to do our community’s bidding but no soldier I ever met picked up a rifle and boarded a chopper bound for harms way over politics.  Every serviceman I ever saw, met or served with stood to when called because of an oath to a slim piece of parchment and, when called, they looked to both sides and saw their brethren, who shared that same oath, stepping to as well.

So this weekend, take those three breaths, the number of breaths that it takes for a serviceman’s soul to separate from the mortal coil, to remember those boys who bore the horror of events that involved choices no boy should ever be asked to make and did so  in our name.

Believe or don’t believe in that which soldiers have been called to do— that’s politics.   There is no room for politics in remembrance.  Remembrance is to show some sliver of respect for those who fought when called.

One deep breath, blown out quickly.   One fast breath, pushed out slowly.   One long breath, rattling slowly outward……………. remember.

Who kept the faith and fought the fight;
The glory theirs, the duty ours.
~Wallace Bruce

He sent me birthday wishes a day early and talks a little about how the long hours and constant daylight causes them to get a little discombobulated.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, love you boy…

we are getting punch drunk from working the Ice, yesterday a critical part was left out of the drill string this after 3 sets of eyes had looked at it (or should have seen it) … we were lucky that it did not begin drilling, although it did make it to the bottom of the hole…… had it begun drilling, it would have become stuck, perhaps permenantly..my eyes were the first ones that missed it, then the senior designer, then the senior computer guy…. whew…. we have not had a complete day off since christmas…this coming sunday is the first one since then….

we also had the tasting of the mead jonathon and I made here john does the weather and a very good rendition of “I’m a lumberjack”…. mead turned out pretty good….. the cook donated some honey and we started it 4 weeks ago… (wow I can’t even remember when that was) everything is blending into one long day here, no darkness, just either sun or clouds…. got 9 hours sleep last night, and wanting more…

howdy, weather is still good, sunny and warm, around 6*F this morning with no wind… sounds kinda different from the weather most of you are having right now….. see why I go to the Ice every year? we are nearing 1300 meters, ( I have not heard what has been drilled 2nd and 3rd shifts….so do not know the actual depth yet) the Ice is changing, we are getting out of brittle ice and back into ductile ice. soon we will be able to drill 2.5 meter cores rather than 3 for 1 cores (1 meter 1 meter 1/2 meter) we are doing now, saving about 12-14 minutes a run….another camp talent show is being planned for this sunday…. and planning is already in for packing up and leaving, the cargo line is being staged for flights and pallets are being packed and staged.  people are beginning to plan on time in NZ… me too. although, this year I will only stay in nz a short time, as the Salt Flats are now in my sights again…things here are moving along, I have been sitting on the “patio” outside of the arch enjoying the weather there between runs… I’ll have lots of pictures when I get back for everyone to see including a GREAT time lapse video of a drill run.. drive careful and stay warm

howdy, so sunday the first shift (me Paul and Elizabeth) pulled up the 1000 meter core…. which is big news and a milestone here…. weather is slowly getting worse, but not too bad yet… just windy right now tent was 44*F this morning… there is no horizon right now, the ground snow and the clouds are the same color….anyway, everything is going well here… hope the same for you,  take care and drive careful…

and on 5 jan 1976 I held my daughter for the first time, minutes after her birth, happy birthday Melanie… love you…

AS we recover here, so does the drill team on teh Ice.

howdy, so yesterday was to be a day off for us all, however, events happened, and we needed to do critical maintenance on both the top sheave and the transfer cradle, both damaged due to use. I volunteered to help, so we removed the main sheave,  ( a 42 inch dia 1 1/2 inch thick grooved plate the cable is routed around, and replaced the bearings on it as they had begun to fail. I also did some blacksmithing, I had bent the transfer cradle several days ago and another worker then redid my bend day before yesterday, this due to the electronic stops on the transfer cradle being set incorrectly,  so we had to straighten and strengthen it, I did my magic and it came out almost perfect…. but it was a long day, and I now have to work 10 days without a day off, having used up my “sunday off”…. but we now can continue to drill at high speed, with the bad sheave bearings, we reduced trip speeds up and down the hole to 60% speed, slowing us considerably….

900 meters deep right now….we started at 581  when I got here..(when was that? so loooooong ago, time seems to have stopped, wais seems a bill murray ”groundhog day” movie of sorts) and still in brittle ice. I can stand in the core handlers side of the Arch, and if it is quiet, (when the refrigerators and air handlers are shut off) hear the Ice we have already drilled that is sitting in aluminium channels waiting for additional core science work, popping every now and then, due to internal pressure overcoming the atmospheric pressure and temps…. so we are deep into brittle ice now, should be through it around 1300 meters or so.. at our rate of drilling, we might see 1400 meters when we stop for the year….I think my flight out of Wais is 23-25 jan…. but I do not know…… besides, plane schedules are not ontime here…. we have seen “no plane” times of 10 days or more here….

not much else, hope everybody is well and healthy and please drive carefully…

Moving along and getting ready.

well we  are still drilling ok, although we (1st shift) had an empty barrel coming up after 1 12 hours of trip time and screwing around trying to make Ice core, seems the anti torque springs slipped (probably due to the brittle ice ) and we were unable to drill a complete core, we did adjust the anti torques and it began working again… weather this morning was fog, visability about 1000 feet or so.. with hoar frost on everything it was very beautiful….temps about -3 or so, not bad…. tent was +62 this morning even with the fog …. have been reading in the galley in the evenings now…  shot hole drill crew leaving and going to the drill site 150 miles out this morning, riding snomobiles so they should only take about 8-10 hours or so, as opposed to the 18 hours it took them to bring the shot hole drill rig in a couple of days ago… the drill rig is now packed for retro to the US for modification and repairs.. not much else… happy new year.. we are supposed to get the day off, but I will helping with the sheave repair tomorrow..and send some news on how you guys are doing ..