Drilling begins

"Yep, looks like a drilling site, "said John Schutt "... untidy and muddy." I'm just back a half hour ago (1am) from the field test site where we began drilling this afternoon. We worked steadily beginning at 8am this morning. We overcame moto synchronization and controls issues and a bad sensor to begin drilling at 4:30pm... we got down 1.5m deep today, into the muck and the permafrost underneath. I fought to stay alert, after only getting 4 hours of sleep the night before. Now I'm finishing this while sipping 14-year-old Oban, a birthday gift here. My sister Vicky organized another birthday surprise at dinner... a banner hung across the tent and a cake and 30 people singing... (blush). My parents and siblings sent gifts... like the Scotch, or other imbibables. Very sweet... I'd thought that was all past, last Thursday ;-).

( Some pictures... )