Intern turned volunteer 2009-08-13 04:06:18.000 - Jeff Wehrwein,  Summit Volunteer A westward view. I expected that returning to the place I called home for 7 months would be a little weird. But that didn't stop me from volunteering on the summit this week with my mom. As an intern, I always explained to visitors that 'our volunteers get a 'free' vacation and we (the staff) get delicious home-cooked meals', but I never fully appreciated the effort that goes into that 'free' vacation. I always suspected it would be an interesting exercise to have each staff member be a volunteer for

An Obs Family 2009-08-12 13:18:43.000 - Susan Polk,  Summit Volunteer A Beautiful Place There are myriad benefits to being a summit volunteer. Chief among them is the privilege of living with the dedicated staff in a place that defies the imagination. I have had some wonderful experiences during the past week here at the Mount Washington Observatory:Cooking and baking for the staff and for Edutrip visitors, thereby indulging my love of cooking for people who love to eat.Getting up at 4 a.m. for two beautiful sunrises of the sort one cannot see where I live.Going out in 60 plus mile

Summary of the week: fox, juggling, sun, etc. 2009-08-11 16:45:20.000 - Scott Wehrwein,  Summit Intern Pic not related As a very busy and shortstaffed week comes to a close, I thought I'd spend a few minutes to mention some recent happenings on the summit.On my previous shift, I saw a lot of the fox who frequents the summit. He (she?) tends to come up in the afternoon and scavenge for food left by visitors to the summit, and perhaps even be given food by some people. Unfortunately, as a result, this fox has gotten accustomed to being around people and

Crap Comment 2009-08-10 04:07:35.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer Sunrise without fog As Stacey and Mike have already alluded to in earlier comments this week this is turning into an unusual shift for us. The biggest change for me is that I'm working nights and trying to sleep during the day. This coupled with the reduced number of personnel is making things interesting and challenging.We've had quite a mix of weather this week too, along with the usual fog, we've also had a couple of great sun rises and one good sunset. It's also been quite chilly and on Saturday

trials 2009-08-08 16:21:10.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist NULL When the going gets tough, the observers generally take out their frustrations with a crowbar. However, with the obvious lack of icing this week, using a crowbar might not be the best way to deal with difficulties. By difficulties, I mean the summit will soon be short-staffed. We've already had to deal without Amy (she had to return to school), and Marty is not handling her absence too well. As Mike mentioned in his comment yesterday, he will be heading to that valley below to go to Virginia Beach for

Shift Shifts 2009-08-07 17:13:08.000 - Mike Carmon,  Staff Meteorologist When all else fails, throw in a picture of Marty Routine is something that one easily falls into while working on the summit. My schedule has been very routine for seven months: wake up in the afternoon, eat breakfast, do some work or go out for a hike (weather dependent, of course), eat dinner, watch a movie with the crew, then head to work for the remainder of the evening. This routine is repeated within a more inclusive routine, which is a Wednesday to Wednesday work week, followed by a Thursday

Short and sweet 2009-08-06 03:46:48.000 - Dottie And Ron,  Summit Volunteers Sunset This was our first time as volunteers on Mt. Washington. We prepared by shopping at L.L. Bean for our 'No Cotton' clothing, collecting recipes and gathering all the fresh vegetables we could.What we couldn't prepare for was meeting the most wonderful group of young professionals who kept us laughing all week.   Dottie And Ron,  Summit Volunteers

Shadows 2009-08-04 23:24:24.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist My shadow after a morning observation. The week can be summarized by shadows. The biggest shadows came from the sun which shown down a few times this week finally breaking up the monotony of fog, clouds and rain that has been this summers theme it seems. The rising sun shown orange hews around the morning shadows while the setting sun shown hews of blue and purple around the afternoon shadows. And the shadows didn't end with the setting sun as they lingered into the night as the moon neared its capacity casting

Marty update, cap cloud, and Science in the Mountains 2009-08-03 21:57:34.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist Marty catching some rays Since we've been getting some requests for an update on our cat Marty, I figured I would start this comment with just that. After having 10 teeth removed and his ears flushed two weeks ago tomorrow, the little guy has been doing quite well. As Stacey wrote a week and a half ago in her comment about Marty, it took him a few days to recuperate, but at this point he is back to his usual antics. He's even

The Sun Came Out! 2009-08-01 17:34:02.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer The Sun was Bright... Today was one of the more pleasant days on the mountain in a while and entire herds of people came to the summit. Talking to my friend, Wayne, he was surprised to hear we were in the fog this morning as he couldn't see a cloud in the sky from his home in Jackson. As it was though, lower level moisture was being lifted up over the mountain from the west and kept us in the fog for the first half of the day. Around