Crew 35 (Hugh and Anthony, that is) did not arrive last night. We were waiting and waiting but nobody showed up. Now please do not imagine we were standing around waiting.

For the last two days work has reached a fevered pitch to finish the rewiring of the station and start using the generator in 'Main Engineering' behind the little mount. I joined this crew on Friday with a slew of electricity material from Salt Lake City, having flown back into SLC the evening before. As they could use any able bodied person with hands and the willingness to take on any chore, I ended up putting together powersockets. This turned out to be hard work on the hands. These wires are stiff and unbending and you have to get them in just right. But Kevin and I managed to put enough of them together to fill up all the outlet boxes. I have to confess that this work went on until Saturday afternoon as the Hab seemed to have an endless supply of outlet boxes hidden everywhere.

When 18.30 hours came all of us changed for a lovely dinner at the Foutzes. Having just arrived from the Netherlands I was carrying chocolate Easter eggs and those were now used as a thank you gift for this hospitality.

Regrettably we had to get back to do more, much more electricity work. And deep into the night this went on, but we were inspired as at long last the end was nigh.

Saturday morning found us again at the electricity boxes and the outlet panel. James was going at it with dedication and single-mindedness that impressed us all. We had great fate in his ability to get us indeed all the save electricity that Crew 34 set out to bring to the hab. But by now there were other priorities pressing up on us. The command deck needed to get clean if Crew 35 members were going to bunk down on it after their arrival Saturday night. So although I hate this kind of work at home I went at it with a vengeance. For on Mars you deal with it. You do not bitch or whine, but deal with it. Both vacuum cleaners turned out to be no longer up to the task so that I ended up with a dustpan and a hard brush to scrape the carpet clean on my knees. And clean it became. Just as the kitchen is a nice white colour again. And the computer desk is clean and whitish now.

While Kevin added to the endless supply powersockets Peter and Ben installed them all over the hab. I took over the assembly of the sockets as Kevin moved all the pieces of surplus wood out of the hab. After that I worked with Paul for five hours on hooking up the generator to the fuel line of the big tank at 'Main Engineering' and hooking the electricity up to the generator in the dark. But we were 'winning' so the dark and the cold could not phase us. We were winning indeed for around 9 PM the generator was hooked up and working. Hurray.

In the mean time James had done the power panel. So dinner could be cooked at last. Nice Persian food of eggplant, green bell pepper, tender cooked beef and yoghurt sauce with plain white rice. Although the dinner was late (10.30 PM) it was enjoyed by all and the highpoint of dinner was desert: again Artemis Hab-baked apple pie. James was wise enough not to reveal before he had downed his piece of apple pie that all the electricity outlets were done but for the waterheater. As he could not very well give back his piece of pie, he was forced to stay until the waterheater was attached to electricity again.

All the while we were awaiting the arrival of Hugh (commander crew 35) and Anthony (crew scientist). It got later and later, but no sign of them. In the end we decided to go to bed (1.30 AM) and hope for the best.

They did show up. The following day around 7 AM. Don brought them in. it turned out they had been lost up several roads in the area of the Hab and gotten stuck with Old Blue. So stuck that they had to walk back into town where they waited until 6 AM before they dared to phone Don.

Needless to say they were beat. And after a brief talk and some breakfast they turned in for a rest. Ben and Peter left early for SLC and flights home. Ed had already left us on Saturday. James delayed his departure until well into the afternoon and until the electricity downstairs included the light fittings as well.

Later in the night Felipe and Adam did show up with the help of Don.

And had the leftovers of the Indian dinner I had prepared. Command change over took place and Hugh is now bringing his crew into Sim. I end this report in the knowledge that I have enjoyed working in Crew 33, working with Crew 34 and now working with Crew 35. I hope that I get the suits up to par again with the reinforcing material I brought from Netherlands.

Happy to serve this station on Mars.