This morning was an early one. We got news late yesterday that the official Hab generator, the Generac, was repaired and ready for pickup in Grand Junction. So David again was set to drive the 320-mile round trip to fetch it.

Jody and Tim got up early to fix breakfast, and I thought about how nice it would be to have a generator that would run everything we need at once. They put water in the kettle to heat and turned on the hot water heater so that David could get a shower before he left, and then they had to stand around till one of those power-users was done before they could fry potatoes. Not to say we haven't been grateful to have a backup generator, but we were glad today to let it reassume its backup position and let the Generac take over.

After breakfast, we waved farewell to David and turned to the morning tasks -- getting Derek and Jody ready for a short EVA to the fossilized oyster beds Jody and Kim found the other day. While Tim and Kim (or the Ims) readied Jody and Derek for their EVA, I gassed up the ATVs and checked the oil. Jody has been doing this job regularly, and we realized today that we have been taking his background work for granted. Those of us leaving the Hab have just been walking out in our EVA suits, hopping on ATVs, and driving off. I was glad to relieve him of this duty today.

While the EVA team was gone, the three of us at the Hab responded to e-mails and planned for the afternoon's work of swabbing the deck. Today's priority was to prep the Hab for tomorrow's film crew.

When Jody and Derek returned, we spent some time writing reports and checking out our postings from yesterday on the Mars Society's web site. Then it was lunchtime (salmon salad and leftover soup and chili) and time for Derek to hook Jody up to his motion monitors. As part of his other research project, we are all still wearing pedometers and reporting our steps to Derek every half hour. Dark horse Tim took 13,331 steps in the course of the day.

While Jody was getting hooked up, the Ims and I began cleaning the Hab. Tim swept while I scrubbed the science counter downstairs and did a general wipe-up. Whew! There was a lot of dust! Eventually Jody was given the all-clear from Derek and joined us downstairs. He spent a good part of the afternoon cataloging the samples we've all collected and re-marking his maps.

Kim and Tim went outside and did some tidying up there, right around the station. But the wind is up today, and it was hard work to be outside in the blowing dust. All day the Hab has been creaking from the hard winds -- we could feel the floor vibrating beneath our feet downstairs.

We had all settled down again to our own work when we got a call from David that he was in Hanksville and heading on our way. About 4:30, he wheeled in, along with Don Foutz, to set up the Generac and get it running. The wind was whipping, but in a few minutes, we had it rolled into place and hooked up to the propane tanks. Good-bye to the backup generator!

The first real test of the Generac was to turn on the Incinolet and see if it could handle the load. Indeed, things seemed to be fine. This may well mean that we can cook and use the water heater at the same time, or cook toast and boil water simultaneously! Life is good at MDRS. We celebrated at supper by having macaroni and cheese, Spam, green beans, and homemade bread, thanks to Jody and Tim. Ummmmmm, ummmmmmm.

But before supper, our road-warrior David made a run to town to pick up ATV keys that Don Foutz was cutting for us. We've had to wait for more than a week to get the proper blank to have the key cut. Having the third key will mean that we can actually send three people at a time on ATV-EVAs. (Someone on Crew 14 had lost the third ATV key, so we've been limited to use of only two machines at a time.)

While he was gone, the wind began gusting and picking up dust all over the surrounding hills. We had battened down the hatches, but still the front airlock door blew open and thumped against the side of the Hab, making us all jump. The windstorm was the worst we've seen since we've been here, and we have to be careful to control the Hab doors against the force of the wind.

The desert looked alive as we peered out the windows. Dust billowed, pushed fast by the wind. It didn't creep towards us -- it screamed towards the Hab. The whole landscape looked as if it were on the march towards some indefinite enemy, pushing loose objects in its path. We were on edge all afternoon as we heard the rattling, creaking, tromping of the wind.

David drove back through this wind, in spite of the lack of visibility. As he filled us in on his trip, he was happy to report that he ran into the photographer who has come to film us tomorrow. We were relieved to know that indeed the show would go on. However, we've had wind today, and rain and snow are predicted for tonight. We'll see!

Supper over, we tidied up our reports and journals and called it a day's work. A strawberry cheesecake punctuated the evening's activities, compliment of the chefs. Our bellies fuller than they should be, and our work at last mostly done, we watched "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." It set just the right mood for the end of a long day -- we recited lines with the actors as appropriate and we had the opportunity.

It was a tired but silly crew who tumbled into bed at last.