Final Stretch

We finally are in the home stretch of our time here.  It’s been a lot of fun, but I think we’re all getting to the point where we are ready to be headed home.  The weather has been getting even nicer here which is kind of disappointing.  It seems this state has conspired against us to only have nice weather and habitable land when we are ready to leave.  You know what, state?!  I’m going to a state that is much nicer and more fun, so take that!

We have had one of our final briefings so far and that went really well.  We have our FINAL final briefing this coming week which is a long drive away.  We would be flying but we have had funding issues beyond our control which means we will be taking a truck.  It’s going to be a good time.  At least this time we have the money for a hotel so we won’t have to drive there and back in one day.  We did that at midterm and it was not fun.  We had four drivers but each driver still had to drive a large number of hours.

We have been really busy lately which explains my blogging absence. Not that I would need to explain my absence, but I am a second born child which means I continually feel like I’ve failed someone around me at any given time. It’s called the living-in-a-shadow gene. Have you heard of it? It’s loads of fun.

Recovery

This week has been all about recovery for me. After my injury on the ski slope, I’ve had to take it easy for a while. Pictures can be found on my Flickr page or on my Facebook page. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Because we’re winding down our time here, I decided my team deserved a weekend away from all this and so we packed up the cars and went camping about an hour from where we live. We had an absolute blast attempting to fjord a freezing cold raging river (note the word attempting). We were all soaked and darn near hypothermic but we found a tree that had fallen across the river and was only buried under approximately eight to ten inches of water. We took full advantage of that tree and safely made it across with only minor injuries to our exploration team.

Each night we sat around a fire pit cooking dinner and laughing it up.

Some people had a hard time sleeping because they had set their tent up in a location that drains water about as well as a clogged sink. Had they had air mattresses, they would have floated away the first night due to unseasonable rain. It hasn’t rained for five weekends in a row here but wouldn’t you know the instant we planned a camping trip the forecast changed for the worst. Saturday, Saturday evening and Sunday all provided us with some spectacular weather though, so we just laughed that first night off as a fluke.

I’ll be sad to leave this place, but I’m really excited about being home again.  It’s going to be a good time and I’m looking forward to getting back to work and the people at home.  Now, if only I can think of a way to move all the people here back home with me I will have solved all my problems.

Yardsale

Sorry for the delay.

I’ve been cooped up at home ever since Sunday because I’ve been stuck at home on the couch or on the bed popping painkillers like it is my job. I’ll have some pictures up later to display exactly what happened that put me in this state.

We went skiing on the last last weekend of the season here. It’s last * 2 because the real last weekend was LAST weekend but they had some good weather and figured they may as well stay open one more weekend to get a couple more dollars in the bank. It was great because we all started in t-shirts (some of us were brave enough to wear shorts) and ended the day with a couple runs down the mountain in nothing but our underwear. Some teenage guy came up to us and asked if we had lost a bet which just made us all laugh because we were doing that solely of our own volition.

We stayed in our friends’ grandparents’ house because they skip to warmer climates for the winter and we figured a free place to stay was better than any of our other options. It turns out staying in a house only 12 minutes from the slopes has its advantages and makes for a great ride home when you don’t have to worry about an hour or more drive to get back to the house.

Other than that, the week was pretty uneventful. We’re honing in on the completion date here and we’re starting to finish things up and polish them for the final presentations. Home is getting closer every week!

Easter Dinner in Pictures

I may have purchased too much romaine.

Turns out hard pears are a lot more difficult to cut than ripe ones.

No salad is complete without a little avocado.

French bread croutons.

Some of them got a little too well done.

Minced garlic for parmesan garlic butter.

Zesting lemons: surprisingly time consuming.

Squeezing lemons: still remarkably simple.

The healthy part or the cholesterol laden part: no contest. Give me the yolks.

A ‘double boiler’.

I cheated and used store-bought cake.

The dish is just a cake stand lid sitting on Corningware.

Red potatoes soon to be cooked and smashed.

Potatoes with two pieces of a HUGE garlic clove.

Waiting to be smashed.

Hard boiled and waiting to be deviled.

More counter space needed.

The ham cooking.

A freshly glazed ham.