Pictures

Pictures from the Cape May tripThe house we stayed in was right in the heart of the historic part of Cape May

The beach was nice in the evenings but the bugs were really bad.

On our way home we visited the Cape May County Zoo. It was small, but free.

Forward Momentum

Life doesn't seem to slow down. The heat of summer is here and the campers will be too soon. Oh boy!

My job is going well. My first project was compiling and submitting paper work to the NYS health dept. There was a lot of it and it took me several weeks. Now I'm out in the field more working on redoing part of the low ropes course which is fun. I get to build things, haul wood chips in the gator, and generally decide how I would like things to be.

Our social life is improving somewhat. We have been visiting churches and hanging out with some of the other camp staff. Sarah is part of a Tuesday morning book discussion and is meeting ladies through that.

This past weekend we went with Sean and Kim who live above us to a vacation house in Cape May. His Grandpa owns a 1848 row house that is nicely located next to big fancy hotels, the strip, and the beach. Among other things I: ate over priced ice cream cones, made a half finished sand castle, kayaked in the surf, rode bike around the town, went running after midnight, watched a horse race on T.V., and splashed around in a very cold Atlantic Ocean.

Pictures coming sometime.

Some notes

We have been in our new place for about a week and things are starting to clean up. The cabnates are stocked and I think I know were everything belongs. I've included some pictures. I had some reallly great ones but had technical issues and didn't want to fight it. But you can imagine me learning to use Camp's Wood Miser, our living room, and our lovely kitchen. Below is the packing scene in Houghton.

Some of our new fish in our new tank (30gal high)

Nelke in the Bathroom

The bed room, sorry the rest of the house didn't work out.

This morning Sarah and I planted our garden. There is a little fenced garden plot that no one is using this year. The soil has been improved over the last years and seems to be very nice considering everything else is a rocky gravel. Soon we will have all kinds of good things to eat.

Flip the tassle, over the hill and through the woods to Camp DeerPark we went

So I hope that this post will break a long streak of non-posting. Now that my living situation has changed and internet is at my doorstep (literally, it isn’t in the house but almost) I hope to be able to get back to my regular routine of posting.

Graduation happened not long ago. Sarah graduated co-Salutatorian (that means tied for second best grades of the 250+ class) and I was more of an honorable mention. My parents and youngest sisters came up for the event. A good time was had by all.

Backpacking happened the next week. The Mast men and myself took on the Black Forest Trail. It is a 42 mile loop in and around the PA grand canyon. It would be better named “The Slate Run water shed tour”. The trail followed tributaries of Slate Run to and from their origins, and then up and over mountain to find the next trickle. It was beautiful, miles of hiking by babbling brooks and cascading waterfalls. The views were very viewable. It was also a brutal hike. To go between creek and vista the trail was constantly making 1000 foot climbs and drops. Actually, about 2/3 of the time was spent going up or going down. The pictures show some of the beauty, but I really haven’t found a trail this challenging and rewarding this side of the Rockies.

Our sweet tarp set up. There was only one half-ok tarp site so we improvised on a wet night.

Creek crossings totaled over 20. I rocked the Crocs and kept my boots dry.

A typical view except for a cloud of gnats around your head

Ethan mastered the stove quicklyOne of the better views. The two black spots in the image are gnats circling my head and camera as I took the picture

(Above) Micah strikes a pose after a creek crossing (Below) I took a shower in the waterfall on my 25th birthday eve. It was cold.
This week has marked our move to Camp DeerPark. We arrived with our embarrassingly large U-Haul (I recommend not doing business with U-Haul, they are not very upfront or customer friendly) and began the task of moving into our basement apartment. We quickly found a very open handed approach to our furniture which helped things fit. Currently the place is very cozy and walking space is limited. Nelke is adjusting and has even been going back into her box. The transition was very difficult for her and tiring for us. Hopefully she will forgo the howling this time. Who knows, maybe she is howling now.

its been a while

We don't have internet in the house, so updates require some treking through the snow to campus. I'm not finding myself with lots of time so somethings have to give. Here are a few pictures with comments, see if you can figure out the story that goes with them.

A mosaic (above)

The oldest piece of glass known to man (below)

Sarah and pretty things

Jared goes up the pile, Asher strikes a pose

Inside and out

Degree in hand

After some speculation about if I would get one, I now have a paper degree. It has a lot of hard to read font and a few names on the bottom. Maybe I'll put it on the wall.

I'm sore from swinging chairs at the ski lift today.

Holimont

So I got a job. I'm working at Holimont ski area. Holimont is a private ski resort. People pay $15000 to join and another $2500 each year to ski.

My job is helping people get on and off of the ski lifts. Mostly it is a lot of holding the chair while people sit down and watching chairs empty go by. This week was slow so I did more of the watching than the helping.

I work with a diverse group. Yesterday I was with the retired guys operating "Meadow" The day before I spent time with a bunch of 18-20 year-old guys at "Expo" I'm slightly overqualified for the job, but it's a good exercise learning to relate to people of all types.

New Year post

Onward!

Five and a half years ago I graduated from high school. Now I’ve finally graduated from college. Just this afternoon I was shelving some books from my college classes. It was a reminder of all that I’ve learned.

Was it worth it? Some parts more than others. The big question is what else would have happened during those five and a half years. Sarah would say that you can’t judge the value of an experience immediately after it concludes. Time will tell.

Time has shown Rosedale to be worth both the time and money. I don’t think there are many schools which provide the experience that Rosedale does: thought provoking academics and a student life that is real community (as opposed to other colleges who claim community).

So onward to a future that is undetermined.

Photo update

The Merchant of Venice was being put on . Everyone else in the house had a part and so I agreed to do the lighting. A lot of these pictures come from that, or other stuff I had to post.

The four of us just before we sang advent songs

I learned the board, setup, and show in about a week and a half. It was nothing like LMH, the equipment was poorly used, and about half of the lights needed replacement parts that noone ordered or knew how to install.

Notables and the court scene

Some action in the garden

She made soup in a pumpkin. I thought she was clever

The path home

Some people have creativity and time

a case of O.J.

Graduation is coming, or at least classes are ending. I'm wondering if I'll find a job. All of my life I was told by society that when you have a college degree you can get a better job. I was told by college admissions people not to worry about cost because you can pay your loans off with that better job.

So here I am, a month away and I’m not seeing that better job. Actually I’m not seeing any full time jobs, and certainly not the high paying ones in my field that the admissions people forecasted. Hmm, life isn’t always simple.

In other news, Steve and I went dumpster diving last night. With a little scouting we have developed a nice route for harvesting grocery store leftovers. Last night we netted a bag of dog food and $60 in food (including a case of OJ, 1.5 gal of juice, half a dozen cans of pizza sauce, dozens of cup cakes, and enough bread.) I think this is how we survive on our shoestring budget.

It's snowing outside

Nelke has been in need of a hair cut for a while. We waited until after our backpacking trip so t hat she could stay warm. Here she is before and after.


Cricket poses here as she tries to convey a laid back and thoughtfull personality-everything she is not.


A moment in the life of our fish tank
Sarah discovers she can see better without the candle.

This past weekend Sarah and I made a quick visit to her family of origin's home to attend a wedding. Nelke went along and was glad to see her old stomping (pawing?) grounds. Cricket, a new addition was of course glad to see us and celebrated as she always does by peeing in circles.

Now its back to the studies.

Side note: Ethan made some blazing hot good food tonight.