Christmas Lights

A little handy guide for wrapping christmas lights for your tree!

Things are going pretty well in Electric City, USA.

Travers Day / Esther's Visit

Esther visited before she started school, and we went up to Travers Day at the Saratoga Racetrack.  Esther did not get into the racing spirit, but I would have won an award for best dressed, if there was one.  Think Iroquois Steeplechase infield meets John Deere Pride.  We had a lot of fun.

I did not like how when one horse fell on the track and had to be carted off it was referred to as "the horse broke down", like it was a car.  I have been around animals / commercial agriculture so I understand that its a business, but I think the race spectators should understand the implications to the horses health.  Perhaps I am just becoming a softie in my age.

I'm still working on setting up the apartment; I have almost finished with the kitchen goods, and am working on the living room / dining room areas.  I still don't have my clock - family foul play is involved.  I'm thinking of scuttling the hammock couch idea and going for a canoe couch instead, or maybe a rowboat.  Evidently my area is a little bit flood prone, so it would be awesome to always be prepared - just float out the window.

6 Weeks

I have completed about 6 weeks at KAPL.  So far, so good.  Learning so much, while getting to futher understand reactors.  Turns out they are complicated little buggers once you start to build them.  Also turns out that nuclear engineers are great at creating names for codes, but not so great at implementing them.  Really need to think of them as tools, where each tool has imperfections - like a crooked screwdriver or a rake handle with splinters*.

*Speaking of tools, DAVID GIVE ME MY BUCKET!  

Memphis BBQ

Really is something about it.  Also went to Beale St.  Curious spot.  Currently I am trying to work through five separate post-it notes of stuff to do. I miss internet at work, but I will be stronger for it.  Hell, now I actually read man pages.

First Weeks

First weeks completed!  Learning lots and lots!  So many codes.  It's very different between academia and industry.  Using words like customer, owner, products.   Welp, learning more every day.

First Day of Work

Ahh, the firehose of knowledge and Acronyms!  A lack of free coffee!  So many powerpoints! The world's funkiest computer systems! All in all, in was a very tiring day.  I don't think I would do temporary housing again.

I still don't know what I am doing.

The folks back on the farm finished up the thinning - pretty sure that we set a two week record.

Spring Time!

I find that when I am home I don't get on the computer much, so I don't update as often.  And when I do update, I find that I have nothing to update about. I am still chilling on the farm, which has been enjoyable.  The nice thing about farm work is that nothing really exciting happens - little bumps, but no large mountains. I basically split my time between the Bum House, the turkey farm, and the orchard.  Currently (as it got nice) we have done a lot of work in the orchard - pretty much finished up the pruning of the apples.  This week we are spreading compost, and hoping to finish the peaches. And tonight, in the rain, we take out a load of turkeys!

Employment

I got a job!  Baring unforeseen difficulties, I should be working at KAPL sometime soon.  Yay adventures!

Winter on the Farm

Sorry for not posting a lot recently; it's always difficult to post whenever I go home. I have spent the last month living at home and chilling with my homeslices.  In particular, I have started several new projects:

• the production of hard cider, looking at the process, different yeasts, apple varieties, and whatnot. It has been pretty fun to go to different places and look at their processes and equipment.
• playing general contractor in the Bum House.  I made a pretty sweet tile shower. I still can't spackel drywall seams.
• enjoying the cold and the snow. Knoxville got nothing on that.
• playing turkeys.  We are retrofitting / updating an older barn, and just got a new flock in on last Wednesday.
• searching for jobs!