Shalom

My name's Dave.  Long time reader first time contributor.  Some of you know that I'm living in Portland right now.  There's a pretty good Colby community here which is nice, even if Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Goldring are too sweet to hang out with me.

After cooking at the restaurant in the airport for a few months I have moved up in the culinary world to Sea Dog Brewing Company.  If any of you have been to the one in Topsham its basically the same restaurant except that this one is located near the Maine Mall and has a lovely view of the highway and a furniture store instead of being on the water.  My days here are numbered though as I have found out that in February I will be going to Israel for a five month Hebrew immersion program.  I will be living on a Kibbutz (that's a collective farm, Aditya) relatively close to both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  My time there will be split between Hebrew classes and working.  I don't know what kind of work they will give me but its possible that I will be working in the petting zoo.

I am thinking about taking the month of January off from work to get ready for my trip and I will probably try to travel around a little bit and visit with people.  In the off chance that any of you would like to see me this is your last chance.  Ever.

I hope everyone is healthy and happy.

Dave

Snow

Toast, congrats on knocking up the pineapple. I hope it is the beginning of a fruitful relationship... Sorry for that. Anyhow, snow has come to Colorado early this year. Looks like this storm will easily eclipse a foot (I'm hopeful) in downtown Denver, and has already dropped multiple feet on parts of the mountains. That means all of you should come visit to build forts and snowmen and the like. Hope all is well wherever all of you may find yourselves.

Jamie

Scrappy Jr. is Pregnant!

It's finally happened! Scrappy Jr., my beloved pineapple plant, has become pregnant with his second pineapple!

This marks a momentous occasion: It is the first time any pineapple plant I've owned has produced a pineapple of its own volition. Scrappy Sr. (RIP) only produced the one it had growing when I bought it from the store. Scrappy Jr. produced the one it had growing when Jess gave it to me, and now it's having another. Scrappy III, the plant I've grown from the crown of Scrappy Jr's first pineapple, is alive and well, and I am confident that it will become pregnant soon too.

This is going to take a lot of patience because these fruits don't grow quickly, especially in Aroostook County, but I am stoked to have a new addition to my pineapple plantation. I'm not sure what it's name will be yet. I don't think I can call it Scrappy IV because it's not a descendant of III. Maybe I'll call it Aditya????

I'll take pictures soon, but right now my camera battery is charging, so we'll have to wait...

In other news, it's been snowing lately, and for the second year in a row, I got my first ski in on Oct 22. It's raining now, and the skiing will be gone tomorrow. I've made the most of the last three days, though, skiing four times. My parents were event able to get a ski in...

Oh yeah, my parents came up to visit last week. It was really great to show them around, and they definitely got a kick out of all the crazy Acadians. I taught both parents to shoot a biathlon rifle. It was pretty funny to watch my mom holding a big gun. She looked truly absurd. My papa decided to make friends with the Acadians by hauling wood with them, which was a truly inspired idea. They all seemed to love him for it, and in the end they threw us a special dinner, complete with Acadian Chicken Stew (which I adore, and know I'll never perfect because it simply isn't in my blood) and ployes. They left today, and although it was awesome to have them here, it will be nice to have my little apartment to myself again. I think they will be happy to be home as well. They were chagrinned, to say the least, when they found out their big fall vacation would not only be cold, but snowy. At least there isn't snow in the driveway in Steamboat yet.

Now it's time for laundry, and a nap.

Love and Adventures,
Toast

With Paper Clip for Comparison

Doesn't look like I've got any award winners in this bunch

Not Ready for the County Fair... Yet!

Hey Everyone,
Happy Fall. The leaves here are beautiful, and I just got back from a good run. Life is busy right now, but it's also going really well. I had a great time at the USSA cross-country coaches conference in Minneapolis. I got to visit Big Dan and John Swain, and I did a lot of great networking. I was tickled by the fact that I was on a "business trip" in a big city, so I used lots of words like networking and management. Noteworthy moments include visiting my first strip club... where we were also the only white people and getting set up at a bar by the head coach for the US Ski Team! It was sweet.

I was also able to visit Colby a bit this fall although, unfortunately, not when any of you were there. It's carrying on without us, but it definitely misses us. Foss has gone seriously downhill I hear. They aren't even open on weekends now. Oh how I miss Foss Brunch!

The other reason I'm writing today is because I have finished harvesting the last of the vegetables from my garden. It was not ceremonious (though I did thank the powers that be for the bounty, if you can call it that). It was however, a good nod to the ceremony they call potato harvest here. Harvest Break just ended, and the kids all went back to school today. For the next week or two people will scavenge the potatoes the harvesters missed from the fields. I will participate if I find a good companion. There are also a few apples left waiting to be picked from trees here and there. After that, they ground here in the Saint John Valley will not bear more food until next year. Mothers are at work canning and filling root cellars, and I look forward to a few charity jars of pickled veggies in the next month. I'm almost out of the jams that were bestowed upon me when the berry picking was good.
My garden, although I cared for it lovingly, did not yeild that much food. It sent some sugar snap peas my way and some lettuce early in the summer. I had about a pound of green beans and even several thumb-sized cucumbers. I added the cukes to a batch of pickles I made from some legitimate sized cucumbers that I got at a farm stand.
Finally, today I picked my carrots. It was time because I gave up weeding a few weeks ago, and grass was threatening to over-run the entire patch. My carrots are true baby carrots. They are prettier and healthier and sweeter and better for the environment than those guilt-laden "baby carrots" that were lathed down from the real thing in a factory somewhere. However, I was not trying to grow baby carrots. They, like the baby cucumbers, were simply a function of the crappy soil I planted in. Lesson learned: soil quality is clutch. I have a good batch of compost brewing, and next year I plan to have better soil and vegetables that would at least hold their own at the fair. I don't need to win, but I don't want runts again either.

Lastly, I have the preliminary results from my VO2Max test back. It looks really good. I scored over 80, which is right up there with the best in the world. The average male around our age is in the mid 40's, and the highest ever recorded is 96 (interestingly, achieved by the greatest Nordic skier ever). What this means is that in the months ahead I will try to build up my fitness, and I will put some serious thought into a professional career. The potential is there if I can put it all together. The next step is telling Mama and Papa Toast... I'll keep you posted.

Love and Adventures,
Toast