Back in CONUS
Now that we are back in Maine we have been spending most of our time around the house. Since we are car-less for the first time in I-don’t-remember-how-long we have only had a vehicle on the weekends when my mother is not working. We made one trip up to My brother Isaac’s to see our niece Hazel and the newest addition to our extended family, Asa’s daughter Abby. They are both very well behaved and fun babies to be with. Best of all, they are not mine.
My next weekend trip was up to the White Mountains to take advantage of the last remnants of snow before summer took over entirely. On May 1st, Sunday River had their annual ‘Free Day’. They surprisingly had 4 runs open. It was a scorcher though and the little snow there was, was mush by 10:30. So I jumped in the Jeep and drove over to Tuckerman Ravine for my annual pilgrimage there. The weather was still beautiful when I arrived but I spent the afternoon talking with old friends who live and work up in the ravine. The next day’s weather was not so nice but cooler so the snow stayed firm longer. I got three runs in: Left, Gully, the Chute, and the Lower Headwall. The snow was pretty dirty but it is May after all. The rain held off until late afternoon and it helped keep the majority of the weekend warriors at bay. It was nice to be back up there, albeit brief. It might be the last time I go snowboarding until we go back to Antarctica.
Yesterday we got back from a weekend in western PA. We had a memorial service for my grandfather who was born in that area. It turned out to be more of a Family Reunion than a funeral. There were about 50 people who turned up for the ceremony, most of which I was related to and had never met or not seen in a long, long time. My parents, Luci and I, Isaac and Hazel, and Joel all decide it would just be easier to fly down rather than drive since my mother had to be back to work today. It was Joel and Hazel’s first time on a plane. We rented cars and drove around the area were my father and his family were born and on Sunday we went into Pittsburgh to the Zoo together. Now that we are back we have a whole week before we even have to see a plane again.
When we arrived back here in Maine from NZ, we had an appointment for our medical screening for next season in Antarctica but I still didn’t have a job yet. I hurriedly made some phone calls and e-mails and soon had a job offer with the UTs or Utilities Mechanics. Luci already had a job with supply. Today we began the long process of PQing (Physically Qualifying). The Dr’s appointment was much easier than in past seasons. We got to do the ‘short form’ which means we only had to have blood and urine tests and TB tests. We still have the dental part to do but we wait to do that in Italy where our dentist is. Something always goes wrong though and now it is just a matter of waiting to see what it is. The first time we did the medical my EKG printout didn’t make it into the envelope and we didn’t find out until we were in Italy. Last year, the urine sample for Luci’s drug test opened in the mail (nice’ huh?). We had to go to the forensic science lab at the University of Milan to get a drug test done. Do you know hard it is to find someone who does a PCP test in Italy? This year we have a week-long buffer so hopefully everything will be in order before we leave to go back.
We leave in exactly a week to go back to Italy. Luci and her parents are going to Egypt on holiday and Jesse is coming to visit me while they are gone. He is flying in and out of Geneva. We are hoping to make it up to the hut while he is around but we’ll have to wait and see what the snow conditions are like. I bought a tiny laptop for Luci (a Sony Picturebook). It is perfect for the hut. If we manage to get the phone line working we should be updating the blog often.
Tags: USA
Luke