Fiddleheading

It is a New England tradition. Ferns before they unfurl are called fiddleheads. They are delicious (if you pick the right ones), and my Dad has been bugging me for my entire Dartmouth career to get on the bandwagon and go foraging. This term has been super busy, so I didn't think that I would get a chance; however, on an earth science field trip, we happened to stumble on a river bottom chock full of fiddleheads. So while the rest of the class looked at the stream rock size, I stuffed my sweatshirt to the brim. The quiche that came out of the project pretty much has convinced me – fiddlehead picking is going to be

a springtime tradition!

PE instructor?

I am now a certified standup paddleboard instructor for Dartmouth College. Yesterday, I had my first PE class on the Connecticut River. We went over techniques for going straight and turning, then as a final hurrah, we paddled some obstacle courses. Not a bad first day!

getting the rust off

It has been unreal here in New England. Straight up Colorado low humidity, sunshine. All day long, all week, so we packed up and headed to Rumney to shake the climbing cobwebs off. As usual, we may not have been the best or most experienced climbers at the crag, but we sure had the most banter going on. Between the great climbs and a final swim in the river, I would say that we won the day.

Bowling!

I’m back at it! After a few weeks of break from turning bowls, I decided to get back to it with a spalted maple bowl. To top it off, I took pictures of some of the steps! Check out the transformation!

Burly!!

This weekend was Woodsmen Spring Weekend. This means that we drive to a random community college in the middle of The Fingerlakes in New York State, and compete in logger sports! The first day, I think the goal was to completely tire me out. With:
 Single Buck:

 

Log Rolling:

Singles canoe race and triathalon (throw an axe into a target, run, saw, then throw the axe again); I think that they succeeded in tiring us out. 

For day 2, the wind picked up and my partner in crime, Annie Laurie and I competed in V Chop together as we all received wind induced facials. As a team, we are known as Animal Laurie and Lorin the Impaler. Not bad, eh?

After the event, we made the long drive home, joking that we were the best ivy league woodsman team since 1949. Well its true. We are also the only ivy league woodsmans team.

House sitting

I just had the coolest job ever. House sitting for the very guy who taught me how to turn bowls. His house is a work of art. Every part is built from wood from his land and the sheer number of bowls scattered about his house is astounding! Check them out!

Picnic table #2

There is one thing about being an engineering student – getting out in the sun is a rare occurrence. To counter this, I built a standing picnic table. It even doubles as a serving table when the grill gets hot!

Picnic Table #1

As a culdesac with three houses, we have something real special – community.
On any given evening you can find someone cooking enough food for an entire crowd, and on Sundays, we even plan on a crew for family dinners. With the weather getting nicer, I wanted to be able to have these great events outdoors, so I built a picnic table. The very next morning, we had a huge breakfast in the sun – the best. The only problem? It just started snowing again!