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!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

 
pollinator
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BRK #154

Today was a day I spent a lot of time on the tractor... Then came in for Taco Tuesday. Here are photos of the landscape covered (and continuing to be covered) by snow.

There was one point where the sun actually broke through the clouds for about half a minute. I tried to snag a photo before it disappeared again.



These photos are from my time up at the Lab this afternoon.





This is one of the old roads that lead into the Boneyard. I was refueling the tractor, and I enjoyed the look of this snowy passage between the trees.





This last one was along the road back to Basecamp. It reminded me of the hills I would seek for sledding when I was younger.



That's all for now... Definitely exhausted after today! The cold takes it out of ya. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!
 
Stephen B. Thomas
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BRK #155

Happy Christmas Baking Day...!

A few photos of Basecamp, followed by all the cookies.

There's a woodpecker that hangs out in the Berm Shed this time of year, and I notice it's in there when I hear the distinctive pecking sound it makes while it looks for boring beetles. Still trying to move a little closer each time, with the hopes I'll have a legit photograph of it sometime soon. In the meantime, I have these.





While today was mostly cloudy, I caught this snapshot of actual blue skies earlier in the day - also above the Berm Shed.



Meanwhile, no BRK update would be complete without a view of the landscape, of course.



Now, on to the baking. First off: thanks to SEPPer Julia for chipping in throughout the baking session, helping the kitchen run smoothly - and cleanly.

I'll share a photo of my definitely-legit-and-not-horrible-this-time Cracker Jack. Now that I've done it successfully, I have a feeling I'll be making this a couple times a month through the cold months (so, you know, until mid-May). It was definitely a hit, and helped hold us over until the real baked goods were done.



Grey offered-up two different recipes: a vegan oatmeal apple-dried fruit cookie, as well as a thick classic brownie.





Daniel was moving so fast (and I'm such a terrible photographer) that I couldn't catch even one good photo of him at work. But his vegan lemon-sugar cookies are absolutely delicious...!





Caleb brought us some chocolate snaps: a complex recipe that called for "chilling for at least an hour" in the fridge before the baking could begin. I can verify, however, these were worth the wait.







Also: now that Wheaton Labs has an air fryer, SEPPer and tech guru Jeff led it on its maiden voyage today, treating us to sweet potato fries and a rotisserie chicken. I gobbled a handful of fries, and I'm told that the chicken was artfully done and tasty.





Finally: we wrapped today's half-assed holiday with a Christmas movie... Die Hard 2. Yep. Seriously.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...! Bake something tasty!!!
 
Stephen B. Thomas
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BRK #156

Days with double-digit-below-0F temps aren't so bad when you eat homemade vegan cookies as part of your breakfast, says I. Rather, the day is awesome.

The first part of the day was indeed exceptionally frigid, and we did work indoors. Caleb and I gathered supplies for our project: a chandelier light fixture for the Classroom. It'll look something like this when it's done (I stole this picture from Pinterest):



We began assembling the hardware for the different components of the project, then laid them out on the table. After going back-and-forth about carabiners versus cable u-bolts, we settled on this assortment:



To recess the lights, we dug into the Wheaton Labs tool collection to find the hole saws. These were compared to the size of the "light pucks" we'll use for illumination.



The rest of the day was kind of goofed-up because of the cold. The tractor wouldn't start (!) for one. So my afternoon was juggled a bit. No plowing, no dragging-out Judy from a snow bank - fortunately the rest of the team was able to tackle that on their own. For my part, I made a bunch of phone calls and did a bit of admin work: the "other stuff" a High Commander does. So in all, the afternoon turned out all right. Sat down with Paul in the late afternoon and following our chat, munching on cookies for dinner, I had a look at the weather station. 11 below 0 and dropping at half past 6 in the evening.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!
 
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Stephen B. Thomas wrote:It'll look something like this when it's done (I stole this picture from Pinterest):


I'll strongly suggest a different font for your 'meme maker' to avoid grave disappointment among your audience- that reads to me "Pie stolen from Pinterest"
 
Stephen B. Thomas
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Coydon Wallham wrote:I'll strongly suggest a different font for your 'meme maker' to avoid grave disappointment among your audience- that reads to me "Pie stolen from Pinterest"


Looks like they caught me...
 
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