I only have the buttonbands to go for the little horse sweater, then I get to start the next sweater. Shouldn't take too long. Perhaps I'll go out tonight and finish it up at the knit-night downtown, if I manage to get enough homework done to justify it.
The profs were very nice to us first-years yesterday, and didn't make us go out in the rain and work. It wasn't just for our sake, though. You're not really supposed to muck about in gardens in the rain, because it compacts the soil. And while one person in a home garden isn't a huge deal, 20 of us might have a bit more impact. The second-years were not so lucky. I think they were doing construction, and we saw them coming in after, soaked and muddy. But we got a lecture on 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines, and how to use the smaller gas-powered equipment safely. Completely new topic for me to learn about, seeing as I've mowed grass once in my life, and never touched any of the other stuff. Now I at least have a vague idea of where to find a carburetor...
We also picked our vegetable to research and harvest, and I get to do the Turk's Turban squash. Very pretty variety, streaked red-orange and green.
Today being sunny, we broke out the theodolites and went out to put our surveying theory into practice. Not mapping yet, but just learning how to read the thing and calculate distances and elevations from the readings. I think I've got the hang of it - at least, our group had answers within the right range for each point, and the calculations more or less make sense. The hardest part for me, actually, was being able to get the theodolite focused to take a reading. It's easier without glasses, but then I really have to adjust the focus from the average point to be able to see the lines. (There are three horizontal lines you see through the theodolite that mark the numbers you want on the measuring rod.) All in all, pretty cool.
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