MWOBS update

Busy day yesterday - but a good one. I woke up when it started get light - about 4:30 AM. The film crew of 5 (I was originally told there would be 2) arrived here at 7:30 AM - about 4 hours earlier than we expected. Didn't have their room ready - oh well - they had to make their own beds.

The film crew is doing some sort of contrived or shall we say "staged" documentary about the observatory, using themselves as actors. They seem to know what they are doing. From my perspective I'm actually very glad to not be on camera, with the biggest impact being we are cooking for 13 now instead of 8.

Speaking of cooking, dinner was a huge hit last night. The main course was Chicken Piccata, a recipe I improved upon back in my meat eating days. Dinner is at 7 PM. It smelled so good that at 6:50 the staff were like vultures behind me at the stove, breathing down my neck as I was putting on the final touches. Pretty funny.

Thanks to my sis and Bob, my fellow volunteer, we had a fabulous chocolate cake for dessert. Bob made the cake early in the day, and Pat emailed me her favorite buttercream recipe, which I added a little almond extract to. I topped it with toasted coconut and sliced almonds. It was a big hit. Thanks Pat. When I figure out how to download photos from my camera, I'll post a pic of it.

While the crumb coat was chilln', Bob and I went for a 2 hour hike - in the fog. They gave us a radio, so we could check in for weather updates and give our location. Pretty cool - our personal professional weather observer. We took a series of trails in a big loop down and then back up, which I will now refer to as the "Tour de Big Rocks". I don't think we actually walked on dirt more than 10 feet the whole way.

Last night we lounged around the living room and watched "Up".

This morning a think I won over Marty, the resident summit cat, by playing with him by dragging a fuzzy rope around. Fun.