December 9, 2009

Greetings from the Rollinsons.

Another year has gone by so quickly ...

Christy, Maria, David, and John at the wedding reception

The biggest event of the year was the marriage of David to Maria Mangano in September. The wedding was in Syracuse, NY, and the happy couple lives in Pittsburgh. (See more wedding pictures here.) David quit his job ("abandoned a sinking ship") and has returned to grad school at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon. He says that paying for school yourself "focuses the mind"! Maria stays busy with her art -- she is part of an exhibit that opens soon in Pittsburgh -- and works part-time at an art supply store. Before starting grad school, David had two trips to Singapore to help deploy a sewer robot there. He has lots of stories, including an emergency root canal.

Couldn't have asked for a prettier day for a wedding

Christy continues her studies in forest ecology at Penn State. She has finished fieldwork for her master's thesis on the response of forest regeneration to climate change. Her research group actually has heaters in the forest that raise the ambient temperature by 2 degrees (C, I presume) and to some sites they add additional water as well. She's decided to stay at Penn State for a PhD, focusing on Appalachian forests from southern Virginia to northern Pennsylvania. (I wonder how she chose that region?!)

John is doing well at West Point. He's not particularly thrilled that the Army-Navy game was moved to the weekend before final exams. (Actually, they're not "final exams", but TEEs -- Term End Examinations -- since the Army can't possibly use any civilian terms. Mid-terms are WPRs, Written Partial Reviews. I'm getting used to this....) His shoulder has fully recovered from surgery a year ago, but it has taken a while to make up all the APFTs (Army Physical Fitness Tests) he missed while recovering. It's not enough to pass the current semester -- because he missed the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 tests, he had to take and pass the test three times on three consecutive weeks. On the other hand, he aced "Drowning 101" (aka Survival Swimming). Because of his swim team background, he placed into the course section that just gives the required tests. The course has four levels depending upon the cadet's swimming ability -- the lowest track is for "Rocks".

I guess John gets all the space because he currently has the most interesting life. Last summer he spent one month doing research on autonomous vehicles at the Army Research Lab in Aberdeen, Maryland. Then he had a month at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina working with troop training. His summer started with two weeks of preparation for the Academy's summer program for high school prospects, and then working as cadre (leadership) for the next two weeks. Oh yes, he got 4 days of leave between his first two assignments. He's decided that spending a month in Clifton Forge is about 3 weeks more boredom than he needs!

John's participation in the USMA Glee Club continues to take him on interesting trips. The Glee Club did a southern California tour over spring break (LA and San Diego instead of upstate New York in March? What's to choose?) They also sang on Trace Adkin's latest single, and so got to perform at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas and in a concert in New York City. The Glee Club also sang four times during ESPN's Veteran's Day reporting from West Point. You can find the videos on YouTube.

Thanksgiving 2009 -- Just to prove that 20-somethings can still climb trees!

So what are we doing? Not much! Lon is still the Director of Engineering for MeadWestvaco. In May he had a business trip to Amsterdam, and for the first time in many years, I went along and spent three days walking around Amsterdam and visiting many museums. Afterwards, we stayed for three more days. We rented bicycles for one day (my kind of biking -- flat!!!) and biked through the countryside just outside of Amsterdam. Our only concern was that we didn't realize that the Netherlands is very much a cash economy, and we had planned on using credit cards. Between the high prices and low value of the dollar, $500 in cash didn't last very long. I think we had about $3 left when we got off the plane in Raleigh.

We spent a lot of time in upstate New York this fall: a wedding shower in Syracuse in August; the wedding in September; Labor Day at West Point; and the West Point-VMI football game in November.

Solar panels and water tank

We continue to try to "green" our house in Virginia. In the spring, Lon agreed to my economically unjustifiable desire to put up solar panels. So we are now making about a third of the electricity we use. It's quite a kick to watch the electric meter run backwards. In May we started using rainwater to wash clothes. While our well water meets standards, the iron in it was badly staining clothes. We collect the water off the roof of our shed into a 1200-gallon tank (amazing what you can find on Craig's list), then use a small pump and garden hose to get the water into the washer. Next spring we'll be installing a larger cistern and running the whole house off rainwater, supplemented by the well when necessary. We'll be taking water conservation seriously then since rain will only supply about 100 gallons a day. Not a problem for two people, but when the kids visit....

Dakota guards the hose and power cord.

And finally -- apples. When we moved to Virginia (lo these many years ago) we got hooked on fresh (unpasteurized) apple cider. But three years ago the last orchard sold out to developers and our source of cider disappeared. Last year we bought a small apple press on eBay and started our orchard with two "heritage" apple trees. This year we're buying apples, but in five years or so, we should be able to process our own apples. Nothing like fresh food!

Wishing you a healthy and prosperous 2010!

Sue & Lon

Dakota -- part lab, part hound, part shepherd, part ??? -- All Dog -- and color-coordinates quite nicely with the house!

Why we now have bear-proof garbage cans!

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