Halfway through

There comes a time when one should reflect on what's been achieved & look forward to what's coming up. A little deep? Possibly, in other words I'm halfway through my 8 week trip so let's have a little round up at what I've been up to.

It's been quite a week in this corner of the US. I awoke last Sunday to be met by all manner of weather warnings for the forthcoming Tuesday. Bit excessive was my initial reaction but after speaking to everyone at school on Monday I was reliable informed that the aforementioned snow storm would arrive and it had since been upgraded to an event.!!! Exciting times ahead. Well firstly the university closed down for two days in preparation, bit of time to catch up with thing's and allowed me to experience my first 'weather event'. So Monday evening the snow was forecast to start around 6pm and continue until Wednesday with forecasts for around 3-4 feet of snow. That's a lot of snow. Even for round these part's. So I did what everyone seemed to be doing and headed to the liquor store and got myself some supplies. Now I was ready. So as forecast the snow arrived and it continued to snow for about 24 hour's. Now as I have previously mentioned in these part's, there used to dealing with extreme weather event's round here and as the snow continued to fall all manner of snow ploughs continued to do there thing & transport bans where put in place to restrict movement. It has to be said I was very impressed with the organisation of the whole thing. Praise indeed..!! So as my supplies dwindled the resulting snow storm 'Juno' had deposited just over 2 foot, quite a bit short of what was predicted but still a fairly impressive amount.

So with two days of no classes it gave me, and some other fellow Winter Turf School collegues the opportunity to attend the New England Turf Show. Now due to the weather the event was scaled back a bit but it was still very enjoyable. Highlight of the day was a presentation by Bob Farren, Golf Courses Manager at Pinehurst golf resort. He talked us through the changes made at the #2 course and hosting back to back men & ladies US Open. Fascinating stuff. Especially how the course has been taken back to its original features & look and in a time where the  'manicured' look is the supposedly ideal. A case in point of managing each venue on it's strengths and location.
One other thing about the day was how far we travelled, over 400 miles.!! Still not got to grips with how big this place is..!!
But it did allow for another stop at Dunkin. Keeping America, and me moving..!!
So the rest of the week it was back to school with everyone returning slightly refreshed, apart from those who had embarked on 400 mile road trip.

So let's have a little recap. It seems like I've been here ages, the nightmare journey getting here is just a fading nightmare. The course continues to move along at fair old pace. Everyone on the course is really getting along and helping each other out. We've lost a couple of students for varying reasons but everyone is getting on with what I'm sure will be a packed next couple of week's. Next weeks highlights include soil chemistry & physiology, aborculture, disease management & a couple of guest lectures from the USGA agronomist department. Busy, but enjoyable week ahead.

So as Sunday dawns, the natives are getting excited about the super bowl, I'll be doing my bit, to quote Ron Burgundy 'when in Rome' by watching a game I don't fully understand but hopefully cheering at the right time's  (and more importantly for the right team..).
It's also rather pleasing to note the game will be played on natural turf, justification , if any where needed why the green stuff will always be best.....