Yosef and the Fruit on the Bottom of the Viaduct

Well lately I've been in hyperdrive trying to complete our residence hall's float for the theme Solid gold. For this, our pitch was a 100% recyclable, reusable, compostable float; as per Kevin's suggestion at hall council last week, we built our 7 foot tall Yosef out of a classically Scout-built framework comprised of logs and lashings. Tyler on the third floor generously donated his yellow and black striped overalls for the occasion, making Yosef look quite distinguished. For Yosef's upper clothing, I set out in search of a black XXL long sleeved shirt, for his abnormally large arms. Unfortunately, Goodwill only had XL shirts, so I settled with two XL navy blue shirts.

Next was the construction of Yosef's head. This was a tricky one seeing as it had to be light, but sturdy at the same time. Settling on paper mache using flour, water, and sugar instead of glue, I slowly but surely watched my eco-friendly fellow grow before my eyes. By Friday, all that needed completing was the final sawing of his various nubs, sewing up of his special shirt, painting and mounting of his head, and final assembly. With all of these parts nearing completion, my inner clock started to tick louder every waking second that I wasn'y in the second floor study, working on my creation. Fortunately, I had Alex help me with the building of Yosef's solid gold with brown specks vest; for this we collected yellow Rhododendron leaves on Thursday, which, by the time Saturday rolled around, were starting to look like week old bananas. Nevertheless, the effect and message was still the same. Also in construction during this time period was a disco ball for Yosef to hold made out of newspaper and crumpled up aluminum cans. (I won't say soda cans because that wouldn't be entirely true.)

Staying up til two on Friday night, Yosef finally stood before me, a finished man...as was I! Physically exhausted from the ordeal, I went to bed for four hours, only to have to wake up and go take Yosef from a rainy Stadium parking lot to Raley Lot--we didn't want Charlie's truck to get towed! Taking a raincoat to throw over Yosef's doughy head, I lay him down in the trailer, praying the rain would go away at least until the judging. Getting back up at 8:30, I dashed over to Raley Lot to inspect our small float. The rain held off, much to our good fortune, and allowed the judges to inspect our Disco-Ball-Holding-Yosef long enough to decide we were FIRST PLACE!!! After many rounds of hoorahs, hoorays, and I-can't-beleieve-its, we trudged off onto Rivers street to start the parade.

After that, I went to the football game where we beat North Carolina Central, 55 to 21!! Go Mountaineers!! Then, with a raspy voice and a tired body, I went to bed early to get a good nights sleep. Today I awoke to a pleasant temperature outside with fog topping the mountains. When I went to exclaim my staisfaction, I merely uttered a wheeze; my voice had been taken from me in the middle of the night. So, every time I talked to someone today, they thought I was sharing a secret, or just plain nuts. By eleven, I set out on the good ol' Blue Ridge Parkway in hopes of getting my first glimpse of the Viaduct. Much to my dismay however, there were clouds everywhere, blanketing the mountains and road in a thick fog. So I hiked up to Rough Ridge to get a nicer view of the fog, and found lots of neat new areas to hike and show other people. I even spotted some Wintergreen in full fruit so I walked along munching the minty fruit of the wonderful plant. I then went down to a stream after narrowly avoiding some idiot tourists taking photos in the middle of the road!!

While on this pleasant little hike, the sun finally decided to come out, so I scrambled back up to my car in hopes of finally getting a view of the Viaduct and what a view it was! PErsonally, I feel today was the peak of the leaf season, as nearly every tree in sight was in full color--they were absolutely spectacular!! Finding a rock where others were taking photos of the Viaduct, I stood where professional photographers have stood while capturing this beautiful part of the parkway in the fall.

Coming back from my wonderful day on the parkway, I stopped by Ingles to do a little shopping and thinking. Seeing Fruit on the Bottom yogurt got me to thinking about the production of foods and how simple things could save energy in ways not thought of before. Fruit on the Bottom yogurt, for example, does not use machinery to mix the fruit with the yogurt; this most likely saves the company a good deal of money, and requires less energy use on their part. So, I got to thinking, what if other products were treated the same way. Could we have frozen meals that you could assemble yourself at home? Or how about a station to bag your own ice--heck, you could even bring your own reusable bag for that, save packaging and money! Because it seems to me that we are reverting back to a time early in the world's history where fresh markets were abundant and items such as packaging were not even heard of. So, basically, what I'm trying to say, is that in order for our world to sustain the populations being reached, we must first revert back to the ways of our ancestors. It seems the only logical way.