EEOB picnic 2008

31 May 2008 - The EEOB spring picnic was held at John and Donna Harder's home. This is a favorite with all the people in the department, and we all appreciate the Harders' generosity in opening their home to us for the picnic.

I've been Social Events Committee chair this year, which translates to the gofer person when it comes down to provisions. I picked up enough Barbeque refreshments for 50+ people on the way up to the Harders' place. Emma had her nose glued to the air grill the whole way up to their place (the air was recirculating through the car and the scent of barbeque was pretty strong). I thought for sure she would have parallel lines on her snoot, but she managed to come out without any evidence of her nosiness.




Canoe races are part of our tradition for the spring picnic. Michael and Richard were along to help for the afternoon, with the first task to bring one of the canoes down to the lake.










Mitch, Donna, and Amy helped to get everything in place under the tent.










Early arrivals took advantage of the prime spots for fishing.










Unfortunately, the weather was rather fickle and we had several downpours while we were waiting for the official start time of the picnic.










Rain plus hail - oh boy!










The storms finished right before the 3 pm start time, so we actually ended up having lovely weather for the actual picnic.








Michael and Richard wanted to do the canoe race, but neither of them had any experience so they did some practicing ahead of time.










John and Meg











Dig in! There's plenty of food.











Foster and Cathy












??? and Ian










John and company on the deck











Dave and Ginny Culver with Donna Harder












John joins his wife for a group photo











Grad students galore











plus a lab puppy












Prime spots for watching the canoe races


















Lisle Gibbs and his son getting in position for the canoe race.









Alex and Helen take a turn, too.













John Harder and grandson watching from a prime location.










Dave Culver and ????













The secret of their winning run - taking a sharp turn through the fountain to save time.









The winners!












Volleyball was the last event of the day.












Hmmmmm - seven to four per team.









Emma wanted to play, too, but she was tied to a post. . .












poor Emma!











Alex, Faith, Michael and Richard made up the four person team.










Lots of action at the net











Ok, well the seven person team had some very short people . . .










Faith and Michael











Alex and Richard












Amy and teammates