For Crew 35 today was a day of getting acquainted with your crewmembers and with the hab and the surroundings. The latest arrivals, Adam and Felipe were given a grand tour by major John Barainca to Lith Canyon. A very special treat which returned them starry eyed to us. For the rest of us it was still finishing up the engineering refit. So smurfing I went with Anthony. And wiring, and drilling and brushing (cleaning the floor downstairs piecemeally by hand). About the cleaning I have to make a little excursion.

In this place devoid of space you are happy (sometimes ecstatically so) when you find a good spot to keep something like the dustpan and brush which needs to be on hand but not in the way. Anthony and I discovered that the unused sample hatch was just the spot for the dustpan. It fitted exactly in, the handle sticking out somewhat but not interfering at all with going up and down the staircase between the floors. Just the right spot. The staircase needs to be swiped a lot and the right equipment makes for good work, right? Incidentally the staircase should be clean all the time as NO outside shoes are allowed on the staircase. Well, that is the theory, but everyday life shows a different reality.

So the dustpan found its spot. And then today we wanted to use it again and found the dustpan but not the brush. And on Mars you have to wait until the next supplyship to get a new one, which will be not on your crewshift. Anthony and I therefore went about finding this missing brush with a vengeance. Now to get to be on a crew you have to be inventive and a jack of all trades. So the end of the story is that we did find the location of the brush. It had fallen from the sample lock hole in between the inner and outer wall of the Hab. Reaching it took a bit of engineering. Luckily for us Crew 35 has the best Mars Society engineer on loan from Crew 33 and 34. It goes without saying that Paul did get the brush out from between the outer and inner wall. A long gaspipe with a hook on one end did the trick. Do not worry, we will not lose this brush again to the sinkholes of the Hab. No, not us. We filled the space between the inner and outer wall with a piece of surplus fibreglass insulation. Task done, problem solved.

After their excursion Adam and Felipe started hiding the lumber, lying about in front of the Hab, in Antarctica. The view of the hab is therefore much improved. Also today Paul, Adam and Kevin hooked up the new water tank back in Main Engineering. Removing this piece of engineering removed the last eyesore of the area around the Hab. After we clean off all the surplus material of the engineering refit pictures of our Hab will be worthy of lifestyle magazines. Which is good for me, for a Dutch Lifestyle magazine just interviewed me about the hab. Tomorrow I might be able to take the pictures they requested to accompany this article.

As Paul gave the crew an extensive ATV-training I wired some smurfpipes. This was done in a minute or three. I did not feel like writing my Dutch Weblogs right there and then so I decided to boost crew morale once more with my Hab-baked apple pie. After that I did dinner preparations as Chef Extraordinaire on the third crew in a row. Dinner on Mars today was salmon Italian style, Italian salad of various lettuce, tomatoes, a supreme vinaigrette of superb olive oil, organic balsamic vinegar, basil, and of course some secret ingredients. Simple cooked potatoes to compliment the herbs of these dishes. As said above dessert again the much acclaimed Chef's hab-baked apple pie. All in all we firmly believe we eat better than you Earthlings as Marsonauts should.