My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

Mission Log – Solar Day 162

hay.

A full half-ton of hay. Don’t get hung up on the exact number, that’s pretty much it anyway.

The new crop of alfalfa seeds lags behind their older predecessors—which is to be expected, since alfalfa plants release a chemical that inhibits the reproduction of seeds in the surrounding soil. But overall the situation is pretty good, and it can be considered a small contribution to filling our bellies. It was happily decided that we would all have alfalfa salad tonight, and this time I would join in! (But this time I don’t plan to eat the straw again. I just take some leaves and put them in a beaker to try them out.)

And I can guarantee that the next sentence is absolutely true: This delicious dinner tonight is the result of our hard work all day today. Manually transporting half a ton of hay through two airlocks is a time-consuming, laborious and arduous task. Tomorrow, we still have the difficulties and obstacles of two airlocks waiting for us. After a simple rest for a day or two, we will start again. Gotta get back to digging potatoes. It's just tons of fun.

We often change our food distribution plans on the fly, so my estimates of how long food will last are often inaccurate. The ponies ate mostly alfalfa, with some potatoes, but (rarely) a little oil from my food bag. What I eat every day is a packet of food packets (the staple food) plus about two meals of potatoes, and I also try to stuff in some dehydrated alfalfa leaves (not much actually).

I tremble with fear just thinking about the day when the food package will be finished. If you can only eat microwave baked potatoes all day long, even the improved version with added salt will make you vomit, okay? If only I could travel back in time to 19th century Ireland; I could happily sell all those potatoes, and Fireball wouldn't be out of the question if I could get a packet of cabbage seeds. Of course broccoli, cauliflower, mustard greens and Brussels sprouts are all good too, but for me cabbage is enough. As long as it's not potatoes.

Of course, I would die miserably if I did that, since cabbage has far fewer calories per pound than potatoes. Anyway, what I want to express is that I really, really don’t want to see potatoes anymore.

No, stop it, what am I talking about? My brain is going from O'Hare to Milwaukee. So judging from the current situation, if the ponies only eat alfalfa, when will their food be finished? ...Sound effects engineer, could you please make some drum sounds to create some suspense?

...dang dang dang! Sun Day 360! This is quite an achievement; after all, just sixty days ago, they were only about fifty vegetarian food packets away from starvation!

However, this does not mean that we can rest easy. Even if the Sleipnir 583 spacecraft can be launched on time, it will have to wait until around Sol to reach Mars. We still had at least two more successful rounds of hay and a good batch of potatoes to have enough food to last us until that day, and the chances of something happening in the meantime were too many. Just look at how long the list of lost Mars probes in history is, and you'll probably have an idea. Although no Ares supply aircraft has been hit (so far), there is always a first time for everything.

In addition, these crops play a great role in boosting morale. Cherry Berry and Dragonfly alternately go to the cave to work every day, while I go there once a week; but even after being familiar with it for several months, the scene inside the cave is still incredibly beautiful. Equally unforgettable was the smile on Spitfire's face as she flew; even though she had to flap her wings like crazy to get airborne, she still enjoyed it.

Talking about the latest trends in other aspects, Berry's training on the MDV flight simulator will soon be completed. Her English has also improved a lot, and she has no problem pronouncing at least the words on the pre-flight checklist. At present, she can steadily control the simulated MAV into orbit with her hands (hoofs) without any external intervention. Soon I'll have her practicing various in-flight emergencies, and soon a few others will be listening to my guidance. Flying fire and fireball also flew several times each, but every time as long as Berry on the side became a little interested, they would immediately throw this burden to her to handle.

Over the past few days, I've been teaching Dragonfly how to use my power tools with the help of Sojourner. Most of the tools were familiar to her, but the shapes were slightly different from what she was used to. The main difference is actually that their microelectronics technology is really many years behind ours - at least fifteen years behind the antique components inside the Sojourner. You must know that this is still a conservative estimate. But she still wants to restore the detector to its former glory. We removed a battery from a weather station, and although it was a little too small for the Sojourner, causing it to wobble a lot, it should - in theory - be able to provide the power needed to run the little rover. As long as you can cultivate, you will definitely not be able to escape the eyes of Ting Ting.

One last sad thing: I ran out of the last cleaning wipes today. We also ran out of hand sanitizer a week ago; from now on the only detergent we have available is water, although vigorous rubbing might help. I'm currently actively exploring other options, but the ones that work best require fatty acids, and we obviously don't have that luxury here.

Another piece of news: I now know that according to Starlight Glimmer, Pony and the others’ longest-running series of horror novels and movies originated about two hundred years ago, but the storyline actually took place in a glue factory. inner.

You heard it right, it’s a glue factory.

I haven't decided yet whether to give up on this almost-bad joke...or start thinking about some bold, innovative and unconventional moves.

Don't forget, I haven't figured out how to repay Fei Huo's "Crack, bang, bang" sentence before.