Asparagus smells like skunk when you cut it

That's right, not just bodily fluids take on odd odors when exposed to asparagus. We are not yet sick of eating it after four days, but are sure the day will come. Fellow pickers who have been here for several weeks lovingly call it "asparashit" and other names. There are about 12 to 15 others living here from all over the world, most younger than us. Friendly folks. Perhaps the best part about being here though is the scenery...the mtns are very nice, covered with snow when we first arrived. Weather changes frequently here (puts new england to shame), and when we wake up it is probably about 40F, warming to perhaps 80F during the day if and only if the sun is shining. The sun is scorching when it is out. Gretchen and Matt told us that this was due to the ozone hole. So we have to be extra careful and lather up with sun goo. I went fishing today for the first time. The river is just on the other side of the asparagus fields, down a steep gully. New Zealand boasts some of the finest trout fishing in the world even though not a single trout lived in the country before Europeans arrived. I did not catch a NZ trout today but three of the damn things chased my fly just long enough for me to stop from drooling. They were massive. A french guy here broke the rules and used live bait (good 'ol earth worm) the other day to catch one of the biggest rainbow trout i've seen. I'm really glad Julie persuaded me to bring my rod and tackle. To think I almost left it behind! There are miles of gorgeous river here and few people (sheep and cattle outnumber us by a lot!!) so I hope to land and consume a nice trout of my own one of these days, if our backs don't give out on us before our four week time commitment is through. I think we will acclimate to the constant bending over and we have high hopes to one day pick as much asparagus as our French, Japanese, English, Danish, Malaysian, Aussie, and Kiwi colleagues. They say, "So, how much did you pick today?", we answer proudly, "well, seventeen crates between the two of us!", and they say, "i picked 17 as well, by myself". No, they are much more polite than that. And we do better every day. We look forward to more hot dry days so the asparagus will keep poking out.