Sharpermead - Photos and Thoughts from Scott Harper

I grew up around Boise, Idaho. I graduated the first year Centennial Hight School opened its doors. I spent a couple of years at Boise State University and Montana Tech in Butte, MT before taking a five year break from college to fight wildfires and teach skiing. I met Imke during this time period and decided to go back to school where I got a degree from BSU in Civil Engineering. I worked for a short period at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality while working on a master's degree when I came to the conclusion that I didn't care too much for engineering. I got a job as a distiller at Bardenay Restaurant and Distillery in Boise. I spent four years making gin, rum, vodka, and experimenting with different liquors. I married Imke during this time and we both have very good memories from Bardenay and the people that we met there. I left Bardenay to try my hand at engineering again and I took a job with RiveRidge Engineering in Boise focusing on land development. After returning from a trip to Germany to visit Imke's parents I started to have doubts of being an engineer for the rest of my life. Unfortunately the housing bubble blew up and the ecomony went downhill. I was laid off along with four others in late winter of 2008. Panic set in and I ended up taking a job for a large engineering firm in Anchorage, Alaska doing land development. That did not suit me well and I only lasted there for ten months. I decided to get out of land development and I went to work for EHS-Alaska doing hazardous building materials identification and design. I earned my State of Alaska Professional Engineer's license and thought things were going well. However, some big projects came up and I discovered that I was not able to handle the stress from them and enjoy the work. I left EHS in the fall of 2013. Imke and I decided that it would be nice to leave the United States and move to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany where Imke had completed her Abitur. We arrived in Garmisch in February 2014 and we are still trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives.