Week 27

Curious seals...

As the mini marshmallow makes an arch above my head, I anticipate its landing and open my mouth wide for the delicious event that is about to occur. But at the last second, I realize that my initial toss was overzealous and that if I don’t somehow compensate for my error, the tiny marshmallow will land not in my expectant mouth, but on the floor behind me. So in a single fluid motion, I half jump, half slide into position just in time to catch the sugary delight, at the same time losing my sock footed balance on the slippery wood floor, completely disconnecting with the solid surface into a horizontal position, and finally falling back down to earth in a straight line, every part of my body hitting at exactly the same time. Never before have I come so close to doing what I imagine to look exactly like a Dick Van Dyke fall, and my laughter was so great that it failed to audibly leave my lips, and I was assumed dead on impact by Jacquie. Ironically, it wasn’t the fall that almost killed me, but rather the marshmallow that moved from my tongue to the back of my throat during the fall. It’s the little things that bring us joy in life, and what better thing to enjoy than marshmallows and Dick Van Dyke falls?

In other news, my team sailed to Parramour Island (a barrier island off the Eastern Shore) on Monday to pick up trash and enjoy the day. While walking along the beach, we found a rope buried in the sand just like in Lost. I told Jacquie not to pull and follow it, because in the show, that leads to getting shot and tortured, but she did it anyway. All we found was some concrete tied to the end though. We also came across what looked like an old hatch door, also something Lost has taught me to beware of, which we did a little photo shoot with. It was a really neat day, and to make it even better, we passed a barrier island filled with seals! Our boat scared them a little, causing them to jump into the water and surround us, playfully popping their heads above the water’s surface before abruptly ducking them back down. Such a unique sight.

The next day, Jacquie and I made signs for Kiptopeke State Park and then helped to “plant” them, as our supervisor Jerry put it. Later, some of our team headed to Stingray’s, a local restaurant, in search of Death By Chocolate, a famous dessert we were told it would be disrespectful to leave Cape Charles without trying. So what could we do but stuff ourselves so full of brownies, chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whip cream, that it was difficult to move for a good 5 or so hours afterwards?

On my last day in Virginia, I raked leaves and pine needles from camp sites, to prepare them for the coming vacationers with their tents and desire for living the rugged dream. A worthy cause if you ask me. That night we went out for our team dinner at El Maguey, where we were identified as volunteer types by a Habitat for Humanity employee at the next table, who asked us if we had been working with Habitat. I suppose we are a pretty rag tag bunch. As I looked around the table I noticed that the majority of us were wearing flannel, and that was us at our most dressed up. Man I love my AmeriFamily!

After two solid days of travel, I have now made a new home in Hattiesburg, MS. It seems that our trip brought not only to a changed location, but to a changed season as well. Yesterday we worked with the Girl Scouts, helping to unload and sort a truckload of cookies, comfortably wearing shorts and t-shirts. Today it’s 76 °F and feels like a pleasant, kick-off-to-summer type day. It puts me in the mood to roll down the car windows and listen to Modest Mouse, which as Scotty will tell you, means I’m in summer mindset already.

Our trip from Virginia to Mississippi took us right past Mobile, AL, and we got to stop in at one of our old worksites and visit our old site supervisors! Mobile was definitely the hardest place for me to leave when it came to saying goodbye to these people who were so much like family, so it was a huge treat to see everyone again and visit for a little while.

The new house that I’ll be living in for the next 5 weeks is pretty great, and has an amazing porch overlooking 2 ponds. Last night I sat out there, playing my guitar and staring at the stars. There are only three beds, so the majority of us are sleeping on cots we brought from campus, but don’t cry for me, because I can assure you that cot living is actually very enjoyable. It’s surprising how little one needs to be happy and comfortable. I was in bed by 9:30 last night, and slept like a baby.

Love you guys!

 k

Week 26

Looking out at the "great salt marsh."

Trees, trees, trees. Well, not actually tress; shrubs really. Wax Myrtle shrubs to be exact. In 2 days, my team, along with a small group of retired nature enthusiasts, planted over 2,000 Wax Myrtles at Mutton Hunk Fen Natural Area Preserve. These shrubs are necessary to the survival of many different types of birds, giving them shelter and sustenance during migration.

We first unloaded our little leafy friends from the delivery truck into smaller pickups and trailers. Each plant was plopped into a hole, drilled within long rows throughout 3 fields by a back hoe. Upon the distribution of plants to an entire field, groups of 3 planters would walk down the rows, removing the plastic bucket encasing each plant, and carefully but firmly make it snug in its hole. This process required quite a lot of walking, bending, and kneeling, which is tiring when done for hours on end for multiple days. However, we finished in record time, and then moved on to picking up hundreds of pounds of trash and recycling strewn throughout a forest. Apparently there are all kinds of miniature “dumps” like this out in the middle of nowhere, because people that lived in those areas found it easier to get rid of their trash this way than to take it somewhere.

Along with picking up this 50 year old trash, we also learned how to survey land, and were given the responsibility of surveying several ditches, the information being necessary for the preserve manager to ascertain whether or not certain waterways could be blocked without flooding neighboring pieces of land. Also, Cain and I got to chainsaw some invasive species of trees, so that was fun too. All in all, it was a fantastic week! The weather was mostly beautiful, and there was a day or two that I worked in short sleeves. This is February, right?? My summer tan barely had a chance to fade, and already it’s returning.

Fire lining Wax Myrtles out of the truck.

Highlight of the week: getting to see an old house torn down by Richard, my site supervisor. We also made it into the Eastern Shore Newspaper (not positive that’s what it’s called), so that’s kind of neat.

In other news, I’m trying to be a vegetarian after reading the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. After all the disturbing stuff I’ve learned about factory farming, I can’t so much as look at meat without getting queasy. It’s been over a week since I ate meat, and so far, it hasn’t been too much of a struggle, although, I haven’t been offered a cheese burger yet either. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I wrote a new song today that combines some ideas I picked up from reading Zeitoun (I highly recommend this one. It’s by Dave Eggers), The Road, and The Giver. Good thing I have my handy dandy portable recorder with me so I can let you hear it :) Check on my Facebook if you're interested, since I have no idea how to post it here.

Putting the trailer pin in for the tractor ramp.

We’ll be leaving Virginia this coming Thursday in order to start our next project in Hattiesburg, MS. I’m excited about the new project, but I’ll certainly miss the Eastern Shore and all the extremely cool people I’ve grown so fond of here.

Weeks 24 & 25

Up to my waist in bog water, reinforcing a dock structure.

The days are just packed…

The last day of January saw us in the windy cold of an open field next to rows and rows of formerly irrigated trees, soon to be bulldozed to the ground. Our mission was to rip up old irrigation hoses in the ground running to each tree, cutting them into manageable sections that we could load into a pick-up truck to haul away. This task, in combination with cutting back overgrown branches from a vehicle pathway in the field, removing plastic tree shelters from dead or self sustaining young trees, and pulling up PVC pipe markers stuck in the ground to mark sections of trees constituted a day of physically draining labor. Besides being heavy, difficult jobs that required trudging through fields of deer scat, the only pathways being those established by the deer themselves, it was a chilly day that got progressively colder and slightly rainy. Let me paint you a picture:

Ruth & I putting down stakes for new boardwalk.

Carrying the PVC markers near the end of that long, cold day.

Imagine you are exhausted from having struggled with thorns and hoses all morning. Lunchtime arrives, but in the hubbub of getting out the door on time that morning while in competition for making breakfast and packing lunch and taking showers and finding boots with 9 other people, you accidently left your carefully prepared lunch on the kitchen counter, which translates into nothing to feed your empty tummy. Your loyal teammates offer to share their lunches, but knowing they are just as hungry as you are, you decline, vowing to never be so stupid ever again.

My whole team with 2 of our supervisors from the
VA Nature Conservancy.

The temperature descends, and icy rain sprinkles strike your face as you struggle to consolidate as many tree shelters as possible in an attempt to make as few trips across a hilly field of tall grass as you can. The shelters are awkward and become heavy when you’ve been walking with your arms full of them, back and forth, back and forth, with no end in sight. The heavy steel toed boots on your feet do not make this constant journey any easier, and the lack of decent padding inside becomes more noticeable with each passing step.

Jacquie and I on our newly built boardwalk.

Parts of you are freezing while other parts of you are sweating, causing a strange internal struggle of wondering whether you should peel off layers or zip your parka all the way to your chin. As the end of your task seems to be approaching, and your mind wanders to how good it will feel to soon be able to warm up by fireplace with a mug of homemade hot chocolate in your hand, your feet free of boots and your tummy full of nourishment, your supervisor informs you that there are many more miles to go before you rest. More fields to cross, more cold to face, and more heavy tasks to accomplish. If you can imagine all of this, then you have a pretty good idea of how I felt that day.

A people pile is an excellent way to keep warm during
a well earned break.

Other than that, these past two weeks have been great. The Groundhog Day party I arranged for my team was a success. I made a cake with decorated Nutter Butter groundhogs springing up all over the place, Cain drew a Pin The Shadow On The Groundhog game on the back of a Chinese menu, Jacquie and Sarah made stellar decorations, including but not limited to multiple paper chains, and Ruth hooked up her 3G internet so we could watch Groundhog Day (Bill Murray) through Netflix.  This February 2^nd was a day to remember.

Everything had to be cut up small enough to
burn in the trough to the right.

We worked on demolishing and then rebuilding another boardwalk trail through a swamp at the Virginia Nature Conservancy. I got to work on a whole section with Ruth and Ashlyn, and let me tell you, it’s amazing how much three girls in chest waders can accomplish in just a couple of hours. Other highlights include getting to haul a bunch of old boardwalk materials around on a 6-wheeler, as well as getting to chainsaw my first giant fallen tree, which required a pie cut. Truly a great accomplishment.

Having finished our allotted tasks at the Nature Conservancy earlier than expected, our sponsor gave us a day off to go on a fieldtrip to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, where we did some hiking, saw some wild ponies, and explored the information center.

Putting rails on the boardwalk at 1st Landing.

On Friday the 4^th, we headed across the Chesapeake Bridge to First Landing State Park in the Virginia Beach area, where we spent the week demolishing and rebuilding a big boardwalk. It really didn’t take us that long, considering they gave us one day off to go to the Virginia Aquarium, and then we received so much snow on Wednesday night (around 3”) that we were unable to work on the project for an entire day. However, the days we did work, we got so much quality work completed that Ranger John, our supervisor, kept telling us how impressed he was with our work, and that if any of us wanted to come back and work for the park this summer, he’d hire us in a second.

My first 6-wheeler experience. Got it up to 25mph!

We are now back in Kiptopeke for our remaining 2 weeks in Virginia. I can‘t believe we’ve already been here for 3 weeks, and I get sad when I think about that fact that we’ll be leaving soon. We’ve had such a great experience here, I can’t help but wish for a longer term, but Hattiesburg awaits us, so we cannot linger.

One other thing to report is that I got to go with Jacquie to visit her grandma, aunts, uncle, and young cousins last weekend in Maryland (about a 2 ½ hour drive), and we had a great time. Such an awesome family, and I’d like to give a big shout out to Aunt Diane, John, and Emily, for letting me stay with them and play Wii, Grandma Jablonski and Aunt Lauren for a delicious dinner, and all of these people plus Uncle Paul for a wonderfully pleasant afternoon. You guys are such a welcoming family, and I appreciate your sincere hospitality.

Showing the trees who's boss.

What else can I say for this week, except, how ‘bout them Packers?!?!

What's better than a walk on the beach on a
 beautiful Saturday afternoon?