Tuesday, August 5, 2008

GAH!!!

Where do I begin? It's been two weeks and time has been running away from me.


Here is a list of things that have happened to me in no particular order. I tell the tales of some of them in a moment.



Saw the new X-files movie with Courtney.

Chips and salsa has become one of my new staples.

Took a group of young photographers and their mentor on the vernal pool hike and had the best time of my life in Rhode Island so far.

Destroyed only 1/3 of the knapweed that is choking Sachuest refuge.

Went to the beach with a YSA named John.

Had dinner with another YSA, Kristi at her house. Steak and salads.

Watched a dumb chuck Norris flick with the other interns.

Hated last Wednesday night.

My shoe is dying.

I fell waist deep into a mud hole.

Because of the previous event I think that my phone is dead.

Enjoyed some good storms.

Participated in minnow trap surveying…Kayaked around Trustom pond

Had lunch with people from the northeast regional office…our regional office.

Saw Mama Mia with Kristi

Etc, etc, etc.

So I wonder again where I shall begin. Never again can I let more than a week go by without posting. My last post seems ages ago. Months. I’m just going to go over a few things. If you feel the need to have me elaborate on any of the other bulleted items feel free to let me know.
Tuesday the 29th was a very good day. The previous Sunday one of the only young single adults of the opposite sex approached me and asked if I wanted to go to the beach with him and his family on Tuesday. I said yes and we set the time. I am not particularly impressed by John. He is nice, but I do not foresee soul mate status being reached in the amount of time I have left here (mom). Nevertheless, I agreed to accompany him. The beach is always fun. So with that to look forward to I began my Tuesday. It started with trying to rid Sachuest Point Wildlife Refuge of its knapweed problem which is almost as bad as its swallowwort problem. Then I went to kettle pond to take a small group of children, their parents and a photographer on an amateur photography run to the vernal pool. Tom, the photographer has been taking this "class" to various places to capture nature. He approached Janis about having a "biologist" go out with them and she sent him to me. So for the rest of my time here I will be spending 2-4 on Tuesdays with this group. I have to say that it has been a long time since I have had that much fun working. The children were so active and interested and well behaved. They were all very smart and willing to get dirty to see cool things. I fell in love with one of the little girls named Sara...no not because we share a name. She was maybe 5 years old, wearing a pink jumper and could charm the pants off anyone. She was shy at first, but I couldn't get her to stop telling me stories once she warmed up. She was so sweet and the whole time I was working with these kids I couldn't stop smiling. After they were gone I was left with a content heart, a desire to have my own children and a picture that Sara had colored for me. It was a wonderful experience. Then later that day, I went to the beach with John. It was beautiful, the water was perfect and I had a good conversation with John about life, family, school, etc. Like I said earlier, he's nice, it was fun, but the potential for me never leaving Rhode Island because of him is low.

Tuesday August 5th –I will only go briefly over the catastrophe that was this day. Me and Corey were out doing Phrag Transects. Frag stands for Phragamite or Phragamitus australis I believe. It’s a sort of grassyish plant. This task is basically a tedious method of taking samples of the vegetation around the coast of the ponds located on the refuges. I had no idea how wet this would be, so I was unprepared. I wore my usual shoes, not boots. Apparently my shoes are not suited for the activities required of a Fish and Wildlife intern. I have been told that sturdier shoes meant specifically for intense outdoor activated would be better. So should I go to a Cabellas? Or a Bass Pro? Anyway, the wet muddiness caused the glue holding the rubber bottom of my shoe to melt away even more than it already had. The result is that I have almost completely lost the rubber bottom of my shoe. I wish that this were the worst of my problems. We got through 2 of the three transects with nothing worse than a little sludginess. On the last transect there were problems. Here the ground looked solid, but hidden on it’s deceiving surface were a good number of holes. First, I went knee deep into one of these. No problem. I groaned and chuckled at my misfortune. If your not willing to get a little dirty in this job then you shouldn’t be doing it. I pulled myself out. The next step I took was right into another knee deep hole. Of all the rotten luck! Of course that would happen to me. I laughed more incredulously this time and pulled myself out again. I was more careful after that and suffered no further embarrassment through the rest of the transect. As we were leaving he area I got the best yet. Usually I would have followed Corey’s every step that way he fell into a hole and I could go around the known bad spot. For some reason I decided not to do this. This proved to be a terrible error in judgment on my part. I took a step and all of a sudden the ground had dropped out from underneath me and I was waist deep in a mud hole. Not the most fun thing to happen. Again I tried to laugh it off, but this was getting ridiculous. Corey didn’t even come over to help me out. So I braced myself on the already unstable ground and hauled my lower half out of the hole. I took a few more steps, soaked and trying to wipe my hands on somewhere clean and then BAM! I was waist deep again…in another hole!!! I let out an angry exclamation this time as Corey laughed. I hauled myself out AGAIN and just started walking. I didn’t fall in again. I think that 4 times was enough. I sat on a trash bag on the ride home. I told Corey and everyone else once they heard the story that I win the “this sucks” game.

I wish I could say that falling into a hole and getting muddy was the worst part of all this. That’s nothing. Just dirty cloths and embarrassment. I’ve gotten just as dirty and wet spelunking. No my friends. The worst part is that since I went waist deep and I decided it was safe to take my cell phone out while doing transects…my phone got wet. It emitted strange crackling noises and I’m pretty sure I heard and emergency self destruct alert amid the static. There was definitely a woman’s voice similar to the woman warning the hatch people of the hatches imminent destruction on lost. Anyway, I cleaned it as best I could, took it apart as far as it would go. Then I put it in rice to absorb the moisture I guess. This was the suggestion of a supposed “expert.” Now I am waiting for the end of the week to see if this has any effect on resurrecting my phone. I am praying hard that it does. Another entry will follow some point on my feelings concerning this.

This entry is already very long. So I will make this short. The X-files movie was awesome, Dinner with Kristi was great, Chuck Norris is dumb and nowhere near as cool and awesome as Jack Bauer even if he might have been awesome in his time. I love chips and salsa, cutting knapweed is sweaty work, Mama Mia was ridiculous and silly but cute. Um I think that’s it. Again if you feel that you want me to elaborate on any of the things I skimmed on let me know. I will be communicating with those of who wish is via e-mail since I don’t have a phone. I may not have one until some time after I get home which is TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!!! I’m excited and just a little sad.

Alright. I am going to stop now and let you all get on with your lives. Pray for my phone…haha, just kidding. It does seem that all the electronics that make me happy are dying on me. First my iPod and now my phone. Maybe God is trying to tell me something.

Hope everyone is still enjoying the summer. I will be somewhat glad when mine is over.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

It is time

Time to get excited for things to come...

24 season 7 (still have to wait a while for this one)

Heroes season 3 (September)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (November)

Twilight (December)

A few things. First, for those of you who have not ever seen an episode of Heroes, it is a pretty amazing show. I would suggest getting into it.

Second, I really hope that the now Harry Potter movie reflects the trailer and that the majority of it will focus on Tom Riddle and his past. Becasuse that is the essence of that book. I am so excited. That kid playing little Tom looks like he'll do a good job. Anyway, thats all. I still think that the excuse for Tony being alive will be somthing along the lines making everyone think he was dead to protect him like they did with Jack between season 4 and 5. Oh, and I saw a poster at the theater here for Twilight. I got really excited. But I have a few misgivings about this movie. I'm afraid that it wont be as good as it should be.

Just for kicks...

What is Jack Bauer doing in a grusomized version of "The Watcher in the Woods?" I had no idea that this movie existed.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

"Theres no time!!!" -Jack Bauer

Mom mailed me all the seasons of 24 that I own. I have been taking full advantag of that. And as much as I love season 1, Jacks wife and daughter really bother me. The only good thing about them is that they bring out the tender side of Jack. Something that is rare in any case but more prevelent in Season 1. I think you see him cry more times in this season that all the other seasons combined.

But enough of 24. Thats old news. Here is the new stuff.

My 8th week in Rhode Island is drawing to a close. That means that I have only 4 weeks left. 1 month. Thats is, then I am back in Missouri. One thing I have decided is that Missouri weather is dramatically unpredictable. Meaning that you can be 65 degrees at one point of the day and snowing later in the afternoon. Rhode Island weather is different in that it simply keeps you on your toes on a constant basis. With Missouri, you are never sure weather or not to trust the forcast. In Rhode Island you know NEVER to trust it. Yesterday, for example, was supposed to be stormy all day. We got about 30 seconds of spit and then just clouds the rest of the time. Tuesday was supposed to be cloudy. WE had some clouds but mostly sunshine. So out here you just assume that the weather will be just sightly less than what they say. And you can never predict the fog. All of a sudden you aren't able to see in front of you, then 10 minutes later, the sun is back out. It's just nuts.

So what has happened since my last update? Hmmm...actually, lately the days have been running together and I can't seem to get events straight. So these may not be in order.

I didn't get to do anything fun on Saturday. I watched a lot of random things. I was going to see The Dark Knight, but that didn't work out. I was going to go to a hot ait ballon festival, but then I remembered that I had to work at Sachuest Point from 6 to 9 pm. So that evening activity was scratched out as well. Boo. Another boring weekend. I did have the trailer all to myself because Courtney was having fun with her mom at Block Island. Her mom came for a short visit Last Wednesday...wow that was a week ago. I was amazed at how little respect Courtney has for her mom. It's almost like she's ashamed of her or something. She lost her temper with her more than once while she was here and it made things rather uncomfortable. Anyway, here mom was sweet. She bought everyone dinner at Happy Hour. Point being, the weekend was quiet. No one was around. It was kind of nice even though I didn't get to do anything fun.

This week has, as usual, has pretty much vanished. Not a whole lot of note has occured.

M/T/W were all spent taking summer camp groups on hikes to the vernal pool. Tuesday I conducted the hike solo. It went well. Monday we also took a group to Ninigret pond to fish for tiny little silverside with nets. The kids loved getting wet. All except for this adorable little girl who fell into the eater getting totally soaked. She was sort of pouty the rest of the time. Then when we were done she came up to me and held out her arms. "I want you to carry me," she declared. She was wet and I had managed to stay dry until that moment. But she was so tiny and cute and had these pleading brown eyes and pouty lips. I had no choice. I carried her the 5 minute walk back to the bus. And was then damp for the rest of the afternoon. Yesterday(Wednesday) there was a reporter from the Providence Journal and a photographer following us and our little group of children. Because of this, Janis took over things. I didn't get to do it on my own. This means that I was in the background, working the comuter and making sure things went smoothly. I'd not sure that I was even in any of the pictures with the kids. Thats okay though. It would have been cool to have been in the newspaper in Rhode Island. But oh well.

I saw The Dark Knight last night. I went with Courtney after happy hour and met up with Kristi from church. It was AMAZING!!! The only problem was that for some reason the music was way to loud. Not that Hans Zimmer isn't aazing and worth hearing, but I culd hardly hear what people were saying. I missed out on a lot of dialogue and that made the first half hour of the movie a little comfusing for me. And some of the more powerful points lost some of their greatness because it was so hard to hear. Like the last little monologue by Gordon. I could mostly hear what he was saying...but I had to listen hard. And from what I could hear, his words were some of the most powerful in the whole movie. Oh well... guess I'll just have to go see it again. Maybe. If I have the money.

Today has been a little stormy. But not nearly as much as the weather said it would be. Again pointing out the flaw in Rhode Island weather forcasting...or just a flaw in the weather itself. Who knows. There is a picnic being held for the volunteers this afternoon. I have been helping with the set up. I just finished making some flower arrangements that turned out rather nice I think. I think I will stay for the picnic since it means free dinner. Plus Kashia will be there and she always fun to hang out with. I feel like we'll be the only young people there. Amanda might stay.

So a few other things. I watched Hellboy Tuesday night with Courtney and Evan. It wasn't too bad. It wasnt't to most amazing thing I ever saw. A little anti-climactic. But I will probably rent the second one when it comes out. I have long since managed to become proficent at using a weed wacker. But yesterday I did something that all you older kids will appreciate. I mowed a lawn for the first time in my life. Now you can't tell me that I have missed out on that experience so often "enjoyed" in childhood. I had to mow around the edges of the islands in te parking lot at Kettle Pond and then up the drive. It wasn't too bad since it was overcast. I did get sweaty and it was loud. But it was a good experience and now I can say that I have done it. Thanks Dad for your help over the phone. Our propane tanks sprung a leak. So Science Central (thats apparently what the maintenence and trailer area is called) reeked for a whie and none of us knew why. Not until I traced the smell to the back of our trailer and to our tanks which were inexplicably on empty and there was a hissing coming from them. So that means no cooking for a little while and very little hot water. Ug. It seems like every week there is something else wrong with ou trailer. Oh well. It just needs to last another month without crashing down on us.

Anyway, I am sure that I have wasted enough of your time with my life events. I hope the rest of the week goes by fast. X-flies comes out this weekend and I can't wait!! Sorry to say it Steven, but I think I am more excited for this movie than I was for The Dark Knight. I think it's because Batman has only rescently become a thing in my life since the new movies. I liked the older ones but not the the extent of Batman Begins. But with X-files, I have been in love with that show for years now. Even obsessed over it for a time. And that devotion runs stronger that what I feel for Batman. I just hope this new movie is everything I hope it will be.

Well, thats all. I hope everyone is having a good week. Feel free to call me if you have a chance. I love talking to you all and hearing from you personally how life is. I'm sure that several of you would love to discuss The Dark Knight. I'm not sure how much I can say about it since the sound was so stupid.

Anyway, happy "July is almost over" day.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Alrighty, my turn.


Sorry that this took so long. This is apparently a really involved process. Some of these makes sense and some don't. Most of you know the rules. But here they are anyway.


For each question, look up the answer in a Google Image search. Then choose your favorite from the first page of results only.





MY AGE

(obvious, but I likes the picture)





A PLACE I"D LIKE TO TRAVLE




MY FAVORITE PLACE

(recognize it?)






MY FAVORITE OBJECT

(No at all what you think. Has nothing to do with the picture below)




MY FAVORITE FOOD



MY FAVORITE ANIMAL




MY FAVORITE COLOR
(MORE THAN WHAT YOU THINK)



TOWN WHERE I WAS BORN
(Aww...I was born in a cave...)



TOWN WHERE I LIVE
(For another month)




A PAST PET



A PAST LOVE
(doesn't make sense at all.)



MY BEST FRIENDS NICKNAME


MY SCREEN NAME

NOTHING


MY FIRST NAME


MY MIDDLE NAME


MY LAST NAME



BAD HABIT



FIRST JOB


GRANDMOTHERS NAME




MY COLLEGE DEGREE


WHAT AM I DOING RIGHT NOW
(hint...I am doing something that I shouldn't be while working...Kirsti might know)


Whew. Thats finally done. Thankgoodness.
For those of you who care, I will probably post something more along the lines of an update soon. Though that may not happen till the weekend. Like most others have said, If you really feel the need to know the answers for any of those feel free to ask. Happy Tuesday eveyone!













Saturday, July 12, 2008

Halfway there...

Oh, Jon. How I love thee.

It's the end of my 6th week on the east coast. Here are a few things that I have realized.

1.I will probably be terrified of driving on normal highways on the trip home. Here The fastest I drive in 60mph and thats 10 over the limit.

2.I have begun to adopt that mannerism that I said I would forever stay away from out here. Yes, it's tragic. I have begun to say "right?" after certain centences. I cannot control it. My mouth has a mind of it's own. Crazy, right? AHHHHH!! It's almost as bad as saying "eh?"

3.I am sort of a boring person.

4.Certain small things about my roommate have begun to grate on me a bit. Things like the fact that she chews with her mouth open almost constantly. She has a tendancy to whine. She is quite impatient. She's a little loud and has a tendancy to laugh at the weirdest and unfunny things.

And here is one that I am surprised bothers me so much. She never washes her dishes until they have overrun the sink. I know that this is something of a problem I had back at home. Never taking care of my dishes and such. But out there in a small trailer for two, I can't stand dishes in the sink. I will wash mine after I have finished eating and hardly ever leave them for later. Plus, she eats about 3-4 bowls of cereal a day on a whim and that means that I may or may not have a bowl when I need it. I'll wash some of them in passing if I feel we are out of knives (she also uses a seperate knife for peanut butter and jelly and eats at least one a day during the week) or spoons of when I just can't stand it anymore.

Not that I am complaining. Well, I am a little bit. I'm sure that as I begin to know my roommates Gloira and Jenna back in CoMO there will be little things that might bother me a little. But all three of us decided early on in the roommate agreement that we would always TELL each other if there is a problem and quickly resolve it. I'm afraid to do that with Courtney because I don't know her THAT well and I might either hurt her feelings or just make our last month and a half living together tedious. These things about her don't bother to the point where I hate living with her. I just thought it interesting that these traits that were always there haven't been an annoyance until 6 weeks into this internship.

Speaking of 6 weeks, where did they go? My time here has just flown buy in a flury of new experiences, little children, honyesuckle and tv shows on DVD. It's funny. My times half up. That still leaves a sizeable chunk left. 6 full weeks. This last month and a half seems to stretch before me like a long winding trail with no seeable end. Hmm...that sounds negative. It's not that I can't wait to get out of here. I would love to spend the fall here. Heck, I'd love to just spend a week here doing touristy things (alas I have no money and no time for that). But there are just so many things that loom over me at home that I almost want this to be over so I can take care of them.

The main one being this:

Many of you know of my plans to move into an apartment with Jenna and Gloria after I get home. Well, I was made aware of a little kink in operation "get Sarah out of the house" a few days ago. I was invited to a facebook event entitled "we're moving!!". The host was Jenna. The description was something along the lines of "My landlord is making us leave last mintue and we need people to helo us move out!" This caused all kinds of horrible fears and worries to plague me for the next day. Moving out? Where? Was I included in this living somewhere else thing? Was I out? Was the new rent expensive? WHAT WAS GOING ON?!? After being envited to this event I promptly tried to call Jennna. When that didn't work, I sent her a message via facebook trying to sound calm and collected enquiring about the situation. The next day while on the visitor center computer, I entered into a facebook instant mesage conversationa with her and discovered the following information. Her landlord would not allow 3 people to live in the apartment. The new place was somewhere off of Brown School Road. There are three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and the rent is $168.75 per person. I also owed Jenna an aditional $76 more than the 260 I had mailed her for the pervious arrangement. My fears were quieted. But since then new questions have arisin about the situation and I don't have the $76 and I don't know how soon I will have it etc. etc. etc...

It was frustrating being so far away where I can't do anything about the situation. And I really miss working at night and going home with money in my pocket. I just want to start working at Bob Evans again right now to sart making money to pay the people I need to pay. They should have a corrispondance program...not sure how that would work but I'm sure theres a way.

Besides that my week has been pretty dull. To tell the truth there isn't really much to report except that Sachuest Point is easily my favorite refuge area. Too bad it's so far away. I also love driving through Newport which I got to do three times this week. Mews Tavern has the best pizza with the best ingredients. Better than Shakespeares easily. I may never taste it's equal in my life. That is why I will probably go to happy hour every Wednesday even though there is alcohol comsumption. Free delicious pizza.

Thats another thing that I have discovered. I originally thought that Trivia night would be a fun activity to do every week. Not so much. It takes place really late at night. The drunks are pretty rowdy by then. The MC is loud and uses fowl language. Overall the atmosphere is not one I want to return to. Then there is happy hour which I have attended the last two weeks. It's in a tavern that has an average size bar area and then a nice large restaurant area. It's still day during happy hour. The people aren't hammered usually. Theres free food. Ther service is pretty good and Evan usually goes which means I have a fellow soda or water drinker. I thought that since the main purpose of happy hour was to get cheaper beer that it would not be as fun and would be more uncomfortable for me. Not so. I have yet to go to trivia night since that first time and I forsee going to happy hour at Mews tavern in the following weeks.

Today has been a pretty dull Saturday. I have done nothing of note except burn some pancakes and decided that Jane Eyre is a wonderful book so far. I am tired of the boring weekends of nothing to do because I am poor. So I devoted my morning to looking into events going on in Rhode Island that are cheapish or free that I can do on the weekends. I have found several. For instance no only does the Dark Knight come out next weekend but there is a hot air balloon festival I can try to save up $10 dollars for. Maybe another $5 for food stuffs. The weekend after there is a music festival in Misquamicut. Then theres the seafood festival in august as well as I sort of twilight festival thing in Greenwich. Also I want to try to go to Jazz on the Beach and Shakespeare in the park, both in Wakefield. I also want to look into the possibility of driving around the state going to see as many of the lighthouses as possible. So I have pleanty to keep me busy even if I will probably be alone for much of it. Thats okay though. I can't afford a trip to Boston or Block Island or any of the other cool states near by for that matter. That makes me a little sad since they are so close. Within reach. And in 6 weeks I will be far away in Missouri again. Ho hum.

Thats my life as of my 6th week in Rhode Island. I hope to have pizza tonight. I kind of hope that the next 6 weeks will go by as fast as the first. I can't wait till next summer when I hope to be out west somewhere.

Okay my faithful readers. Pardon the spelling errors attributed to being on an ancient computer. Pardon the dullness of the entry and pardon my slight negativity. The week has worn on me a little.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

James Bond has my cell phone.

No really, it's true. The product placement people in charge of Casino Royale made sure that everyone knew James Bond uses a slick and sleek Sony Ericsson.

So does that mean I am as cool as James Bond? Of course not, but the whole point of product placement is to make people think so. So How do I feel about that? Meh, who cares. Moving on.

I've started watching season 4 of The X-files. It's the only season that Courtney owns. Such a brilliant show. Anyway, heres a quote that both made me laugh and made me think.

"Mulder, if you have to do without a cell phone for two minutes, you'd lapse into catatonic schizophrenia."

A few semesters ago I took an english class that explored mans relationship with technology and how technology changes how we percieve reality. It was an amazing class. And as lame as it was, when I heard this quote thats where my thoughts traveled. How dependant we've become on our cell phones let alone in 1996 when this episode aired. There are few people in the world who do not own a cell phone (one the only ones I know personally is Dad). And even fewer are those that do own cell phones that do not keep them within 3 feet at all times. They are mans source for immediate communication and more lately information. Witha cell phone, who needs to ever talk face to face with anyone ever again! Just kidding. We haven't gotten that extreme yet. And since phones have been around for many years I mostly blame the internet for peoples decrease in various forms of communication (ie-letter writing, personal visits and even phone calls. Who needs to call when you can e-mail?). But the truth remains that I really do feel cut off from a lot of the world when I don't have a cell phone. And I know that most cell phone owners feel this in varying degrees of intensity.

For the sake of you time, I will not go much deeper into the topic. Though it is a great one to discuss. Even better is the internet with emphasis on facebook, myspace and blogging...

So life. How was my 5th week in the smallest state you may wonder? Well, I'm trying to remember...

Tuesday. Ah yes. The day to Tues. On this day I came to the visitor center and prepped for the group of 30 kids I was expecting at 10:00. When 10:45 showed up and there were no kids present, I decided to assume that they weren't coming. So I mentally went off gaurd. I let a sigh of relief for this was supposed to be my first day working witha group all by myself as Janis was off on vacation. 11:00 on the dot, the front desk volunteer comes to get me saying that my group has arrived. A little annoyed that they are late, I go to greet them. I find that it is not a group of 30 children, but a group of about 18 "special needs" individuals with about 7-8 caretakers. Even better is the fact that the head guy had no idea they were coming to a visitor center for a refuge. He thought they were coming to a park. Great. So he has no idea what to expect and I have no idea what would be best to do with these individuals. I am already thrown off gaurd by their lateness. Add the fact that they all have varying degrees of mental and physical handicap...it was a little nerve racking at first. To make a long story short I am glad that I prayed that morning for help in knowing how to hadel whatever group came my way. I managed okay. I took a small bundel of the to the pool where most of them watched as me and two of the more daring girls tried to net things out of the water. One of the girls was named Nikko...or Niko...or Nico. Whatever. But she was quite charming and chatty and we had a lot of fun talking about random things and trying to catch frogs. She was my shadow for much of the day. Called me Ma'am because she couldn't remember my name. They were all so amazed by everything and it was an awesome experiance working with them. It was the chaperones that seemed completly disinterested in what was going on.

Wednesday I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on. I worked at Ninigret Reguge fixing trail signs and cutting back overhaning branches. A lot of trail maintenence. The beginning of the day was a little stressful because I got lost and kept losing the maintenance intern Ben and didnt have his cell phone number. See? See how dependant we've all become?

Thursday, I went to Sachuest Point refuge to work with the weeders Corey and Erin. We did a lot of trail walking. And I have to say that so far, Sachuest is my favorite. Pictures will be posted later. The best I can describe it is to say that I love golden beached oceans when I'm in the mood but even more I love to see the rocky shores and restless seas of the ocean by the cliffs. It was amazing. The weeding, not so much. There is just a ton out there. It's to the point where most of it is ignored for now because it's too much to take care of with just manual pulling. So we just do the tiny patches. We did this until 11:00. I came home, showered, ate and headed for the 1-4 shift at the front desk of the visitor center. BORING.

Friday...I will be brief. For it was a little bit of a lonely day. I worked at the front desk from 9:30 to 4:30. I was surprised at how many people decided to spend part of their holiday at a Refuge vititor center. By the end of the day my brain was dead and I have the beginnings of a headache. I went home, rested a little. I made my lonely but delicious dinner of rasberry chicken, garlice mashed potatos, green beans, watermelon, cornbread muffins and lemonaid. Full of yummy food I was finally convinvced that I needed to go to Wakefield and soo the fireworks. Easier said than done. I managed to find the place where they were to take place. But I got there at around 8:45 so there was no parking. Because of my directionaly challanged mind, I managed to get lost and at 9:15 found a place where a lot of people were parked. I hoped that it was to watch fireworks. 5 minutes later I got my affirmative answer. There were fireworks to be seen here. But, there were also som going on off a ways in the other direction completly obscured by trees. So I have no idea if I was watching the fireworks I meant to see or not. It doesn't matter. They were good. Fire in the Sky quality. And thank you Juli for talking to me through them. It really made my night. I found my way home with surprisingly little issue, watched Casino Royale and went to bed.

SAT-consisted of Wal-Mart and other various errands as well as x-files season 4 and the Lemony Snickett movie. Oh! There was a blissful 2 hour nap in there as well as the release of an egg laden frog back into her native pond. A pretty relaxing day.

If anyone feels the need to go into an intelectual discussion concerning technology and man and reality and cell phones etc. Let me know. I love talking about it almost as much as I love debating the amazingness of A.I. and The Village.

Well, the end of another week. I can't wait to see what the next one holds. And by the end of this coming week, I will be officially half way through this internship.

Well, folks. I leave in peace to eat my dinner of tuna helper. Bye Bye.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Waaaaahhhhhhht??

There is no way that it has been four weeks since I first arrived here.
This I refuse to accept.
If this month of uncertainty went by fast, how fast will the month of tons to do go by?

I am once again at the visitor center using the nice Gateway laptop. What am I doing here? Well, I'll tell you. I am oind nothing. But this is a much better nothing than the last nothing that I was doing a few weeks ago. This nothing is a concious nothing...like I probably should be making that powerpoint on bird migration, but I would rather do this.

I feel a lot better about being here today especially since I pretty much have this week all figured out. A first for me.

But first, a little update. So you heard all about my adventures with the plovers and terns. Now prepare youselves for the horror, the wonder, the complete and utter not-that-intresting-ness of...

INVASON OF THE HONEYSUCKLE
There I was face to face with the beast. It's leafy head reared in rage, it's berries puckered in deffense, it's braches twisting and writhing in a vain attempt to escape. The motor of my weapon hummed in anticipation it's three blades quivering. I wasted no more time. Gunning the throttle of my large and intimidating weed demloisher I advaced. With several loud buzzing noises and the smell of sawdust, my foe lay in three defeated bundles, the three arms of its trund severed. A grim smile passed over my lips. It was all to easy.
Suddenly to me left! My right! They were everywhere! Deeper and deeper into the woods they retreated. Beckoning, taunting. They were armored in their best deffense. Ropes and ropes of briar twining through their branches and around their leaves, throns flashing. My engine stuttered and faltered. My eyes widened. How was such a formidible foe to be defeated? There was only one things to do. I clenched my teeth and squared my shoulders. Who was I to be defeated by a bunch of plants?
Hours later, with an empty gas tank, exhausted body and several fresh battle wounds I retreated from the fray. Fallen plants lay all around me. The carnage was unimaginable. I wiped my brown and lay down my weapon surveying the damage I had done. large hole was all that was left of what used to be an army of honeysuckle. It seemed that there was no way there were still plants that were alive. But as I gazed past the remains of my foe, I saw the impossible. Hiding behind their fellows and sheilded by a large overgrown cherry tree were more plants!! The huddled behind their shields hoping to avoid detection. But I saw them and there was no way I was going to let them get away. I rushed back the the maintenence garage and grabed the only weapon I had left. A hefty pair of loppers. Weak and battered I jumped back into battle. I chopped and lopped with as much strength as I could slowly reducing the size of my foe. I removed the bodies of the defeated from the area and threw the into a pile. This I did for the next wo hours. Lopping and piling and manuvering through al he briar. But still, they went on. Back and back into the woods they went. Never ending. When the rain started, I reluctantly raised my white flag. Today was not a day for victory. Many had been slain, but many more still stood. A fight for another day. For many more hours, I hauled the carcasses to a landfill area where they would find their final resting place. Weary, broken and wounded, I made my way home. They may have avoided elimination for today...but there is always tomorrow.
Just to clarify, my sounds weren't all that bad. It just looks like I got in a fight with a clawed cat. My arms were extremely sore and I was sweaty and gross. I don't know if there was a time that a shower has ever felt better to me. This was my activity on Friday. Thursday was the same, but I did less. I was supposed to go out with Corey and find all the ivasive plants I could and irradicate them. At this point the only invasive plant that I could readily identify is swallow wart and thats because i spent two days staring it down and pulling it up. Also could identify barberry...a pokey bush. But I had no idea what bittersweet looked like, or the olive that is invasive here. I also at the moment had no idea what not flowering hneysuckel looked like. So I was wandering around with the loppers cutting down plants I thought were the ones that Corey had pointed out. I probably killed a bunch of innocent natives. I am a horrible person. It wasn't until the end of Thursday that I could identify honeysuckle by it's slightly fuzzy leaves that are spaced oppsitely along the branch and it's berries. By the end of Friday, I could identify the honeysuckel by it's bark. There were some dead plants with no leaves that I had to cut down. Plus when you can see the leaves it is sometime hard to see through all the underbrush where he trunk starts. This is where knowing what the bark and the habit look like is useful.
The problem with working with invasive is that now I see these plants everywhere!! When I would have normally ignored the plants, I now see honeysuckle and barberry and swallow wart all over the place and I want to pull it up. But I can only pull it up on Rhode Island Refuge property. Some people actually WANT honeysckle in their yards I guess.
The weekend was dull. Many of the interns went home for the weekend. I actually cleaned the trailer without being told to! I had nothing better to do.
Life is starting to fall into place. I have a tenative schedual for the next two weeks. I still have no money and I hope I will be able to afford everything I need. I miss home and I even miss Bob Evans a little. I miss Sunday dinners. I miss my iPod. I miss all the CoMO and St. Louis people. I miss having money to see all the summer movies that I want to see. I miss TV. I miss Trissie. I miss knowing exacty where I'm going when I'm driving around. I miss Sonic...oh boy do I. I also miss Bob Evans onion petals and the BLT&E. I miss late night Steak N Shakes. I miss the university ward. I miss my bigger bed. I miss El Maguay...good mexican places in general. There don't seem to be any out here.
Okay thats enough of the I miss list. It' only making me feel a little down.
A toast! To knowing what I a doing for the whole week. To seedless grapes. To cool storms and crazt fog that comes from no where. To baby bunnies and other little animals. To not having to battle honeysuckle this week. To working on the 4th of July...oh wait, I don't want to toast that.
Farewell my friends. Until our next meeting.

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