Mother Nature sucks

So you remember those riparian buffers we were weeding? Well the incessant rain on the east coast has turned them into flat piles of leaves, fence and poles. We had to fix them today. Mother Nature, I am not impressed. We are trying to stop erosion, and you just keep it coming. All the deer climb in the broken fence and eat the good plants, like they are better than the million other plants in the forest. Deer don't make any sense.

Yesterday I beat Nick Hull at arm wrestling. I will post this cinematic achievement in it's original video format soon. It was roughly the equivalent of Britney Spears Vs. Kevin Federline (spell check tried to make this "fatherless" HA) . I won hands down. Pun intended. We have 3 or 4 more work days before we head back to DC. Maybe the flooding will have resided.

I watched High Fidelity the other day. Lets all make top 5 list posts

Give me your top five things that make" right now" great:
1.I am in love with my soul mate, and he loves me back.
2.My nephews are precious: see exhibit A
3.I am listening to the talking heads right now and they kick butt.
4.The guy on the Panera intercom just called for Justin, and then did a little beat boxing into the microphone.
5. It's not raining!

EXHIBIT A:




Resume regular life ticker: 21 days

That girl is poison

This week has been low key. It seems like the rain that started Saturday, will never quit. It's a virtual lake in our back yard where, last week, a little creek ran. We've had to do indoor work so far this week, like clean George Washington's headquarters. What a strange life I lead. "Hey, guys, it's raining. Let's clean the first President of the United State's house."

Despite the downpour, we went to a Reading Phillies game on Saturday compliments of the park. We had a good time. The best part was all the gimicky things in between innings, like a guy riding a fake ostrich and throwing hot dogs into the stands: pure genius.

I have poison ivy all over my arms, but Kat has it all over her entire body. In the picture her face is swollen; that girl is poison. So much for weeding the forest. Besides the hives, work is fun and we keep each other entertained. It's going to be weird not being with my team. I'll miss them. For now, STOP SCRATCHING YOUR BLISTERED, HIVE-RIDDEN ARMS.

In other news, The Public and It's Problems by John Dewey is pretty boring. I would venture to say that it is not my favorite summer reading selection. It is an economy/philosophy book written in 1926 by the guy that invented the Dewey Decimal System, nuff said. No offense to whomever picked it. The other books are thankfully enjoyable and informative. Particularly The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Turns out globalization is a good thing, people.

I'm trying to decide if I should walk to Walmart and buy Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture 2. It is my passion and I live in the woods right now and there is a monsoon going on and I would kick everyone on my team's butt making it that much more fun.

P.S. check out this week's issue of Newsweek. There is a great article about 15 people that make America great. Social entrepreneurs and such. It was inspiring.

INVASIVE SPECIES: not as exciting as it sounds.

We are working near Valley Creek pulling out invasive species of plants from riparian buffers. These are fenced in enclosures filled with native plants that help prevent erosion of the creek bed. Nasty invasive species like to take over the soil in the buffers, and I must say, they are pretty good at it. We spend all day ripping wild roses, bittersweet, garlic mustard, and honeysuckle out of the ground. The wild rose bushes are painful and the vines are tricky, but the garlic mustard isn't too bad. I honestly had no idea that invasive plants were such a problem. Next week we are going back to logging. We have to dig these holes to put the trees in to prevent trail erosion. Basically team 5 prevents erosion. We're like Captain Planet, except not nearly as cool.

I am officially graduating the program in 29 days. I can't wait to start grad school and see everyone. I know I keep saying that, but I'm more of a people person than a plant person. I currently set out to kill plants every day. It's a weird job, but someone has to STOP THE EROSION, DUUU DUUU DUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Who thinks I should change my blog name is "Can You Chandle This?" HA

2 more for Idealism!

6/18/2006
Nation’s Service Leaders Pledge to Expand Volunteer Ranks by 10 Million by 2010

More than 2,400 volunteer and national service leaders were inspired by stories of how volunteers are contributing to hurricane relief and recovery effort in the Gulf Coast, by the music of Sister Sledge and by the personal story of “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts, at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service. During the conference, which was co-convened by The Points of Light Foundation & the Volunteer Center National Network and the Corporation for National and Community Service, the participants pledged to join a new campaign to increase the number of volunteer nationwide by 10 million by the year 2010.

6/18/2006
AmeriCorps Announces $88 Million in Funding Opportunities for 2007

The Corporation for National and Community Service announced today that approximately $88 million in competitive funding is expected to be available to support nonprofit organizations that are new to AmeriCorps or that have previously completed a three-year grant cycle with the national service program.

Happy Birthday, David!

This old man is turnin' 25 tomorrow kids, and I was convinced I was actually marrying Peter Pan.

The Hardest Day in AmeriCorps

In order to prevent erosion of the trails, trees, yes I said trees, need to be embedded, horizontally, in the soil. The part of the trail that needs this, happens to be up the mountain. Our sponsor thought it would be better to get the worst out of the way so we decided to move all of the logs for this project, yesterday. My team carried 10 trees up Mount Misery (that's really the name) yesterday. These trees weigh any where from 600-1200 pounds. I have never done anything so physically taxing as hauling those "evil logs" up that mountain. I thoroughly respect the soldiers that built 1,000 log cabins here and anyone who has ever built a hiking trail. For now, I will thank the Lord that we have hauled our last log, and start on removing invasive vegetation tomorrow. I need a break from lumberjacking.

On a good note, the weather here is perfect. I will be home in a little more than a month and cannot wait to get settled. Someone I know is turning 47 today! Happy Birthday, Daddy!

George Washington, Trolley Tours and Jack

Boo!

This is a picture of our housing. We live in the new part, the ghosts haunt in the red shutter, old part. We are staying in General Lafayette's quarters in Valley Forge. Supposedly his ghost haunts the house. The last AmeriCorps team said the water turned on by itself and doors open randomly. Noises also come out of the basement. Creepy! I love it. The house is really nice with lots of rooms. It's definitely the best housing we've ever had. There are also 4 snakes that live on our doorstep. The biggest one has one eye, he's Jack. We start repairing the trails by Valley Creek tomorrow. I'll try to keep you posted, but I have to drive to Panera Bread to use the internet.

Zoo

Christina, L.A., L.A.'s friend Eric and I went to the D.C. Zoo yesterday. It was great. The weather here is perfect and the baby elephant and panda were adorable. We also went to the National Geographic museum to see a display on The gospel of Judas. It was very interesting. They can prove that the gospel was written at the time of the 4 we all know, along with Mary, Peter and Thomas. We'll I'm going to be late, If I don't stop posting and start packing my stuff. See you later!

Foster Diaz and Mozambique

David and I had a blast looking at dogs online the other day. I found this adorable mess: Foster(daizer) or as I like to call him, Diaz. Foster Diaz is a 3 year-old Boston Terrier that has juvenile cataracts and was left alone all day by his previous owner with nothing to do. To alleviate the stress caused by loneliness, boredom and diminishing vision, Foster developed some peculiar coping habits. He began drinking massive amounts of water and developed seizures. Unfortunately, David doesn't want a "screwed-up" dog. I told him that even if he doesn't want him, he's naming the dog he does get Foster Diaz as a homage. (that is an actual picture of him. If you live close to MN, and you want to adopt Foster Diaz click here for his information.


On to Mozambique. My sister participated in the global village at Heifer international in Perryville, AR this weekend. It is a program where normal citizens can spend a few nights living in a simulation of a third-world country. If you don't know Christy, she is great, but doesn't like camping, more or less camping in a simulated Mozambique. Anyway, she calls me and professes the horror of her stay in the global village. "I was in MOZAMBIQUE; we ate cornmeal and vegetables, it was awful. The highlight of my day was when 4 of us split an apple and an orange. We worked all day and ate CORNMEAL!" It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. If you too would like to stay in Mozambique, or many other impoverished countries for that matter click here to visit heifer ranch's website.

National Arboretum

My team visited the Arboretum yesterday. It was lovely. I have the weekend off, and we head to Pennsylvania on Monday.

EWWW^10

I had the unfourtunate opportunity to clean the RA kitchen in my hall for weekly cleaning. After a fun game of "find the smell". I discovered that someone decided it was easier to hide you dirty dishes than wash them. I know we live in Anacostia people, but it's not the third world, there is running water and soap. Earlier this year, I was informed that my standards of cleaning might be too high! As a result of careful contemplation and 4 hours of cleaning with bleach, I have resolved to NEVER AGAIN live with a large group of 18-24 year-olds. I know that moving in with David will provide quite the cleanliness challenge, but he can't be as bad as these guys!

HOME SWEET HOME!

I am so overjoyed to be home! I guess I never thought I'd call my tiny room, in what used to be a nursing home, Home, but that's what it's become. It's also so good to see everyone back in DC. I miss Habitat and House 1, but having my own room is priceless. Our last night we all went to George's in Baton Rouge. It was one of the most fun nights I've had since I started this program. My team has recently acquired two new teammates, Nick Hull and Salil Gabale. We're happy to have the extra help and company. As soon as I can, I'll send you a picture of the two newest members of our "family".

How much do I love this job?

We finished the Blitz build today. 14 house are significantly started and at least 6 are almost completely done, garden, flag, mailbox and all. I got to witness 4 house dedications where, at each one, someone thanked NCCC. How is it, that 30 NCCC members can get together, plan and set up building sites for 14 houses and 2 weeks and 350 kind-hearted volunteers later, 4 families have homes? This is what I do for a living. I built houses for 14 families. I served food to people in the wake of a hurricane. I gave kids that haven't ever had anyone give them the attention they needed,the attention that they needed. I rebuilt the homes of rural families affected by hurricane Rita, and now, I get to head to Pennsylvania to build hiking trails that will always be there for anyone to take a walk on. I have the best job in the whole world.

P.S. I also get to sweep so hard that the head of the broom falls off, see above picture.

The houses that House 5, House 1, Red 6, and 350 other volunteers built!

Parting is such sweet sorrow

I had a wonderful break. David and I visited LSU, the campus and faculty seem great. We went to the huge outlet mall, and I bought a pair of Roos for 19 dollars, (you remember, the shoes with the zipper pocket). We drove to New Orleans to look around and visit the Contemporary Arts Center. We parked the rental car in the church parking lot and slow-danced to sad, country songs at 11 pm. This week has been practically perfect. The only thing that was not perfect was someone repeatedly banging on the Motel 6 door at 6 a.m. saying "Crystal, I know you're in there." despite being told 3 times, that, "NO ONE NAMED CRYSTAL IS HERE!" We are both a little stressed out by our constantly changing lives that always seem to keep us apart. If only our career goals would slow down long enough so we could actually have a wedding. We're either counting on Spring Break or early May, before my internship. We might be able to squeeze it in.

This is what stress about graduate school looks like:

Check out that Habitat tan line. Oh yeah, my whole head is really brown.