last friday we all had the pleasure (??) of going to boston for an AmeriCorps "pep" rally. all the different corps were there from around the state of massachusetts -- about 1,200 people total! the majority of the corps are based in the boston area, so we felt a little like misfits, but at least we all weren't dressed in the exact same outfit like the city year corps kids were! (creeeepy). the governor of mass even came to talk to us to "pep" us up, if you will, about our year of service. basically it was a lot of listening to speakers & cheering. we did end the day with a tour of the state house, so that was pretty cool. i ended up staying the rest of the weekend in boston & hung out with my cousin, meghan.
we had monday off for vetran's day, so that we could have a long weekend, even though the holiday was on tuesday. we did shellfish propagation with the eastham DNR on tuesday for our group service. we spent the morning doing odd jobs around the DNR office. i was lucky enough to be able to go to salt pond and spread some oysters in the river mouth. on sundays, when the temperature is above 30 degrees, citizens can come to the salt pond with their waders and shellfish gear and they collect the oysters for their own. pretty cool. once the tide went down after lunch, we all got to go out to the bay side and help spread oyster seed on exposed fields....i could do that all day! we also removed netting off of steamer clam beds, so that they can grow in the wild.
this past friday was by far the best.....it was the start of chainsaw training!!! i wasn't even sure if i was going to do it at first, because the thought of it scared the shit out of me, but....it was so amazing! we started with some basic safety (& some horrifying stories) and some parts of the chainsaw, but the guy teaching us pretty much just threw us out in the field. i was terrified at first, but it was pretty awesome once we started cutting up some logs. i even got to keep the discs i cut. we will be training again tomorrow & the next monday and then have 9 days set up this winter with the Cape Cod National Sea Shore to help clear brush & trees to reduce the "fire fuel".
it was abnormally warm yesterday, so we decided to have some night time fun at the beach one last time before the weather turns gross, like it is today. hope everyone is doing well wherever they are!
spreading the shells with oyster seed on them....
walking out to the exposed field to spread the shells....
what happens when you run out of dish soap after 14 people cook dinner.....
taking a break during the americorps rally in the boston garden.....
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