well, today is memorial day and we had a MASSIVE lunch with all the good stuff- burgers, dogs, corn on the cob, watermellon, cherries, beans, chips, sweet tea and cake:) i'm so thankful for my little brother weldon and all he is doing for our country. soon he will leave for afghanistan and risk his life for our freedom and i am so proud to say he's my little brother.
for the past two weeks we've been in ruidoso, nm. it's been a big adventure! i've done a ton of trail work, spent a day making a garden at a local boys and girls club, cleaned up around the fort AND been caving (which was AMAZING!!!). i've had a great time here and can't believe how fast these two weeks went by. my next door neighbor is a local cop and he has a horse named tater so i've been able to ride him and i go visit him every day and brush him and give him peppermints and so that's a great break from everything. i'm more sad of leaving tater than leaving the city!
tomorrow morning we leave for white sands national monument in alamagordo, nm. we'll be there for one month camping and doing maintenance and trail work at the park. i've seen lots of pictures and it looks beautiful there. i've heard from locals that it's a good 20 to 30 degrees hotter there than it is here and you get burned easier so i've invested in more sun screen:)
i'm sure everyone knows about the storms in missouri. well, americorps nccc focuses on disaster relief so i've been informed by my team leader that if headquarters sends a call to my campus saying send teams then our team is at the top of the list to be sent. so far we don't know for sure if we'll go or not but the funds have been transferred to our account in order for the travel and hotel stays so my team leader says the chances are huge that we'll get sent. i'll let yall know as soon as i find out.
i can't believe i only have two more months in americorps. it's crazy how time flies!
hope all is well with everyone else
all my love
xoxo,
B
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
ruidoso, nm
well, i'm here in ruidoso new mexico finally! my last project round in americorps nccc. i can't believe my ten months are almost over. it truly flew by.
ruidoso is SO small. smaller than hartsville because most people live in the mountains. the city is so small and all the stores close by 8 except walmart. it's beautiful up here though. we're higher here than we were in denver, co. it's SO sunny and i'm already sun burned:( the work is super hard but rewarding seeing the trails we've made so far in just two days. it's hot up here but the wind is always blowing so it always feels pretty good. at night the stars are AMAZING. i tried to take a picture but it just didn't work out. we live at fort stanton which is a super old fort from the mid 1800's and it's on private land in the mountains with our only neighbors being the local police who live there for cheap. we never lock doors and always leave windows open. it's very freeing and open. the fort is fascinating to me and i've loved exploring it. they used it to chase indians away, then to protect the towns around it, then it was taken over by the south during the civil war, then it became a camp for captured germans during the world wars, then it became a hospital for tuberculosis patients, then it became a women's prison and then a youth prison. all that history and i'm loving it! i sometimes get one bar of service but usually it's temperamental. internet is out of the question! we're about thirty minutes from town and so luckily we can drive in on the weekends, i'm currently at the library. let's seeeeeeee i'm not sure what else to say at the moment. my mind is kind of fried because i'm so tired lol i'll update again soon!
xoxo,
B
ruidoso is SO small. smaller than hartsville because most people live in the mountains. the city is so small and all the stores close by 8 except walmart. it's beautiful up here though. we're higher here than we were in denver, co. it's SO sunny and i'm already sun burned:( the work is super hard but rewarding seeing the trails we've made so far in just two days. it's hot up here but the wind is always blowing so it always feels pretty good. at night the stars are AMAZING. i tried to take a picture but it just didn't work out. we live at fort stanton which is a super old fort from the mid 1800's and it's on private land in the mountains with our only neighbors being the local police who live there for cheap. we never lock doors and always leave windows open. it's very freeing and open. the fort is fascinating to me and i've loved exploring it. they used it to chase indians away, then to protect the towns around it, then it was taken over by the south during the civil war, then it became a camp for captured germans during the world wars, then it became a hospital for tuberculosis patients, then it became a women's prison and then a youth prison. all that history and i'm loving it! i sometimes get one bar of service but usually it's temperamental. internet is out of the question! we're about thirty minutes from town and so luckily we can drive in on the weekends, i'm currently at the library. let's seeeeeeee i'm not sure what else to say at the moment. my mind is kind of fried because i'm so tired lol i'll update again soon!
xoxo,
B
Sunday, May 8, 2011
end of round 3- shuffle round
i cannot believe that i have only two months left of americorps. the time has flown by so fast it's amazing.
round three at garden place academy with my shuffle team was wonderful <3 my class was third grade and they were all so amazing. i'm really going to miss them. i taught my class social studies and history and science everyday among all the other things we did. it makes me so sad to know that after this next week i'll probably never see them again. but i know that we helped them a lot and that makes me so happy. they have a school wide dance this coming saturday and so quite a few of us are going to go to that and i know it will be awesome.
currently, this is transition week. meaning, we do a lot of nothing really in between meetings and paperwork.
next week my original team leaves for new mexico and our next and final project. here is the description i have so far and this is all i know about it for now:
xoxo,
B
round three at garden place academy with my shuffle team was wonderful <3 my class was third grade and they were all so amazing. i'm really going to miss them. i taught my class social studies and history and science everyday among all the other things we did. it makes me so sad to know that after this next week i'll probably never see them again. but i know that we helped them a lot and that makes me so happy. they have a school wide dance this coming saturday and so quite a few of us are going to go to that and i know it will be awesome.
currently, this is transition week. meaning, we do a lot of nothing really in between meetings and paperwork.
next week my original team leaves for new mexico and our next and final project. here is the description i have so far and this is all i know about it for now:
Project #20 **Note: This project is a packaged project**
EcoServants & White Sands National Monument (APD: Vicky Reinold)
Project #20a
EcoServants
Ruidoso, NM
Dates: May 16 – May 27; June 25 – July 21 (Subject to Change)
Sponsor: Stephen Carter
Housing: Dormitory
Team: Fire One
Team Leader: Tim Boyle
EcoServants has the mission “to employ, engage and educate youth to serve and restore the community and its resources.” They started as a cave stewardship organization and quickly transformed to a youth corps summer program, which has run since 2006. In 2007 EcoServants started an AmeriCorps State program which placed full time members in 4 schools and an after school program. We are now expanding the program further, and request NCCC assistance for the following project tasks:
· Corps Members (CM's) would clear, design, build, and restore trails. They would also be restoring and building park facilities such as kiosks, shelters, restrooms and outdoors education laboratories. They would be removing noxious weeds, repairing fence lines, building animal passes and watering system.
· Caves take the CMs underground where they will inventory and map the cave’s environment, helping with cave management by completing tasks such as: leading and or inspecting groups going in and out of Fort Stanton Cave (FSC), restoring formations damaged by human impact, and removing graffiti. CMs could also design and give public presentations on caves, bats and White Nose Syndrome to help protect caves. CM's would be a part of the exploration of the newly discovered Snowy River Cave by restoring and creating trails or foot steps for expedition work, hauling equipment such as gates, cement, scientific and video equipment, survey gear, metal and plastic tunnel pieces and bridges.
· Using ArcGIS and a Trimble Global Positioning Unit, CMs would be assisting in mapping and inventorying area trails and parks, establishing safer walking and biking routes, recording distances, slope and accessibility.
· CMs might also support preparation for and implementation of weeklong Wilderness Camp for youth.
Project #20b
White Sands National Monument
Alamogordo, NM
Dates: May 28 – June 24 (Subject to Change)
Sponsor: Bill Melendez
Housing: Camping
Team: Fire One
Team Leader: Tim Boyle
Rising from the heart of Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders- the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here, great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and created the world's largest gypsum dune field. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dune field along with the plants and animals that have adapted to this constantly changing environment.
The NCCC team will work with the facilities maintenance department on the following infrastructure improvement projects: help to resurface stucco exterior walls on buildings in the Historic District, help prepare concrete bases to mount grills in picnic areas throughout the Park, paint vigas, window frames and doors on several structures throughout the Historic District, assist in the removal and installation of fence rail to enlarge a parking area in the Inner Dune Life Area.
overall, i think this project will be awesome. i know our team is really excited about it and from the pictures i've seen online it looks like both sites will be beautiful!
before i go, i'd like to say happy mother's day to all of the amazing moms i know especially my own amazing mother. i love you so muchxoxo,
B
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