Day 58 – Tuesday April 6, 2010
Our first truly hot day slipped in under the radar. Projections last night had been for low 80s and sunny, but the radio commentator on NPR said we’d have highs “near 90” as we rolled up to work this morning. We were working in the woods lifting rocks all morning, the humidity hit hard, and we all had on long pants since the last team to have a project with Parks & People in Baltimore had most members end up getting tick bites. Needless to say, we focused a lot on hydration.
Our supervisor for this week is Scott, a very nice guy who helps run the Friends of Gwynns Falls Trail Association. Scott is having us help him with tasks associated with connecting a local school in his neighborhood to the trail via a new path running down a hill through a forest. The trail itself is already constructed; our primary tasks were helping build up the erosion dams that keep the drainage valley next to the trail intact and helping build benches for a small outdoor classroom along the path. We all worked on the erosion dams in the morning then I became one of the lucky two (along with Chris) to switch to benches for the afternoon.
The erosion dams we worked to fix up were logs and piles of rocks which had been set into shallow ditches stretched across the path of water drainage down the hill. The goal of these dams is to slow the flow of water down the hill, giving it time to soak into the ground rather than rush down and flood out the bottom of the small valley which runs alongside the trail through the woods. Our jobs were to redo one of the log dams, create a new rock dam, and dig out a space in front of a few of the dams for water to pool so the soil has a chance to soak it up. I spent much of the incredibly hot, humid morning (compared to the low temperatures of the past few weeks; this weather will probably feel great in another couple of months) digging out space in front of a log and helping pile rocks alongside it to create a semi-natural water break. That task completed, Jeff, Traci, Chris, and I moved down the valley to join the rock dam group in digging out a pool in front of one of the two rock dams. The soil was very clay-ey, making it stick heavily to our shovels.
We enjoyed lunch back up the hill on the road in the shade of the Vanimal. We were working at the end of a dead-end street, so were able to sit in the street (where the shade was) leaning up against it as we ate. Once we finished, we lay down under the Vanimal, enjoying the cool air as our legs stuck out into the sun. (Traci took advantage of this time to tan her shins, which are apparently much slower than the rest of her to tan.) We prepared to return to work without knowing the nature of our next task. Chris had already volunteered to help Scott cut wood for benches in his backyard. I agreed to join over some unknown alternative; it was totally the right choice. While the rest of the group ended up digging up and piling rocks – this time to fill in the most eroded section of the valley down at the bottom – for hours, Chris and I had power tool fun time. We helped Scott, then took over for him so he could do other tasks, prepare bench materials for tomorrow. We cut lumber down to size for the six 6-foot benches and twelve 18-inch crossbeam bases with a small power saw; we sanded corners and top surfaces with the power sander; we drilled holes for connector nails and rebar (to secure the bases into the ground) with the power hand drill. It was totally awesome.
I had been hesitant to volunteer because I knew a few teammates love construction and have a bunch of construction experience, but I definitely made the right choice to challenge myself to pick up a few new skills. Working one-on-one with Chris was great because we had hours of time and he taught me a ton. I learned to use the hand saw and which direction to aim the blade as I sawed. I honed my power sander skills and learned the best angle to hold the sander when smoothing edges. I perfected (okay, improved to a very high standard) my power drilling skills, learning about air pockets and how to manage them. We got into a great rhythm as we worked, switching up tasks and roles with ease. Lots of learning, lots of fun.
We ended our afternoon of service by carrying the bench component parts down the new trail section to the small clearing which will hold the outdoor classroom. I worked with Scott and a woman who helps with the Trail Association to figure out how they wanted the benches set up, laying out the suggested ideas using the crossbeams as a miniature model until we found one that fit. The six benches will be arranged in a semi-circle with three benches in front and three staggered (my addition in the model layout stage) behind. The teacher will be able to see all the students and the students will be able to work easily in small groups with the benchmates ahead of or behind them. It’ll be a great learning environment.
After that, we returned to the Vanimal and headed home. We only have PT once this week due to spring break and everyone was drained from the combination of heat, humidity, and physical labor, so Melissa allowed us to opt for personal PT over circuits today. Everyone chose personal PT. Circuits in our state would likely have been less than optimally productive. My personal PT, of course, was a walk/run with Melissa. We did a couple of laps of the Outward Bound drive and generally enjoyed the relaxed pace of the early evening (in a tired, breathing hard, why-is-the-sunlight-so-direct-right-now sort of way).
After PT, we had half an hour to shower or eat or rest then regrouped for a team meeting. Melissa figured out our spring break plans (yay DC!) and gave us the opportunity to adjust our team charter now that we know how we operate (a few minor changes were made but nothing outstanding) then we played a teambuilder. Our teambuilder for the evening was ‘2 truths and a lie’, which most of us have played many times in our lives. I had fun learning random facts about my teammates as we chilled in the OB library. And yes, we get program hours for playing games together.
I spent the rest of the evening watching the UConn women’s basketball team complete a second straight undefeated season with another national championship victory. They were somehow trailing 12-20 at the half but came back to win. It kept me up late but was totally worth it. Now it’s time to shower then head to bed. We have some benches to finish in the morning.
Day 59 – Wednesday April 7, 2010
Today we made benches and dug in the dirt. The temperature was in the mid- to high-80s, but we enjoyed a wonderful light breeze in the afternoon sun.
This morning, we returned to the clearing we’d left the bench components in yesterday afternoon. We proceeded to connect the bench pieces by banging on 12-inch nails and rebar (metal piping which secures the bench base in the ground) with big mallets. I managed to bend all three nails that I worked on, the third badly enough that it barely made it into the board. (There was first a long discussion about whether it might break if hit again after a prolonged attempt at straightening it.) All three did eventually make it in, the second entirely of my own hammering power. Don’t worry, I learned in construction cabin that practice does help me hammer in nails better. Much better. I’m just a bit rusty ; ) As for rebar, it was much more cooperative and I got a bunch hammered in with no issues whatsoever. When it comes to hammering things, flexibility is not key.
After about an hour sitting in the clearing waiting for Scott to hear back about another group of volunteers which was potentially stopping by (but did not), we headed over to the farm on which Wolf 5 is working this round. While they planted and plowed on the farm, we worked down the hill from their house on digging out a rain garden. The rain garden works much like the erosion dams we built up yesterday on the trail, providing a place for groundwater and run-off to pool and soak into the soil so it doesn’t overwhelm the city pipes and benefits the ecosystem. The plan for this garden, which had been started last Saturday on a huge farm volunteer day, is two channels running down either side of a central raised bed which will be filled with water-loving plants. The channels are probably about 20 yards long and each will be about 4 feet wide by the time we finish with them. We had a nice lunch in the shade then spent 4 hours digging out the channels, both widening them and deepening most of the way to form a nice incline. Energy reserves were nearly drained by the end of a long afternoon in the sun on a hot day, but we managed to finish one channel and much of the other through some solid hours of digging. One factor in our favor was the soil, which was some of the best we’ve worked with thus far. Unlike the super clay-ey dirt we dealt with yesterday, this was muckier and more mud-like in the first channel. It was heavier in the second, less-dug-out channel, but still totally manageable compared to yesterday’s. I like that good dirt now helps make a service day better. Ah, the little things.
We return to the rain garden tomorrow before finishing our day early at 3 PM to officially begin spring break! I’ll definitely miss my team’s energy and music selections over the long weekend, but it’ll be fun to have that long weekend of relaxation time. And I’m psyched to see the cherry blossoms in DC.
Day 60 – Thursday April 8, 2010
We shoveled more dirt today.
Our morning began with a 7:30 AM van ride to Wolf 5’s farm. We proceeded to spend the entirety of our service day continuing our work on the farm’s rain garden. We distributed a sand-soil blend in the water channels to help increase absorbency then mixed it into the muddy soil. (‘Mix’ is an easy-sounding version of shovel up dirt, flip it over, break it up, repeat for quite a while.) We re-widened the upper part of the two channels in the afternoon because we’d taken them out to about two feet rather than four or five. Three highlights were enjoying a morning team sugar rush when our supervisor Scott brought us donuts about an hour into work, all of Team RIO singing Happy Birthday to Dad on speakerphone at lunch, and talking for hours about That ’70s Show, Twilight, and crazy airport experiences in Thailand.
We finished work at 3 and began our spring break! It officially starts tomorrow, but we were able to disperse as soon as our service day concluded. Chris, Kathy, and I all stayed at the farm until Wolf 5 was done with their day at 4:30. I enjoyed a lovely shower, feeling cleaner than I have in weeks afterwards, while we waited. When our friends finished work, we piled into a van with a bunch of their team members and Suzanne, their TL, drove us to Penn Station (where Kathy, Marissa, and I disembarked) then continued on to Perry Point to drop off the people planning to spend break there. Marissa, Kathy, and I, after thanking Suz for being so awesome in driving us to the train station, bought MARC tickets down to DC for six dollars. Marissa and I spent the entire train ride catching up and we were at my stop in almost no time. Kathy showed me where to buy a Metro ticket in the New Carrollton station building, warning me not to get it too close to credit cards or my phone before she headed off to meet up with her brother. I took the orange line five stops then was at Kate’s house!
I spent the next three hours hanging out with Alex, Kate’s fantastic girlfriend, before Kate arrived home from her evening yoga. Alex and I ate delicious carrot-ginger soup that she had made, went grocery shopping for me (always a wonderful experience when I get to buy yogurt and lots of fresh veggies), and talked for hours about life. It was lots of fun. Then Kate got home, which was even more fun. I’m very excited to get lots of catch-up time with her tomorrow and the rest of this weekend. It’ll be fabulous.
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