Week 8. Nearing the End!

That Thursday night, we all made a trip to Alamosa. The girls all saw Eclipse, the third Twilight movie, while the boys saw The Last Airbender. Funny how the second and third Twilight movies both came out during AmeriCorps, and the girls on my team got to see them together.

On Friday, we had planned to have another barbecue in the park to celebrate the Fourth of July. We love our barbecues here. We had invited pretty much everyone we know and were really excited about it. Unfortunately, it was rainy all day and pretty chilly. Only a few people showed up, including Will (one of the fire guys), Sarah (who works in the office), and some fire guys we hadn’t met yet who are here temporarily from Wyoming. We didn’t get rained on because the park has an area with a roof and picnic tables. It was cold but we still had fun.

On Saturday, I believe we watched more World Cup. At least some of us did. I don’t remember who played right now. TK and Heather have watched pretty much every World Cup game from the same table at the Oasis (the only restaurant/bar in town, conveniently located less than a block from our house). I’ve watched most games with them, and a few other people come occasionally. That night, Heather, Jess, TK, and I all went back to the Oasis (or as the cool kids call it, The O) that night when it was being a bar instead of restaurant. We had heard that nights when there are Ultimate Fighting Championship fights are the busiest there, and Saturday was fight night. Will, Miles (a fire guy who lives at the bunkhouse), and Matt (an AmeriCorps VISTA with the BLM who also lives at the bunkhouse) were all there as well. It was pretty fun. When the O is being a bar, it doesn’t really have a set closing time. If there are no people, it closes early. If people are there, it’ll stay open. The seven of us were there playing pool and playing crappy songs on the jukebox way later than anyone else, but Travis the bartender didn’t seem to mind.

On Sunday, the Fourth of July, we went to Salida. We had seen posters for the activities on the Fourth, including a parade and a band. The parade was ok but nothing like parades in Alton. We had planned to stay for the band but it was kind of lame. We also found out that we were invited to a gathering at Josh’s house (he’s yet another fire guy) so we left Salida early. Heather, Jess, Michala and I went to Josh’s, where we got to see Miles, John (a fire guy who used to live at the bunkhouse but then moved to Alamosa to do fires at Sand Dunes) and Kent (yep, another fire guy). It was pretty fun. We hadn’t seen any of the fire guys in like a month because there was a huge fire near the Sand Dunes. It was especially nice to see John, since he moved away.

We had Monday off since everyone at the BLM did. Most of us went to the Sand Dunes to sunbathe. We checked the weather and saw that it wasn’t supposed to be windy like it was last time we were there. Unfortunately, it seems we are not able to have a pain-free trip to the Sand Dunes. Instead of sand blowing into our legs like a thousand tiny knives like last time, the ridiculously hot sand burned our feet. Oh my goodness, it was painful. You couldn’t walk barefoot because it was just too freaking hot. Keeping flip flops on made it really awkward to walk through the sand and was still super hot. It was also really rocky where we were walking and rocks kept getting between my feet and flip flop. We walked until we came to the first dune so we could lie on a slope. We were all super sweaty just laying there. It was kind of pleasant though. When we were on our way out we saw John in the parking lot. He and another fire guy were standing outside their fire truck in the Dunes parking lot to just talk to people about the fire near there. It had been something like 500 acres but they’ve gotten it a little more under control.

Tuesday began our weed removal adventure. We would be working with Clayton, who turned out to be really cool. The weed that needed removing was Black Henbane. It is an annual plant that has probably about 20 seed pods on each stalk, with roughly 1,000 seeds in each pod. While the plant is green and alive, it poses no threat. When it dies and dries out, those millions of seeds just blow away in the wind. They are then able to germinate for the next 35 years. This plant also grows really quickly. It is also poisonous to humans and to cows. Apparently eating the seeds produces a mild hallucinogenic effect. And it’s not native to the area. You can see why this is a problem. So Clayton just took us along the road (he in his truck and us following in the van) until he spotted an area with a lot of these plants. We would stop and hop out to rip them out by the roots. We quickly realized that this was not usually a job for all seven or so of us who were in the van, so we split into two groups and alternated who got out at each spot. Clayton said he wanted it to be a chill day since it was getting back to work after such a long weekend. Not bad at all.

That Wednesday I took one of my allotted days off that I had not yet used. I chose to use one that day because it was Spain playing Germany in the World Cup semifinals. (Hey, I can use my days for whatever I want!) TK was also taking that day off. During halftime when I went to the restroom, Christina appeared in the restroom. Then when I came back out to the table, there was Heather. Apparently the team was pulling weeds not too far away and requested to come back into town for lunch. Also, it looked stormy out, so they were waiting to see what the weather would do before going back out. They ended up going back to work for only like another hour or so before the storm came.

Thursday was another day of pulling weeds, but it was a really short day. The BLM wanted to have a barbecue for us to thank us for all we’ve done and scheduled it for that Thursday at like 3:00. So we pulled more weeds with Clayton all morning but finished the areas he wanted to get done at about lunch time. He then decided to give us a little treat and take us to Penitente Canyon which was way out near La Garita. I think. He said there are really cool places to hike around there and you can climb up the canyon walls. Unfortunately, by the time we got there we only had about 20 minutes to look around. Clayton didn’t want to make us late for our own party. It was really cool there though. The barbecue was delicious. It was fajitas again, at a newish campsite we hadn’t been to yet called Big Springs. Again, one big wok full of meat (this time is was pork, which I didn’t eat, but the rest was delicious), another full of potatoes and onions, and another for warming tortillas. Mmm, yummy. It was really nice. Almost everyone who works at the BLM came to thank us.

That weekend we did…something. The only day I can remember clearly is Saturday. We had our Day of Service, which we are required to organize and do both second and fourth rounds. We went back to Alamosa (where we had worked in the homeless shelter and community garden before). There was this thing called Restaurant Walk going on that day and the food bank was part of it. (There’s a whole network of places that all benefit La Puente, the homeless shelter, like a coffee shop, a thrift store, the food bank, and some kind of place for kids. It’s actually pretty cool. All those places are staffed by volunteers and AmeriCorps people, like the AmeriCorps Directs with Habitat in New Orleans.) For the Restaurant Walk, you pay like $10 or something then get to walk around to a bunch of different restaurants and get samples of food. Sally, the AmeriCorps person in charge of us for the day, split us into two groups. Michala, Jess, Becky, Tomm, and I all worked at the food bank in the morning. Sally had made chili for the food bank to give out for restaurant walk but we were only supposed to sit at a table with a bunch of AmeriCorps information for when people come in. Pretty much no one was interested. Which means that we just had to sit there for a few hours. Super easy. Since no one was there, we got to split up and take turns walking over to the coffee shop for a beverage and to listen to the live music going on for a bit. And we got hours for it. The other group was pulling weeds in the community garden all morning. The two groups swapped after lunch. Pulling weeds wasn’t too bad. There were so many that we all just sat in a group and talked while we pulled the weeds we could reach, then just scooted over a bit. The day was cut short by the appearance of a huge thunderstorm later in the afternoon. Not a bad day of work at all.

That evening after dinner, several of us decided to go enjoy some beverages in the park (don’t worry, it’s legal). Eventually, the rest of the team joined us. It was extremely enjoyable. It was also some pretty good bonding, just the 10 of us hanging out. When everyone started deciding to go home, Heather, Jess and I went over to the bunkhouse. Heather had mentioned to Miles that we might come over sometime that night since it was our last full weekend in Saguache. We went to the house and no one was home, so we decided to go to the O. Oh look, there are Matt, Miles, Travis the bartender, and no one else. Matt and Miles started on this whole thing about how they were at the O to drown their sorrows that we hadn’t come over. Matt said Miles had made hors d’oeuvres for us (300 mozzarella sticks, he said) and then ate them all because we didn’t come. A 40 square foot cake was supposedly also made, but they had to eat that too. It was hilarious. They’re both really funny.

I’ve asked Becky, Michala, and Jess what else we did that weekend and none of us can remember. I don’t think we really did anything else interesting. Memorable last weekend, huh?

Pictures are coming soon! I promise! (Maybe not until after I get home, but soon!)