March 23, 2009

This morning I woke up a little later than usual.  I ended up only having some yogurt. When we got to the site wen pulled some poison hemlocks.  Since they were so thin and had long weeds we had to really dig to get them out of the ground.  When two dogs came near us Jenny and I kept them away from Pooja.  I think the one thing that characterizes her is her fear of dogs.  I really enjoy my conversations with her.  I was really proud of the rest of the group for clearing all of the french broom in that area.  This area had not been cleared in two years.  French broom is an invasive plant in the area that was brought in from Portugal.  Although it has beautiful yellow flowers, and is sold in some nurseries, it is ruining the ecology of the area.  

After lunch we went to the Tennessee Valley Nursery.  Here we cleaned pots, weeded and fertilized.  The boys and Pooja got the soil ready for planting.  I think its amazing how at this nursery they take seeds from the plants that they have in the areas that they restore.  They do this instead of taking cuttings to keep the population diverse.  This prevents old diseases from continuing on.  At a nursery I've worked at in Orange County they get seedlings that are store bought.  The seeds they plant are from packets that are store bought as well. I have never seen a nursery so involved with the entire process.  

The best part of the day was the beach hike we took.  Tiffani helped me the whole way.  She even listened to me the entire way back.  I told her everything about me and how I felt.  She is such a good listener.  I feel so safe with these people.  It makes me not want to leave them.  I truly feel that they would take care of me.  

At dinner we had several mishaps.  Our site coordinator Julie came over for dinner with us at the hostel.  We were trying to show her a good time but a lot of things went on.  First we lost our cheese.  Then we realized our meat was frozen solid, because we forgot to defrost it.  We also did not have a can opener to open the beans.  There was also no taco seasoning at any store that was close =, so we just used salt and pepper.  It all worked out in the end.  Danny bought cheese, Julie had a can opener on her keys and we just microwaved the meat.  Johanna makes delicious burritos, and Julie even brought us ice cream.  

The best part of dinner was the cranberry juice.  I finished the rest from the bottle.  As I was drinking it my mouth was filling up with juice.  I figured I needed to swallow but it was too late.  One phrase defines this whole night. "I FORGOT TO SWALLOW!"  Now they won't let me live this down.  Today was a good day!