Lots of new experiemces

I have had a ton of new experiences in the last ten days since the last time I wrote. We are being keep very, very busy still. The last two weeks I have been working about 60 hours per week. My placement at the Coastal Health department is going great. Last week, I had to invent the actually optical brightener collectors. There is no real money to buy fancy stuff, so I had to get creative. This coming week we are going to place the four different collectors in the water and see which one works the best. My Ways to Water project is coming along. I have finally finished putting all the collected information about the pathways onto a spread sheet and went to visit a couple of the pathways to gather some more information. It was nice to take a break from computer work, but some of the pathways were very difficult to find. One time I was driving, following the directions, and the road simply ended. There was nothing but a wall of trees and bushes. So, needless to say, I never found that pathway. LOL

The 4 different collectors I invented. Like how resourceful
I was!

Group projects are my favorite because we get to do different things every week. This past Monday we worked with a group of ninth graders to clean up a beach. We also taught them mini lessons on sand dunes, marine mammals, water population related to the ocean, community service, and how the coast is an fragile environment. It was very, very windy and cold that day. I had to wear about 4 layers of clothes (the newspaper said the winds were 35 mph). Another group project we did recently was WET FEST. I believe I have talked about this before. Wet Fest is a water education program that we put on for schools. This time we went into Harwich elementary school and educated fourth graders on many different water concepts. I was in charge of teaching the booth about the three phrases of matter and doing a quiz broad with the kids. It was fun and did make me miss teaching.

Teaching at Wet Fest

This past weekend I volunteered to help build a playground for the children of Truro. Apparently, this town was the only town on the Cape that did not have a playground. The playground is going to be beautiful when it is completely done. I only help out one day, so I was not able see the finish project. I helped with painting and building a wooden fence around the playground.

Putting up the wooden fence

Painting

I also volunteered to help a scientist collect data on the types and number of fish that are in a certain area in Wellfleet. I can't remember the name of the beach that we were at. I learned how to set a net, pull it in, measure fish, and learned a lot about the different types of fish that live along the shore line. The day started off cool, but warmed up and turn out to be a great day. It was a lot of fun.

Pulling in the fishing net
Measuring American sand eels



Setting the net out

A big stripped bass we caught in the net

Gross: American sand eels

I know you want some drama from the house. But people are still getting along fairly well. People seem to be getting on other peoples' nerves a little bit more and some people are just disappearing from time to time because they need alone time. Dishes have been an issue this last week. People forget to do them. Annoying. But we just ask everyone whose dishes are in the sink and figured out who didn't do them. Then we harass them for a couple hours. ;) One of the girls' mom sent everyone in the house Halloween goodie bags. Thanks Mrs. Walls!! Every Wednesday, we have a house dinner and meeting. Each week two different people make the dinner. This past Wednesday, it was my turn to make house dinner. Christin and I made stir fry. Ok, I think that is everything for now. I am going to put some pictures up on here and head to bed. Good night everyone. Oh, I also helped out at a Cranberry Festival and got to see a wet harvest of cranberries.

Cranberry harvest

Harvesting cranberries

Creepy house

Indivual Placements

So, I have been very busy and have not had a chance to write. I started my individual placements (IPs) last week. It is tough getting use to job where I work from 8:30 to 4:30 everyday and have to drive 40 minutes to get there. So really, my work day starts at 7:45 and I don't get home until 5:15, 5:30. A long day, when you are use to days that start at 7:20 and end at 4:00. My IPs are both in Hyannis. I have two different placements. My first placements is with Barnstable Growth Management Development. In this placement, I am working on a Ways to Water project. I am trying to find different trails that are owned by the town and lead to water (i.e. ocean, bay, lake, or pond). Once I have identified ways to water that I believe are owned by the town, I verified that the town actually does own them. Then I do condition assessments on the pathways. The pathways are then prioritize based on safety needs and conditions. Eventually, I will then organized community service events to repair the pathways. It is a huge project. Currently, I spend 100% of my day on the computer: researching files, looking for deeds, updating files and spread sheets, and updating the Ways to Water map. Not my favorite thing to do, but important work.
My second placement, which is only on Wednesdays is with Barnstable Coastal Health Department. I love this placement. I am outside about 90% of the time. I am helping locate sources of water pollution and educating people on how to reduce water pollution. I am going to help make brochures to use to educate the public. Another project I am in change of is the Optical Brightener Project. Basically, this is a cheap way to test water for human pollution. You put cotton pads in the water for a week and then check to see if optical brighteners are presented. Optical brighteners are found in laundry detergent. It is an easy, simple way to pinpoint human pollutions. I have to help design the whole project. Today I was out on the water all morning locating places to place the collectors.
Overall life is going alright. I am busy and continue to miss home. But things are okay. Everyone in the house, amazing, are still getting along. Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks.

1) Measuring oysters to determine the legal length - 3 inches. If they were legal, we pulled them out of the cages. The oysters that are legal will be placed in public oysters beds for people to fish out.



2) All the oyster cages. You can see them because the tide is low. When the tide comes in all the cages are completely covered.

3) Measuring oysters.

4) Opening an oyster to eat. Fresh out of the ocean.

5) Tiger show at the Renaissance Festival.

6) We had our picture take with the king. LOL

7) A day at the office. :)

Working Hard

Well, we are finally done with our training. After five weeks of training, I am ready to get to work. This past Friday, we did our first volunteer service project. This means that we worked with volunteers from the community on a project within the community. We worked with students from an alternative high school to clear areas on a community farm. My group cleared plants from around an electric fence. Apparently, the plants keep making the fence short out. The group worked really hard and we cleared a big area in a short amount of time (two hours). On Saturday, I went to an Environmental Educator Conference in Boston. It was put on by the University of Massachusetts. The conference took place on a small island in Boston Harbor - Thompson Island. We took a boat tour of the harbor before landing on Thompson Island for the conference. The conference was good and I learned a lot. Saturday night, I went square dancing with some of my housemates. I did not know what I was doing half the time, but I had a decent time anyhow. Today I had my first real group service group. We went into a forest and helped build firewalls. These are not really walls, simply areas in the forest that the underbrush is mowed back, 50% of the brush is removed, and all the dead material is cleared. Supposedly, if a forest fire happens these areas are used for firefighters to stand in and fight the fire because the fire can not burn as easily here. It was a lot of hard work, but very rewarding. Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few days.

1) Amanda practicing for WET Fest, which is an educational fair that teaches children about different water concepts.

2) Before clearing plants from the fence.
3) After clearing plants from the fence.

4) Sunset on the beach.

5) Lighthouse in Boston Harbor.

6) I am a top secret CIA agent (carrying water quality kits).

7) These islands were made from dirt from the 'Big Dig'.

8) Me putting a big log into the wood chipper.


9) Carrying wood out of the forest.

9) Boston Skyline