Spring Break Trip: Day 3&4

Monday:
Wake up early
Leave by 8:30
Get to the Scenic Vista park
We made target frames for an archery range they are going to make -- it was super fun! The two guys, Mike and Bill, are super fun and awesome. before lunch, we precut the wood and predrilled some holes -- I can use a drill now! :-) (Suddenly I'm thinking of both Mr. Weasley and Mr. Dursley). (*Gasp! And I'm Miss Yackley! How weird!) After lunch, we pretty much just assembled all of the stuff together. We have everything done now except for the roofs where the targets are going to hang. I believe we're doing that on Wednesday.
Since we finished early and our ride couldn't come for an hour, we hung out and Mike showed us around -- showed the old bridge that doesn't cross anything -- they were going to tear it down somewhere but instead they just moved it to the park. And the stone barn foundations with a porch/deck thing on top that they use for yoga. And the reclaimed strip mine where no trees can grow because the ground is so compact. And the wasp larva inside a plant branch. And the smell of sassafras branch that they use for tea? Maybe? It smelled so good, I kept it and was smelling it all night. Made other people smell it too. Bath and Body Works needs to get on this! haha...

Then back, get back in order, dinner (chicken salad, pasta salad, macaroni salad on crescent rolls [like the Panera kind, not the Pillsbury kind]), shower, blogging and bed.

Oh, and after dinner there was a speaker -- kim, one of the women helping out on this trip -- that talked about the different mindsets people have depending on which class their in. Basically we learned that the upper class is all about connections, their time orientation is the past; the middle class is all about acheivement and the future, and the lower class is all about relationships and the present. It was very interesting.

Tuesday/today: woke up early =P
left at 8:30
went to the memorial park beyond the random bridge where people would plant trees for loved ones. Rachel's mom is a teacher, and she brought her school council/government middle schoolers to come help out. It was awesome -- they raked and picked up branches and helped us lop off dead ones -- some of them were even using a bow saw! I didn't even want to try it... haha! I kept to the pruning shears.
Mike had fun with the chain saw -- cut down a couple smaller chestnuts with chestnut blight. Bill had fun with his tractor/bulldozer type thing... he hauled branches and leaves and such.
lunch, more pruning and raking and raking and raking... the middle schoolers left and we kept raking... and then it was done! and so very nice looking too! I got in the car and my shoulder hurt and my hands hurt, but that field looked so good!
Came back and listened to other people talk about their playgrounds and the group going to the humane society talk about some of the dogs and cats they got to play with/ help out with.
Dinner was lasagna... no, I take that back. It was penne noodles with cheese and sauce. same diff. And salad and rolls and melted butter packets. :-P
The speaker tonight was about education/culture of Appalachia. He is a dr in something, but he's studying how students from appalachia cope with culture changes when they pursue a higher education. That was interesting too -- he said it was very much comparable to students moving to another country, it was that different! Craziness....

hang out-- found a piano! talked to the fam... going to bed soon! So excited! I'm tired and sore and I might be getting sick. Ew.

The weather's going to get pretty cold/rainy. Yesterday was WONDERFUL! sunny with a warm breeze.. today was perfectly fine -- cloudy and cooler. slight rain in the evening after everyone was done with work.

Anywhos. I'm going to bed before either of you can come up with another clever idea to get us killed... or worse, expelled....