In the heat of July

After I got back from Trinidad, Ben got flowers to welcome me home! I forgot to put it in my last blog post, and I wanted to show them off!

Anyway, the week of July 9-13 I was back in the Hayman area. The first part of the week we worked on erosion control matting. The jute matting comes in big rolls. After we rake down the slopes and seed them with native grasses, we roll down the matting, bury the edges, and stake down the matting. Finally we put on slash (twigs, branches, and brush) and transplant some plants into the matting.

In process of putting down jute matting

Midweek, we did lots of weeding around the park. The fire ban was still in effect, so there were limitations on our chainsaw use, which prevented us from building headcuts because we weren't able to cut down the dead trees to fill them with. Weeding was certainly not as exciting as our other tasks, but still definitely important. After the fire in 2002, plants started to slowly grow back in through the burn area. Unfortunately, invasive plants/weeds tend to grow in first and outcompete the native plants (that can provide food and habitat for animals and better control erosion). Removing the invasive plants allows the chance for the native ones to grow in (especially after we spread seed and plant baby trees in the area).  The weeds we removed were toad flax, ox-eyed daisy, mullein, russian thistle, canada thistle, and musk thistle.

mullein

Mareya and Toad Flax

Russian Thistle

Musk Thistle (and bumble bee!)

ox-eyed daisy

Not a weed, but there were delicious raspberries all over the woods! 

Later in the week, we were finally able to go back to our scheduled work- head cuts! As per the fire ban regulations, we had to have some someone follow the sawyer (person running the chainsaw) with a fire extinguisher. Most of the time, I got that job because I was the guest and odd one out on the team. It was fun actually running around finding unsafe trees and watching them get cut down. We also got a special treat one day, some of the board members came with our boss Nancy to see the work we were doing. It was really fun to get to explain and show off our work! We do all the work in the woods and when we are done, it looks like nothing was ever there- no one ever sees it!

Working on three adjacent headcuts

Overall, it was a very hot, tiring, and fun week- as always!

The weekend after I got back, we all had lots of fun! I did some shopping with Ashley, and we all went to see the new spiderman movie. Bill had to leave on Sunday for work in Oklahoma. It's been a quiet week since he left. 

This past week (16th-19th) I worked with the Pueblo crew at a park in Pueblo building trails. I was sent down to fill in for their crew mentor who was out on a work related injury (nothing major, just muscle strain from over exerting himself). I worked along side the crew, provided them an hour of education each day, and I also had to give a little tough love! The crew has been getting their projects done, but they haven't been working with much motivation and drive. They got a little upset with me for my scoldings and encouragements, but they came together as a group and got through it. The Pueblo crew only works day shifts (not camping) so I had some early mornings and long days to get down there and work with them. On Wednesday I had to get up at 3:45! We did some awesome work on the trail, and even built some sweet new stone stairs! 

Stairs!

View from the trail

It was a long and tough week, but I got some great feedback from my superiors and got offered a new position for the fall! I was already going to be working though October, but my new position as the fall crew's mentor will give me more responsibility, possibly a raise, and a contract that goes into November. I'm really excited about the fall season (starts August 20th) and my new position, but I found out that I'm going to be camping every week (whether I took the mentor position or not) and it is going to be very hard to be away from Ben and home so much! 

On Friday I worked in the office getting ready for the Pueblo crew's first and only camping trip that I'll be going on next week. There was lots of shopping and packing to do! It should be an interesting week because they've never worked and camped before, but they're a tough group so they should get through it just fine! 

On Friday morning, as you've all heard, the shooting in the movie theater happened. The theater is not far from our house and Ben and I had recently seen a movie there. I can't wrap my head around what happened at all, and thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach. Thanks to everyone who checked in on us and are praying for the victims. It's hard being so close to something so awful.

Friday night we had tacos with Justin and Ashley and watched Batman Begins. Saturday, Ashley and I volunteered with the Mile High Weimereiner rescue and hung out with a bunch of awesome dogs at a meet and greet for potential adopters! It was fun, but very hot! Meanwhile, Ben and Justin went skeet shooting at the park by our house. Afterwards, we met up at Justin and Ashley's house, grilled out and watched the Dark Knight movie. We then went to see the new Batman movie. It was a good movie, but it was also so heartbreaking to think of the shooting while we were there. 

Today Ben and I had a lazy day around the house, did lots of chores, and I've been packing up for my camping trip that I start tomorrow!