Week 2

Dirt sleeve

This is what we do when we run out of trees. People you might know (left to right): Kara Jaspers, Sean Fallon, Matt Neal, Rachel Buithuis, Megan Hultink

The hot day; I was wearing a knitted touque from Oma in the morning and that came off pretty quick, that's why I'm wearing a shirt on my head.

My bags--400 trees loaded and ready to go

Partying at Fun Factor last week--glow in the dark mini putt

Second week down, six to go.

The week started on a bit of a low, because Tuesday was a gong show. The crew bosses weren't given GPS's, and we ended up spending the first two hours driving around looking for the block. Jordan kept us all entertained by singing, "Brett, You've Got It Going On" to Brett Elmers. Every morning on the bus I'm excited to start a new piece of land and see what I can hit, but at the same time, I secretly hope the bus will never stop and instead we'll just drive around and never have to plant. But they found the block, and by 10 we were planting. And because we got started late, we also got to work late...yay. That day I decided to try planting solo and found out that I loved it. It was the first time I was in unscarified land, which means there's no furrows to follow, you just always work 6 feet off your own line of trees, so I was a bit confused throughout the day, always wandering around looking for my trees. I'm sure it sounds ridiculous, looking for trees, but they're really tiny, and in land that's covered in grass and brush, they're hard to find!

Wednesday I a slow morning because a lot of my land was swamp. I didn't realize that I could plant it, until our quality checker, Brandon, showed up to check my trees. I turned to him, almost ready to cry in frustration, and said, "I don't know where to plant any trees!" He took his shovel, started poking lumps of moss and said, "Well you could put one here...and here...and here...and here...". I felt like an idiot--swamps are great! After that I really picked up the pace, and by the end of the day I felt like I had a really good handle on unscarified land.

Thursday morning the repo bus headed back to Saturday's block so the majority of the crew could fix their crappy trees. Guess who was in the van? Yeah, that's right, only rookie who didn't have to replant! That's cause I plant quality trees, yo! After a couple hours it started to rain, and I was excited because I love planting in the rain. But then it got harder...and rained more...and got windy...and rained harder...and by 2:00 most people were miserably cold and had given up on the day. I tried to hide under a tarp long enough to eat a couple cookies, but even 5 minutes of sitting and I was freezing, so I just kept pounding. And by 5:00 I'd hit 2k! Two thousand trees is a really abstract number if you don't plant, and sounds low when some people are hitting 4 and 5k. But it's a big milestone on the way up, and it felt good to be the first rookie to hit it. It also felt great to highball some vets, especially ones who wimped out in the cold and had to warm up in the truck. The day wasn't over a 5:00 though--we were welcomed back to camp with a reefer...which basically means stand in line and pass heavy boxes of trees from one truck to another for an hour. But some dry clothes, a cigarette under Brad's tarp, and a ride in the van just to warm up all helped take the edge off the day, and needless to say, I slept well that night.

Friday was fairly uneventful, other than a nice lunch break with Matt Neal. He was having a bad day, and the rain wasn't helping, so I took a 10 minute break to sit under a tarp with him and eat an orange. He's a great guy--really encouraging--and it felt good to start getting to know the rest of the crew a bit better.

Saturday we were told to expect to start late because of a long bus ride, and to work late and plant our faces off because we had a big block with lots of trees to finish in one day. I had a good start to the day, and managed to bag out (finish planting all 400 trees in my bags) before the vets I shared a cache with (Sean Fallon and Matt Neal). But after the first bag up my land got crappier, while theirs got better, so they pulled ahead of me. It was the first really hot day, so the bugs were out in full force. I read a quote somewhere that said, "This is the sound of your insanity: 'bzzzzzzzzz'." Nailed that one on that head. Once they find ya, they don't leave, and I swear they beeline (pun pun!) for every opening on my face. I ate three bugs, and choked one back up. Gross. Oh, and just as I was on stride to hit 2k again, we ran out of trees. Lame.

Saturday night the crew went out to Scuttlebutt's for some well-deserved drinks and down time. We tore up the dance floor, and I got to see strange phenomenon that is a ThunderBay bar crowd. It's a weird mix people between ages 19 and cougar, wearing plaid and cowboy boots, incredibly tight and short skirts, or camo-pants.

Oh, and church this morning was great--I love Grassroots! Pastor Chris had a great sermon about giving in secret. But even better was this little old white haired lady that came over to hug me. Apparently Jordan had talked to her there a couple years ago, so he struck up conversation with her during the break (yeah, there's a refreshment break DURING the service for fellowship and coffee--so great!). I saw him point to me from across the room while talking to her, so I waved and she blew me a kiss, lol. Then she came over, and before I could even introduce myself she was hugging me. She wanted me to write down our names so she could remember to pray for us as we worked / continued looking for work. What a sweetheart, eh? It's people like that who make church such a meaningful experience, not just the pastor or the message. Already looking forward to next week.

In other news, a few shout-outs:

1) Anna, nothing gets me jacked in the morning like some Alphabeat. Love it!

2) Maple Leaf girls, I found liverwort on a lot of the root pods this week, and thought of you. Not jealous that you have to sit in the freezing rain and weed pots though...enjoy!

3) Katlyn, had a cigar on my "porch" for nostalgia sake. Not nearly as fun without you.

4) Mom's turning 50 tomorrow--Happy Birthday Mom!!! Hope you have a great day and get spoiled by Dad. Dad, that's your cue to spoil Mom even more.

Well, I'll be back again in a week! Miss you all very much!