Murdering Blackberries

So per usual I have been very lazy with this blog. I have raked my brain for a really great excuse for why I made promises of entries to come and have been terrible at fulfilling these promises…and the only excuse I could think of was the terrible internet we get in our house. It seems that just about every other computer can connect to the internet besides mine, but that is a bad excuse…so simply –I’m sorry!

Ok so what do we do for work? I am sure that the five people who still check this knowing that I will come through eventually are wondering. Our work consists of clearing blackberry bushes (which are very thorny), digging up the root, and planting trees. We work Tuesday through Saturday. On Saturdays we get to work with volunteer groups often consisting of boy scouts which are always a blast. It is not terrible work, sure the blackberries get monotonous after awhile, sure I have scratches all over my legs, and sure digging up roots is not my idea of a goodtime, but we get through it, it’s mixed up enough that it is just fine. I do not think I will have any interest in seeing blackberries after this project, but we get through it, we try to make the days fun sometimes. For example, last week we played the question game where you simply ask a teammate a question, they answer and then are able to ask another teammate a question and so forth. Today at work we “dared” people to eat weird things, we had people eat a worm, dirt, a fern, drink river water, eat pine needles, and of course a blackberry root. I ate the pine needles; they tasted like a lime rind.

To speak very honestly for a minute, I want to admit to everyone that this project can be quite difficult for me. There are some days where I just cannot understand why I am pulling blackberry bushes and what that has anything to do with why I chose to join Americorps. It is very easy to lose site of the overall goal and my own reasons for joining the program. However, there are also days that are fun and times when I look around and am able to see how much we have cleared and in those moments I remember just why we are here. The work we are doing may be tedious and boring but it could not be done without us, there is a lot of blackberry to clear and without our assistance they would be much worse off. Clearing blackberry is necessary because it is an invasive species to the region; therefore it affects the soil and kills native species. I don’t feel comfortable enough really trying to explain invasive species and why it is important to remove the, however if you are interested in more information regarding that check out solv’s website at www.solv.org

So that’s the work we do. In terms of our living situation it’s not bad at all. We are getting along just fine, I really love being in a house and there are very little problems with so many people living together!

I hope my loyal readers are doing well and haven’t given up on me yet, I promise I will keep up with this until the end!

Portland, Oregon

We had a much shorter road trip to Portland than our first project. Portland is about 10 hours from Sacramento, CA, so we broke the trip up into two days. We spent our first night in Ashland, OR. Ashland is a small town in South Oregon…it’s well known for the Shakespeare Festival, unfortunately we stayed in Ashland just a week prior to the opening of the festival, so no shows for me. The town itself is wonderful, it’s a small quaint town with a bunch of little shops and restaurants, there is a college in the town, and mountains surrounding it. I definitely would have enjoyed a full afternoon of exploration (we had an hour or two).

The drive to Portland was gorgeous; there were mountains on all sides of us. The mountains reached to the sky and were covered by untouched snow; it truly was a sight to see. Throughout the ride we also passed over rivers, the rivers paired with the mountains essentially left me speechless, I only wish I was good with words so I could describe to you people how beautiful this really was…but I’m not…so you all will just have to experience it for yourself!

Ok, so we arrive in Portland, we get to our house. Now you can imagine how nervous I am, I am about to spend two months in a small house living with people that although I may feel like I have gotten to know very well, we still don’t know nearly as much as I think we like to think we do about one another…so this is going to be interesting, living on top of one another for two months…no privacy. Although I am still a bit nervous about how this will all pane out, I have high hopes for our living situation, it is really nice to be in a house. Let me take you for a visual tour of the house…get your imaginations ready!

You pull into our driveway, park in front of our garage door, walk to our front door, ring the door bell...WHY HELLO! Welcome to my humble abode! On your left you will see a half-bath, not too shabby and on your right you may notice our kitchen with an islandesq counter top, enough drawers and cabinets to keep us happy, a working stove, refrigerator, and microwave. As you exit the front of our kitchen you find yourself standing in the living room which has a couch on either wall and a fold-up table set up in the center of the room, you see computer chairs all over the room, realizing that there are 13 people who live in this house that often need to sit down after a long day of work. The sliding glass door into the back yard (which does not seem inviting due to a mess of a compost pile, a broken fish tank, and a torn up yard) is to the right of the fire place which only purpose seems to be to hold a TV from the 1960’s. Don’t bother turning the television on, you will see nothing but snow, however, if you desire you may watch a dvd or vhs later, but first you should finish your tour by heading up the stairs on the left of the fireplace. Once your reach the landing at the top of the stairs you are looking straight into a full bathroom, shower/tub, sink, toilet. How delightful you think! Turn left at the top of the stairs and you will see the master bedroom which houses five girls on cots, walk down the hallway you will see the second girls bedroom which holds three girls, and finally at the end of the hallway is the boys spacious (because they know how to organize their things) room. You may wonder why you do not see clothes in the last two bedrooms hanging out in the open, well that is because those bedrooms have closets, while the first bedroom (where I live) only has a rod and shelf that spans the length of the longest wall for clothing to be hung. Well, that is about it, I hope you enjoyed the tour!

In terms of the City, I have not seen much of it, we have only been here for two nights, but it seems like a great city. We are walking distance from bars, restaurants, and shops. I have not been downtown yet, I will keep you all posted on that stuff.

We had our first day of work today, it seems like SOLV is a great company, and they are very organized and very happy to have us here, so I am looking forward to working with them.


I suppose you people should keep your eyes out for an update on the work and the City of Portland, because it will not be long before I have experienced both enough to write about them!

Sometimes I get the feeling that the only people reading this are my parents and maybe my grandparents…anyone else out there?

A Little Weekend Adventure

Although I wanted to spend our off weekend visiting Reno, NV it seems that none of my friends were that impressed with the idea of Reno. Apparently it is not a place worth visiting (I’m still not convinced of this fact…how could you not want to go to the biggest little city?). So after much debate we chose to spend our off weekend on the Coast of California in Monterey. This was probably a good choice seeing as it might be the most stunning place I have visited in the United States. The water looks like something you would see in a painting or on a movie, not something that truly exists. Driving into Carmel we took the 17-mile drive. The 17-mile drive is like driving through a nature reserve with stops along the way to see different natural wonders. We stopped and saw sea lions and birds laying on a rock, we met some crazy squirrels that wanted to jump into my arms, we saw the oldest standing cypress tree in the area, a bunch of golf courses, some very large houses, and gorgeous waves crashing upon the rocks. It was a visual overload it.

We spent the first half of our morning walking around Fisherman’s wharf in Monterrey, where we saw sea lions playing and a lot of sailboats! After the 17-mile drive we walked along a beach which was below Pebble beach golf course…I think that it might be one of the most beautiful golf courses ever…it’s literally on the ocean! Basically it was a great way to get away from Sactown and just relax! I highly suggest everyone visiting California’s coast, it is really something else!