Greetings

Welcome to my little corner of the inter-webs! I just wanted to take this space to warn you that my posts will rarely be up to date. Due to the spontaneity of natural disasters and the unpredictability of when AmeriCorps' services will be requested I will be digitizing my journal entries whenever we return to St. Louis. Oh, and most of the pictures you see here were taken by myself. If ever I do use someone else's material I make a point to give them due credit though! That said, come, leave comments and be merry! I hope you enjoy your stay!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Shawnee - 6/9

Shortly after debriefing the week’s objectives I have come to the conclusion that we may be working in the most dangerous place in Missouri—then I realized that we weren’t in Missouri.  Reassessment, me may be serving in the most dangerous place in Illinois: Shawnee.  Plant-wise we have poison ivy (which is waist high) and poison oak in abundance.  These towering poisonous obstacles are manned by ticks and chiggers with an equally menacing air force consisting of mosquitos and buffalo gnats patrol the skies above.  Oh, it is also worth noting that they are not afraid to use their biological warfare either: Rocky Mountain Fever, Lyme’s Disease, and West Nile Virus.  For heavy artillery they have water moccasins, copperheads, and rattlesnakes that grow up to 7 feet long and for their special forces they have a variety of arachnids—namely black widows and brown recluses.  So…what I’ve gathered is that we are working in a hostile poisonous forest.  Pretty sure when nature goes to such extremes to say “keep out” we should listen, but hey, a gig’s a gig and the show must go on.


The good news is that they gave us a cabin to stay in after the crazy storm we endured last week.  After spending a week outdoors I’m loving the access we have to a kitchen again.  Cooking while camping is so much work!  Totally worth it, but dishes and everything is a hassle.  Anyways, the not so good news is we have 10 hour shifts here… Truth be told last week we averaged 11 a day so it’s not that big of a deal—it just means more time in a volatile environment.  That about wraps things up!  I’m still glowing from a visit from my wonderful fiancée.  Thanks for stopping by love; it was a great weekend.  Here’s hoping I live to see another!




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