10/15-10/16

So the last two days have been pretty busy!  Yesterday was a brutal bike ride into work, it was about 35 degrees...COLD.  After I warmed up I pulled up some Scott's Broom around the office and worked on cleaning up an old shed.  While tearing poison oak off of it, which had been treated and killed already, I discovered a yellow jacket's nest.  I got some bee spray and took care of it, but it was quite a surprise!  Still, the shed had another surprise in store!  A snake had wrapped itself around a metal pump which had crushed him some how.  So this snake was lying down and scared me half to death, but it was actually dead.  Anyways, I then transplanted a bunch of lupines and worked for a little bit on moving some fragaria.  Matt and I hauled some tree branches to a local wood chipping place, and then I did some stuff on the computer.  I left a little early and biked about 9 miles to the frisbee field.  I played with the University of Oregon which was tons of fun.  After frisbee I went over to Lili, my little cousin's house, for her birthday.  We rolled sushi, ate cheesecake, and watched some of the debate.  Today the bike ride was a lot warmer.  I trimmed apple trees for the first portion of the day.  I then helped Matt and Jason unload corn seed.  A full ton I think.  After lunch I worked on pulling up the Fragaria and wrapping them in wet newspaper so they would keep for about a month before being planted.  I am baby sitting Henry (two year old I am staying with) tonight and taking of work tomorrow so I will be able to get a little more settled in.

Portland -> Eugene

Well I have been in Oregon for just about four days now.  I arrived in Portland friday evening (after 7 1/2 hours of flying!) and was picked up by my friend Wilson.  Wilson goes to Lewis and Clark and lives near the school off campus.  I slept at his house friday night.  We went into town on Saturday, and then a concert at night.  It was great fun seeing portland, and seeing Wilson who I have not seen in almost a year.  Sunday I took a bus from Portland Airport to Salem and picked up a car that my uncle's in-laws had left at the Salem Airport.  I then drove the car down to Eugene, picked up some groceries and then met the family I am staying with, the Cooks.  Jeff and Thea have a son named Henry who is about 2 years old.  I am babysitting Henry thursday night.  Anyways, after settling in I had dinner with the Cooks, who cooked, and invited my uncle and his family over to enjoy some amazing tofu.  Dinner was great and I got a good nights sleep.  I woke up monday morning with the sun and went on a hike with Jason Nuckels.  Jason is the head guy at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Eugene.  We went out to a hill called "Mount Pisgah" and looked at some land that was in the process of being restored.  After the tour we went to TNC's office just outside of Eugene.  They showed me around the place and got me familiar with what I will be doing.  Later in the afternoon a truck came by and dropped off around 14,000 plants and bulbs that will be planted on some TNC's land.  Jason gave me a ride home from work and I passed out at home, I am still kind of on east coast time.  

Today I woke up bright and early again.  I rode my bike to work today, I think its about 4 miles but was mostly down hill to the office.  This morning I met some employees I will be working with and helped prepare for a field to be burned.  The prairies that are being restored in what is called the Willamette Valley need to be burned ever few years to get rid of big bushes and trees and also release more nitrogen into the soil.  

It was very exciting today to watch the burn happen.  A crew of about 20 fire fighters, mostly BLM employees and contracted wild fire fighters, in addition to two TNC employees planned to burn about 50 acres of land.  They burned the land very efficiently, It only took them about 30 minutes to burn 30 acres and put fire out afterwards.  It was very interesting to see this done and makes me really want to do something like that at some point in my life.  I left work around 3 today, biked home...a very grueling up hill bike ride, and then went for a hike near bye the neighborhood I live in.  All is well, and I am really enjoying the work at TNC so far.