extreme ivy pulling, banjos, and a movie!

So this past week we worked at a place called Salmon Bay, pulling ivy. But unlike our previous ivy work, done on the ground, this week we got to hang off a cliff and pull it from the walls! It was pretty awesome....perhaps not that dramatic, lol, but we did set up anchors, wear harnesses, and use ropes to repell down the banks of the bay, pulling ivy. I'd say we were maybe 25 feet high?? At times we were able to find good footing and stand, using the ropes to lean on, or catch us as we lost balance, but there was defintiely lots of dangling as well! :)


And here's a picture of me sporting my rain pants under the harness, ha ha ha.....love it!!


We get Monday off from work (typically every other Monday, because we work 9 hour days) which is great timing because I move on Tuesday!! So I can pack up, and start making trips over to my new house...I'm really excited!! Here is my new address again:

2111 NE 54th St.
Seattle, WA 98105

I don't think I mentioned this yet, but I've taken up a recent interest in the BANJO!! I was at a bluegrass festival with some friends last month and we took a free lesson, which I just loved! Then my dad was awesome enough to surprise me by sending over one of his banjos with my mom when she visited last week! So now I can learn to play!! It's been fun so far :) I'll be jamming with my dad at festivals in no time....

And one last thing, here is the "Day in the Life" video I made for EarthCorps, for their website. The music is from my coworker Ross's band, Beestings. Enjoy!

p.s.

....you can click on any of the pictures to view them BIG! :)

Mom and Cicely, AK!!!!!

Hi everyone :) So this week was a wonderful one because I had my mom here, and Veronica was here until Thursday, too!! It was so much fun...they arrived, after a looooong drive, on Monday afternoon. To stretch their legs a bit we walked around Gasworks park, on Lake Union, and then to Discovery Park, on Puget Sound...




Unfortunately I had to work Tues-Fri, but thankfully Mom and V were together during the day, and took a nice boat trip to Victoria, B.C. Canada. It was a fun week at work though, we were at the Cedar River Watershed, which is the source for Seattle's water. We had to get authorized permission to enter the area, since it's secured for obvious reasons.....it was so beautiful, very enchanted, and untouched...we pulled blackberry for three days!!



Now here are some more pictures from the week...(this first one is at my house where I'll be moving next week!)




Then I'd have to say one of the biggest highlights of my week was Saturday, because my Mom and I drove to Roslyn, WA!!!!! Otherwise known as Cicely, AK from NORTHERN EXPOSURE!!!! It's the town where all 6 season of the best show on earth were filmed :) A little over an hour from Seattle, in the mountains. It was soooo surreal to actually be there, standing on the streets where all the actors stood....crazy, crazy...I can't wait to go back again soon :) And then on the way back there was a small avalanche in Snoqualmie Pass, so traffic was stopped for about 3 hours...but I couldn't have asked for better company! :)





It was a very busy week, but a GREAT one!! Drove my Mom back to the airport this afternoon, now I must prepare for another busy week ahead...I LOVE SEATTLE!!!!!!!!!!!

attack of the buffalo!

Hello all!! What a busy week this has been!! It's nice to have a quiet Saturday afternoon to catch up a bit...

On Monday our crew worked at a site in Ravenna that had already been cleared, and all we had to do was "slam plants"....before lunch we planted about 125! Then we returned early to EC to pot plants from the nursery...a rather relaxing day.



On Tuesday we went back to Tyee Valley, by the airport, to put finishing touches on the site we spent about 5 days at a couple weeks ago.....meaning we moved 100 yards of mulch!!! 5 dumptrucks worth...hauling it down the slope to the 1,600 plants we had recently planted and composted...what a workout! We were all sooooo tired by that afternoon, definitely our hardest day yet...but we still found ways to entertain each other and push through, usually in fits of laughter :)

Then on Wednesday we had our first "education day", which means we stayed at the office to LEARN!! We started with ecology of the Pacific Northwest, then went on a field trip to a natural history museum by the UW, the Burke Museum. And for the afternoon we were trained by the volunteer program staff, for our first VOLUNTEER EVENT!!!

So...what this means is n Thursday we were in charge of managing over 200 volunteers for the day! They were REI store managers, in town from all over the country for a conference in Seattle. With one other corps member we were in charge of a smaller group of 30, to work on a specific piece of land in Dearborn Park. We had to lead them through the day, teach about invasive plants, how to use tools, safety, etc. We were all kind of nervous about the day, to have to speak in front of a large group of adults who already knew about the outdoors....but it was really fun in the end! It was nice to supervise and lead, but not work...mostly making sure they were pulling the right plants out of the ground, and staying safe. It made me realize how much I'd learned already, as I tought them about restoration techniques, etc. Unfortunately it was our first day of real RAIN, so before they even arrived we had spent the morning on site, soaked, and cold...pretty much what we'd been expecting from Seattle, but hadn't experienced until then. The weather has been amazing the past 6 weeks!! Now were looking at 49 degrees and rain for the next few weeks, woo-hooo....

So then Friday was another ed day, and it was awesome!! Because the volunteer event ran long on Thursday, so we didn't start until 9 am, and got an hour lunch break! What a treat :)

And our newest tradition is to play soccer after work on Fridays, so I played for a while, then had dinner with my friend Nick. As I mentioned, we're gonna be house mates soon!! So while he cooked, I actually did some deep cleaning on the the kitchen which was quite disgusting, lol...hopefully in the 2 weeks before I move in it doesn't get too trashed again :) While there I also got to meet a few more future roomies, and they seemed nice. I'm excited to move in!!!!

And speaking of exciting things, my Mom and Veronica are on their way!! I just spoke with them as they arrived at Yellowstone park, but had to hang up quite suddenly as a buffalo was attacking the car (my car!)...let's hope they arrive in one piece...

Also cool, next week there will be a reporter from The Seattle Times coming out to the work site with us! She will work with our crew pulling ivy for the day, and then interview us about our corps member experience. We'll be famous!! I'm pretty excited that EC is getting this kind of attention, and honored that our crew was picked to represent the organization...

And one final note, I was put in charge of creating a "day in the life" slideshow/movie for EC, to put on the website. It will be finished in the next few days, and I'll definitely post it on here, so you can see what a typical day looks like :)

Cold and rainy here. Sending my love!!!!!!!!

I'm moving!

So my previous website will only exist for a few more days, but this blog will replace it! Which means I'm switching virtual addresses, as well as actual addresses...

I met with my new landlord this morning, and put down a deposit. It's a great place! My friend Nick is the one who told me about the room, because it's in the house where he lives. Our rooms are actually right next to one another! It's a big house...about 9 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and a common living room with cable, dining room, kitchen with 2 fridges...and the best part—aside from my awesome housemate!—is my room! It's pretty small, but has 2 large east-facing windows, with an amazing view!!! It's centrally located in the north part of Seattle, right by a park, a lake, a nice neighborhood, grocery stores, shopping, and the bus to work is just a block away and a 15 minute ride! I'm really excited...

So my new blog address is:
http://allieseattle.blogspot.com

And my new mailing address, starting April 1 (Happy Birthday, Dad!!) is:
2111 NE 54th Street
Seattle, WA 98105

There has been so much going on lately...hanging out with coworkers after work and on weekends, I've let my to-do list get away from me...so this weekend I'm gonna try to clean and catch up. But even a day away from my new friends and I miss them! lol. We're like family. They're great!! So I know we'll meet up on Sunday sometime...

My Mom and Veronica come to visit not this week, but next!!! I can't wait!!!!!!! I'll be hoping for good weather on their drive through the mountains! How lucky I am to have such great Moms :) Unfortunately I have to work Tues-Fri that week, but I might take a day off, and we'll just make the most of our evenings. It will be so nice having a car here! Where I live now it's been kind of a pain riding buses everywhere. But my new place will be much easier to catch buses from, so I won't need my car for much. But I'm thinking up some fun weekend road trips.....to Roslyn, WA, Astoria, OR, Eugene, Portland.....who-hoooo! Freedom!!!

Hopefully you can bookmark this new site, and keep in touch :) Your support and excitement means the world to me!!