The most amazing week EVER!

The baby robins have hatched!

     Let me just begin by saying that this week has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I had no time to write my blog because of the new friends that were made. They were a group of 5 guys from Iowa who are in an organization from the Iowa Conservation Corps who Chelsi and I worked with on Tuesday. Here's how it all started...

     On Monday, the Corps came into town and Chelsi and I had to take a tour with the Youth Conservation Corps around the Heritage Center. Well, the ICC were at the HC removing musk thistle. All of a sudden, you see Heath, the largest male in the crew, jump and squeal like a little girl. In the sky there's an extremely angry pheasant squawking. I began to laugh really hard, and Chelsi and I were of course scoping out the new eye candy.
     The rest of Monday was spent in training with the YCC. It was boring, so I will spare you the details. It felt like I was in the same class for 7 hours. Tuesday was when the fun began. 
     Tuesday was my day to go to the part of the land where the Iowa boys were. Chelsi was stuck in town trying to figure out Homestead's Facebook page. I was to go help with the removal of an invasive species of plant with the Iowa boys. I was not sure what to expect since I've never met a boy from Iowa before.

     The crew was given the task of removing "ditch weed", "musk thistle" and various other invasive plants from the Homestead property. Shovel in hand, I exited Jesse's truck and walked towards one of the boys. He was really quiet, so I introduced myself and got to work. It was so hot and humid, and I was working really hard so after about 3 hours I needed a break. I went back to the Iowa boy's truck to get my water. Picking up my water bottle, one of the guys quietly asked me if I wanted some of their cold water, because they know drinking hot water is not a good thing to do. I thanked him and filled up my bottle. Then we began talking, and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the end of the truck bed surrounded by all 5 of the cute Iowa guys. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven!

     After lunch, Chelsi headed out there with me. After chopping thistles bigger than I was for a good while, an idea crossed my mind. I shuffled through the waist-high vegetation and dead limbs sticking out of the ground over to where Chelsi was, and I asked her if we could invite the boys to eat dinner with us that night. She replied with an excited "why not?", and then I shouted towards the "ring leader", Mark, and asked if they'd come over. Without a second's hesitation, he said "of course". Then Chelsi and I wandered around thinking what we could cook for them. "We could make two pots of spaghetti?" I finally just said we could figure it out later.

     At the end of the day, the boys came to the EC and we discussed what we were going to do. They wanted to take us to eat at Pizza Hut because they were worried about all the food we'd have to make. We said we'd be there, and I was really excited. We rushed home, showered, and met them at Pizza Hut. It was weird seeing them in clothes that were not uniforms. We had fun, and the girls ordered this crazy taco pizza that tasted amazing. At dinner it was decided that we were going to go swimming at the Holiday Inn Express, where the boys were staying for the week. OH NO I thought... that's where the creepy blonde lady works who tried to hook me up with her son the first 15 minutes I was in Beatrice. This should be interesting.
     Of course I told the boys the story of the blonde lady and how she was trying so very hard to get my attention focused on her son. When we walked into the hotel, one of the guys whispered "Is that her?" and I replied "Yep, there she is..." Then, the blonde lady and I made eye contact. "Ohhhhh! You're the little girl!!!!!!!!!!!! How are you? Making friends I see!" I began walking faster and politely said "Yeah, haha, I guess I'm doing alright".... THEN the boys starting laughing and giggling at me which made the entire situation awkward.
     We all went swimming and dared Heath to do a cannon ball to splash water on the window of the lobby where these four older men who were quite sketchy would not stop staring at Chelsi and me. So he did it... and I have never laughed so hard. It was such a fun night. Afer we swam we watched some tv until we began to get really tired. We drove home and were really happy that we had a great time. When we got home, Chelsi opened some chocolate and the wrapper perfectly predicted what the next few days would have in store for us.

     On Wednesday, Chelsi and I did e. coli testing again... and an event occurred that I will NEVER be able to live down.

     For e. coli testing, we have to test the same four sites for pH, conductivity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. The first site, seen above, is Cub Creek site #1. The second site is Cub Creek #2, which is on the left side of the EC. Site 3 is West Graff Pond, which is easy to find... but then site #4 on the sheet was marked through, so when we got to that one, we encountered some confusion. I really love using the radios to page people, so after Chelsi and I thought about where the last location was and neither of us could remember where we had gone the previous week, I decided to radio Jesse to ask him. Here's how it happened:
Me: "Jesse, this is Katherine."
10 seconds go by...
Chelsi: "Oh, the volume's off."
Me: "Jesse, this is Katherine..."
10 seconds go by...
Chelsi: "Look, it's on the wrong station."
Me: "Jesse, this is Katherine."
Jesse: "Go ahead, Katherine."
Me: "We are confused as to the location of South East Graff Pond."
Jesse: "It's where we tested in front of the Heritage Center."
-Pause because Katherine and Chelsi are thinking-
Jesse: "Did you find it?"
Me: "We're thinking."
Jesse: "Do you need me to come down there?"
Me: "Nah, we got it."
     Little did I know this conversation would come back to haunt me later in the day. We headed back to the EC and got our e.coli testing going. After that, we were instructed to assist Jesse with the fire extinguisher training by filling up the training extinguishers with four cups of water and 100 pounds of air for the session. We filled all 10 of the training extinguishers up, and then when people would use them, we would have to quickly try to refill them. It was exhausting! Jesse had a fire training device that would shoot flames from a tube and you had to try and put the fire out. You are supposed to stand behind the cones but since Mark is the boss... he can stand wherever he wants.

    Afterward, when Jesse wasn't looking, Chelsi and I snuck some pictures.

     Training for the fire extinguishers was fun, but then it was time for Chelsi and I to head back out to the land of cute guys chopping thistles. We were out there for about three hours, and the guys asked us if we had a grill. Just so happens... someone had stored a little grill in one of our closets. It was settled- the guys were going to come over that night and grill for us.
     We ran home and showered quickly again, and decided to go to town to get material for s'mores since they were so excited about cooking for us. We thought, why not contribute with a dessert? On the way home, we decided to stop by the Farmer's Market they hold weekly at the elementary school. I got some jelly, and my roommates got some peaches and other fruits.

     Before we knew it, the boys were on their way. When they got here, they had everything you could possibly need for a cook out. Hamburger meat, onions, peppers, tomatoes, pineapple, condiments, wheat buns, and even ice cream. I was really excited. We all sat outside and they got our grill going. Heath made the most amazing hamburgers EVER! They were delicious.
     The first thing that they said when we got settled was "Jesse, this is Katherine... Jesse, this is Katherine........ Jesse..............this is Katherine...." I paused, and said, what are you talking about? They told me about how they had their radio on and how they laughed when I asked for Jesse five times and how Jesse kept answering but I kept asking for him... then they made fun of me for not knowing where south east Graff pond was. This continued throughout the week, they constantly made fun of me. Even after I explained myself, they still made fun and everyone thought it was funny. I laughed too because it was pretty funny. I always seem to get the radio that doesn't work correctly! I'll blame it on that. What made all of this worth it: they told me that I provided them an excellent source of entertainment while they were out on that quiet, lonely prairie. They had a great time listening to me and waited all day to make fun of me later. I'm glad I could make you smile!

      After we devoured our hamburgers, the s'mores were soon to follow. I love s'mores more than anything, but making them when you're surrounded by cute guys makes it so much more amazing. Here's me acting like a little kid because I was so excited about my s'mores.

      Ed claims he was the only one who could make the perfect s'more. He even tried several times to make his marshmallow perfectly golden brown, and I was quite impressed with how it turned out. 

  I love s'mores! After the sun went down and we got tired of the mosquitos, the party moved inside. The exploration of the under-house storm shelter was underway. Too bad the girls were too scared to explore, so we made Mark do it instead. He said you could easily fit 200 people down there!

 

      Can you see his feet? Apparently the shelter spans the length of our house, there are a ton of cords, and it's really cold. Good job, Mark. You're a brave soldier! We were all pretty tired, so we sat in the living room and listened to Mitch Hedberg until it was time for all of us to go to bed. We had yet another busy day ahead of us.
     Thursday was deemed by the Iowa boys as "Chinese Thursday" because all of us were going to get Chinese food together after work. However, before this could happen, the day of work had to be undertaken. Today we were going to be certified through the American Red Cross in CPR, AED, and first aid. The training was almost unbearable... the lady seemed like she hated her job, and she was quite rude when we would ask questions. This was going to be a long day. Good thing we had Blake and Travis to provide us with comic relief.

      That's right, I know CPR for infants, children and adults. I feel empowered. We were looking forward to Chinese Thursday so much that I think it made the day go by more slowly.
     After we became certified, the day was almost over so we did our duties and went home. Another quick shower and we were back in town to meet up with our Iowa boys for some amazing Chinese food. After we ate, the decision was made that we would go bowling. Another amazing night was underway!

     We bowled for a few hours and I actually came in second on the second frame with 120! That's the highest score I've ever gotten in bowling. Here are some pictures of the Big Shots who outbowled all of us put together... he even did the moon walk when he'd get a strike, and he had some crazy poses and victory dances worthy of Youtube.

      Yep, not only can Ed make out-of-this-world s'mores, but he can bowl like he's in a league. I had so much fun bowling with these guys and being crazy and just having fun.

      After the bowling alley closed, we were not yet ready to part ways. I suggested that we go to Risky's, a local sports bar where they have cheap pool and "Keno", a game that Ben wanted to play. We played pool and darts, and sat down and talked for a really long time until it was after midnight. We were reluctant to leave, but it had to be done.

      We walked to the parking lot and stalled so no one would have to leave. I got to sit in the GIANT truck they had, and I felt so cool. We asked them to come eat their last lunch with us at our house on Friday, and of course they were all for it. 
     Chelsi and I got up this morning and headed out to where the boys were to help with the thistle. Instead it ended up being all us of walking to where the only 3 trees were within the 100 acres, and sitting in the shade talking. The guys had made up what they called "Prairie Songs", which you sing in a nasal voice beginning with "Out on the prairie..." then you make up two verses that rhyme. I made a really good one and we were having a lot of fun. We had removed the majority of the thistles, and it was so hot and sticky that we all just wanted to enjoy each other's company for as long as we could. At lunch, we headed back and they ate lunch with us. Then we said goodbye, and they drove off singing prairie songs. My favorite one was when Heath sang "Homestead Nebraska, leaving this pla-ace... I hope soon to see ya, in some other pla-ace." Aww... they are so sweet. We girls are already planning a road trip to go see them one weekend really soon. We'd have a great time.
      Tonight Chelsi and I got off work and headed home because we were exhausted. We designated tonight as a "chill night" so I could work on my blog and watch a movie to just relax. Allison had today off and she went and hung out with her boss. We are currently sitting around planning what to do this weekend. We're going to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha bright and early tomorrow morning, then staying at a hotel in Omaha Saturday night. Sunday we're going shopping all day. The dryer ruined a pair of my jeans, and since I only packed two pairs, I now need to get some more. Monday we're planning to go to Wilber, which is apparently the Czech capitol of the United States! ...Or something like that. Apparently they have a neat little town that's worthy of checking out. 
     This week has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I can't wait to go to the zoo tomorrow! The Iowa boys told us what to do to make the Howler monkies talk to us. AHH OOP! AHH OOP! AHH OOP!