"Dental bugs", Diller, and the Iowa Boys!

     Wednesday morning began bright and early with Chelsi presenting the Great Bug Hunt powerpoint to a group of kids from Krayon Kamps in Lincoln. Since she had experience with the powerpoint, I watched her so I'd know what to do on Saturday by myself. We talked about the bugs that live on the prairie and the importance of honey bees and why we should leave them alone. We also talked about why you shouldn't shake the jar when they have bugs in it. "You know how you get a brain freeze after you eat too much ice cream? Well, the same thing happens to the bugs when you shake the jar. So let's be careful!" The kids were really excited and I was ready to go catch bugs with them! Jesse, Chelsi and I each took a group and headed out to the prairie. My group was all boys. I immediately thought to myself, this should be interesting!

     We started out by catching little things like beetles and boxelder bugs. Then... all of a sudden, swoosh! One of my boys grabs his net and runs up to me. "Miss Katherine!! Miss Katherine! I caught a dental fly!!!" Now, let me explain why this is so funny... one of the main slides in the powerpoint discussed the differences between a dragon fly and a damsel fly. A dragonfly has four wings that do not close, and a damselfly has four wings that come together when they are at rest, giving the illusion of two wings. I was so proud of him for knowing that it was a 'dental fly', and he was so excited and happy that I did not have the heart to correct him. For the rest of the morning, all I could hear behind me was him telling other groups that he caught a 'huge green dental fly'. That made my day!

     Everything was a competition between the boys in my group. "Miss Katherine! I caught a green beetle! Can you help me get it into the jar?" They always wanted me to get the bugs into the jar for them. I'd have to get them to lower the net onto the path so I could take the mason jar and put it under the net. Then I'd slowly remove the lid and tell the boys to "watch carefully so nothing gets out." They would lean down next to me and attentively watch as I slowly removed the lid to tap the bug into the jar. Once it went kerplop, the boys would cheer and yell to other groups what they had caught. Smile for the camera!

     The boy on the right in the top picture was the one who was so very proud of his giant green 'dental fly'. Every time he saw one on the path, he'd yell 'Dental fly!!!' and try his hardest to catch it. Once they would catch a bug in their jar, I'd ask them what it was. My boys were so smart! They knew all the answers to the questions I asked. Every time they would catch a bug, no matter how small, they'd run up to me yelling "Miss Katherine, Miss Katherine!!!" 

     Chelsi had two little girls in her group who were eager to show me what they had caught. One girl found a tick on her shirt and starting screaming so loud that I could hear her across the prairie. She thought it was a spider, so she screamed and screamed. It was the shrillest scream I've ever heard. Chelsi tried to calm her, but she would have none of it. She talked to me the whole way back about how much she didn't like bugs. I told her the world would be a much different place if we had no bugs in it!

     When it was time to head back to the Native Plant Display to reveal and release what we had caught, my boys were really excited and could not stop talking about the 'dental fly' who was buzzing around in their jar.

     Jesse gathered up the kids in a line and asked them one by one to tell everyone what their favorite bug was. After they'd tell the group their favorite, we would watch them release their findings. We did this so that the kids wouldn't step all over the area that the bugs were just released into.

     In the picture above, you can see the first group of boys lightly shaking the jar to get the rest of the bugs out. I think the coolest bug found was the huge green Katydid in the picture at the top of my blog!

     It was time to go back inside. The kids all put up the nets and jars, said thank you, and left. I had so much fun catching bugs with my boys. It was always "I caught a beetle." "Yeah? My beetle's bigger than yours!" "No it's not!" Boys will be boys!


On Saturday, it was time for me to do the Great Bug Hunt for Kids in Parks on my own. Jesse attempted to take some pictures of me doing the presentation. Not only did I have to present in front of the kids, but this time they had their parents with them! Even though I didn't have a huge group, my kids were really smart and learned quickly. They were so anxious to go outside, they could barely concentrate.

     I soon got over my nerves and had a good time. My kids loved all the interesting facts I had to tell them. Did you know that a grasshopper has 5 eyes? Or that a dragonfly can fly up to 30 miles per hour? Or how about how the pincers on a stag beetle are called mandibles? And how YOU have a mandible, too?
     Saturday was also the campfire, and it was Chelsi's turn to run the Education Center. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures because I went home and fell asleep. Once Chelsi and Allison got off at 9 pm, they asked me if I wanted to go to the Diller Picnic with them. Of course I did!
     We hopped in Allison's car and drove to Diller, which is about 20 minutes away. It was kind of like a small carnival. There were rides, bingo, food stands, beer, and fried food galore. Since we hadn't eaten dinner, we fell victim to the sweet smell of deep-fried goodness. Allison got a chili dog, and I got a corn dog. Delicious!
     We people-watched for a while, discussed people's clothing choices, and scoped out the group of attractive boys huddled up by the booth where you have to break the glass bottle with a baseball. Then we decided to get some more food. This time we chose sliced caramel apples. They were amazing! In order to go to the bathroom, we had to walk to a pub. There we saw Sue! She works in the same building we do. She was all dolled up and hanging out with her 'cronies'. We got pretty tired and decided to head home.
     On Sunday, Chelsi and I decided to go to the mall in Omaha. Chelsi got a haircut and we gave into some chocolate goodies at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We need to start running again. Nebraska is spoiling us! Once the mall closed, we were hungry. We had seen a Cracker Barrel on the way to the mall, had thought about it all day, then decided to go there afterwards.
     Out comes the Garmin! Where is the nearest Cracker Barrel? 7 miles. Alright, let's go! Next thing you know... we're crossing the Iowa border! I was really excited because I've never been to Iowa before. I can now say I've been to Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska! Next month I'll be going to St. Louis. I'm so excited to be able to travel to all these new states this summer!

     My first impression of Iowa was that it was dirty. I immediately got my phone out and sent text messages to Ed and Evan, two of my favorite Iowa boys. We ended up in Council Bluffs, a town nicknamed "Council-tucky". The Iowa boys said not to judge just yet, and that Counciltucky didn't count as Iowa. After we ate, we went on a mission to find shot glasses with "Iowa" on them. Here we go...
     Gas station #1. Bright, highlighter-colored shot glasses with "Iowa" printed on them. Nope. We asked the lady who might have some different ones. Gas station #2. Shot glasses that leaned and had some lame phrase on them. Nope. Wal-Mart. Here's where the fun starts.
     We walk into Wal-Mart and ask a lady (who was obviously on the way to the bathroom, but I didn't notice until Chelsi brought it to my attention) if they carried "Iowa" shot glasses. She told us to go to where the regular glasses were. I knew to ask someone else, so I ask the guy walking who looked sharp and had a radio. He immediately asks a fellow associate. They both look at me with confused looks on their faces. "I know this Wal-Mart doesn't have them, but the Wal-Mart further down does." Frustrated, I reply with "Of course this Wal-Mart doesn't have any. Of course!"
   As I'm walking away, the guy with the radio perks up and says, "Why do you want an Iowa shotglass anyway?" Back turned, walking away, I shout "Because I'm not from here." He says: "Where are you from?" Halfway across the store, near to the door, I yell "I'm from TEXAS!" Not getting the hint, the guy goes, "Really? Where in Texas?" I stop, turn around (I'm nearly all the way across the store from him now) and I go, "I'm from near Dallas." He THEN says... "Really? I'm from Fort Worth!" "COOL!" I say, then grab Chelsi and tell her I want to get out of Wal-Mart now.
     Off to Target, which is within walking distance of the Wal-Mart. No luck there either. Getting frustrated and desperate, we decide to go one more place. It was a little bitty sketchy gas station. Last 'shot'. Get it? We walk in to see the nicest looking younger guy ever. Exasperated, I ask him if he has shot glasses. He sweetly says, "Yes ma'am! Right here." he points at a plethora of shot glasses and cute postcards. He then laughed at us and smiled because Chelsi and I were SO excited to finally find shot glasses! I bought $18 worth of stuff, and upon leaving I told Chelsi that was the most I'd ever spent at a gas station in my entire life.
     On Monday, Chelsi and I woke up and made appointments in Lincoln for massages. We made appointments with a lady that I went to about a month ago after I hurt my back and shoulders lifting the stage. We were really excited. We went to Lincoln and I had my massage first. Chelsi laughed at me because when I came back downstairs I was dazed and looked like I was in the clouds. I laughed and told Chelsi, "Just you wait!" Sure enough, when she came downstairs she was in a trance. I looooove massages now.
     After the massages, it was off to Cold Spring State Park near the Nishnabotna River to see our Iowa Boys! We could barely keep in our excitement. Of course when we got there, we had to take pictures. The campground was beautiful! Here are the pictures! Unfortunately, a crucial member of the crew, Ben, was missing. He was in Omaha that day picking up trash. It just wasn't the same without him being there to sing prairie songs with Heath and me!

     And of course, I had to save the absolute best picture for last... I was squealing like a little girl the whole time!

     I had so much fun last night hanging out with the Iowa Boys. Chelsi and I had the hardest time leaving... but there's already talk of them making a side trip to Nebraska! I can't wait. I don't want this internship to end!

Last week and the 4th of July!

     The picture shows how many miles we did on our trip to Mount Rushmore! I still can't believe we got to see it. Now, on to last week!
     I have to write about the regal fritillary butterfly who came to play with us. He found my leg while I was at the Freeman School, and rode all the way back to the Education Center attached to me. I took him inside so Chelsi could see him. He had a damaged wing, but was really active and fun to look at. We tried to put his wing back the right way, but did not want to harm him further so instead we put him on a flower and took some really cool close up pictures of him. He loved to get in our hair and stay there. It tickled so much!

     Last Thursday, Chelsi and I got to teach the kids from Upward Bound how to do water quality testing. We took samples from Cub Creek and set up tables to test for nitrites/nitrates, alkalinity, sulfates and dissolved oxygen. The kids were eager to learn and I had a lot of fun taking charge of the nitrates/nitrites testing.

     Once we were done cleaning up, we discovered that Jesse left his Park Ranger hat in the room. Since he NEVER does that, and I've ALWAYS wanted to try it on... this is what happened. 

     On Friday, I took the truck into town and went to the recycling plant. My goal was to get 25 2-liter bottles that we could use to make terrariums for Kids in Parks on Saturday morning. I was excited to take a government vehicle into town. I felt really important! First I had to go drop off some signs to get remade. Jesse's directions to the sign place made perfect sense, and I made it there just fine. His directions to the recycling center, however, were extremely confusing. I decided to stop at a nice gas station and the owner helped me out by pointing me in the right direction. 
     Once I got to the recycling plant, I parked and went inside. I told the two guys that I was with Homestead National Monument, and they told me they didn't have the 2-liters out yet. So, they took three huge bins of plastic bottles and we began digging through them trying to find decent 2-liters. One of the guys came up to me while I was looking and all of a sudden goes, "So a guy came in this morning and dropped off two huge trashcans full of 1971 Playboy magazines!" I hesitate, not knowing how to respond, and decide to say "Oh...really?.....uhhh that's cool?" He pauses, and goes "Yeah, I was born in 1971!" He bursts out into a fit of laughter. I laugh nervously and don't really know what to say. It was an experience!
     When I got back to the Education Center, I cleaned out all the 2-liters and got them ready for Kids in Parks. However, Chelsi got to do the Kids in Parks for plants because it was my turn to do the campfire on Saturday. 
     I got to work at 12 and asked how Kids in Parks went. I got to make a terrarium, and it was fun! You cut the bottle in half, fill the bottom with soil, add some seeds, moisten the dirt, put the top back on, tape it together so no air escapes, and plug the top. The bottle will produce its own greenhouse effect and the plant will grow. We check our terrarium every morning to see if anything's sprouted!
     On Saturday, we hosted a campfire and had a man come play the flute. It was the night before the 4th of July, so we thought no one would come. Boy, were we wrong!

     We had off for the Fourth of July, and even though it was pouring down rain, we decided to check out the flea market in Fairbury. We drove there and checked it out, but a lot of people had already packed up. Chelsi bought a horse-hair pottery piece made to look like a quail. It was cute! We found a bag of kettle corn for $1 and got cream sodas for the road. Before we left, we played with some puppies and met some interesting people. Since it was rainy and wet, we headed back home to work on the no-bake cheesecake we were taking to Jason's for his party.
     We headed to Jason's and had a nice gathering. We ate bacon-wrapped hot dogs (delicious) and watched movies. We had a blast watching the neighbors shoot fireworks in the street. It reminded me of the rednecks in Texas! When we drove home, the air was so thick with smoke from the fireworks that we had to stop and wait until we could see through it.
     On Tuesday, I did living history. I wish someone had taken my picture! I was dressed up like a real pioneer in a dress and leather shoes. I sat outside the cabin and demonstrated how the pioneers washed their clothes. I had to get water and put it in a bucket, wring out the clothes... and I had a lot of people visit me. One couple was from Georgia and they were driving to Alaska! They were interesting to talk to, and their wiener dog was cute and friendly.
     Today we spent almost the whole day doing service for the ambient air quality machine. If there's one thing I've learned... it's that I do NOT want to go into ambient air quality monitoring. All the math and equations and plug this in, take this off, turn this off and turn this... we got so confused at times, we'd have to step back and take a break. I prefer doing water quality!
     Tonight we decided to take a break from cooking to go to Playa Azul. When we got home, we put on our 'hick' clothes and decided to wash my car in the yard. It was a lot of fun because we were acting like we were "country". Nothing's better than making car-washing fun!