End of Joplin, Beginning of Conservation Work

Hey everyone,


    Sorry for such a long time between posts. Towards the end of my time in Joplin, things got super crazy and very stressful. I had to have a few of my WIBs fired for showing up after lunch intoxicated. That lead to a series of events where I had to get in contact with my WIB supervisors and tell them to get their small teams to be better productive and to actually get something accomplished. But other than that, I very much loved my time down in Joplin. I felt that no matter what, every day the ERT was able to do something productive.

    On one Friday in particular, I was dropping off tools at sites when I came to a house where a group of nursing students were to break up, remove, and put in a new sidewalk. Whenever I had the chance to hit something, I took full advantage of it. I pulled up and saw the students working and they needed some assistance. They weren't have the best of luck with breaking up the concrete, so I took over and went to town on the sidewalk. There is something to be said about how much fun it is to break things.

Nursing students trying to break the sidewalk up

Removing the concrete after I got there

    After things got broken up, I found out that the volunteers had to leave. Unfortunately, the homeowner already had the cement ordered and it was on its way. I used my Nextel and called the office looking to see if there were any volunteers available, but they was none. And right then, the office found out they had a deadline to meet on the demo board, so I couldn't recruit any of my ERT friends. I then realized that I would be pouring all the cement with the homeowner all by ourselves. We were able to do it, I learned a lot, and it looked really good. When I was done, the homeowner was so very happy and started crying and thanking me for sticking around and helping him get this done. The only thing I could do was to give him a huge hug and tell him that we were there for him.

Finished project

The homeowner put in a cross

   A few weeks later, I remembered the homeowner told me his birthday was that week, so I bought him a cookie cake and brought a few of my ERT friends and gave him a little surprise birthday party. It was nice to see him again, and he was as thankful as ever. He loved us.

   Like I said earlier, I got really busy and didn't take many pictures of what I was doing. I got a team of NCCC AmeriCorps volunteers from Denver who came to Joplin to help us out. They helped me out a lot, I put them right to work in the field as site supervisors to make sure nothing got out of control.

One of the last projects I was involved in was gutting a house in preparation for demolishing it. It was rainy and cold, but for about a week, I had volunteers out there working really hard. Sometimes I forget that in these houses, people use to actually live there. This house was abandoned after the storm, leaving everything still inside. I found a lot of things that just made me sad and realize how bad the storm was.

This was one of my favorite views. I finally got a picture of it on a rainy day. This is in Duquesne, just East of Joplin.

Bird's nest in the food cabinet.

Gutting

Volunteers from Texas who took down a shed finishing taking apart the roof.

Illinois students gutting the house

One of the other projects that we always did was raking properties so that we could clear the property off our database. Now days, that is practically all we do. These are pretty boring, but I get out and help every once in a while. The property needs to be able to be mow-able / seed-able.

My volunteers. My NCCC is to the right, wearing the black coat.

Action picture! It was really cold out and snowing.

95% done. but it looks great.

    Another day, when it was snowing out, a group of volunteers and I helped Habitat for Humanity lay sod at 5 houses. It was yet another thing that I didn't know how to do, but I figured it out pretty quickly.

Man that looks really good.

   Last week was my first week on conservation. We went down to southern Missouri to Peck Ranch. It is a wildlife refuge that is literally in the middle of nowhere. I stayed in a trailer for the week, which was really nice, but I didn't have phone service to call Sarah. The only place that I could get service was 2 miles away up on top of a hill that is called Phone Booth Hill.

  At Peck Ranch, we maintained a fire line so that in the spring, they can do a prescribed burn. We literally picked up any stick within 60 feet of the road, and carried it further away from the road. I've never done so much back and forth walking in my life. It snowed one night leaving us a cold, wet mess the next day. However, it was fun to drive in though.

Road in the middle of nowhere Peck Ranch. Spent all week on the left side throwing logs around.

Look at that park job.

Looking awesome.

   Well thats about it, as I am writing this on Sunday evening, I found out I am going back to Peck Ranch in the morning. I'll take more pictures, or at least try to. Until later.

Love - Shamucas

Joplin

Hey!

Here I am in Joplin and finally had time to write a post. It has been crazy busy down here trying to get settled down and organized. The day before I left, I took the test to drive AmeriCorps cars which has it pros and cons. I get to drive which is great, but I must drive a lot for what we do in Joplin. My day usually starts out at 7 am by communicating with the other 5 ERT members on what type of jobs are being done that day and what tools are needed. I fill up the 15 passenger van with all the tools needed plus more tools in case throughout the day other jobs are started and need tools. I then drive all around Joplin dropping of tools for sites, with sites consisting of volunteers either gutting and salvaging a house, completely demolishing a house, raking a property that was already demolished, to other random jobs. That takes a while because most sites are in the destruction zone where the tornado had gone through, and there are no street signs. The city went through and painted the names on the streets, but it's hard to see the paint until you're right on top of the paint.

17th and something, but it's really hard to see

After dropping of the tools, I go and serve with field WIB workers. The WIB workers are contracted through the state after an emergency to do a variety of activities. ERT has some WIB workers working on removing debris on large properties that homeowners asked us to assist them with. WIB workers are unemployed who are contracted 6 months at a time. I act as their supervisor, but its hard to supervise when I can only be there for a few hours a day. Most workers are nice and want to work, but a few are really lazy and don't want to do anything but sit and gossip with each other. The past two weeks, we have been cutting trees that were severely damaged from the storm and bucking them up into fire wood all over the city.

WIB site after 50 of them spent a week de-limbing, bucking, and raking up the area.

Last week, Extreme Makeover Home Edition was in Joplin construction 7 houses in 7 days. We tried to get on tv and give AmeriCorps St. Louis a presence at the revealing of one of the houses. The reveal was done live on ABC at 7 eastern, so we woke up at 4 am and went to a bus boarding place to be shuttled to the house site by 5 to get a good seat. There were a ton of people there, but somehow we managed to push through some people to get in the second row. We saw all the co-hosts of the show and all the cameras. The most exciting part was being in the crowd when the crowd started yelling MOVE THAT BUS.

Andrew and Clare so excited to be up at 4am.

I yelled, "Michael, on 3 smile upwards to the sky" and when I got to three, this is what he did.

Getting out of the limo

Click on the link below to see me from the other side of the camera. 9 seconds in until the end, look for me to the right of Ty. I look like Wolverine.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/big-reveal-extreme-makeover-14816520


Extreme also worked on a community park that was completely destroyed and made it look amazing. They added a new pond, a new play set, a new basketball court, and a nice memorial to all the volunteers, especially AmeriCorps St. Louis.

My team around our bronze helmet at the park.

The park with the destroyed hospital in the background. It was moved 4 inches off its foundation. That bracelet to the right is what a lot of people wear to remember May 22.

Plaque mentioning AmeriCorps

I serve with the WIB workers until noon and then I have to move tools from one site to another. Sometimes, when I feel like I want to break something and help our great volunteers I grab a sledge hammer and start swinging away. But most times, the volunteers are having way too much and I just let them swing away. One day when I remembered to bring my camera with me, I was with a group of 13 years olds who were gutting a house. It was amazing to see how much fun they had and how much they actually got done. They gutted the whole house for the most part saving the homeowner a week of his own time and effort.

Before I gave them a lesson on how to swing away.

The house after a few hours.

There's a house that was right in the middle of the destruction zone where the homeowner has donated the house to volunteers and the city plans on taking to a museum. It is really quite amazing to see all the people who have come and signed their names and wrote messages.

Outside looking in

Looking outside

 Another day, we worked with the producers from extreme and they filmed up removing a house's broken up foundation. There was about 30 people there with the film crew, but when the film crew left, so did the people. Us 5 ERT guys stayed back and hauled half of the foundation to the curb by ourselves.

Hey extreme volunteers who only wanted to be on camera and not help.

Chad, Wooly Mammoth getting mic'd up for his interview

ERT and two other volunteers removing all the cement

Last Friday I was near where the Extreme team was constructing 7 houses helping an elderly lady fix her fence, when Michael from extreme walked over and started talking to us. It was very weird. Some Walmart executives were volunteering with me got some pictures of me. Warning, my hair makes me look like a hippy. To be fair, I took off my helmet to talk to him.

I drive around 50 to 80 miles around Joplin everyday. I have seen some of the saddest and most heartbreaking things ever here. Whether it's talking to an elderly homeowner who lost everything and can't physically remove debris and rebuild, to a house that still stands but has been condemned, to driving down Main street and seeing the actual path of where the tornado went. Everything was wiped out, leaving nothing but piles of debris and trees.

Driving south down Main street, looking towards where the Tornado went.

20th and Main. The Tornado went right across the road and took out all everything in it's path, businesses and neighborhoods.

Not too sure where this is, but theres nothing left.

On the perimeter of the tornado, where some things survived.

Looking west. 6 miles long, and a mile wide of destruction

22nd and Pearl after the tornado with Pickle

Same spot before the storm

Here's what I was for Halloween. I'm with two girls who get paid by the state to work in our office. Unfortunately this Halloween, I didn't hand out candy or even see one trick or treater because I was in the office until really late.

Pumpkin patch kids. We were the only ones who had a costume at work

They tried to be tall like me by cheating and standing on chairs, but I was still taller, almost.

That's it for now. I'll try to take more action pictures of what I'm doing, but its hard to do when I'm out in the field picking up and throwing trees around. I'll be home for Thanksgiving to see Sarah and my family so everyone get excited for that. Until later.

Shamucas

Back to the STL

Hey!

After two really long days of driving with a stop in Denver, we've made it to St. Louis. I had a really good time in Montana, with my enjoyment growing every day I was there. When I first got there, I was a little disappointed with Montana and the mountains. I'm use to seeing huge mountain ranges with 14,000 foot peaks, but I came to love it up there. I'll write less in this post, and show more pictures, since I have plenty.

The day before we left for Montana, the ERT guys from Shenandoah had a barbeque and had everyone over. When ever it is nice, one can always find some of us grilling out back and some of us sitting out front on couches on the stoop.

Enjoying good food and good drinks.

The next morning we were out on the road aiming for Denver. There is nothing between St. Louis and Denver and nothing really exciting happened.

State number 1

Gas station lunch, yum!

I love clouds if one hasn't noticed

Hey, it's Blue Hulk's shadow

We stopped in Denver for a 9 hour pit stop and got back on the road again heading for Montana. I saw Sarah and my family. It was nice to stop and sleep in my own bed. Having never been past Casper, Wyoming, driving through Wyoming felt like waiting for Christmas. I wanted to see Montana and all it had to offer. 

Cactus in my driveway

All the other cars.

Laddy was so excited to see me!

12 hours after leaving Denver, we made it to Montana. We stayed 3 weeks just outside of Butte, Montana, at the Fleecer Forest Service cabin. The cabin had 2 bedrooms, so everyone slept outside in individual tents or in the yurt with about 12 others. I slept in a tent. The day after we arrived, we split into small teams, and were sent all over Montana to different service sites. My team worked on an ATV bridge and trail just east of Butte in Pipestone. The week before we arrived, a team of second years put in the foundation for the bridge leaving the rest for us.

Rest stop in the middle of nowhere Wyoming

Custards last stand

Fleecer mountain. We stayed up there in the woods

At the forest service office loading Harold's truck with bridge for the wood.

The bridge

Measure 4 times, cut once.

Harold, 

Wooly Mammoth

Wooly Mammoth had a 3 foot advantage on the rebar using the bigger sledge hammer and barely beat Harold who had a smaller sledge and is 75 years old.

My turn!

Some progress on the bridge

More progress

Lunch time

End of day nap time.

 My team got too much done the first day and ran out of supplies, so we decided to make the trail better by putting in a dust fence with fabric. We only had a limited supply of the fabric, so we had to make a natural barrier to the trail. That meant walking up and down the mountain side looking for dead wood and pulling it down the mountain.

Wooly Mammoth and Alex working out their biceps.

The natural barrier along a portion of the trail

The bridge waiting for the 35 foot beams

 We had a day off because we accomplished what we needed done a day early, but went right back to service by putting 4, 1200 pound stringers across the creek. We had to wait til almost noon until the forest service showed up with the beams, so I learned how to do a cartwheel. I'm not very good. But once they came, we got to work using Harold's ATV and 2 of his home made trailers.

Not very good, but I am getting better

All the wood!

A few Jobcorps members with a bobcat helped us take the stringers off

Going down the trail

These beams weigh a ton

A few days later, still waiting for supplies to finish the bridge

 

After a few days at the bridge, all of ERT went to Sheepshead to take down a fence around a recreation area that hadn't been taken care of since 1983. It poured all day long, so I didn't take my camera with me. It was cold and rather miserable, but we took down the jacklink fence, made burn piles, and brought in materials for a new fence. This project took about three days. After that, we went to another area in Sheepshead called Freedom Point. Everyone was here for a few days moving burn piles that the forest service put in the wrong areas. If you haven't noticed, the forest service keeps ERT in business, we just go around fixing their mistakes. After that, we stayed at Freedom Point hauling dead, beetle killed trees off a slope where the forest service went through and decimated a rather large dead area. Every day we were there was an 8 hour day at the gym. My shoulders and arms have never been so sore.

Welcome to my gym

All those logs and fire wood were moved by ERT by hand

Another project consisted of a small team taking down a jacklink fence around a natural spring, cutting down any tree within and around, and making a new fence. Again, it rain for most the this project, but I got one picture.

ERT is really good at making burn piles.

Trigger time bucking a tree and removing limbs.

 
One of the last projects my team did was to rebuild a fence around the Forest Service's horse stable in white hall. We had to carry the lumber in and cross a creek with the new fence.

Who wants to do swimming? Not me.

How many ERT members does it take to put a post in?

Saul knows how to make a nice and level post

These horses loved us for bringing them food and making a fence so they couldn't run away

Nice and straight fence

Marty man handling a rail

Looking east away from Whitehall

Finished fence

Celebratory fence dance

Oh oh, flat tire.

I can fix that flat tire

That's it. Montana is over. Now I have a few days off before I go with 4 other people down to Joplin and run the Volunteer Reception Center. I hear I'll be down there for a month or so, but things always change. Until Joplin, I'm going to go splurge a little bit with my food stamps and cook up a delicious steak. As always, I'll try to update my travels as much as possible. Take care -  Shamucas.