Spirit of the Hills Wildlife Sanctuary In Spearfish, SD

Spearfish, South Dakota. The location of our newest project. We've been here for almost two weeks now but I feel like i've already fallin' in love with this place and the community. The people here are all extremely friendly and all seem to have this family aspect amongst them, its crazy. Our sponsor Mike set up a day for us to take a tour of the town and meet so many people there that have made a difference in his life and the lives of the animals at the sanctuary one way or another. It was an amazing day.

I will show you just a few of the animal pics I have and the rest you can see on my facebook account:

This pic was just too cool not to show :)

This guy is "Suno". He has been through a lot in his life including being stolen by a woman who placed him in a box and stuck him in a cabinet to die. This dude is the coolest dog and always greets us every morning and follows us around practicly every where we go.

Some call this guy "bacon".....for...obvious reasons.

A lot of our work the first week has been cleaning out the tiger pens (of all the poop and dead deer and cow remains). We've also been organizing and arranging a barn and tool shed. Different things. We've also had the opportunity to participate in giving tours to children.

This is a cat cage that Britt and I constructed one day. We were so proud of that. Looks simple....but I assure you, it was not.

And here is Steph and Griff. Steph holding up the lovely cow head bone remains and Griff working on getting the tiger area clean of poop and bones.....fun stuff lol

And this is Bullet! Horse I got to ride!

Well I have to run now. I hope you enjoy these pics and more to come! Leave comments! Hope you have a blessed day! "My time is up, I thank you for yours." God bless!!!

Goodbye Coralville, IA Hellooooo Spearfish, SD

Wow, has it really been a whoooole month since my last post??? Time sure does fly when you're busy. Well I guess i'll get to a few reasons why I haven't posted in so long. First off, I have been really busy. Working in AmeriCorps sure does keep you going. Also, I took a few days of personal leave and made a much needed visit back home to see friends and family. And even went to my old college and saw some familiar faces. And another thing, I strained my lower back. So i've spent a lot of time, outside of work, resting and relaxing so I can get back to normal. Still hurts a little bit but am almost there.

So this past month has seen many things. Invasive species removal, prescribed burnings, Earth Day event at Coralville Lake, finding out our new project, and then transition back on campus in Vinton.

Prescribed burnings were really cool. It gave us a chance to work outside but even cooler we got to "play" with fire. Prescribed burnings purpose is to burn out or kill that which is not wanted or harmful to the native plants in the area, that way new and greater things can grow and flourish in its native environment. Its some pretty cool stuff and a lot of fun to take part in.

Closer to the end of the project, the last day actually, was the Earth Day event at Coralville Lake where we led a group of about 100-120 volunteers on different tasks around Coralville Lake. I was sent to the TSI (timber stand improvement) area where myself and 2 other teammates plus Sarah (intern) led about 30 or so volunteers on clearing out this one area of limbs and trees. Anything from chainsawing to using the wood chipper was used for this task.

Ok, so you might be wondering where my next 6-8 weeks will be spent....well if you read the title of this post then you already know. But anyway, my team and I will be leaving tomorrow morning, bright and early, for Spearfish, South Dakota. We will be working with the Spirit of the Hills Wildlife Sanctuary with 300 + different types of animals! Its pretty sweet and we're all really excited. One bummer part about this project, though, is that there will be no internet access at our project. We MIGHT be able to go to the local library once a week but that's it. So my posts might be limited. I sure will try though! I'm sorry this post isn't too exciting but like I said i've been busy and have been unable to at times as well. I hope everyone is doing well and I should have some pretty sweet pics of the animals up soooon!!! ( I hope)

"My time is up, I thank you for yours." God bless!

Chainsaws, Herbert Hoover & Dog Poo

Well, this week is kind of a short post week. But hopefully you'll get the picture of everything that happened. First off, we had chainsaw training on Tuesday so we did that practically all day. We had a guy come in and teach us the in's and out's of how to use the chainsaw and how to maintain it as well. After some in class instruction, we went out into the field and had some hands on training. Once Tuesday was over we spent the rest of the week doing just that, using chainsaws to help cut down trees and also do what they call "bucking" which is what I was doing in the above picture.

One day last week, on Thursday I believe, we took a half day field trip to do some service learning to the Herbert Hoover Historical Site.

I have more pictures of the tour on my facebook so please, feel free to check em out!

Also, today (Sunday) some of us did an ISP at an animal shelter. Lets say it was a nice break from the everyday nature work that we do. Few more pictures on facebook (as usual). But here's a few.

First dog I walked named Oliver!

Well, I hope this post finds you all doing well. Sorry that its so short, but like I said, we didn't do a huge variety of things this week. Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a blessed upcoming week! Hey go out and smell the fresh air. Run around and roll in the grass like my buddy Hobbit! :)

"My time is up, I thank you for yours." God bless! :)

Spike 3 In Coralville & Solon, IA

Hello all! It's been some time since last i've posted but a lot has gone on too! I hope all of you are well and that good things are happening in your life.

As you can see by the title of this post, we are at our 3rd project or "spike". Our housing is at a Lutheran church camp in Solon, Iowa but our work is based in Coralville, Iowa. This is how are work breaks down. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday is spent working with our main sponsor doing park work. Like cleaning up the camp grounds. Transplanting trees and such. And then our main job, which we'll get to in about another week or so, is doing prescribed burnings. And then on Wednesdays we work at the Church camp where we stay doing work around the camp. Anything they need done.

Here are a few pics of our housing:

Griff & Michael at the entrance to our cabin

Omega Lodge, place where we eat and do many team activities

My bed in the boys room in the cabin

Living area that Steph, Patrick and myself set up for the team. Pretty nice & cozy eh?

We have basketball and volleyball courts. And we even have what they call a "human foosball" set up. We haven't tried it out yet, but it sounds sooo much fun.

Alright, tha'ts the gist of our living situation. And now onto the work that we've done thus far. We arrived here on Thursday March 4th and began work right away. We worked Thursday and Friday here at the camp we are staying at gathering firewood and chopping them into pieces and placing them into a big firewood bin.

Later on Thursday night we went out to dinner and our van got stuck haha. So we had to push the van out of the mud.

The following week we did nothing but online fire training ALLLLL DAY LONG for 8 hours a day. Except for Wednesday, that's when we took the pack test where you have to carry 45 lbs. on your back 3 miles in 45 minutes.

We finally got to meet our "main" sponsor and started working with her at Coralville Lake doing camp site prep work. Just the other day we transplanted some trees which was pretty cool. And within the next week or so we should be doing the main part of our job which is prescribed burnings which we are alll looking forward to.

One of the greatest things about being in this area is the wildlife and everyday nature that you encounter. Here is a picture of a few deer. Sorry that the picture isn't too good, but this is an everyday occurence with us. Deer just a little ways off from us to roamin around our camp grounds. Its amazing. That combined with the snow (which has melted now) is so beautiful. I love this project simply because I get to be out in nature and can really see the wonder that is God's creation.

Our team has done several ISP's already. This pic below shows a wall that i've begun to gut out and prep to be rebuilt because of flood damage.

And we've also found time for some fun. Daniel and I went to this St. Patrick's party in Cedar Rapids, IA where a Celtic Party Band was playing. It was pretty cool and a lot of people came out for it.

So far this has been a pretty good spike. Some ups, some downs. But overall an ok experience thus far. I should have a more detailed blog post next time but of course, as with every first post of a new spike, I like to take you on a tour if you will of the place where i'll be staying the next 6-8 weeks. I hope you enjoyed this post and i'll be posting again soon Lord willing. Have a blessed day and please comment if you want! "My time is up, I thank you for yours." God bless!