Savannah's AmeriCorps Adventure : #32 Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.

          On Monday we started work at a very old cemetery that had at least 500 bodies buried in it but only about 50 or so marked. There was a giant tree that had started to die so they had to cut it down, then we had to cut the limbs into firewood using chainsaws and the wood splitter.  I have gotten so used to the chainsaw now that I'm picked to use it almost every project and I'm there for when other team mates use it. The weather was amazing! It was so sunny and warm, I'm pretty sure I even got a little sunburn on my face. Because of the cemetery's employees work hours, we ended up getting done early and then had to go home and make fire defensible space around our housing. I'll have to admit, it was pretty boring but it was meaningful work and had to be done. After work we got dressed for P.T. and did a relay race, and played sharks and minnows; which again, was a lot of fun. After P.T. we had a little time before dinner and for some reason I was extremely tired and sore, so I took a 30 minute nap, and by the time I woke up it was time for dinner. At night we had spaghetti and garlic bread, had a meeting then I went to bed.
        Tuesday (yesterday) we worked in the cemetery again but this time I wasn't allowed to chainsaw since I had done it on Monday, but was still able to help whoever was chain sawing. We were also able to start the burn pile which was a lot of fun. Along with chopping wood, we also had to put it in their trucks to hull off, so I have definitely gotten my arm workouts in. We ended up finishing a little early again so we had to go home and do a little more defensible space work around our house again, but this time not nearly as much as we had to do on Monday. I actually just raked the leaves in the front yard which was alright because again it was such a beautiful day out. Because we didn't have P.T. yesterday, and because the weather was so nice, I went on a long walk with one of my team mates, Melissa, because on clear days, you are able to see the Sierra Mountains from where we live. We ended up getting dropped off to an lookout that is about 3 1/2 miles away from our house and decided to walk the rest of the way back. At the look out we snapped so many beautiful pictures of the valleys and Sierra mountains! And the walk back had just as beautiful sights. When we got back home I had some time before dinner so cleaned up around my room. For dinner we had chili with rice which was delicious.
         Today we woke up around 6 and had P.T. Every week we practice our baselines (how many push-ups and sit-ups we can do, a timed 1 1/2 mile run and sit and reach test to see how much we have improved. I was not looking forward to the run until I saw the sunrise this morning. It was breathtaking and I was able to see it during the whole run. I even cut 4 minutes and 10 seconds off my run time! Yeah! After the run we did the rest of the baselines inside, then ate breakfast, got dressed and went off to an older couples house that needed to have work done around the property. The property was huge and was pretty nice other than little areas where there needed to be a lot of brush removal. I was first put on the task of untangling a mess of branches and then restacking them so all of their ends were facing the same way. The reason we do this is because when the wood chipper comes, the people have a hassle free job. When we were done with that we had a short break and were able to go into the "break room" that the couple set up for us. It was a large area in a room above their garage and even had a large deck attached to it so we were able to have coffee outside. And not to make anyone jealous or anything but todays weather was the best yet! It was so sunny and warm out I just had to tell my dad about it! haha! After the break I cut down about 5 little trees with a handsaw and helped stack more branches that were coming from trees that were from the back yard. By the time we finished that, it was time for lunch which was provided by the couple again! They made us a taco bar and also made us brownies. Again we ate lunch out on the back deck. After lunch I was able to chainsaw in the back yard. It was a little nerve racking because the backyard was a pretty steep hill and there were a bunch of brush from the conifer trees on the ground. I ended up cutting about 5 smallish trees down then for my last tree I ended up cutting a 25 foot tree down! Granted it wasn't giant but still was a pretty tall tree! After I cut it down we started to get ready to leave, and the women ended up giving us a brand new Frisbee and soccer ball! When we got home I got changed and then went on our back deck to enjoy the rest of the wonderful weather. I ended up reading for a good amount of time then watched the sunset while listening to my dads "retro radio" that he loaned to me for the rest of my AmeriCorps term. When I came inside it was time for dinner and then after we had an LAA (Life After AmeriCorps) meeting which didn't take long at all.
         Tomorrow we are having a meeting with the fire safe council and a few other things that I'm not certain about; but whatever it is I'm excited about it!

                                                                                                                                    ~Savannah