Chicot State Park
So, Ceslie and I have been volunteering with Chicot State Park for a few days now. I'm sure it was her idea in the first place to come out to Chicot for a few weeks and work, and now we've put that idea into action. Today was our 3rd day of "work."
No, we're not doing it with AmeriCorps. Just, wanted to do it. And boy, are they glad to have us there at the Arboretum. I'm really glad that we got in touch with Ms. Emma, the interpretive ranger, at the arboretum, they have fun all day apparently.
Wednesday we got there and met everyone again and went on a hike around the arboretum's trails. (Fun fact, the arboretum is a whole 'nother thing from the park. It's Chicot State Park and the State Arboretum and Preservation ((aka no hunting or fishing or picnicking)).) Since they are re-doing their signage, we helped Ms. Emma (everyone calls her Emma but it's hard not to add the Ms.) list the local plant-life by the proposed sign sites (to be listed on the signs). That was pretty fun. I had two baby ticks crawling on me by the end of it. Ceslie had about 200 though.
Saturday we got to help out with their "Dutch Oven Demo" where they brought out three dutch ovens and cooked in 'em.
Note it's cute little feet that lets it stand in the coals. (Much like a cauldron)
We made (I say we, Ceslie and I mainly helped in minor things like keeping track of the time and stirring) yellow rice, black beans, and blueberry cobbler. The rice and beans were deeeeelicious and the cobbler wasn't quite cooked all the way so it was aight. Another guy was cooking too, he was from Palmetto Island State Park's official Dutch Oven Club (yeah, be jealous) and he made chicken fricassee (awesome) and crawfish cornbread (to die for). The food was sooo good omg.
But disaster struck when apparently the guy dumped his coals on the ground and a little boy fell in and got burned. So, alas, no more dutch oven demos at Chicot. Oh, well. I think Ms. Emma was pretty over trying and trying to get a club going at Chicot and she felt horrible that the boy got hurt (he's gonna be fine btw).
Also on Saturday Ms. Emma's daughter, Elizabeth, came in from Baton Rouge to spend the day with her mom on her (Ms. Emma's) birthday! Elizabeth is so cool, y'all. Like, she's really smart and funny and has infinite patience. Super chill too.
Ask Ceslie about Gabe, by the way. Oh, and how a deck of cards is really a bible.
And that brings us to today. Today we got there a little later and hung around until a lady and her granddaughter came in for the 11o'clock program. We showed them the animals, the gator, two turtles, two snakes, and a fish, and then we all made hummingbirds out of paper. The little girl was super cute and she was really afraid of snakes but Kenneth (one of the ranger dudes) was so great with her. He got the oooold snake Jezebel (Jezzy) out to show the little girl and showed her how calm she was. The grandma pet the snake a couple of times even and so the little girl first poked her reaaal quick but then she petted her with one little finger a couple of times. It was really awesome. I made my little hummingbird have a tongue sticking out of it's beak and Ceslie drew a monocle and a vest on hers :]
This is what Jezzy looked like.
After that we brought all the Dutch Oven schtuff over to the bigger storage place to live, since they aren't doing the program anymore.
After that we hung around the front desk and did chores like sweeping and mopping, which wasn't too bad at all.
Finally, we went out on a ride in the truck around the north and south sides of the park. I'd never been to the north landing, lot of lilly pads out there. Oh, and we saw a freaky thing in the water that looked a lot like this:
It's called a bryozoa. It's a kind of moss, animal, thing. It apparently only lives in healthy water so, woohoo. It was really gross looking though.
After we got back from riding we headed home.
Everyone jokes around and has a good time at the Arboretum. And the best part of volunteering is that Ms. Emma wants us to be able to experience all different kinds of programs (which means we get to take part in cool things like the dutch oven cooking and pine needle basket weaving ((which I'm super stoked for))). I think I could definitely work there. They just seem pretty happy with their lives and their jobs.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow and the next two weekends we spend out there in the woods. One day Ms. Emma promised us we could go geocaching! I'm super psyched!