Project Tule

Equity Day Four.  The final day for this project.  The scene: Tule Ponds, a warm Saturday morning on the second day of June.
For the first half, we were pulling tree branches that Brandon cuts down, probably to create a path.  Once again, our group had a younger age average than the first time I volunteered at Tule.  Auriana and I sang The Ants Go Marching as we pulled branches through a tree, across a river, up and hill, and then we threw the dead limbs onto a pile.  (It's a lot easier than I make it sound.)  After we did three rounds of dragging and waiting, we equipped shears and cut down baby branches!  Not long after that, it was time for break!

The drain pipes.  The further you go in, the darker it gets...And more smelly.

We met up with Corrina (who came just for the fun of it, having finished this project last week) and she recruited us to help her paint.  We rode in the back of a truck, across the park, to a set of drain pipes we spent the rest of the day painting over.

We are so cool.

The lady who drove us laughed at Auriana who tried to get off the truck by pulling the gate up, like an amusement park ride.  She earlier rode a kayak into a sea of algae.  People who work at Tule (Brandon, the lady) are, in conclusion, pretty cool.

What really stuck out at me was the car ride across the park.  While last post I was reflecting on how little I was doing, this time I feel much more positive.
I am only doing a little bit.  But the bit I'm doing is part of this big project of Tule Ponds--and it is big!  Knowing that my part, along with at least ten people every Saturday, is helping to make this place so beautiful, it makes me feel like this is all worthwhile.  When starting this project,  I wanted to do something different each week--and I definitely did not want to do anything nature orientated.  I wanted to help people.  In a way this is helping people, and while it wasn't what I wanted, I am really glad everything turned out this way.  I will be going back to Tule to finish my 40 hours for school, and maybe even after high school (mainly for the cookies.)