Manual Labor is Fun

As you can see to your left <--- I am standing in my work gear. Note the sexy black boots and tucked in t-shirt. I know, I know, you're all thinking "wow, Anne is badass". I'm flattered. This was our work outfit for today.

Today, we worked at the Orange Grove school for mentally challenged adults doing yardwork. We began in the front garden weeding, which went very well. I told a couple people I gardened for GP Shores and then people started yelling at me and calling me the professional gardener and asking if certain plants were weeds. It may have gone to my head... Oh, and apparently black widow spiders are very common out here? We were all freaked out when we saw 3, but the school employees didn't seem too worried.

Next, we went to this nature area and all the students and teachers were having a outside walk-a-thon with music and everything, and we were all introduced and everyone clapped. It was a touching moment!

Onto our next task: rake off bocci ball courts and cover with tarps.

Then, we came upon this 10 foot tall briarwood patch. It was where every prickly bush decided to grow. Well, the school wanted us to remove it all and clear the area. So we hacked and pruned and cut away all the while trying to avoid getting thorns in our faces and scratching our arms and legs like crazy. We came out looking like bears attacked us. So, this lasted 2-3 hours. Good times.

Now, if climbing through prickly bushes wasn't fun enough, our next task knocked our socks off.
Hey every body! Wouldn't it be fun if we moved 100, 50 pound cement blocks into the garden? Yes, lots of sweat was lost during this. At one point, there was a spider crawling around in my block and i blew into it to get it out and all the cement dust went straight into my eye. That was a fun experience.

Then, last but not least, we had to remove some invasive trees from the area. 2 shovels and a saw didn't make it out alive.

All in all, it was pretty fun, and we were able to bond as Pod 11. Lots of hard work really brings people together!

It's muster and team grocery shopping time (and not to mention shower time). So, until next time! Physicals and drug tests tomorrow! I hope I pass!

love, anne