By Victor Garcia, July 27, 2009
Today is my last day working out in the field. I am finishing three days early because I have mandatory orientation - at the University of Texas, San Antonio. I don't want to miss out on the days but I have to. I was looking forward to finishing the last day with my crew, but there will be other moments that I can savor later on!
Well, what can I say? I am really going to miss the PINK team (Phenomenal Individuals Need Knowledge). We have been working in sync together almost since day one. We got to know each other immediately and became the cohesive element that made the work we did such great quality. We have restored entire trails, saved hundreds of plants from being demolished, created the foundation for an important irrigation system, and started building a boardwalk to allow a wider range of people to experience the Houston Arboretum.
Today it rained...and when it rains it most definitely pours! As we were working on screwing in the cross boards to the boardwalk, we heard a thunderous roar and we started to get anxious. We all know that if it starts to rain and lightning strikes anywhere close to us, we need to head out immediately. Well, it did start to rain and we did leave pretty quickly. It was a heavy rain and the power tools we were using were getting wet. This was a problem because we had three wheel barrels of equipment we had to haul back to the tool shed and it was about a half a mile or so hike in the rain.
The walk/run back was actually pretty fun and crazy what with everyone being soaked to the core rushing to pack things up. When we finally had the tools packed in the shed, the rain decided to stop and we all felt played by Mother Nature. But what could we do? Safety does come first! Drying off was another adventure. There were many people going to the restrooms to use the hand dryers to try to dry off their clothes because it was really cold in the AC and we didn't really want to ruin the vans on the way home.
It was all an adventure and a pretty good day, especially since it was my last work day. I really do appreciate the work that I myself have done and my fellow green team members have done as well.