Full House – CATS bring out members - May 10 - City of Loveland Natural Area
I am in trouble. I said last year if there were ever more than a dozen on the trail for a week night event, I would eat my CATS hat. Last Thursday we fielded 15 volunteers – a record for CATS! I was beside myself. Actually, I am very proud how CATS is taking off and the members are coming out. It is almost like ‘Field of Dreams’ movie – “you build it, we will come”. Except we are building and they are coming out up front. The citizens are the ones that enjoy the finish product of the trail as we build it – they will come.
What a grunch of members out there….great group – lots of work accomplished. We set about finding the load of stone that the COL dropped for us and used two pickup trucks to relocate the piles into our workspace. Thanks City of Loveland group! Thanks to Scott and Leigh for the loan of their personal vehicles. We picked up on the trail again from last week and moved stone and crush to develop yet another raised trail piece (1/2 causeway). Great job for all those working with Dean’s crew; the stone wall is beautiful. Connie and Whit did a fine job at re-naturalizing the corridor up to the current trail construct. Our other crew was working the crusher fines again and we got smart and used pickup trucks to haul it out. Each load was about 3 wheel barrows and we made a difference in moving the crush along the line. After the evening break – Scott suggested we attack the other pile and work it as the first pile was showing signs of getting smaller. The weather was the hottest day on record – but cooled down considerably that evening. I think we all had a great time out there with all the birds and the fabulous sunsets! Thanks again for all the nice yummy treats at the break – especially our cooks that are baking up some great food items.
Members: Bob, Connie, Dean, Tim, Monica, Michael Hinterberg, Bob V, Brandon, Denny, Hans, Scott, Leigh, Kathleen, Andy and Whitfield Groves (guest) Hours: 4.5
RESULTS: 160’ of new trail, inside that was 50’ of new mono-wall/rubble construct, and 160’ of crusher fines delivered and crowned
ROSES:
· Weather – hot at first – then cooled with a slight breeze
· Used two personal trucks for stone loading and crusher fines delivery
· Site visit from the boss (City of Loveland – Open Lands and Spaces) and nice gift
· Pineapple-Mango upside down cake and crunchy sweet baked treats supplied
· Rock gathering teams – loading and unloading
· Highest number of CATS members on a weekday event – ouch!
· Denny and his drive to get crush filled in
· Good two crews working different projects
· Move to second crusher fines pile was a smart decision
· COL load of stone delivery
· “Awesome sunset”
· Rockwall construction was fun
· Snack exchange is being received well by all
· “Everything went without a hitch”
· Duck and ducklings in the river
· Great fun again at McGraff’s
THORNS:
· Ticks – check for them
· “I wore a sunset hat and did not need it”
· Need more stone – usual request
· Getting some issues with the Mcloeds
BUDS:
I had this dream Thursday night after working at Boise that I was being eaten by a giant tick. I escaped by shoving down its throat some Pineapple- Mango cake wrapped into a ball with Kathleen’s gooey crunchy treat. Of course ticks don’t like baked goods and sweets – so it died promptly. Not to slam our wonderful bakers out there; just a weird dream. Please keep making goodies as us humans love the stuff. Speaking of dreams, it was always a dream of mine to see lots of volunteers in the summer evenings whacking trail out here. Well it came true tonight. Hats don’t taste so great – so Connie is helping me make it into an edible delight – so don’t miss next Thursday as I eat my hat at McGraff’s about 8 pm or so.
Sometimes it is hard for me to write something thoughtful when the Roses say it all.
Teamwork, a compound word, but when separated equals two elements. Pretty much what we have going out there at Boise. Two teams doing some fantastic work (maybe three the more folks keep coming out). Why is it that work can be so much fun? Maybe because like the word – ‘teamwork’ we put a group of people in front of the work. Maybe that is the point. I notice a lot of good conversations going on and members working at the same time.
Can it be that the work is not work when all are enjoying it so much? People are the answer to work and our trail construction. The trail products are the result of our hands in the dirt. The teams make it work = teamwork. As Marilyn says – “you guys rock”. Indeed we do and we can see Boise getting finished in a couple of more whacks.
On the trail,
Bob Johnson
Go here to sign up for events: http://trailcats.org/volunteer
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