Saturday, November 12, 2005
SHORELINE– What do you get when you mix blackberry bushes, hedge clippers, doughnuts, watersheds, and 65 teenagers? Today's YMCA youth service corps project at Ronald Bog, that's what! Kids from West Seattle, Renton, and Shoreline all pitched in for park clean-up and invasive species removal.
The volunteers cleared four feet of blackberry bushes back from the park green, using heavy duty gloves, clippers, and shovels. Participant Lauren Oglesby said this of the blackberries: "They were thorny. Plus, if you were pulling them out and a vine flipped over, it pierced through your glove and onto your skin. And one guy actually bent a pickaxe-like tool ninety degrees over trying to get out a root." Oglesby also worked on root removal. "Yeah, I definitely spent at least 20 minutes on one root cluster alone. And I got my pants muddy. Yay!"
Although some, like Oglesby, were enthusiastic about getting dirty, many of the volunteers complained of the cold and wetness of the bog. Trash pickup especially seemed to garner many coldness complaints. "I had a down jacket, because I'm so cool like that," continued Oglesby, "But a lot of kids only had sweatshirts. Oh well."
As well as coldness, the intrepid youth corps also encountered other problems. "There was so much trash buried back in the bushes!" exclaimed Oglesby. "We had people crawling on their hands and knees underneath the bushes to get at the trash. There were a lot of beer bottles, but also some wierd stuff. I found a ravioli can. My friend Caitlin found a switchblade." A stuffed hippopotomas, pieces of coconut and sawblades were among the stranger items collected.
All this may sound like work, but Oglesby claims the contrary. "It was so much fun! I got to meet a lot of people. My friend and I sang 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor,' talked about Muppets, and I was a penguin in the icebreaker activity!"
The project was hosted by Shorewood's environmental club (which Oglesby is now seriously considering joining) and lasted from 10am to 2pm. "Was it work? Oh yes. But it was fun too, and altogether worth it. I'm very glad Caitlin dragged me into it."
The volunteers cleared four feet of blackberry bushes back from the park green, using heavy duty gloves, clippers, and shovels. Participant Lauren Oglesby said this of the blackberries: "They were thorny. Plus, if you were pulling them out and a vine flipped over, it pierced through your glove and onto your skin. And one guy actually bent a pickaxe-like tool ninety degrees over trying to get out a root." Oglesby also worked on root removal. "Yeah, I definitely spent at least 20 minutes on one root cluster alone. And I got my pants muddy. Yay!"
Although some, like Oglesby, were enthusiastic about getting dirty, many of the volunteers complained of the cold and wetness of the bog. Trash pickup especially seemed to garner many coldness complaints. "I had a down jacket, because I'm so cool like that," continued Oglesby, "But a lot of kids only had sweatshirts. Oh well."
As well as coldness, the intrepid youth corps also encountered other problems. "There was so much trash buried back in the bushes!" exclaimed Oglesby. "We had people crawling on their hands and knees underneath the bushes to get at the trash. There were a lot of beer bottles, but also some wierd stuff. I found a ravioli can. My friend Caitlin found a switchblade." A stuffed hippopotomas, pieces of coconut and sawblades were among the stranger items collected.
All this may sound like work, but Oglesby claims the contrary. "It was so much fun! I got to meet a lot of people. My friend and I sang 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor,' talked about Muppets, and I was a penguin in the icebreaker activity!"
The project was hosted by Shorewood's environmental club (which Oglesby is now seriously considering joining) and lasted from 10am to 2pm. "Was it work? Oh yes. But it was fun too, and altogether worth it. I'm very glad Caitlin dragged me into it."
