Category: Uncategorized

I have not kept up with blogging like I meant to. Life gets busy sometimes. I am trying to learn to keep myself less busy.

I am excited to be returning to Ohio. I enjoy seeing other parts of the world, but Ohio is a special place for me. I am going to be coming back to Cbus briefly for a friend’s wedding in May and then will be back in the beginning of August.

A lot has happened. I helped out with the last of our AmeriCorps Signature events, the Cape Cod Canal Cleanup event (http://www.americorpscapecod.org/volunteer-opportunities/annualsignature-events/canal-clean-up/).

Over lunch I did a magic show for the volunteers. It went really well, though I messed up the finale. Live and learn. Shouldn’t happen again… I am hoping to make magic a side job and have made a website and business cards. We will see how it goes. Here is the link (www.bensillusions.com).

Also, Parker and I finished our film. It is on Youtube now (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ttOLHaRrI). We have submitted it to the Woods Hole Film Festival and will find out if we are in around June 1. It was a lot of fun to shoot.

Miss you all!

Ben

 

Wrote this on paper on 3/13/16

Once again, it’s been a while since I last wrote. Today I am sitting at Monks Park watching a sea gull scour for clams, fly up with them in its beak and then drop them on the rocky shore to break open the shell and eat the shellfish inside. I started shellfish farming class last week. It was very informative, but I feel like I am trying to do too many things. There are a couple shellfisherman out in the bay here today.

I did a workshop on how to keep goats in your backyard. It was awesome! I do still hope to ‘herd’ goats someday. Probably just two. Nigerian dwarf goats seem the most practical from what I learned at the workshop. They are the jack russell terriers of goats.

I worked through a bad time dating. Expressed doubts in a really ineffective way, caused hurt, but learned from it.

Trying to think ahead for what is coming next. Working on a film project with my friend Parker. We are going to finish in the next week or so. We will be entering it in a film festival.

Went on a retreat this week. Stayed at the old coast guard house on the National Seashore. Tuesday we are going to learn about shellfishing propagation. Makes me wonder about freshwater shellfish and such an approach for Lake Erie in Ohio to improve water quality and biodiversity. Brief research shows that there are shellfish in Lake Erie, but that the invasive zebra mussel has done much harm in recent years to the biodiversity of shellfish.

While at the Seashore, I saw probably close to a hundred seals. It was a totally new thing for me. In some ways it seemed like I was seeing mythical creatures, seeing them so close. Went to the Scallops Festival with a couple friends yesterday. Good times!

This will definitely be a work in progress, this blog. I arrived Tuesday at noon and got first choice of dresser and bed in my room. Wednesday and Thursday my housemates and fellow AmeriCorps volunteers did emergency response training. We will be responsible for helping with responses to severe weather (hurricanes) or otherwise. One of our trainers had a great boston accent. Some quotes to imagine in a boston accent include:

Beat this to death

Incident within an incident

Smoke eaters

You show up uninvited… You see this face? (He smiles and then quickly returns to his regular demeanor). Its not gonna be like this if you show up uninvited.

It’ll be pizza and skittles for three days.

Trash police chief (elbows)

You know what the issue is? It’s egos. You know egos? A chip on your shoulder.

Smart Ass

You’ve got your SMART objectives, put some asteroids next to that.

Hey it’s 2pm, i am really roughing it.

I will post photos and more details later on. Maybe every couple weeks. Don’t know yet.

Best,
Ben