Let's Pull Together 2008 ~ Part Two - Eva Varga

The kiddos and I met a number of other community members down at our neighborhood park for the annual Let’s Pull Together county-wide service project. Before our arrival, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the kids – wasn’t sure they would be too fond of the project.

We spent about 10 minutes becoming familiar with some of the common non-native invasive weeds that are common in our area. The area coordinator was concerned we would have difficulty identifying them because they were not yet in bloom. Fortunately, a gentlemen who works for the Soil and Water Conservation District was there and he helped us get underway.You can see him (center) with the kiddos pictured above. The kids took a liking to him and started following him about as we all worked to pull the weeds. They got really good at identifying the two most common weeds in our community, Cheat Grass and Dalmation Toadflax. When we go on our family walks in the evening, they point it out and frequently insist that they pull it.
After nearly 2 hours of weed pulling, Buddy said, “I’m tired now. I want to go home.” Sweetie would have loved to continue but I needed a break myself. We cleaned up and then joined other weed pullers at the park downtown for a BBQ. It was a great afternoon. The kids and I enjoyed learning more about invasive species – investigating a men’s tennis shoe that had been placed into Lake Mead and was completely covered with Zebra Mussels within 30 days.

We also observed a couple of men from one of the project sponsors giving fly-fishing demonstrations. I was impressed when Sweetie took it upon herself to request an opportunity to give it a go. The young man helped her get the hang of touching the fly onto the water surface and lifting it up quickly to entice the fish. She did very well and must have worked on her rhythm for 20 minutes. She’s been asking about going fishing ever since! 😀