busy busy busy

We had three "events" begin this weekend, so this past week was crazy busy. On Thursday, our Winter Salmon Seminar Series started, and on Saturday our creekwalks and volunteer creek restorations began. We also wasted about a day for this KPFA public service announcement, only to never record it.

Probably about 3/4 to a whole day was spent writing the PSA (it's amazing how difficult it is to write something 30 seconds long and still pack in all the info you can) and finding 50 seconds of appropriate instrumental music (which is also, surprisingly, really hard). On Wednesday Heidi and I drove out to Berkeley to the KPFA studios to record it. We arrived early, grabbed breakfast, got to the studio and waited 30 minutes for someone to come out and get us.

Once the guy came out, he looked at our script and said, "Who is this a benefit for?", the answer to which is no one. (We were prepared to advertise our creekwalks, the fee for which doesn't completely cover the cost of running them. They hopefully will bring benefits to the salmon through informing and educating people, but that's not the same as a fundraiser/benefit.)

Our script not only was for an inappropriate event, but it was also missing information that we were unaware had to be included - the benefactor, the fact that SPAWN is a non-profit, the cost. We explained that we had not solicited them to do a PSA, we had submitted our event for the community calendar and one of his employees (whose name he didn't even recognize) called us to invite us to record a PSA. He put us on the Community Calendar, which is still broadcast on air but simply read by a DJ - what we had initially asked for.

So we wasted a half day going to Berkeley for no reason. We wasted SPAWN's money on gas and the toll. We wasted nearly a whole day preparing the damn thing in a crazy busy week.

It was just really, really frustrating.

-------------------------------------------------------

Thursday marked the start of our Winter Salmon Seminar Series, as well as a 12 1/2 hour day for Heidi and I. We set up the hall and had previously done all the media for the event - some flyering, but mostly sending info to local papers and online calendars. So when ~35 people showed up, we were very excited to see our efforts pay off.

Saturday started the creekwalks and our restoration days, so Friday was full with preparation. Again, these are things that Heidi and I had done all the media for, so we were a little disappointed for the numbers that had RSVP'd to the creekwalk, but it's early and the salmon haven't actually started running.

As for the restorations, we were unsure of how many people we would get. We had gotten some responses - the local high school requires its students to complete community service hours, so we knew some of them would show up, and besides those we had about 2 others say they would come. We ended up with 9 volunteers - more than we had expected! I'm sure the fact that it was a beautiful day (I spent most of it wishing I were in a t-shirt instead of long sleeves) didn't hurt our numbers. With all the help, we ended up getting quite a lot done. They planted torrent sedge along a particularly erosion-ready part of the creek bank, spread seed, planted dogwoods, elderberries, coyote brush, mystery plant (we couldn't remember the name), and removed non-natives.

We also got promises of future food donations from the company Nature's Path - by our next restoration, we'll have a sample box of 200 granola bars, so we probably won't need to ask for any other donations until mid-March (or maybe even never!).

And finally, not work related, I drove up to Willows, CA yesterday to visit a friend from college who is working up there. It was nice to have something to do and it was nice to see him. Incidentally, Willows happens to be where Dusty Baker goes every year to pheasant hunt and he was there last week - Michael even met him. Anyway, it was a pretty town with lots of nut trees. It's very flat there, but only because it's nestled in between the Sierra Nevadas and the Mendocino National Forest (with some mountain range within it; I can't find the name and neither could Michael).

I think that's enough for now. I'll try to update a little more often, just in case someone's relying on this for close-to-daily entertainment (I already got told by my mother today that I haven't updated lately - and she never even checks this thing).