Playing pranks and flossing teeth

Early this morning, while Matt was asleep (yes, he is sleeping while hugging his book and with the light on. He has fallen asleep with the light on every night so far and Tina turns it off for him), the students stole these horrid jeans that he wears. The pants are in serious disregard and need to go in the trash. Holes all over and long gashes on both legs that a friend of his stitched. We told him the pants need to stay in Maine.

No rain at all today so we head out to the carriage trails to floss Rockefeller's Teeth. Acadia is the oldest national park east of the Mississippi and largely exists because of land donations from the Rockefellers. Inside the park, 45 miles of trails are maintained for hikers, bicycle riders, and horse drawn carriages - no cars. Along the sides of the carriage trails, John D. Rockefeller placed large granite blocks to mark the trail so people stay on it. On the left is a before we flossed and on the right is an after our work is done picture.

The blocks are called coping stones but most people refer to them as Rockefeller's Teeth. Our job today is to floss the teeth - remove the vegetation and debris around 70 coping stones to make sure water could flow between them when it rains or when the snow melts in the Spring.

Matt and I have brought a great group of students with us. They are hard working, haven't complained at all, and appreciate the opportunity to be in Maine. The group has become really familiar with each other and I laugh all the time - my legs and arms are getting a good workout with all the work, hiking, and rock climbing while my abs get a good workout from laughing so hard. During lunch there is a drastic drop in the temperature so we are sitting in the van trying to warm up. When I say I am cold. Tony says, "Do you want me to hold you?" LMAO!

There aren't any bathrooms at this worksite which isn't a problem for anyone except for Tina (pictured in the pink shirt) who has never used a facili-tree. Poor girl, we give her such a hard time till she finally decides to pee outside. She says it is hard to pee when a cold breeze is blowing on your butt! Later that evening when Tina calls home and tells her mom we made her pee outside, her mom says "Oh my!" This group is too funny!

Some of the teeth have fallen out of place, so Matt works to place them back where they belong. Granite weighs about 18 pounds per square foot and these rocks are rather large.

While we work, our conversations provide much humor. Somehow, the students start talking about the fees paid for prostitutes ($2000 an hour in case you were wondering) in Vegas (got to love HBO - which our residents all get for free on campus). We are working under the guidance of Maria today. She is an interesting character. After every idea is voiced by someone else, she says, "I was just thinking about that."

After we finish working, we head to another beach. We were hoping to find some starfish or other sea life washed up on the beach but we don't find anything. We spend some time rock climbing again. Matt decides to climb a pretty sheer face rock with some nice natural hand and foot rests. While he is climbing, Tony says "Matthew, be careful. Matthew, come this way, it's safer". It's too funny - who are the leaders again on this trip?

I am so tired when we get home that I barely make it through a shower and dinner. I am in bed by 830pm. Around midnight, I wake up to hear the students planning to shaving cream me in my sleep. I jump out of bed where I catch them in the bathroom. Sometimes it is such a blessing to be a light sleeper (though most of the time it sucks!). After threatening them, I head back to my room. Now that I am up, I figure I should squeeze in some reading while I listen to the group talking about whether they should prank Matt instead. Tony says, "I don't think we should. Tracy is less sophisticated than Matt. Think about how often you laugh during conversations with him." Is that supposed to be a compliment?!