Internships are Fun!

This is my first summer staying in Ames. The other three summers of my collegiate career I've spent at home, working at a local farm supply store, hanging out at home, or traveling Europe.  Not a bad way to spend summers. However, to finish up my second degree (yup, I just can't stop), I needed to take an internship. After a semester of floudering around, not finding that 'perfect' internship, and resigning myself to a basic internship through the research park in Ames, my advisors approached me with an new option.

Preservation Iowa is a nonprofit organization that helps people across the state of Iowa preserve the our state's history through the rehabilitation of old buildings, barns, houses, schools, and mainstreets. As my boss says, they've been 'crawling' in terms of gaining recognition across the state. After a year long rebranding process, and some additional board members, the organization is looking to really get their name out to the public, while also streamlining their publications, website, blog, and other outreach items. That's where I come in. As a technical communicator, I can take existing procedures, documents, information, etc and recreate everything to make it a little easier for the public to understand.

Now, undoubtably some of you are scratching your heads and wondering "how in the world could she be excited about this? It's not exactly a 'fun' internship." But it's not the work that makes it fun - it's the content I'm working with. I've always been a big fan of history. I live for Old Threshers every year (btw 103 days!), I live in a +150 year-old house that was the first stagecoach stop west of the Mississippi, I grew up on a soon to be century farm, I helped with my hometown's sesquicentennial celebration.... Needless to say, I like history, especially local history.

So my summer is spent working with history! Granted, right now I'm not working too much with the history-outreach side. Currently, I'm just trying to learn as much about the organization as possible so that I can really understand how it works. The more I understanding the organization, the better I can create documents, promotional materials, activities, and additional ideas that will help the organizing move forward.

It's been interesting so far - lots of reading about the IRS and SHPO and NPS and other acronyms that represent the different groups feeding off of the government. And really, these organization are trying to work together to give owners more opportunities to gain support for the rehabilitation projects. There's just a lot of red tape to sift through, and I'm still sifting. But learning, that's for sure. In addition, I've been analyzing some of the brochures and the website to come up with suggestions or ideas to help improve the usability. 

One of the nicest parts about the internship - I don't drive to the Des Moines Office everyday (which is in an AWESOME old building downtown). It's so pleasant to work from Ames, on campus in the labs, even from home. It gives me flexibility to incorporate other activities this summer, while also reaching out to a bunch of other experts in the area.

(Plus, I can work on internship stuff while working as a lab monitoring  - multitasking yo! Who doesn't love webcams? Please excuse the randomness of this picture - I can't even begin to explain my expression...) 

At some point, we're going to take a few day trips to see current or previous rehabilitation projects that Preservation Iowa has helped. I'm excited to see first hand evidence of the good this organization is doing, and the pictures and video from these visits should help immensely with promotional videos and materials.

P.S. 

I'm headed home this weekend for my sister's high school graduation. 

She'll be streaming and watching it live from France.

Weird? Just a bit.

Let's just hope her 'double' makes an appearance for some funny pictures :)

Got Enough Rhubarb?

When I was younger, I remember watching my Mom cut up rhubarb.

Not that I ever ate any of the rhubarb. 

It was always much too sour for me as a child. 

However, now that I've gotten older, I really appreciate rhubarb.

It's a favorite to use in pies, cakes, and other sweets. 

While I was home this past week, my mother mentioned that the rhubarb was going to seed, 

a sign that if I wanted some rhubarb this season, I'd better go get some.  

 

 Thankfully, we've got a great patch of rhubarb at the house, 

and another neighbor who was not using her rhubarb.

When I put up rhubarb, I start by pulling the rhubarb from the patch

It's important not to pull too much rhubarb, because then the plants will have a difficult time coming back the following year.

Then, I cut off the leaves and the bottom stems, leaving just the stalks. 

A daunting amount of rhubarb, no?

Nothing I couldn't handle! 

I then wash the rhubarb in at least two water baths, usually lukewarm water. 

The second to last step is what usually takes the longest, especially since in past years I've had to cut with not so sharp knives

But this year, I bought a new knife during my recent day trip to the Amana Colonies, and 

everything went so much faster!

(That, and I had some reinforcements later. Thanks B!) 

Once the rhubarb had been cut up, 

I measured it into plastic storage containers

And when those ran out, I switched to quart freezer bags. 

By my estimate, I put close to 200 cups in the freezer. 

Or 57 pounds based on the pictures I took. 

(Just out of curiosity, I weighed everything with the bathroom scale)

 If you find yourself in need of rhubarb sometime this summer, 

let me know! I've got plenty.

I'm excited for other fruits that I freeze to ripen

Being able to freeze everything is nice and helps me feel a little more self sustainable. 

When your freezer has rhubarb, strawberries, cherries, black raspberries, raspberries, blueberries, and mulberries, there's plenty to eat throughout the year. 

Maybe this year I'll even learn to do some canning.... 

Summer

I suppose it's a good thing no one has the link to my blog at this point, since it has been dormant for over 2 months. I blame school. Or maybe a lack of drive to use my blog. However, now that it's summer (and I find myself with more time on my hands than I've had in months, I thought it would be a good time to start posting again. That, and the fact that I'm jetting of next week to LONDON (gasp) are both good reasons. Hopefully, I can post pictures and daylogs from my days touring (and studying) London.

I must admit, I'm terrified. Excited, yes, but mostly terrified. This is the first time I've been abroad. Ever. It's a lot of money, a lot of NEW all at once, and a long time away from home and family. Not that that's a big factor anymore, but it's still there. Maybe it's just now that I'm home, playing with the puppy everyday, sleeping in my bed, watching movies with Emily, visiting with Mom and Dad, I'm just not quite ready to leave. But with the excitement that comes from every person I talk to, I'm pretty sure the trip will be awesome. I just need to get there first.

I guess I'm most excited about the plane rides I get to take. I LOVE flying. It's just great. And I have 3 flights to get to Europe. THREE! I'm totally pumped. Especially since I'm not flying through Chicago in any way, shape, or form. Too much drama there. Example: my mother and her sister just drove to Chicago to catch a flight to Florida for a sister's weekend. Their flight was delayed from 8:00 to just before midnight. 4 hours, managable. Come to find out this morning, they're still there. Even after they were already ON THE PLANE, their flight was cancelled; their pilot had too many flights hours. Blah. So now they're in route, through Ohio to Orlando to Fort Lauderdale, instead of their wonderful direct flight. All because of weather. In Chicago. Honestly.....

Today's quiet in Iowa. It's mostly sunny with occasional clouds, and a few, very short rain spouts. I'm filling in for Mom at Paul Meyer Chemicals, answering the phone, running for lunch, etc. I'm not too busy but the guys in the shop and warehouse are still running around like crazy. So many farmers are trying to get their crops in while the weather is nice, and PMC has been running all week (even on Mother's Day in the afternoon). Whew. I hope the guys get a break soon - they've sure been working hard!


What I love about the Midwest: Prepositions.
Even though as an English major ending a sentences with a preposition is AWFUL, I still love hearing it in conversation, since it's such a Midwestern trait.