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		<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}11.jpg" style="float: right; width: 250px; height: 188px; " />Oh beautiful fall.&nbsp; The changing of the season signals a hushing of the bird song, fog on the breath, color in the trees, and the arrival of interns!&nbsp; For weeks now we have been toiling away at base camp (the Environmental Learning Center, or ELC) in preparation for this fall season of teaching.&nbsp; What began as a simple conversation about doing a little remodeling quite abruptly turned into a full on assault of the interior of the ELC.&nbsp; Not quite knowing what I was getting myself into, I called up Mary and Dick Walker (who informed me earlier in the week that they loved to paint) and told them that I picked up the supplies and I was set to start coating the walls.&nbsp; Pulling in like mercenaries early the next morning, the Walker&rsquo;s set up shop hauling in more painting supplies than you could shake a stick at. &nbsp;Two thoughts seared my brain.&nbsp; What have I got myself in to?&nbsp; And, we&rsquo;re going to need more paint.</p>
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		<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}13.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 150px; " />In several hours time, the Walker&rsquo;s with the help of Julia Mahan had demolished the ELC&rsquo;s white washed walls with beautiful fresh paint as well as any desperate hope I had of getting this thing done by the weekend.&nbsp;Over the course of the next week, Dick, Mary, Bob, and I with the help of Chuck Stankey, Big Paul Wiemerslage and my mother Sheila accomplished a list of tasks that would have stretched to Babylon.&nbsp; So, I wasn&rsquo;t alone by a long shot and together we gave the ELC a face-lift that would make Joan Rivers proud.</p>
	<img alt="The Environmental Learning Center with a crisp, new coat of paint." src="{filedir_5}1.jpg" style="float: right; width: 200px; height: 150px; " />
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		We finally finished up the ELC sometime early last week.&nbsp; Leaving the office late one night, I began thinking to myself: between getting things ready and in line for field trips, the arrival of interns, and finishing the final touches on the ELC, the place was beginning to feel like home.&nbsp;</p>
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		Then, while beginning my commute home (see diagram below), I ran into a support beam under the awning of the ELC and was quickly reminded that this is only the beginning.&nbsp; And despite the pain in my shoulder, it is a very good beginning.</p>
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