Joe Nichols at the Gage County Fair

The Gage County fair, in Beatrice Nebraska, had Joe Nichols for entertainment on Thursday night (7/27012). He put on an amazing show! He did a great job at trying to get everyone involved, even the one sitting way back in the grand stands.He played a ton of songs including his hits: Take it Off, Gimmie That Girl, The Shape I'm in, Brokenheartsville, Size Matters (Someday), The Impossible, and of course Tequila Makes her Clothes Come Off. Joe played Tequila Makes Her Clothes Come Off as the encore, and I lost track of the amount of bras/shirts that were thrown up on stage during that song! He also did a cover of Nickelback's Rockstar and Sir-Mix-a-lot's Baby's Got Back!

Kids in Parks programs



Ranger Jesse Bolli answering question



The monument offers many different Kids In Parks programs, I have been able to help on a Creek Critters program, a bug program and on about 8 Nature Discovery Tour programs. My first KIP (Kids In Park) program was a bug program. All of the kids involved got either a jar or a net and we went out on the prairie to see what kind of bugs could be found. The Milkweed plant provided us with many Solider Beetles to examine, along with many other bugs. The Creek Critter program is also very interesting, in the morning the morning I went down to Cub Creek with Ranger Jessica Korgie. We filled 6 buckets with mud, water and all of the critters that lived in that mud and water. The kids then get to dig through all of the buckets to see what they can find. When the kids found something, they could put it an a bucket of clean water so that everyone could check out all of the neat finds!

Helping with the Bug Program

Ranger Jessica Korgie helping kids explore Creek Critters

More Creek Critters exploration

 One of the more popular programs that the monument offers is the Nature Discovery Tour. This is also a great program for all of the hot days because most of the outdoor time is spent on the woodland trail which provides shade! While on the walk we encourage the kids to look around to see if they can find any signs of animals or maybe even the animals themselves. Some of the more common things found while on the walk include: insects, birds, bird feathers, tracks, animals holes (including woodpecker holes) and white-tail deer.

Ranger Jessica Korgie leading a Nature Discovery Tour

Nature Discovery Tour

Ranger Jessica Korgie braving Nettles to show the kids

Nature Discovery Tour

The Kids in Park programs, and other programs that the monument offers are a great way to get kids out in nature and expose them to the National Park Service. Many YMCA's, day care's and scout groups have participated in KIP programs this summer. Next Saturday, August 4th there is a Nature Discovery tour open to any interested kids, 10 am at the Education Center!

A Trip to the Omaha Zoo

On June 17th my roommate and fellow intern Chelsea Schrage took me to her home in Lincoln to meet her family. We had a great dinner and then Chelsea took me to this cool ice cream place called 'Cherry on Top.' Then on the 18th we went to the Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Though it was a very hot day, we were still able to enjoy the zoo. We went around to all of the outdoor exhibits early in the day and saved the Jungle, aquarium and desert dome (all inside) for the afternoon. There were a lot of really cool animals in the zoo and here are some of my favorite pictures:

Andean Bear

Scarlet Ibis

Roseate Spoonbill 

Sea Lion

Sea Lion

Animals of the Tall Grass Prairie

Eastern Cottontail

As I am sure you can imagine, there are many animals that live in the tall grass prairie and the surrounding woodlands. I have gotten pictures of some, while others are a bit more illusive, though I still hope to snap a pic at some point in the season! One of the first pictures I got was of an eastern cottontail, though the first animals I saw were white-tail deer, thirteen line ground squirrels, and many types of birds, of which I have not been able to get pictures yet. I had the chance to help my supervisor in the Heartland Monitoring Network Bird Survey program. The survey basically had my supervisor and I out on the prairie and in the woodlands of the monument within the first 4 hours of sunlight during early June. We visited approximately 45 GPS location, that were established for specifically for this program. At each location we would record each species of bird that we saw or heard during a five minute period. We observed or heard many species of birds including, but not limited to: Indigo Bunting, Great Blue Heron, American Robin, American Crow, American Goldfinch, Eastern Phoebe, Northern Bobwhite, Spotted Towhee, Blue Jay, White Breasted Nuthatch, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Ring-necked Pheasant, Northern Cardinal, Barn Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, Grey Catbird, Mourning Dove, House Wren, Norther Flicker (Yellow Shafted), Rose breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, Turkey Vulture, Eastern Kingbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Eastern Bluebird, Warbling Vireo and Killdeer. Outside of the survey I have seen/heard wild turkey, Downy woodpeckers, Hairy woodpeckers, Red-headed woodpeckers and Barred Owls. However here are some of the pictures that I have been able to get:

 Eastern Comma Butterfly (Lepidoptera)

Crazy Fox Squirrel licking the pavement

Fresh Water Mussel in Cub Creek

Female Red-winged Black bird

American Goldfinch- male

Solider Beetle (Coleoptera) on a Milkweed plant

Dickcissel

Baltimore Oriole feeding the family

Phoebe feeding the family

American Carrion Beetle (Coleoptera)

Baby spiders

Juvenile Robins

There are many other interesting animals on the prairie, my roommate and fellow SCA intern Chelsea saw a mink and a beaver, which I have yet to see. I have had the opportunity to see many fledglings, mostly robin, barn swallow and phoebe. I also got to see a coyote cross the road while I was driving to Kansas. I have also been able to see what lives in Cub Creek, we have found some small fish, probably in the minnow family, crayfish and many interesting macroinverterbrates.  I hope to see many more animals and I hope to get more pictures too, so that I can share them with you!

Parades

Chelsea (right) and I at the Homestead Days Parade

I have been able to participate in two different parades since I have started working at Homestead National Monument. I got to ride in the Beatrice Rural Fire truck with fellow SCA intern Chelsea Schrage,  in the Homestead Days Parade. The truck was just part of Homestead National Monument's entry in the Homestead Days Parade. The monument's entry also included homesteading decendents carrying  flags of the 30 homesteading flags and a group of AmeriCorps (NCCC) group dress in period clothing carrying flags celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act. The parade was a great way to remind the community that there is a National Park Service site in their backyards!

The monument has participated in many parade this season in southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas. I had the opportunity to march in the Diller, Nebraska parade with Chelsea and some volunteers.  The Diller parade was a part of the 'Party on the Plains' community picnic.

Diller NE parade

The monument is schedule to participate in many more parades this season in southeast Nebraska, including the Wilber Czech Festival parade. Keep an eye open if you are at any parades in southeast Nebraska because there is a good chance that someone will be in it representing the monument!