EPR Minisode 21: Happy 4th of July!

Laura and Nic celebrate the Fourth of July with a lighthearted EPR Summer Camp minisode. Along the way, they connect summer camp nostalgia with environmental fieldwork, teamwork, patience, and the unpredictable fun of being outdoors.

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Music Credits
Intro: Givin Me Eyes by Grace Mesa
Outro: Never Ending Soul Groove by Mattijs Muller

Transcript

Hello and welcome to EPR with your favorite environmental enthusiasts, Nic and Laura on today's episode. And in the spirit of July 4th, we're bringing you a short minisode with just the two of us. And before we dive all the way into that though, we do have to say, don't forget to check us out at the Esri User Conference live in San Diego on July 16th at 10:00 a.m. Pacific.

I cannot believe it's almost here.

Oh wow, it's gonna be great. We're gonna have a lot of fun. Please do stop by in the area.

Yeah. OK, so today, Laura. We've got a special segment we're calling the EPR Summer Camp. And the concept, as we're both learning about it right now, which is my favorite part of doing these, is that we're going to take a turn answering four summer camp theme prompts. Uh, please shout out to Melanie for doing this. Uh, so I think I'm taking the first one and then you do 2 and 4. Here we go. Um, OK. Laura, if you were a summer camp counselor, what activity would you want to lead?

Oops, I already know.

Wow, that's that fast.

Horseback riding Is that, is that a thing? I, I didn't even know you have horses at at summer camp. Is that a thing?

It was at my summer camp.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we, we had like a Pool, uh, you know, that's kind of. OK, so I have to pick something that's not as cool.

No, no, no, you could do, well, why horses? Why would you do horseback riding? Why, why that?

Oh, I'm just right now. It's been a long time since I spent any time with horses, and I would jump at the chance.

Uh, do you like, OK, I'm curious about like, OK, horses have personality, right, as do, yeah, so like, are they, what kind of animal are they like in general though, because I have an, I, I have a really good concept of what, uh, dogs and cats are like in general. Like they, they are different. There's different kinds of them, but like the baseline, like understanding like a cat, you can't just like run over to it, pick it up and like hold it, and the 99% of cats will maul you to death if you do that. So like what's, what's the thing with horses? What are their main, like, where's the starting point with a horse?

Yeah, horses, horses can be like cats. And the fact that they sometimes just don't even care that you exist, um, then, and on the flip side, they could be more like dogs where they follow you around and they wanna take naps with you on the floor, and, um, you know, they're best buddies. But yeah, they could be any, they could be ornery. I think ornery is a lot of horses, um, they'll bite your ankles or they'll try to kind of throw you off or do little kicks if they don't want you on them at the time. Uh, they all, they all just have very, some are real laid back, some are high strung. And, you know, some wanna eat a lot, some or don't care much about their food, they have very, very different personalities.

There, I've seen horses that Aren't very aware of their surroundings, and then there are others who will who will watch airplanes flying in the sky, like.

Really?

Yeah, they're very different.

So very cool. So that would, that's, that makes sense. That's why you would choose to do that. That seems kind of

Yeah, and it's a great, um, you know, confidence building skill, awareness building skill. You have to watch yourself around horses cause you, they're a little bit unpredictable, and they are skittish for such a big animal, they are skittish. So they, if they're spooked by something like they, I think they, I don't know this scientifically, but. I think they their vision is not great, or the way that they see things, so if they see something in like a bag that wasn't there yesterday and it moves, they're like, oh my God, it's a ghost, and their knee jerk reaction might be to jump or kick, um, and you just never know when they're gonna get startled. They're very afraid of snakes for the most part, um, so you have to keep snakes out of the barn and, um, or off like if they see one on the trail, they may just like sidestep and hop to the side, and so you just gotta be ready for anything when you're around a horse. But they're very therapeutic. I mean, they just, in the same way that maybe cats, they don't purr, but something about the way they smell and just their presence is just, is very, yeah, I was gonna ask what the benefits were. That sounds kind of terrifying for kids. It's like, OK, be ready for anything. Good luck, yeah. No, OK, that makes that makes total sense. I think it's a great answer, so I guess I'm next, so the next one is, yes, so next question, um, pick a role in the environmental field. Who you think would be the best at capture the flag.

Hm, see this is what I remember for summer camp, capture the flag, for sure. Remember this. Uh, well, capture the flag is like, you know, if you have two teams and you're trying to get to a flag in the center and then get it back to your base, right, the main thing you need to do is you need strategy, right? Uh, creativity and you need some, some raw speed, uh, as well. So you have to have some ability to get out of the Uh, to keep yourself from being captured, even if all these things come together. And, you know, that's a hard thing to do, like in the environmental field, like what would that be, right? You have like your, your field, uh, experts, you know, maybe you're Your wetlands folks would be really good at understanding the terrain and where pitfalls might be and, you know, how to get to an area, how to navigate that really well. Uh, and you know, it's, it's not, you know. I don't know, uh, this is a hard one.

This is a really hard one because I think, you know, the, the core of Capture the flag is you need people who are good at different things and like you want a combination of people. You want people who are strategizing. This is what our plan is going to be. We're going to send 3 people this way, 2 people that way, 1 in the middle who's our runner, and you know, you have the people distracting da da da da. So that's a strategist, right? That's somebody who's like managing a team. Like you need that person, you need your manager. Um, but you also need your field tech, you know, your, your absolute, um, I'll, I'll go through brambles to get this flag, and no one will follow me. That's the person I'm going to pick, you know, and that's, that's, I mean, like that's the ultimate person who will get the flag and capture it. So that's all we're asking for. That's what I would say.

Yeah, cause the, the capture the flag that I've played. Very less on the strategy and more on the just that's true. Well, if you're kids too, yeah, if you're talking about kids and it's just literally just speed and determination, that's all you need. Yeah, we want our field people. Yeah, so that's, that's exactly what it'd be, yeah, um, now like it's also asking who, who would win between the two of us, and if all it is is speed, then it's totally me. So that's it's totally you, it's totally you. Yeah, yeah, I think that's fair. Oh, too funny, um.

All right, all right. Uh, next question. Um, Oh gosh, 2 truths and a lie. A classic summer camp icebreaker. So we're going to have to come up with ones that we don't know about each other. Oh yeah, this is challenging.

Yeah. So my 3 are, I have kissed the Blarney Stone. I have backpacked across Spain on horseback. And I drove a rally car in Ireland.

I'm going to say the lie is the first one because why would you want to kiss the Blarney Stone because that's gross. That's my guess. Am I, am I right, or am I wrong?

Nope, I have, I have done the Blarney Stone. Now I will say I didn't actually put my lips on it, but I've done the whole hang there and actually, you know, do it, cause yeah, that is gross, uh, but no, I did not drive a rally car in Ireland. I was in one, but I didn't drive it.

Ah, see, yeah, yeah, the line is close to the truth. OK, all right, all right, um, one of my friends, uh, is married to actor Nathan Fillion. One of my favorite things I ever got to do was tour the Guardians of the Galaxy set for the 3rd movie in the franchise, um, and then. Um, I also once saved someone from drowning and nearly died in the process.

Oh jeez, um. Bye I think the middle one is true. The first one, you do know some film people, but the third one is very specific. I'm gonna go with the first one as a lie.

It is, it is. I know they're not a friend of mine, but I know someone that knows someone that's it's similar to the rally car.

Exactly. That's why I chuckled. I was like, oh, this is good. I'm going to change my order up and see if it makes sense.

Yeah, it's hard. It's, it's hard to do that. It's always a challenge, and, uh, but yeah, it's fun, and it's like, especially hard because you know all kinds of stuff. It's Like, um, after 5 years of doing this, we know a lot about each other.

I know, right? And like all of it sounds plausible. That's the best part about it. Like, of course you could be in a rally car. Why wouldn't you be? OK. Um, that's crazy, by the way, rally cars are insane. Um, so like I, that freaks me out a little bit. Was that, was that like really intense, or was it kind of like crazy intense, yeah, yeah, flying over like I've seen those pictures where they almost hit people all the time.

Yeah, we're like flying over hills on a one lane road between wheat fields or something. I don't know, it's crazy.

That is wild. Uh, yeah, that had to be fun though, super fun. I mean, the year I lived in Ireland was like the funnest year of my life.

Yeah, oh, I can imagine, yeah. And it's, you know, it's funny because I knew the Guardian's when you knew and I was like, dang, I got to come up with another truth. Like what else is there? And I was like, well, we'll figure it out. And that.

All right, well, all right, it's a mini so, not a full so, so let's go with the last question is, lastly, when making s'mores, how do you like your marshmallows? This is something I don't know about you. Golden brown, burnt, or fresh out of the bag?

Fresh out of the bag, like no one can say that, that's. That, that doesn't even make sense. I don't want a cold marshmallow with cold chocolate. Like, so that's straight away out. There's no way I'm doing that, um. My, my real answer to this is obviously golden brown, but I will, I will take burnt because I never, I don't have the patience to get it golden brown. And um, you know, someone's always like, oh, you're too close. I'm like, yeah, but I just want to burn it, you know, and, and it's not because I think it tastes better, it's just because I don't have patience.

Yeah, well, I'm the party pooper who says, are they vegan? Oh man, yeah, and if so, then I'm going for a golden brown. That's too funny, perfectly toasted on all sides, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a testament to people with patience, and, uh, you know, I'll, I'll get there one day. Um, that's what I keep telling myself. If I keep trying, one day patience will get here, um. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, like that is a classic snack. I don't know if other summer camp things before we completely close out. I, uh, you need a lake nearby. That's, I feel like that's pretty important. There's got to be some sort of river activity or something, um, that we got to do like a, uh, like a silt training once where you put like two rods in and the silt fence in there and then you dip it up to see what you catch and it's stunning how many bugs. Are just in the water flowing through and that's really cool and you get some huge ones too and you're like, whoa, that was in the is in the water. It's like, yeah, they're just hanging out in the river living their best life. Um, so, you know, those are always fun. The canoeing is great, like I, I always liked that.

Yeah, my summer camp was a horse camp, so I'm getting that. Like I purposely, purposely, I think I had to join the Girl Scouts to go to it.

Oh, that's not really,

I think I had been like a brownie, but then as an older teenager I was not in the Girl Scouts, but I think I had to join just so I can go to horse camp.

That's hilarious. Oh, that's really funny. Yeah, no, I think we, you know, I grew up near the, along the James River, so like that's what ours was, it was like at the James River, um, so that, that was pretty cool, um, but yeah, it's still kind of a weird, you know. Uh, Experience where you're just like, I guess we're gonna go hang out in these cabins for a week or two. Um, and you know, you think about it, your parents are probably like, oh, thank God, right? This is great. I'm going to camp. I'll miss you. Bye.

Yeah, but anyway, um, no, that's, uh, that's our summer camp episode. Thank you for joining us on this minisode. Uh, we hope you have a great Fourth of July weekend. Be safe, you know, it's, uh, you know, firecrackers out of your hand, away from the buildings. Let's do that and we'll see you next week here on EPR.

See you, everybody.