Belly flops (and other adventures) in preparation for professional development

Chronic ear infections kept me from swimming until adulthood, which means that I never learned to jump or dive into water.   Since potential professional development volunteer opportunities next year involve ocean conservation efforts, I'm thinking these might be good skills to acquire.  :)  That said, I have a feeling most swimming instructors would be a little aghast at a pupil who asks whether they should have their eyes open or closed when they dive into the water.

Sadly, it hadn't occurred to me to ask my 'almost certified life guard' wife the answer to this question or to teach me how to dive using the pool right below our condo until just recently.  Duh.  Big duh.  Melanie has been very patient and modeled everything for me.  After my first attempts at diving resulted in what looked more like a belly flop by a Raid-doused spider, she invented a 'baby dive' activity for me.  I can see from her creativity why she is such a genius with patients.

We decided to leave it to professionals to teach us both new skills this weekend, however, when we participated in the "Becoming an Outdoor Woman" program sponsored by Swiss Valley Nature Center in partnership with Pheasants Forever, IDNR, Izaak Walton League, RMEF, and Dubuque Flyfishers.

Not only did we learn basic survival skills like starting a fire from flint and steel [insert cave woman grunt here], but I was finally able to use a shotgun, rifle, and handgun.  I've never wanted to aim a gun at a critter, but I have always been fascinated by target practice and trap/skeet shooting. Melanie decimated at least 5 of her 15 clay targets and was deemed 'a natural' by our trap instructor.  Show off....

I was also fortunate to learn from professionals during my first build with Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity last Thursday.  (Below is a picture from the site before the joists and windows were added.)

Chris, our excellent resource from Habitat, guided us through the entire process of window installation. She clearly knows her stuff and she knows how to teach it (read: she very wisely prompted us to write down all of the steps we'd just learned before turning us loose on the next window).

The build challenged my fear of heights, but I did make it higher on a ladder than ever before when attempting to secure a 'hurricane' between the frame and joist.  Unfortunately, the build also challenged my physical strength (I was only able to secure the bottom half of said hurricane) and I ran out of steam halfway through my volunteer shift.  I will not be defeated, however.  I plan to volunteer again soon and have added push-ups and power yoga in the meantime to build muscle and endurance.

My sincerest thanks to all of the wonderful professionals at "Becoming an Outdoor Woman" and also Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity for imparting so many new skills.  Peace out, B.