Back in Madison Junction!

DD and I arrived safely and just when we thought we would.  We only had one itty, bitty bit of travel trouble and that was when we drove over the Bozeman Pass.  On a couple of the curves, we came around and the sun was smack dab in our faces~~totally blinding.  Other than those 5 or 10 seconds, everything was a breeze.

The apartment seems empty this year, without DH and FTD.  Sigh.  We're plenty busy, though so it seems okay.  Cooking will be interesting, since DD is really picky.  Hmmm....  getting nutritious food into him will be a challenge, as usual.

Spring, 2010.  This year, no snow in the front, and not much in the back of the apartment, either.

DD and I were up before the crack of dawn this morning, and couldn't get back to sleep so we headed into town.  We've had our breakfast at the Running Bear Pancake House, picked up a few little things we've forgotten, and stocked up the adult beverage cupboard.  We're good to go!

As I've said before, blogging time on my part is infrequent, but I can still see what you all are up to!

Tough Week for the Mad Crew

Our Madison Junction crew suffered two horrific deaths this week.

Yesterday, our Supervisory LE Ranger died from an apparent heart attack.   Folks who saw him the day before said he looked and seemed fine. 

Ranger G. was in his second year at Madison, having been in other Yellowstone duty stations for at least 20 years.  I never asked him how old he was, but since LEs must retire at 57, I know he was younger than I am.  He replaced another ranger who aged out and currently lives in Bozeman. It's been a privilege to work with both of these guys--they are truly professionals in every way.

Ranger G. was a very quiet, keep it to yourself kinda guy.  He didn't come to our Mad Crew parties (usually had the bad luck to be on duty those nights), but he knew that these get-togethers are good for everyone. Some LE rangers think we interps are completely useless, tree-hugging liberals who are more of the problem than the solution. G made it very clear that we were all team-mates.  Since we share the ranger station with LE and Resource there could have been conflicts, but there never were.  He set the tone for the whole Madison operation, and his tone was one of "make it happen, do your job, no drama, and be helpful."  He recognized and understood that interps can actually be helpful, which isn't the case in some parks. He appreciated that we wanted to help in areas that really weren't in our domain (like traffic control) and made sure we had the skills to help effectively.  Ranger D., his predecessor, held the same views, so when G started, we didn't have any great shocks or shake-ups in standard ops.  Yea!

He was at our helm in 2010, when convicted murderers and escapees from Arizona were in the park.  He made sure we were all aware of the situation (after the US Marshals finally informed our LE staff--a giant cluster**** all the way) and kept an extra eye out for us. His way wasn't to try to scare the bejeezus out of us, but to be sure we had the facts and never speculated on the gossip.

He accepted the fact that we didn't get our summer seasonal LE at Mad, and that we'd have to rely on the OF staff for back-up... and mind you, it's a 30 minute drive from OF to Mad, even in a cruiser going lights and sirens.  He made it work.  He made it work last summer, when the new perm ranger was at FLETC all summer, and for all intent and purposes, G worked the busiest intersection of the park as the Lone Ranger.  And he did it without griping or sniping.  He knew what to do and he did it. 

Lots of folks didn't get to know him very well, because on first blush, he seemed very quiet and shy.  Quiet yes, shy no.  And like so many good rangers, he had a quiet, very droll sense of humor.  Last spring the Madison River, along which the West Entrance Road runs, flowed over all it banks, completely covering the land that the bison usually used for spring forage.  The Interagency Bison Management Plan calls for us to push all the bison back into the park who have left the Madison Valley for the lower elevations and easier access to grass.  When the date for them to be hazed back in approached, he and my boss were in the office discussing how they were going to convince the animals to move.  My boss suggested that the bison would need life jackets, and without missing a beat, G said, "Yeah, and rangers with no fingerprints will be the ones to put the jackets on the 'em."  Never cracked a smile, just continued on about his work. My boss and I were laughing our heads off.  You never knew what he would come up with next, but it would be good.

In her latest book, The Rope, Nevada Barr had a character named Ranger Steve Gluck. He reminded me in so many ways of the real Ranger G.  Very, very reassuring and steady-eddy all the way.  Completely even keeled in his dealings with happy visitors, drunken campers, nuisance bears, lost children, and serial killers.  A professional all the way.  Yep, he was a Ranger's Ranger.

And three days before Ranger G's death, we received word that one of the young men from the Mad Resource Management crew had been killed in a truck wreck near his home in Florida.  KK literally lit up a room when he came in.  He loved his job and did it with enthusiasm.  He worked hard and played hard. He always had a kind word and usually a funny, and often bombastic story to tell.  He was tons of fun to hang with.  Life at 23 is so lively and joyous, and to realize that his life, so full of potential, is over has been a heart breaker.  As a parent I cannot begin to imagine the trauma that his folks and family are going through now.  One of the Resource interns lives near his family and will attend the services tomorrow.  We've asked him to express our deepest sorrow to his folks.

Yeah, it's been a tough week.

Ranger Margaret Anderson Ebay Auction for Children (New pics 2/9/1

As you know, Ranger Margaret Anderson was fatally shot and killed in the line of duty on New Years Day, 2012.  Her friends, her Church, the National Park Foundation, and others have created a trust fund for the care of her two darling daughters, ages 2 and 4.

Next weekend, these same folks are sponsoring an Ebay auction site to help to continue to raise funds. I'll be donating a couple of small quilts.

Here's the link at ebay:

http://stores.ebay.com/ranger-anderson?_rdc=1

Items will go up on February 14 and remain up until the 23rd of February.

You can also look at the FB page/event to show your support.

So I'll donate one of these:

The top quilt, as you may recall, is the motif that is on the Madison Historic Trailside Museum at Yellowstone National Park, now the Junior Ranger Station and Information Station.  It's an exact size copy of this:

Isn't is just the cutest thing?  I usually only make these for the super-coolest folks who have served at Madison Junction, but for Ranger Eric and his little girls, I'll donate one.


And here's the new one:

Arrowhead Quilted Wall Hanging 

So mark your calendar and get your PayPal ready!  I've also seen a few of the other items that are being auctioned.... the really, really cool stuff!

The Fine Art of Solar Drying

One of the things I miss most about Wyoming and North Dakota is solar drying. Every time I put a load of stuff in the dryer here in Ohio, I cringe. Out west, I timed my laundry days to be those days when I could get a load or two of laundry in the washer before I left for work, out on the line during my lunch break, and off the line after work. This year, it took a little more creative scheduling (no thanks to Ranger Jerk You-know-who). To make this work, I had to be scheduled at Madison, my all time favorite place to work. Working in West was exciting this year, but it ain't no Madison Junction. Not to mention, I couldn't make the solar drying thing work on those days.

I love that there are some folks who live completely off the grid. But I also love that I have access to electricity. I can flush inside because of electricity, read in bed without so much eye strain with electricity, and check with my FB peeps because of electricity. No, I couldn't live off the grid. But I sure wish I could live without the electric dryer. Of course, in the dead of winter, I can warm up my towels in the electric dryer, so it stays.

When we lived in the Old House on Jeffers Road, we had a clothes line. DH and I dug the massive poles up from a house I used rent in Maumee and transplanted them out here. I could only use it a few days a year, because here in NW Ohio, if you hang your laundry outside, it will come back in wetter than when it went out. Drat.

Our new house (well, it's now 15 years old, but play along) is totally in the woods and there's no place to put a line. The only place that has any amount of sun is in the front yard, over the leach field. If we put poles out, we'd hit something, so that won't work. I do have a mini-line on the back deck, but again, the humidity issue rules it out for serious solar drying.

When I was using the solar dryer at Jeffers Road, DH was the Park Manager. I quickly realized that hanging his undies out was well, tacky. And out west, I promised the family that I wouldn't hang any one's undies out on the line. My fellow solar dryer, Bob, got a chuckle out of that--but he didn't put undies out either. Rangers Pi, JR, and G had no such compunction. Turns out they all wear black undies. How rangeresque. Matches Kevlar, I guess.

There's something satisfying about using the solar dryer. It's a great excuse to be outside on a beautiful day and working at the same time. Of course there's the obvious benefit to the environment. I find it almost Zen-like--after all, I also try to make the stuff hanging out there create a pleasing pattern. (Sounds like I have too much time on my hands to me.) I also try to hang them in such a way as they fold nicely when I take them down. After all, I'm one of the laziest people in the world.

So here I am running the electric dryer yet again tonight. I hang blue jeans from hooks on the door to try to get them a little bit drier before I send all that money off to the Toledo Edison/First Energy folks. And I only put half loads in the dryer--turns out it's just as fast as trying to dry a whole load and there's less wear and tear on my textiles. That's all my poor old dryer can handle.

The most amazing thing about solar drying is that it's against the law in many places. What a crock. The first time I heard about a subdivision that zoned against solar drying I thought someone was pulling my leg--after all, I am the most gullible person in the world, too. But no clothes lines? That's like the most un-American thing I can think of. Next someone will zone against apple pie.

So I raise my clothes pin bag to those of you who lug the baskets to the yard or who find other creative ways to dry your ditties. Long live the clothes line.