Settled in..... Mostly.

DD and I are pretty well settled in.  There are still a few things I can't locate, and the Hubby has mailed package #1 of Things I Forgot and Don't Want to Purchase New, so that will be nice.

Programs are coming along well.  I purchased a metal briefcase on Ebay for my CSI: Madison program... it will be the hook.  My opening line will be something like, "This brief case was sitting next to the building when we arrived this morning.... what do you think is in it?"  After I work out the bugs, I'll let you know how the kids respond to it.  I'm hoping we can make cultural history more fun and interesting.

I was able to finally get some sewing in today.  I was happily working along on the BOM from Craftsy, watching Downton Abbey on iTunes, when half of a rubber washer dropped out of my machine.  This can't be good.  I'll be heading to Bozeman next week to drop it off at the repair shop.  And the repair guy gets there every other week, so I'll be back then, too.  Drat.

DH might maybe be here by then, too. FTD begins work on June 11, but I haven't heard if his caregiver is lined up yet.  And one of my nieces and her babies will be back in Ohio about that time so she might want to shack up at our house for the duration.  I really need to call the nephew, too, to be sure he's moving in for sure.  Busy busy..... thank goodness for long-distance phones.

It's my lieu day, and I'm back in the office to try to pick up the new schedule.  It wouldn't work on our emails, so I'm hoping I can track down a copy here.  And while I'm doing that, it's time to see if June's BOM is ready yet!

Sorry about the lack of pics, so here's a couple of our neighborhood:

Memorial Day Weekend.... a snowy YNP tradition.

Last summer's neighbor and DD.

More of the locals.

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!

2 Degrees of Junior Rangerness

Last week, I went with the Green Hats to do some work with a Junior troop in one of my old stomping grounds, Oregon, Ohio.  We lived there from halfway through kindergarten to the end of third grade.  Great teachers, great friends at Clay Elementary School.  It's also where I began my Scout career, 50 years ago, in second grade.

One of the Scouts' last names was familiar to me, because the family (still) owns a fantastic farm stand.  When we were kids, our bus went past the farm every day, and we bought most of our summer produce there.  The farmer's wife was also a teacher at my school.

Seaman Road, Oregon Ohio

I was talking with the child's dad, and mentioned all these things.  Earlier the Scout had told me that she had been to Yellowstone.  As we were talking with Dad, I asked her what she remembered and she said that since they were there last June she could remember a lot!  "Last June?" says I, "did you come to the Junior Ranger Station at Madison?"  The dad said that they had.  She said she earned her Junior Ranger patch, and I asked if she remembered the ranger who signed the paper for her.

"Hmmm,"  says she.  "I don't remember for sure, but I've got my paper right here in my school bag."

It wasn't one of the Mad Crew who signed it, but I was completely blown away by the fact that she loved her patch and paper enough to lug it with her for months.  Wow.

We couldn't really make out the ranger's handwriting, and I know I'm totally guilty of hen-scratching my name.  But seeing how this young lady cherished her stuff, I'm going to make a better effort at legibility.  We all should.

Wildlife Olympics at the Junior Ranger Station.

We clearly connected with this wonderful child.  Let's really connect and write stuff they can read!

Seasonal Survival, #5, Keeping Your Sanity

Seasonal Survival Guide

©

or How to Live and Eat and Other Mundane Stuff.

Chapter 5.


How do you stay normal/ and or sane in the pressure cooker?  Some folks never figure it out, but those of us that do~~well, we just do.  And trust me, it is a pressure cooker. See, I already wrote about that here.

Lots of us read, and we try to read stuff that isn't completely work related.  There are definitely times when you have to get your head out of your park.  That's the same for any job, any where.

Reading Nevada Barr is like taking a murderous vacation in someone else's park.
 Busman's holiday and all that.

Those of us without the normal life conventions, like TV, radio, and internet access watch a lotta Netflix, or in my case, iTunes TV and movies.  I also carry a pretty huge stack of movies on dvd (yeah, old school) that I occasionally watch.  Mostly I loan them out.  I know, I'm swell.  Now that we've got satellite TV, we try to invite the others over for a dose of the real world every now and then.  The real world actually means we watch the Daily Show. (Jon Daily for President!)

There are the weekly poker games, always a hit.

There are campfires, of the backyard variety (in addition to your evening campfire program).

There are parties:  Halloween, Thanksgiving,

Ranger Dr. D.  We only invited him to Turkey Day, 2010 because he's a retired surgeon.
We figured he could be trusted to carve the bird.
We were more or less correct.

The Mad Crew and Friends, Thanksgiving Dinner, 2011. I already showed ya these.

 Christmas, Talk Like a Pirate Day, parades,

Me and the Divine Ranger Miss M.,  West Yellowstone 4th of July Parade, 2010.  We had a really fun and cool float planned but found out that we couldn't use the company trailer.  Maybe we'll find a flatbed thing this year.
I wanna do the Ranger Pic-a-nic-a Basket Drill Team.

you name it, someone has thought up a reason to have a party.

Which brings us to liquor.

Two bottles of wine being held ransom by hard liquor.  Tough bunch, that.

For some folks, there's lots and lots of it, alcohol that is, to the point where they are falling-down-drunk off duty.  Which makes them, um, not-so-productive to complete-jerks on duty.  Not a good place to be.  Evah.  This seems to be a bigger problem with concessions employees (usually college age kids, who many years ago were referred to as the savages), but it can be a problem for those of us who are alleged professionals.  This, by the by, is one of the reasons grown up adults can pick up seasonal gigs--we're often past this stage in life.  Supervisors appreciate having staff members who show up for work on time and sober.  Just sayin', kids.

We try to amuse ourselves in lots of ways.  Bike riding, hiking, birding, all seem to be part and parcel for most of us, since we often come hard wired for these activities. We are often forced to do these type of menial tasks at work, too.  Sucks being us, don't it?

And in my case, we also have to leave the park every few weeks for grocery runs, too.  That puts us in locations where there are things like fast food and stoplights.  Then we can't wait to get back to the park.  Back home.

Staying sane is tough some days.  For the newbies, the first week or two at a new site will put them into a tail spin.  They will absolutely work 60 hour weeks for a while.  But then, one day it happens.  They get their groove on, and it's clear sailing until fall.  Oh, wait.... that's when many of the younger rangers have to worry about where they'll go after ...  ...  ...  one of these days I'll dive into The Off Season Seasonal and how to survive that.  Maybe.

Rangering Intensely

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INTENSE and INTENSIVE

Intensive

Part of speech:  Adjective

Definition: Forceful, severe, passionate

Synonyms:  Acute, agonizing, all-consuming, ardent, biting, bitter, burning, close, concentrated, consuming, cutting, deep, diligent, eager, earnest, energetic, exaggerated, exceptional, excessive, exquisite, extraordinary, extreme, fanatical, fervent, fervid, fierce, forcible, full, great, hard, harsh, heightened, impassioned, intensified, intensive, keen, marked, piercing, powerful, profound, protracted, pungent, sharp, shrill, stinging, strained, strong, supreme, undue, vehement, violent, vivid, zealous. 

Notes: emotions are intense while sustained application or attention is intensive, intense arrives from within and intensive come from outside, (it is imposed or assumed)

Antonyms:  calm, dull, low-key, mild moderate.*

Amphitheater at Theodore Roosevelt NP (South Unit), Medora, North Dakota.

I've tried to explain to folks about the reason I say I've worked for 6 years with the National Park Service.  In actuality, I have 26 months with them.  I've tried saying I have 6 seasons, but for most folks that doesn't really register--sounds like a long gig, like a hunting season. (I have a friend who writes that in 12 years she's worked 19 seasons~~true that.)

Telling a hilarious story on the Historic Islands Boat tour at Acadia, 2005. That's not our Hinkley in the background. Sigh.

Yesterday, I decided to do the math:

I've worked 26 months for NPS.
Therefore, I've worked 104 weeks.
I've averaged 3 programs per day.
I work 5 days per week.
Therefore, I've presented 15 programs per week.

Therefore, I've presented 1,560 programs.
That's a hella lotta programs.

If you just look at my time at Yellowstone, it ups the average:
I've worked at YNP  for 60 weeks.
I've averaged 4 programs a day there, for 20 programs per week.
Therefore, I've presented 1,200 programs just at YNP alone.

I did a remarkably unscientific check of the programs presented through our local park district.  By extrapolating the stats, I can say with complete honesty that I've given more programs during my  "seasons" than my counterparts here give in a year. 

Another factor we look at is visitor contacts. This includes anybody I speak with regarding park stuff while I'm on duty.  I know for a plain and simple fact that my 4 months worth of visitor contacts is waaaaay more than any one here in my home park records in a 12 month period, but I've crunched the numbers anywho. At THRO, we had half a million visitors each year, most of them in the summer, and a very high percentage of those folks came through the Visitor Center.  Acadia's visitor numbers are much higher, but I only had to work the desk for a total of 5 hours per week (thank goodness), but did at least 2 hikes every day, along with roving in between hikes, thus lowering my own visitor contact numbers.  But the sheer volume of visitors at YNP (including 2 of my 4 summers that had record-breaking attendance), really gooses my visitor contact numbers through the roof.  Okay, so by my calculations, I've personally spoken with over

35,000 people 

At bear jams, and

elk jams. I loved that these gals using the motorized chairs were able to see the elk without having to be in a car.

in 104 weeks. Oh, heck, that's only 336 and a half people a week, or 5,833 people per summer.  (Mind you this number doesn't include people who attended programs~~that's an additional number).  Last summer our wild "Wildlife Ranger," who roved all day long, calculated that he spoke with over 10,000 people last summer alone.  Yep, his assessment was spot on:  he's a one-man, moving Visitor Center.  And mind you, my 35,000 number averages in Acadia, where my numbers were much lower.  If we were to take just my YNP numbers it really, seriously jacks my numbers up.  Just imagine what the numbers are for folks at Old Faithful National Park.....  hee hee hee.

Now factor in the living conditions . . . in my case making arrangements for here at home and boys' schools, traveling 1700 miles twice a year, hauling a small cargo trailer and 1 to 2 teenagers and/or husband . . . packing for said trips, pretty much by myself . . . then living in a very nice but tiny 644 sq. foot apartment, yeah with all 4 of us . . . learning about an ever-changing environment each spring . . .  and the addition of learning and figuring out the personalities of 10 to 12 new peeps in my duty station, and associated places like OF, YA, the campground, and the Chamber . . .

Now figure out how much money I end up with.  Start with my base pay, subtract taxes, housing, extra utilities, and travel, and ta-daa, I get a $3000 "profit."  That's the frosting on the cake.  Yum.

 

Neighbors are kinda pushy.....

So to make another short story long . . .

Working in such an environment, we cram way more into those 4 months than most folks cram into a year.  

Yep, it's very forceful, severe, passionate, acute, agonizing, all-consuming, ardent, biting, bitter, burning, close, concentrated, consuming, cutting, deep, diligent, eager, earnest, energetic, exaggerated, exceptional, excessive, exquisite, extraordinary, extreme, fanatical, fervent, fervid, fierce, forcible, full, great, hard, harsh, heightened, impassioned, intensified, intensive, keen, marked, piercing, powerful, profound, protracted, pungent, sharp, shrill, stinging, strained, strong, supreme, undue, vehement, violent, vivid, and zealous.*

*Thanks to thesaurus.com for their help.

Turning 21 and Other Life Passages

My baby, my special delivery,  turned 21 this week.  He ordered himself a video game.  He asked to go to Friendly's for supper.  He asked me to make him cake and get ice cream. 

That's all of his wants.  At least that's all that I can tell he has, or that he can verbalize.

The kids at school all told him happy birthday.  His FB friends and family wished him well. 

FTD sitting on the shore of Lake Eire, enjoying the solitude.

That's all he needs to be content. 

It seems too little somehow.  While I'm glad he didn't get tanked on his 21st, I'm saddened that he has no friends with whom he just hangs out.  He still has 2 good buddies from his academic high school, but they are both in, or trying to earn the money to be in, college.  They still come over and play Pokemon and Zelda and something else.  They still engage in "parallel play," like toddlers do.  I want so much more for him, yet if he's content, what should I be wanting for him?


We've also discussed the concept of leaving him here this summer (but haven't even made a peep about this to DD, who will blow a cork), instead of dragging him to which ever park I land in.  DH and I discussed the pros and cons, and simply put, there are many more pros to him staying here.  My nephew will live here again, and with a certified waiver option provider hanging with him a couple of days a week, he'll be fine.

But will I? 

All moms know that their kids are going to leave the nest some day.  Okay, we're leaving him in the nest while we boogey, but still.  He doesn't get home from school until 4:30 and by 2:30 or so, I'm really missing him. How will I manage for 4 months?

I will be coming home for my BFF's daughter's wedding in mid-July, so FTD and I will have at least a couple of days together.  And DH will likely stay until Memorial Day, since DD says he wants to hang around until the end of school this year, since it's his "Senior" year and last at the academic HS. He'll attend the vocational HS where FTD currently attends next year, as will FTD, who'll only be there for the first semester, as he will age out next February.  So if this plan goes, I'll be driving to my park, and living alone for nearly a month.  Good news, bad news that.

DH was making squawky noises about how since we leave all summer he doesn't get anything done around here.  Um, he doesn't get much done when we are here, so that's a moot point.  I also cannot imagine ever again spending a summer in the heat and humidity and mosquitoes and ticks of NW Ohio.  When I'm too old and decrepit to stand for the 8 hours my job requires, I'll come home and sit in the air conditioning and look out my windows, but until that day, I'm outta here in the summers.  Folks around here who have never been able to escape in the summers don't realize that there's nice weather to be had in other places. 

Speaking of which, one of the other parks at which I applied isn't hiring any new staff this year.  It's a perfect location for a summer gig (even tho they have black flies).  I'm going to screw up my courage and call the other park to see if I've got any chance up there, too.  The calls are hard to make because I don't want to appear to be pushy, but I really need to know sooner rather than later.  And of course, my back up position is Yellowstone.  How blessed am I that that is the case.

If we do in fact leave FTD here, it opens the potential for a move to Old Faithful, if if if the one and apparently only 2 bedroom apartment is available.  I haven't been in it, but I hear it's smaller than our Madison apartment.  But being at OF means DD can actually get a paying job.  And DH can volunteer pretty much when ever he feels like it. He's not so interested in committing to a schedule, and um, well this is embarrassing, but even tho it's a volunteer job, some volunteers get free or reduced housing out of the deal.  We did in North Dakota and it was fabulous!  He was the Campground Host, so we got to live in the little cabin in return for him working at least 32 hours a week, which was a breeze and he loved it. (We'd so do that again, if the cabin were available.) 

Boy Scout Troop from Toledo raising the Flag at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, North Dakota.  Our camp tender's cabin.

Our YNP apartment on a beautiful May day.

The housing situation for volunteers in YNP has been interpreted differently, so it seems that his working wouldn't be compensated.  Yeah, we know it's volunteering but the fact that some volunteers 'get paid' and some don't is kinda tricky.

Well, it's after 1 p.m.. Time to make those phone calls.....

More Late Summer Fun

First, I'll post a raft of pics from this summer.  It's hard to do on Blogspot, and since I'm on a public wifi system, it's also slow.  But here's a sampling.

This is my summer "sewing" room.  Okay, it's the dining room table and our 'foyer' and recycling center.

"Sewing room" from the other direction, so you can see the entire kitchen.  Little bit smaller than at home....

Some of the Mad Crew at Thanksgiving Dinner.

More Mad Crew (hey, that's me!) at Thanksgiving Dinner. BW must be kinda upset with DH there.....

More from Thanksgiving.  That's Ranger Carol imparting wisdom and funny stories.  Miss ya, Carol!

More Thanksgiving fun!  And a great pic of the Divine Ms. K.

Tom's buddy from U of Toledo,  now from Lost Wages,  Jim B and his wife Sandy were here for a couple of days.   Since President O. had his pic taken in the Lower Hamilton Store at OF, we had our pic taken, too.

That's all of us at the Lower Ham.  FTD, DH, me, DD, Jim and Sandy B.

The obligatory Bison bull in rut picture.  The Hayden Valley in August is the coolest place on the planet.

Yeah.  I'm lookin' at you.  And I'm not likin' what I see.

This bull was actually licking this car.  Must have had some very tasty bugs on it.

So that's all for now.  I actually have to go earn some money.  What a great job.

Six Weeks and Counting

Yesterday, Friday, was on of those days.

We have rescheduled FTD's IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting 3 times--there were big, bad snowstorms canceling the first two dates we picked. That's always a fun time. NOT. He's at the cool new regional vocational HS this year, and we had high hopes. Don't any more.
FTD is definitely not working to capacity. We get that. But who works full tilt cleaning restrooms anyway? Especially since we were told when he was being tested/admitted that he'd likely get to work in the computer/drafting areas for at least part of his day. Unfortunately, his teacher is so fixated on his scruffy beard that she didn't/wouldn't/couldn't get him into any other programs. I'm pretty sure she didn't try. How many times did we need to ask????? Oh, wait. . . . after having FTD in public school for 16 years. . . I know the answer to that. Once again we are frustrated to the point of pulling out our hair. We might just pull him from school altogether and let the chips fall where they may. He will soon be eligible for waiver options, assuming our moron of a governor doesn't cut the funding for that program also. We're currently looking for Certified Waiver Providers, so if you know any, let us know. I have the list of everyone in Lucas County Ohio who is certified, but they are all strangers to us.



Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .
And in the exciting yet alarming news, I got a note from my boss.

Good news: I can start working on May 8. Good news for my pocketbook, a wee bit tough on the family.

More good news is that we'll have 8 rangers again this year--with NO barricade duty! That means rove time and maybe a second ranger at the WYVIC during the day when we are 15 families deep at the desk. The bad news: Three of our four rockin'est rangers won't be back. Dr. D. is going to do wildlife jams all summer (which surprises me immensely), Carol has decided to retire, and so did Bob. Holy cow, talk about loss of institutional memory! These three folks are truly awesome rangers/naturalists/historians/humans. I shall miss each of them soooooo much! And the Divine Miss M is going to work the gate in the summer, then interp in the winter. (NPS has this wacky rule about a person can't work 2 seasons in a year in the same division/area. When that happens, folks become full-time employees. God forbid. So if you want to work year-round for NPS and you don't have perm-full-time status, you have to work in two different parks or two different divisions. In the case of YNP, you can work in different regions of the park, us being so dang big and all. The up shot is that you can work nearly full-time, but you don't get the bennies. Yeah, it sucks.) So all of our staff changes mean . . . . wait for it . . . . . I'll be the one with the most NPS years at Madison, as well as the most overall environmental education experience or any any other work experience. Hell, I've got more experience in total than the other guys put together. Scary, eh? This will be my 6th NPS season. (Which I think fails to register with a lot of folks.) Any who, Dr. Pi will be back, along with DM.

On the more good news front, B&L, the mostest awesomeest NPS volunteers will be back at Mad. They had talked about working at West, but I'm soooo glad they'll be at Mad. (They woulda been bored silly at West, honestly.) And we'll get last years WYVIC volunteer at Mad. Boy, is he in for a surprise! While we have a short afternoon lull at WYVIC, there are no lulls at Mad. (Bring it on!)

So this presents the annual question: Where will the Duv's live? Last year, 4 of our rangers had their own housing, leaving 4 of us in apartments. This year, all 8 of us need apartments. Our apartment has had two unrelated rangers living there some years. Oh crap. My boss asked if we could scrunch into the one BR place, and the answer is no, there's no way we can. Oh crap. Now what?

The Call From the Wild

It's the call I wait for all year--my supervisor's voice on the phone saying, "It's rehire time, are you available?"

Awesome. Back to Parkadise in mid-May, home in early October. Sweet. Really, really sweet.

Packing Up, Not Quite Heading Out

It's that time of year! Hooray! I'm counting the days--less than a month until we head back out west. I indulged in some pre-packing this weekend. I did the linens a while back, so I took on the kitchen gear this time.

Packing to go west isn't too bad. There are a few clothing issues (which I could easily solve by just saying "This pile is my out west clothes and this pile is my at home clothes). But I have several favorites that I like for both places. There aren't too many cross-pollinated things, not being a clothes horse, but still more than I like to admit. And I only have one winter coat and I need that in both places. I suppose I could go hit the Good Will to find an out west coat. . . . hmmm.

Linens aren't too much of a problem. This year we're going to try a little foam pad deal that supposedly turns two twins into a king size bed. Three of our four years on the road we hauled out Select Comfort mattress with us and put in on two twins. Worked pretty nicely. It doesn't pack down really small, but smaller than a real king mattress would. One year, we decided to use the double bed that was provided. We barely slept a wink all summer. When you've had a king bed for 25 years, and your girth has significantly expanded in said time, well. . . . This year, since DH will only be out west for about 6 or 7 weeks, we're going to try another route. I'm hoping the beds didn't get moved out of our apartment. We had to do some fancy footwork to get 4 twin bed frames, springs, and mattress last year. We'll see. I'll have plenty of time to round them back up if I need to this year.

The real packing challenge comes with kitchen gear. I've accumulated almost enough stuff for the summer kitchen. DH has a couple of favorite pans, and I have a favorite pot, so I guess I'll take the pot, and he gets to keep the pan until he comes out. We really don't need the pan at home, because I've completed my Calphalon set here (Dang, I'm a savvy shopper--I've never had to pay full price for the stuff! And I think it's still made here in Toledo. Cool.) I'd like to keep it in the kitchen box, but he likes to use it here, so we lug it back and forth. There are a couple of other goodies like that--Pyrex dish in a warming carrier, good apple slicer, margarita cooler. And going out I can pack up all the stuff and still eat. Not the case coming home. Meal planning is an art when it's time to come home, especially since the nearest restaurant is 14 miles away. So I have to plan food we can eat without using real tableware, pots, pans, or microwave. Yea. Cereal it is for the last 2 days in the park.

Here's my packing tip for getting food on the way out. I stock up on all the basics here--flour, sugar, cereal, pasta, etc.. But I also take 2 empty coolers with us. When we get to Livingston or Bozeman, we hit the grocery and stock up on frozen and refrigerated stuff and get as much into the coolers as possible.

When we arrive at the apartment, Job One is put a frozen pumpkin pie in the oven, which means I need to get to a cooking sheet. I use the pizza pan for that. The apartment smells like home again in no time at all. Job Two is get the beds made. That of course means the linens have to be in the back of the cargo trailer, which works out nicely. The next day, the pizza pan is ready to pop pizza in the oven and we're really home.

This is the theory. . . it worked quite well last year, let's see how it plays out in real life!