Busy Day Off

Today was meant to be a day off, but I spent a few hours dealing with work stuff.  That is the only drawback of being a resident ranger and it isn't that bad.  It was warm today.  It was a very welcome break from the cold that we have been experiencing, but its only temporary.  I was still glad to be outside in a t-shirt and be comfortable if only for a day or two.
This afternoon, I was supposed to meet with someone who was going to inspect the wells at the park.  I went over to the park to meet him at the arranged time and then found out that he canceled because of the forecasted rain.  I called him and rescheduled the inspection.  While I was there, I walked down to the spring to see how much the water had risen.  Another full square of concrete was covered with water since yesterday.


On my way back up the walkway, I saw that the lonely little Dewberry flower bud that I had photographed on Sunday had taken advantage of this warm day and bloomed.  It was so beautiful that I stayed for several shots of it to be sure that I got a good photo.


I was still at the park when I got a text message and found out that my closing park attendant would not be able to make it to work today.  I arranged for coverage and then headed home.  I wasn't there long when I got a call from the volunteers at Adams Tract.  They were having trouble with their well and had a couple of other concerns about the facility.  They also had a lot of garbage from some big groups that had camped this week.  I headed over there and was able to determine what the well problem was and it is an easy fix.  The problem doesn't interrupt the use of the water so it will wait until Saturday when I am back at work.  Another issue that they pointed out was very low water pressure in two of the restroom sinks.  I crawled under the restroom to check for leaks or other obvious issues and didn't see any.  I will investigate further on Saturday.  The volunteer loaded all of the garbage into my truck while I was looking at the well, so I was ready to head home again.  On my way out, the sun was beginning to think about setting.  The lighting was different than how I usually see it earlier in the day.  The sunlight on the dried out grasses caught my eye.


While I was out of the truck, snapping pictures of the grasses, I also spotted this little Holly.  It was covered in vibrant green new growth.  Best wishes for a vibrant New Year!