Multilocation Monday

It was a usual Monday morning.  I had all of the usual paperwork and had to run the usual errands.  I decided to add a few other errands in today to attempt to have one weekday this week where I stay at the park all day.  Last week was just too much driving to bear.   I wish I could just be everywhere at once, send out Amy clones who can run all of my errands......... what?  no, I wasn't day dreaming.  When I got to the office, I got to work on paperwork right away.  Soon, my coworkers arrived and we made a plan for the day.  When my paperwork was done, I went to check on the status of the water level.  The view from the cabin porch showed that the rocks in the middle were completely submerged.


At the spring run overlook, I was first disappointed to see all of the dark, tannic, river water flowing back into the spring run.  Then I noticed all of the black lines... the Gar!  More have arrived since I spotted the first one.  They are easier to see now that the tannic water is in the spring run.  The Gar and the Mullet both like to stay where the tannic and clear water mix.  I think that they feel protected in the darker water, but can see food or enemies approaching from the clear water.  Although, I don't know many predators of Gar.  They have intimidating mouths and very strong scales.


This view shows another vantage point where its easy to see the change in the water level.  Scroll down to see the same view from the past two days.  Its always amazing to me how fast the water rises, but it takes months to make this much progress when the water is going down.


With my To Do list in hand, along with my paperwork, etc.  I headed out of the park.  My first stop was Adams Tract.  There I picked up some things from the volunteers, said goodbye to them as their stay is over, and collected the pesky water sample that I have been trying to get to for a month.  I packed the water sample on ice in a cooler, and went on my way.  My next stop was the bank in Branford before a quick visit to the gas station and on to Ichetucknee.  I dropped off my paperwork at Ichetucknee, made some photocopies of paperwork and brochures, picked up more park passes to sell and an envelope from my box, chatted with the Biologist, the Administrative Assistant, and the Assistant Park Manager and headed back to the truck.  I made one last stop to pick up some lumber that my Manager picked up for me on her last trip to the hardware store.  I left Ichetucknee and made my way  to Lake City.  The drive is just a little quicker from Ichetucknee than from Troy, so it was a nice change of pace.  In Lake City, I stopped by one store to pick up mower blades for the finishing mower on the tractor that I ordered before Thanksgiving.  I made another stop at the Environmental Health Department to drop off the water sample that I collected.  Next, I headed to Lowes for a few, quick items, to Office Max for printer ink, and CVS for some poison ivy cream.  I noticed this morning that I have a spot of poison ivy reaction on my wrist.  I don't know how or when I got it, but I can't say that I'm surprised.  I have mentioned before that ticks seek me out, so does poison ivy.
With my Lake City errands complete, I had checked everything off of my To Do list!  That's always a great feeling.  I headed back to Troy and checked in with my coworkers.  Everything was clear of leaves, a project had made some progress, there were very few visitors, and they told me about a tree dilemma that we have.  Once my new purchases were put away and my desk was clear again, I headed out on the trail with our volunteer to see the tree.  It is a dilemma.  A tree broke in half during the stormy weather and the top half landed in an inconvenient way, right on the nature trail.  The top half is standing in a way that maneuvering it or cutting anything that its leaning on, will create a dangerous situation.  Not willing to drive to the hospital today, I opted to let the tree sit until tomorrow.  I am hoping that a good strong wind will appear sometime after dark and knock the tree to the ground.  If that doesn't happen, we will try some ideas that we have, very carefully, tomorrow.


When I got home, I got to do something that I love!  The envelope that I picked up at Ichetucknee this morning was full of thank-you letters from the kids who attended 6th Grade Day last month.  I really enjoy reading their notes and I even got some beautiful art work this year.  Its fun to hear what the kids liked and what stood out in their minds.