Another Long Day

I was the only manager again today, and it was another very busy day for me.  Looking back on it now, it doesn't seem like I accomplished much.  I was running and running all day long though.  There were more people on duty today, but plenty of projects to go around.  After everyone got started on their tasks, I headed out to start on mine.  I went to the youth camp again to get another angle of the grease trap on the sewer line.  Another shot was needed of the relationship of the grease trap to the youth camp dining hall.  It seems a little silly to be photographing a manhole cover day after day, but sometimes my job has me doing some silly things for the greater good.
I managed to return to the office and get a couple of e-mails answered and the latest grease trap photo e-mailed.  Anytime that I got close to progress, I got a phone call or a radio call or a visitor.  Not long after I had gone to the youth camp, I had a call on the radio that a county inspector had arrived to do a routine inspection on the dining hall.  I picked him up and headed right back to the youth camp.  I showed him around the dining hall and answered his questions.  Then he asked me if we had a grease trap.  He was lucky that I had just been acquainted with our recently popular but very stinky grease trap.
I returned to the office again and tried to get some work done.  Throughout the morning, I had two people request time off through the weekend.  A third person then came to my office to tell me that he would not be coming back to work at all.  I had to do some final paperwork with him and then I needed to look at the schedule.  I bothered my coworker on his day off to discuss the schedule changes, which I felt badly about.  I checked in with the people in the field after that to see how they were doing and to request that some changes be made to the schedule.  I finally headed to the office to check in and head home for lunch.  I think it was around 2:00 and as I walked up to the office, I found that I had another chauffeur job.  I was headed back to the youth camp to take someone to see another building.  When I finally got to my lunch, it tasted so good!
I did manage to get back to the office to accomplish what I absolutely had to get done.  Maybe tomorrow when the other assistant manager returns I will be able to focus on the office a little more.  Sometime after 4:00 I switched gears to being the late ranger to cover a hole in the schedule.  I checked over the park and picked up some garbage here and there.  I talked to a few visitors and had a nice drive through the park.  It felt great to clear my head and just do some purely rangery duties.  I saw some nice sights as I patrolled the area.  This little Gopher Tortoise was on the move.  I'm glad that it was obeying the speed limit.



I really love this section of the park drive.  I sure did see it a lot today on my multiple trips to the youth camp.  In the evening, I saw 2 or 3 deer wandering through the tall grasses.  I didn't get any good photos of the deer, but just imagine what they would look like as they casually browse through the grasses.


Closing the park at the end of the night went well too.  It was a little smoother than yesterday and I think I accomplished more of the things that should have been done.  I am really looking forward to going home at a reasonable time tomorrow though.

Thought of the Day #85
Note taking is becoming very important to me.  There is always so much going on and so many constant interruptions that my mind is always going in a few directions at once.  If someone tells me something, I write it down immediately.  I am finding already that I can't remember everything.  Someone mentioned an upcoming event to me that I didn't think I had heard about at all.  When I went to add it to my calendar, I saw that it was already there.  I am wondering if as I take on more responsibilities and the park gets busier whether my mind will cope better with it all or if I will just get more frazzled.