Drippy Sunday

Today was very quiet, you could even call it a slow day.  The cloudy skies that we saw all morning finally became a very light rain around 11:00am and continued into the late afternoon.  We never came close to having to close the park today.  I spent the day back and forth between Ranger Academy and the main park again.  I worked with one of the rangers to remove another load of garbage from the overfull dumpster at the dining hall.  We also hauled chairs from the pool area back to the dining hall.  I delivered an enormous truck and trailer to the Ranger Academy area which carried a set of bleachers which the Academy class will stand on tomorrow for their class photo, weather permitting.  On one stop at the dining hall, I had the opportunity to stop and look out onto the water.  Lake Prevatt has much more water in it than it usually does and the view has been opened and improved by our recent prescribed fire.


I had a few little rescue missions today.  Once I had to pick up two Ranger Academy participants who missed the bus for their field trip.  We didn't really know where the rest of the group was headed, but we tried one area and went the other way when we didn't see tire tracks.  We caught up to them just as they were leaving the spring area.  I also took some jumper cables to someone at the Sand Lake parking area whose battery had failed.  That was right after it stated raining, of course.  While I was there though, I noticed some of the biggest Thistles that I have ever seen.  They were just beautiful.  I set my camera up under the cover of my rain jacket and snapped a few photos with my lens pointed down so that I didn't catch any rain drops.



It was a quiet day, but a good one.

Thought of the Day #67
With the park so slow, I had time to have conversations with the rangers.  That was nice.  I am still getting to know them all.  When a camper checked in who had a similar last name to mine, one of the rangers asked me about my name.  He told me that he had known a guy with the same last name years ago in Lake Park, FL.  He told me that he worked with him at the fire station.  My jaw dropped to the floor.  This ranger worked with my Dad 30+ years ago.  We really couldn't believe the coincidence and began exchanging details.  It really was true.  I immediately called my parents and put them on the phone with the ranger.  They had a great time passing memories back and forth and they are looking forward to meeting up again after all these years at some point when my parents come for a visit.  My Dad was the fire chief so the ranger called me chief for the rest of the day.  I had to laugh when I walked into the ranger station and he said he was seeing me with the beard that he remembers my dad having.... I guess there is a bit of a family resemblance.  It really is a small world.