Marvelous Monday

Today started out in the usual Monday way.  It began with the morning meeting at the shop.  Once everyone knew what they were doing for the day, we moved on to the administrative Monday morning meeting.  When that was through, I moved on to e-mails and paperwork.  I went to the district office for a little tutorial on another step in the hiring process and before I knew it, it was lunch time.  Mondays really fly by quickly.
I did find time to swing through the picnic area after I went to the campground to put out fresh WiFi survey fliers.  The picnic area is today's stop on the tour of Wekiwa Springs.  This particular area is on the right side of the map near the last zone of the parking lot.  There are two large pavilions and a playground which are pictured below.  The pavilions can be rented and reserved for family get-togethers, parties or group functions.




In addition to the pavilions and the playground equipment, there is also a restroom in this area and several picnic tables with grills.  The picnic area is nicely contoured and landscaped to give definition to each picnic table area.  The whole picnic area is out of sight of the busy spring area but it is within easy walking distance.


Across the parking lot from the picnic area is more recreation space.  There is a sand volleyball court and horseshoe pits.  The park has horseshoes that can be borrowed from the ranger station.  There is also an additional grill and some picnic tables for this area.


When I headed back into the office after lunch, I spotted a caterpillar on the fence railing near the parking lot.  It is a Tussock Moth caterpillar.  There are several different Tussock Moths and their caterpillars are similar in the arrangement of their hair, but not in the colors or patterns.  If you do a Google Image Search for "Tussock Moth Caterpillar," you will see a colorful selection of the amazing creatures.


In the afternoon, I headed to the more distant park properties to do our weekly Assistant Manager check of the areas.  I started at Katie's Landing.  It was peaceful and beautiful, as always.  When I checked the iron ranger, I found my friend the frog.  There were two frogs there the last time I checked it.  When my coworker checked it last week, I asked him if he saw the frogs.  He told me that he saw one of them.  Later, when he was going through the envelopes collected, I heard laughter from his office. He announced that he had found the other frog.  Today, the now lonely, remaining frog was still there.  When I started to put the lid back on the box, the frog leapt out and clung to my shirt.  It was as if it wanted me to take it to join its friend.  I thought the frog was better off where it had been living and I carefully put it back in its hiding place.


When I made it back to the office, I started the paperwork for the two properties that I visited.   I also got a few phone calls and had to go out to the campground to reboot the router.  The Wifi had stopped working, but it was a quick and easy fix.  It was a busy day but it went by quickly.

Thought of the Day #73
I am interested by the idea of a WiFi internet connection in the campground permanently.  In some ways, I am surprised that this has not been the norm in Florida State Parks for years.  Hotels and public spaces and even whole cities are offering WiFi hotspots, so why wouldn't a campground?  On the other hand, I understand the sense of alarm when some people do not think of getting back to nature with their laptop in hand.  What do you think?  Does technology have a place in the campground or do we need to get back to the days of tents and the light of a campfire?  I don't think that there is a right answer, but I'm interested to hear the different opinions and viewpoints.