Office Day

It was another day spent almost entirely in the office.  I meant to take a photo of my desk this morning and again this afternoon, but my brain was only on paperwork.  Throughout the last week or so, things had begun to pile up on my desk.  The mess had been forming due to the absence of any kind of organizational structure of my own and several projects that need one more detail or question answered to be complete.
I spent the morning getting a quick tutorial on the documents that need to be filled out for a new employee and then working through the process.  We are replacing a ranger that we lost last week.  Its so nice to have things like this come up while I am learning.  Once I had all of the paperwork mostly complete and I was waiting on the answer to a question, I moved on to tackle the mountain of clutter that was hiding my desk.  Its funny, at home I don't mind a certain amount of clutter, but at work... no matter where I have worked... I like things neat and tidy.  I got a new file folder holder for my desk today and I turned a pile of papers into an organized rack of projects in their own folders.  As I came across each project, I worked it until I couldn't get any further.  I would do what I could and follow up on things that I was waiting on.  It felt great to make so much progress and to see my desk again.  It is nice to be organized, I just hope that I can stay that way.
I didn't get out into the park at all today, but it is on my agenda for tomorrow.  I did go home for lunch today though, and I walked my dog while I was home.  My dog tried to drag me across the yard because our neighbor was out and about.  We have a Gopher Tortoise for a neighbor.  Her burrow is at the edge of the mowed part of the yard, just slightly into the woods.  It is an unusual spot for a Gopher, but she is safe and happy here... as long as my dog doesn't get his way.  I'm not sure what he would do with a Gopher Tortoise if he were able to get to one.  They can tuck themselves into their shell to stay safe, and I think Dozer would just get bored.  I don't want to find out for sure though... he can stick to pouncing Armadillos.


I took the photo after I put Dozer back in the house.  When I was walking towards the front of the house to go back to work, I looked at the tiny blue flowers that were just buds yesterday.  To my surprise, they had opened into bright, beautiful flowers.  I didn't expect them to look the way that they do.  What a surprise!  I still can't find an ID for them though.  The leaves in the photo behind the flowers are not leaves associated with these flowers.  The flowers' stems are the tiny threads of green that go to the right.  Its amazing that they can hold up the flowers as well as they do.


Thought of the Day #77
I talked to my replacement today.  He will be starting at Troy Springs in just over a week.  I was glad that he called, I was hoping that the new person would want to talk to me.  I still care very much about Troy Springs and the people associated with the park.  I want to see good things happen there and I want my replacement to succeed.  I don't want to be overbearing though.  Things don't have to be done the way that I did them, and I was afraid that I might seem too pushy if I called to see how he was doing.  I am glad to still be involved in some way with Troy.  I am also looking forward to getting to know the new person.  It seems like there are some similarities between us... he is a photographer too.  I wonder if a Troy blog will continue?!