Smooth Saturday

Today went by very quickly.  I stayed pretty busy, but it was the good kind of busy where I was never stressed.  I am getting better and better at moving in several directions at once and I heard more than once, "wow, you are everywhere."  I met with the people working today at the Ranger Station this morning.  I opened up the Ranger Station and ran all of the register reports.  Then the chaos began.  The ranger for the distant properties called to check in with me.  While I was talking to him, I was looking for one of our biologists phone numbers to help facilitate a volunteer project at another property.  When I was done in the Ranger Station, I headed out to get some change that would be needed during the day.  As I was pulling back into the park, I got a call from the Ranger Academy because the computer and the projector started to malfunction.  I headed up that way and got to listen to a great presentation about prescribed fire while I waited to get to the computer.  Fortunately, the next activity for the Academy was outdoors so I was able get in to fix the computer issue and help set up the equipment for the next presenter.  I also dropped off some paper towels while I was there and found out that the kitchen was having some trouble with the freezer.  My next stop was to the kitchen.  I picked up some boxes to take to the recycling dumpster and checked on the freezer.  It began to cool down while I was there and I checked on it again later in the afternoon.  It was doing its job, but it could have been doing it a little better.  We will have to look into getting it serviced.  Another issue was brought to my attention while I was there.  The dumpster by the dining hall had not been emptied when it should have been and it was VERY full.  I resolved to deal with the garbage later in the day and I headed over to check on the Ranger Station and the rest of the park.  Things were pretty quiet.  There was a steady flow of traffic coming into the park, but the cars weren't lined up to the road as I have seen in previous weekends.
Somewhere after 1:00, we finally got close to filling up.   At one point, there were four of us in the Ranger Station and we were all busy.  Two people were helping campers and other walk-ins to the ranger station.  One person was at the window taking entrance fees, and I was answering the phone.  We were managing to help everyone quickly and courteously though and the line kept moving into the park quickly.  When the parking lot was almost full, we got into our ready positions.  Someone was counting parking spaces and I readied the cones and signs to close the park and start turning people around.  When we did start turning cars around, it was only a few at a time.  There was no steady line like I saw last time.  The slow trickle of traffic was nice because I was able to give people a better explanation than I can when there are 30 cars behind the car I am talking to.  People were disappointed, but not nearly as upset as they were the last weekend that I worked.  Most of the people did end up coming into the park a little later as people began to leave.
Once the rush was over and we knew that we wouldn't have to close again, I went to check on Ranger Academy one more time.  I brought them some extension cords for an evening activity and carried a table to the pool area for them.  The freezer was still plugging along as it had been and I picked up some more boxes for the recycling dumpster.  I also called one of the rangers to come and meet me by the dining hall.  Together, we loaded some of the garbage bags from the overfull dumpster into the back of an EZ-GO.  We took them to a less full dumpster so that the kitchen would have some room this evening for garbage.  We can't leave any food garbage anywhere but in the bear proof dumpsters.
Once I had made my last rounds around the park and things were really quieting down, I headed home for the evening.  It was another quiet, uninterrupted evening... I could get used to this.  I realized when I got home that I had not taken any photos today.  I just didn't have any time.  I won't leave you without something to look at though.  How about a tour of another area of the park?

Thought of the Day #68
On Monday, I visited Katie's Landing, which is one of our distant, northern properties.  It is another launching point for boats on the Wekiva River and a nice picnic area.  The property has served this function for many years, but it was just acquired and redeveloped by the park recently.  There is still some construction that is being finished up, especially at the water's edge.  There is a bulkhead that is in the midst of construction to keep the river back in place.  A surface to launch boats will also be added.  Every time I visit Katie's Landing, it makes me want to go kayaking.  I will get around to it soon.