Greetings to Dan in Fredericksburg, Virginia and to my soul sister Maureen! Always great to hear from people that share the same interests (and same symptoms - ha ha - Maureen knows what I mean). And it was also nice to have sympathy showered my way from those who wrote to me about my card not being in my camera. It appears that David in California has on occasion forgotten his card so I don't feel so all alone in this department.
So here I am completing week 2 of my adventure at the Adventure Store. I'm learning all sorts of new things. For instance, Becky taught me where the Stop button is on the printer. When I went to print something suddenly there was an onslaught of papers coming out of the thing and I'm standing there trying to grab them as they fell to the floor. Sure its cute and endearing when it happens in the movies to Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock but when it happens to me I look kind of foolish.
Today one of those 'Yellowstone' moments happened: we lost power. It happens on occasion here. Unfortunately this time it happened when most employees were watching the draft picks. It had been the topic all day and when everyone interested found their comfy spot around the tv to watch the power went off. I was upstairs at the time but I'm sure I could hear the groans from everyone echo through the building. We ate our dinner with the power off but it came back on after awhile and they all resumed watching the tv. Because of the power outages all park employees should have battery backup on their alarm clocks. The last major outage that I experienced was last fall when I made a tent out of my bed sheets in an attempt to stay warm. Aah, fond memories.
I went to Mammoth yesterday where the grass and vegetation is greening up. It was a beautiful day in the high 60's. Even in Canyon it was gorgeous. Today it rained which eventually turned to snow. Nothing much but just enough to give a nice coating of white on the trees. And enough to remind all of us that winter isn't necessarily over yet.
Yesterday I had to go to the employee RV park to read the meters (yup, meter reading is part of my job). I enjoy getting out and wandering around in the nice weather so this is one of my more favorite parts of the job. I park my car at one end of the road and wander up it reading the meters then cross over and wander back toward my car. It dawned on me when I was on the far end of the road that I was alone in the RV park and there has been a grizzly in the area. And there I find myself without bear spray and no one close enough to hear my screams. It's kind of an eerie feeling to be in that situation and one that I will not repeat especially after Becky reminded me that last year her and Barney had been charged by a grizzly in that very spot. I will carry my bear spray with me from now on.
And talking about bear spray it seems that some of my co-workers have had some rough experiences with the stuff. One discharged hers in her car and another, with a group of people, decided to try out a couple cans of bear spray and they sprayed it into the wind. Needless to say they can all testify that it is some potent stuff.
So here I am completing week 2 of my adventure at the Adventure Store. I'm learning all sorts of new things. For instance, Becky taught me where the Stop button is on the printer. When I went to print something suddenly there was an onslaught of papers coming out of the thing and I'm standing there trying to grab them as they fell to the floor. Sure its cute and endearing when it happens in the movies to Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock but when it happens to me I look kind of foolish.
Today one of those 'Yellowstone' moments happened: we lost power. It happens on occasion here. Unfortunately this time it happened when most employees were watching the draft picks. It had been the topic all day and when everyone interested found their comfy spot around the tv to watch the power went off. I was upstairs at the time but I'm sure I could hear the groans from everyone echo through the building. We ate our dinner with the power off but it came back on after awhile and they all resumed watching the tv. Because of the power outages all park employees should have battery backup on their alarm clocks. The last major outage that I experienced was last fall when I made a tent out of my bed sheets in an attempt to stay warm. Aah, fond memories.
I went to Mammoth yesterday where the grass and vegetation is greening up. It was a beautiful day in the high 60's. Even in Canyon it was gorgeous. Today it rained which eventually turned to snow. Nothing much but just enough to give a nice coating of white on the trees. And enough to remind all of us that winter isn't necessarily over yet.
Yesterday I had to go to the employee RV park to read the meters (yup, meter reading is part of my job). I enjoy getting out and wandering around in the nice weather so this is one of my more favorite parts of the job. I park my car at one end of the road and wander up it reading the meters then cross over and wander back toward my car. It dawned on me when I was on the far end of the road that I was alone in the RV park and there has been a grizzly in the area. And there I find myself without bear spray and no one close enough to hear my screams. It's kind of an eerie feeling to be in that situation and one that I will not repeat especially after Becky reminded me that last year her and Barney had been charged by a grizzly in that very spot. I will carry my bear spray with me from now on.
And talking about bear spray it seems that some of my co-workers have had some rough experiences with the stuff. One discharged hers in her car and another, with a group of people, decided to try out a couple cans of bear spray and they sprayed it into the wind. Needless to say they can all testify that it is some potent stuff.
