I've not been avoiding you.....

It's not you.....it's me. ;)

Sorry, Readers. Soooo, what can I catch you up on? Our A/C is fixed. Thank goodness because we were all getting cranky. Jr. Rangers is over. It went "ok." Not as smashing of a success as I thought it would be. Part of it was that a certain co-worker didn't follow through with what he was supposed to do. Part was that this thing should have been announced as soon as I started in June instead of a week in advance. We also accidentally conflicted with the Clark County fair (did you know Clark County is the birthplace of 4H?) and there were a lot of folks who couldn't make it becuase of that. I'm currently combatting part of the problem for next year by getting the Jr. Ranger program designed and adding an "advanced" Jr. Ranger component. It shouldn't take too long to get this sorted.

Anyway, we had about 10 kids and we had a ball. The kids loved the emergency spillway area and kept asking to go back. They loooooved creeking. We found a cranefly larvae wich we all ooh'd and ahh'd over. I introduced them to "Duck, Duck, Water." It's like Duck-Duck-Goose but instead of saying Goose you dump water on the persons head. I allowed myself the be the sacrificial ranger in the first round and, sure enough, I got a pitcher of water on my head. I bowed out after that and made sure that the kids all got a turn to dump water and get water dumped on. They seemed to really like the crafts I set up for them too.

Since then, my challenge has been to figure out where to store the few things that I made for the programs. Our visitor center doesn't have a ton of storage space unfortunately. We're hoping to correct that soon as an addition is being planned.

I've been working on some new trail signs for our Stone's Throw Trail. I have 3 printed and passed on for feedback and I have one floating in my head. I just need some info from Ranger B about the buttefly garden to make that one.

Okay, I need to scoot. There are some treed needing trimming. Cheers!

Amy

P.S. The Rennaisance Faire down in Waynesville is going on. If you've not been there, go check it out. It's a blast. I highly recommend the Mud Show.

Ummm...Hi! ;)

Yeah, I'm still here. I know, I know..... I'm sorry. I do have an entry but it's on my computer which is in Columbus and I'm in Springfield. Life's good. It's hot, our A/C is out. Yuck. We have 5 different types of caterpillars in the visitor center right now. 3 were accidental hijackers when we changed leaves. I made a silly birthday hat for my boss who's turning 50 tomorrow. He likes it. He suspects the surprise birthday party. Some folks just are not good at hiding stuff like that. LOL (No, he's not reading over my shoulder either. He's in his office griping about having to change his password again.)

Okay, gotta run. I'll be back. I swear.

Zooooooom! (7/12/09)

What an incredibly cool day today! The morning was a little iffy because I left early to go have breakfast at a place I found in the phone book only to find it was no longer in operation. I grumbled but knew I had a meal replacement bar and an apple at work so I headed over there. I was an hour early so I decided to “pre-hike” (aka half official, half unofficial exploration) the emergency spillway area. It was a super foggy morning so walking through the mists, into the prairie, while listening to the birds sing and seeing the dew settled on spider webs and leaves was very surreal. I stopped to take many pictures.

The spillway area is so neat. At least to me since I’m a wetland plant nerd. There is little to no grass out there, just this type of rush that’s about 3-4 inches long for the most part. The ground was so soft to walk on. There were little areas where springs were coming up to form little puddles and running streams. The spillway itself is large from a distance but so much more huge up close. Add the misty fogginess and it was like I was in another world. It was actually quite peaceful. That part of the morning was topped off by the arrival of a Red-tailed Hawk that was not happy with me being there apparently. He started calling and it echoed around the concrete structure giving me chills. It was so cool. I tried to get a little closer so I could get a good picture but he flew away. If only I’d had my other camera…….sigh….

By the time I got in to work, I was much more relaxed and happy. I got down to business making TP tube binoculars. I finally have access to the computer there so I was looking forward to getting started on a few things. I was pleased to find that the one caterpillar I was “arguing” with yesterday finally decided that it was going to make it’s chrysalis on my dream catcher. There’s another one ready to roll so I have to keep an eye out on him. Then I was informed that I was going on boat patrol with my boss, which made me happy as it was a beautiful day and being out on the boat is kinda relaxing. It’s a nice break from the norm.

We got out there and zoomed about a bit and then….my boss “popped the question.” Did I want to drive? My initial reaction (though he doesn’t know) was along the lines of “OMG! I’m gonna crash and ruin the boat!” I answered him with a chuckle. “Do you trust me?” He gave me a brief rundown of what controls what and what the little lights and displays do and turned it over to me. Well, I must have done a good job because he didn’t really remind me of anything that I didn’t already know (aka the point where it gets shallow really quickly). I dare say I think he enjoyed the ride and enjoyed the break from his usual breakneck pace. I did however let him drive the boat into the dock. I don’t wanna be the one to scratch the new boat. LOL So, yay! I drove the boat! Soon, I’ll have to learn to take it in and out of dock and drive the trailer. Have faith in your abilities, Ames!

My next surprise of the day was the pile of business cards with my name on it. Wow! I have business cards! :D I feel even more official!

The next happy moment of the day, though not a surprise, was sitting down and doing a project, start to finish, that I’ve been wanting to do since week 1. I made a bird checklist for our site. We had a report from the Audubon Society on what birds have been seen here and how frequently but we didn’t really have a checklist that people could take with them to check off what birds they’ve seen through out the year. It’s very simple. It’s the top 130 most common birds with a few uncommon ones sprinkled in for good measure and check boxes for spring, summer, autumn and fall. (And I just remembered what I meant to put in there but forgot to….dang.) Yeah, there’re a lot of birds I left out but I see the majority of the people using this thing being casual birders. Not rabid birders like Ranger B. The ones I left out are the ones that are super rare. Yes, technically there have been brown and white pelicans at the lake but they were a treat, not a norm. (Seriously, there were pelicans here a few years ago.) Anyway, after 3 weeks, it’s DONE. Woo!

One of the groups that came for a picnic today was the Corvette club of Springfield. These guys have totally awesome classic Corvettes that they’ve rebuilt and made all shiny. I went out to snag some pictures of the cars and they not only let me have some of their food (yay dinner!) but one lady even took a picture of me in her convertible Corvette! Woo again! :D :D They were really nice people with really nice cars. LOL

So that’s the excitement today. That’s really about it. I did have one frustrating day not too long ago when I was the only person at the visitor center and that was when everyone wanted to know stuff that I didn’t know. Tres annoying. Things have been good otherwise.

Until next time…..

A pre-typed post

I'll get something a little more up to date on here soon. This was typed 7.5.09. WIFI provided by BW3's. Woo!
----------------------------------------

It’s been several days. I’m currently without regular internet so updates will be a little slow until I can find a WI FI spot. I am moved into my new place. It’s very lovely and my landlord and his wife are very nice. I’m currently working out the logistics of a “Kitchen” since I don’t really have one per say. I have a little area where I have set up a table and chairs to sit at (next to the window) and another little table where I have some food items and a crock pot and toaster oven. I can make it work. I spent 6 months living out of hotel rooms with a hot plate for another job so I can manage this. (Now if I can just find that hot plate….) All I really lacking at the moment is a small fridge and some shelving I can use as a pantry.

I have most of my uniform now. Just waterproofed my new boots and have set up an exchange for a few things that are too big or too small. I have a name pin now so everyone knows that I’m a for real ranger and not some person who managed to raid the federal clothes closet. No badge for me though, I have to go through academy and get commissioned. (However, I put on a Jr. Ranger badge sticker the other day for fun. Ended up giving it to a young boy who was throwing away trash like a good citizen. He was so proud.) Tomorrow I go and get a card that we’ve all been waiting anxiously for me to get so I can really start on some projects.

Soooo, what else has been going on? The night I moved in happened to be the fireworks night here so I went all the way to the front porch and watched them. How cool is that?? I have not had luck with getting the cats I was fostering a home. That makes me really sad. Went on boat patrol with Ranger B and did life jacket checks and got the dirt on what fish are biting and where. Oh, it was also story time with Ranger B as he’s a chatterbox and he’s been everywhere it seems with the Audubon to see various rare birds. I’ve found quite a few monarch caterpillars and 3 of those are in chrysalis right now. Ranger B brought in quite a few Cecropia moth caterpillars. They look like little ¼ inch black pipe cleaners crawling around. I’ve made dice for The Incredible Journey (a Project Wet game) and am very glad they’re finally done. I’m collecting a few other things for Jr. Ranger including tree cookies and TP tubes. As soon as I can get away, I’m gong to go explore some of the places I want to take the kids for the program to be sure that they’ll work.

On my next day off, I’m heading back to Columbus to pick up a few other things that I forgot and am seeing I need for this or that. I also need to bite the bullet and finish unpacking. If I really start looking through stuff, I bet I could find a place for it. That’s what’s making me go slow with it. I’m trying to simplify and be as organized as possible. It’s been nice and cool out so I have had the windows wide open for the air. This was the coolest July 4th that I can remember.

Okay, it’s time to hunt down dinner and the hardware store. And a WI FI spot. Peace out!

Hidy Ho, Neighbor!

I'm still around. I've moved. I couldn't find a wireless place by asking around my new town but I've found a few places by coming back to Columbus and looking it up. LOL I should be able to get online fairly regularly from now on. I have a post ready to roll on my laptop. :)

It's been a few days. Things are a little crazy right now. I'm moving in 3 days. I'm busy packing and taking small loads to my new place. I'm also still trying to place the family of cats I'm fostering. It's just a bad time of year for this. There's cats and kittens everywhere. I'm a little overwhelmed.

This past week has been good so far. I've found several more monarch caterpillars and eggs. Today, I let a young girl hold a caterpillar. She'd never held one before. She was beaming. :)

I got to go out on the boat for patrol with my boss. We were doing PFD checks. He also showed me all the "spots" around the lake like where the road used to be and the fens and the osprey platform. I felt a little bad, not only was I tired but a part of me still associates being on a boat with fishing with dad. He would take me trolling for muskie and I'd set up my pole and kick back and take a nap while Dad drove. LOL Just recently here I've been not getting to bed on time and the kittens have been eating eachother throught the night and we had Comfest this past weekend which entailed visitors at odd, late hours. (Not my visitors, BTW. I didn't go to Comfest.) Anyway, I was trying desperately to hide my dozing off and working very hard to keep myself awake by peppering Manager C with questions. At some point, I'll have to learn to pull a trailer. Oy!

I am getting things together for Jr. Rangers. I have an order out for 60 TP tubes and cardboard. I'm hoping that folks will remember. I really need those TP tubes. Ooh, I just thought of something I can use instead of cardboard. I tried to dig up a mulberry tree (it was small) for the program but I waaaaay misjudged the size of the root ball. I was totally thinking in burlaped tree size. Well, I did grow up in the city. Eh, that's no excuse, I should have known. Now I have a dead mulberry. Whatta waste. :-/

Tomorrow, I'm blessed with a sleep-in. I don't have to get up till 6:30! 2 more hours! Woo! Due to my current proximity to ODNR, I get to go over and get some geology kits (half of which I get to keep) plus I'm going to see if I can get some of their neat ID guides. I hope to get some Owl call and frog call CD's.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. It's after 9 and I'm beat. Let's hope the kitties don't wrestle night.

You know you want one. Look how cute this guy is....his brother's are just as adorable too.

Yay Caterpillars!

If you look at that leaf, you'll see two things. There's the exoskeleton in the upper left corner....ignore that. Over to the right hand side of the leaf, you should see a tiny, tiny caterpillar. That is a newly hatched monarch 'pillar. I'm not even sure if he/she registers on a ruler. I've started looking for more caterpillars. Ranger B has set up a really nice butterfly garden that has all sorts of host plants. He was quizzing my on what hosts what and I had to confess that I didn't know. I'm still working on ID-ing adult butterflies. I'm not yet at the point where I can look at a species and know what their host plant is.

Anyway, I'm going to keep looking for caterpillars. We have host plants for the bigger swallowtails which make great display caterpillars. I visited a friend who's working for Franklin County Metro Parks and she gave me some good pointers on finding eggs. I'm not great at finding eggs. I used her tips a little later to find 3 eggs and 2 caterpillars. I'll take them in on Saturday when I work next. I'll have to comb the plants when I get in that day too. There should be caterpillars for everyone by now.

At work, I've been putting together the Junior Ranger program. I have a program laid out and now I just have to type it up so it's clear and understandable. I realize that not everyone knows what a tree cookie is and that I have slang and acronyms that no one else uses. (If I ever give you directions, TL = turn left and TR = turn right.) Now all I need is access to a computer at work. Sigh....soon.

I also went through training on what is called Verbal Judo. And online book can be found here on the topic. It's very interesting. I had heard about this verbal judo thing from my friend Ranger J at school. Some of it is very common sense, really. Don't call the person "Toots" or "Moron." Don't say "shut up" or "it doesn't matter why, just do it." Don't take anything personally. This is stuff I learned through the years in retail. However, I can see where I can become a better communicator, and ranger, if I get good at this.

In other news, I have found a place to stay near work. It's like 10 minutes from the park. There's a drive in movie theater too that's within a bike's ride. The house is beautiful and I'm getting an upstairs bedroom that is essentially the same size as a large studio for the same price as I'm paying in rent now. The might give me an additional bedroom too. Maybe. I'm just working on getting the first two months rent for them. I'll ask later. I'm okay with whatever they give me. I'll be moving in about a week to a week and a half. Anyway, this house is pre-civil war and the owners have been restoring and fixing it up. There's beautiful antiques all over the place (not cluttered, it's just right). The wife is a master gardener and she has landscaped the yard in the most outstanding color display. They have 3 cats and 3 dogs. I've met 2 of each so far. Which leads me to the kitties I've been fostering.....

I still have the kitties. However, they just went to the vet 2 days ago and got a clean bill of health and some shots and worming. I am in the process of trying to find them homes. I have a flier that I'm taking today to post in a few places. That is part of my plans for today. I'm going to pack but I'm going to kinda take it easy today and tomorrow. (I slept in till 6:30AM today! Wooo!) Mom's coming over to help me pack and have lunch with me tomorrow.

You know, as much as I don't like the WWE Smackdowns at 3AM on my bed, I'm gonna miss this kitties. My apartment feels like a home for the first time.

Later.