Love your enemies...

I have a few days to catch up on, so I'm going to write a post for each. This is the post for Thursday, June 11th.

As I wasn't due in to the office until 10am this morning, I took my time being a bit lazy. Walking down to work I passed a car with the following saying on it: "Love your enemies and you won't have any." Immediately after reading it I smiled. I hope it has the same effect on you.

One of the first days I was in uniform I had my picture taken half a dozen times. I laughed about it, and commented to the coworker I was shadowing for the day. She told me that we are the Mickey Mouse of the National Park Service. Everyone wants a picture with us. I've had my picture taken with young Junior Rangers, with couples who speak very little english, and with an older gentleman on the request of his daughter!

At one point in my duties I was riding one of the shuttle buses for an hour and a half. Very quickly I often chat with the people on the bus, finding out about them, and telling jokes. They may ask me questions about the park, or I may do an impromptu interpretive talk about the area around us. Just depends on the crew.

On one of my bus routes there was a young boy around 9 years of age who decided he wanted to come sit near the front where I was standing. His family was halfway back on the bus. The young boy and I chatted for a while, and he told me where he was from and the 3 week trip he was on with his family. At one of the bus stops two couples boarded the bus. The last gentleman on the bus turned to the bus driver and asked if the bus went to Maswik Lodge. That's the stop we were at. He was just joking around, and his wife told me not to encourage him, while laughing. The gentleman sat across from the young boy, right next to where I was standing. When he asked the young boy if he was riding alone I said that he wanted to ride with me, and his family was further back on the bus. The gentleman stood up and said he wished he was with me! I cracked up, and his wife swatted him one.

The largest trees we have in the park are Ponderosa Pines. The bark of these giants often look like puzzle pieces laid on top of each other, and the color can vary from dark gray brown to a warm sierra. The warm sierra color is usually found on older trees exposed to the sunlight. On these trees you can lean in and smell the bark. People say it smells like sugar cookies, cotton candy, or butterscotch. One family came up to me and asked what those good-smelling trees were. I told them, to which the father responded, "Oh yeah! The scratch and sniff trees!"

Every day we carry around counters and whenever we talk to someone for more than just a passing hello we keep track. Mine is attached to my backpack strap so I can just reach up and click it before I forget. I've been asked quite often if it's my pedometer. On the first day I had my handy-dandy counter I logged talking to 235 people, and 266 the second day!! Wow.

For whatever reason I'm always more exhausted after a 10am-8pm shift than our 7:30am-5:30pm shift. After making some dinner and checking on a friend's house I crashed for the evening.