Tarantula Hawk

This morning was our first day of training. As I stepped out the front door I turned to find a bull elk in my "lawn" just chewing away. Wisely I walked slowly away from the animal, but wow!! That woke me up! A bit later down my hike I came across a male mule deer. Smaller than the white-tails from back home, but still impressive. Arriving at work far before our start time I walked out to the rim and sat gazing out into the canyon. It was my morning sanctuary. That early very few tourists are up, and everyone who is on the trail respects the hush observed by all. I sat on the edge deep in thought, just peacefully waking up and appreciating the day.

At the morning briefing we were introduced to a variety of folks working in the interpretation portion of the park service. At one point a large insect flew and sat among our group. It's called a tarantula hawk (google it!! It's an ugly looking thing.) Apparently this insect fights tarantulas, and paralyzes them, laying the tarantula hawk eggs inside the alive tarantula. As the babies grow they feed off the live tarantula, and the cycle repeats!! Wow... that's a bit freaky.

After our morning briefing, our boss asked us to follow him back out to the rim. On the way out I had the opportunity to chat with some of my new coworkers. The first person I talked to turned out to be studying to be a sign language interpreter! How cool is that?! Now I have someone I can sign with!!

At the canyon rim we walked a little ways until the entire group walked off the path out onto the ledge itself. Standing out there we were brought face to face with the reason we had these jobs... the canyon. What an awesome way to start off the first day of training!! Walk out to the Grand Canyon Rim and look out. It was pretty awesome.

Throughout the day we traveled along the canyon, filled out paperwork, and became familiarized with our duties. I met some amazing people, and I'm really looking forward to working with them. Each day we are assigned a post. Basically it's a route for the day. Typically no two days back to back are the same post, and each day has a mixture of things. For instance, in the morning I may be in the visitor's center, or riding the shuttle buses. In the afternoon perhaps hiking the trails, and sometimes in the evening helping out with star programs. It's very cool and exciting!!

Another great thing is the park provides backpacks for us to wear, and this year gave us a stack of books on the history and natural elements of the park!! I probably won't carry those with me on a daily basis, except maybe the field guide, but they are some great reading materials. We return our materials at the end of the summer, so I have my summer reading list!

After work I hiked back to the house, changed quickly, and biked over to the softball field. My cousin had me join her softball team, so I'm playing co-ed a couple nights a week. Today was our first practice, and honestly the first time I've played softball since high school gym class. I've always loved playing catch and I've got a decent arm, so I was excited. Our team is a mix of locals, none of whom I'd met before. It was a rough scrimmage, but it was still fun. Nothing like catching the ball and whipping it over to third to get an out.

I'm beat, so I'm headed in for the night. One last funny story. This morning at our briefing one of the staff asked where I went to school back home. I told him, but he asked where that was in the state. It's kind of hard to explain if you're not familiar with the layout of the state, so I just said "It's basically Canada" to which every one responded with laughing.

Also, I apologize for a lack in pictures lately. I have a ton to put up, but unfortunately our wireless isn't very fast here, so it takes an incredibly long time to load them up. I'm working on it, piece by piece, and it will be up soon I promise.