So the adventure has come to an end. Some extraordinary things have happened since last I wrote. I went down to Big Bend with Aaron and we saw 3 black bears and some beautiful scenery. I started working back in the field again with the guys, which is always alot of fun. Had a dinner grill night with Charles and Aaron. There was a fire on the other side of the mountain in the primitive area and I got to run up the mountain and bring some people down.

I had a completely different experience than I originally expected, yet it was still a fun, amazing one. I met more wonderful people than I ever could have hoped for- I miss my friends and really everyone collectively in Ft. Davis.

The starry skies are un-real and its sad not to have them here in Austin.

Well..... The say 'every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end'. My next excursion happens soon- it will be much longer and much farther away. I'm going to West Africa with the PeaceCorps in late October to do HIV/AIDS community work and education. But this blog isn't about that, its about the beauty of west Texas.

Almost 3 months in west Texas- some of the happiest, most beautiful moments in my life. I'll be back!

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Lazy Tuesday

Today is a pretty lazy Tuesday. Hung out with some friends, ate brunch at Nel's and now its hot so I've taken shelter in the library.

Been super busy with all my lovliest people coming to visit me.

I went to a concert on Friday, bit of a folk/rock sort of deal at the Blues, it was super fun and I even got in a dance.

Mountain lion sighted in the courtyard of the indian lodge, looks like we've got a young male snooping around, hopefully he'll stay away from areas with a lot of people- lions that are too comfortable with people really are dangerous.

The biggest lightening storm yet happened the other day right in the middle of my program, which is outside. Lightening struck the mountain right behind the amphitheater, it was huge and so so loud. After I ran to the car, soaking wet but protecting the equipment I watched the storm from my porch.

The javelinas have taken to romping around outside my front door at night, eating the acorns that fall from our tree.

I go back home in just over 2 weeks. I'm not ready, I'm very happy here.
Still no word from PC, so my life is still a little bit on hold.

Jeannie B, who is an angel, gave me an interesting bit of wisdom to contemplate...
" I would rather spend my whole life wanting something I didn't have, than having something I didn't want".

Food for thought.

Morning Routine

Park visitors really like me I think, especially the older ones. It makes me happy when I can give them a lot of good information and make them laugh too. Still no updates from PC, I'm checking every day and getting more and more anxious.

Laura- I'm ready for you to get here!!!

hours of my day

I spend several hours of my day at work blogging (like now) or checking my email or reading Peace Corps Blogs and checking my placement status for updates (there aren't ever any). Working at the front desk is slow- and I hate being idle. I'm getting paid to do nothing- I ask what I can do and my boss says nothing really, or gives me 1 minute easy tasks. I'm reading a very powerful blog of one woman's experience in Nambia. http://africanspirit.blogspot.com/
Her life sounds so tough- working with households where the head of house is sometimes only 10 years old and is completing all the duties of an adult- finding food for the younger children, cooking, cleaning , clothing the children. She is making a big difference in their lives. They are like the children in the book I've been reading, the Lost Boys of Sudan- the book is called They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky and I definitely recommend it.

Peace Out

July 21st already

Seems like it was the 4th of July yesterday and now its already the 21st.

The family came down this past weekend and that was really wonderful.

I've got this really cute song stuck in my head:

"If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea."

BARRY LOUIS POLISAR

My hands burned so much last night I couldn't sleep at all- it was from the jalapenos I used to make some salsa. Now, I'm sleepy.

Karl Rove

I met Karl Rove today. I volunteer at the library in town and I helped him set up for a children's story time. We didn't talk about politics, but we did talk about the joys of small towns and open spaces- and rumps- both the kids and Karl Rove thought 'rump' was a particularly amusing thing to say.

I almost didn't get to put on my program tonight because I accidentally locked the projector in the office, but I found Maria at the last minute and she gave me the key to get it- and of course I'm so happy I got to put the program on-- there were a whole bunch of people again (like 35) and tons of fun inquisitive kids and I've been catching lots of critters and other people have been catching critters for me so I had lots of cool live stuff to show the kids. When I first realized I locked the projector in the office I was excited, just because I always get cold feet before the presentation and don't want to do it, but again, I'm glad I did.

I feel very 1920's tonight- I think I'm going to start a new Fitzgerald book tonight.

Yesterday my co-workers got me worrying about my finances- so I went to the library and got some books and I made myself a budget and some goals- its quite exciting to be grown up and doing this sort of thing.

Peace Out.

Night

Ft. Davis is the only town I've ever been in where I have to turn my brights on when I drive down Main Street at night. It is so dark everywhere.

Sighting

Mountain Lion sighted in park. Alright!

Julie and Julia

Today I went on a all day very long hike. This weekend I did nothing neither productive nor exciting. I did nothing toward fulfilling my obligations or enriching my life or meeting my goals- I just watch movies and hiked around- and ate a silly amount of cookie dough. I am a very goal oriented person- I'm always doing something and there are always 5 billion things I should be doing- hence- it feels both very nice and very unsettling to have done nothing this weekend.

I talked to all my besties on the phone and I didn't think it was going to happen but (hopefully) they are all going to come visit after all in a big happy bunch... I can't say how excited I am... I can't wait!

I don't know how to recognize any tracks at all- I thought I saw some bobcat tracks but I really have no idea- that'll be a fun project to do if/when work gets slow.

Peace Out.

Change of Plans

Today I was going to go camping down at big bend ranch. But I ended up staying up late last night arguing with a friend and decided to sleep in and just do some hiking around the park over the weekend- and watch twilight- woo hoo! The folks and hayley are coming up saturday- I'm really excited to see them all- yay! Shout out to Mike and Johann- I lost your email address but I'm going to try to get it from my dad- I was thinking about you guys today- miss y'all!

Dinner Party and Flash Flood Wedding

Davis Mountains is considered semi-desert, a sky island surrounded by hot, flat desert. But- its been raining here ALOT. My friend whos a ranger here said that in his 2 years of working here he's never seen the dry creek bed that runs through the park ever have any water in it.

There was a wedding here on Saturday and the bride and groom and wedding party have been camping out all week partying and getting ready. To get to half of the campsites and the ampitheater where the wedding was taking place, the road crosses the dry creek bed. Out of no where at about 6pm we get an incredible flash flood- like nothing I've ever seen before. The creek goes from about 3 inches of water to 3.5 feet and racing fast. The wedding was supposed to start at 7. The groom was on one side of the creek bed and the bride trapped on the other! In her beautiful dress with the preacher and all the brides maids- just looking at the torrent of water that was crashing down between her and her groom. I think it was a laugh to keep from crying situation for her and we all just laughed sooo hard and joked as we waited for the water to go down. She invited all the campers who were also trapped on the wrong side to the wedding and several of them came. After about an hour and a half the water receded far enough to carry the bride across and commence in the ceremony. They will have the best story to tell their children.

Same night, Saturday, I had a few friends over for a culinary adventure- we had quinoa and falafal and some other stuff- we were a merry bunch and I had a lot of fun.

Out of Order- July 8th

Today I remembered why I wanted to be a Park Ranger. Today is Thursday and that meant program night for Laura. Now as a recap- last Thursday 5 people came to my presentation and I had thrown it together that day. I worked on my program all day long today and I’ve been thinking about it and planning it for the past week. 50 people showed up!!! I had my act together and it all just went so well. There were so many people, kids were sitting on the floor and people were standing in the back and all kinds of crazy stuff. I was so thankful that there were lots of young kids too- they asked a lot of questions and got excited about all the creepy crawlers. I think everyone learned something and had a good time. This is the whole reason I wanted to work at the park- to teach and learn and inspire… really get people to take a closer look at whats around them and think about how beautiful insects can be, not just scary. I am so so excited about this- I don’t know what else I could be doing that I would possibly enjoy more- except maybe be in the field learning more so I have more to report back on. Its really funny too because when I woke up this morning- honestly- all I was thinking about was ways I could get out of giving this presentation- thinking I could fake sick or “accidentally” delete my presentation. Sandy and I are really good salespeople I guess- after I told half a dozen families about the program I started getting excited myself. Its no at the stage that I feel confident in it and proud enough of it to ask my colleagues and my boss to come and see it. That’s absolutely all I did today- I was in uniform from 8am til 9pm working on this program. After the program was over a family and I went out searching for some bugs right outside the interpretive center- we found a female black widow under a rock that and that really made the night. Possibly the most fun thing I’ve done so far on my adventure!

In other news…

My radio call sign is 238

There was an unconfirmed report of a mountain lion on the land directly adjacent to the park being circled by 3 coyotes, seen from the top of skyline drive in the park. I want to believe this is true, but we’ve got some feral hogs out here that can be as heavy as 150 pounds and from a distance might look an awful lot like a mountain lion. Who knows, maybe we’ll have another sighting.

I don’t know if I mentioned it but last time I was down at Balmorhea State Park I got to snorkel down the channels and pick up any litter that ended up in there. The channels are filled wit fish and catfish and softshell turtles and some harmless watersnakes- it was beautiful.

I’m getting a little tired of working in the office. Just days like today when no one comes in and its really slow and there isn’t a thing to do. I’ve been in the office for a few weeks now and I’m hoping pretty soon I’ll move on to do something else or at least combine office work with other things. The wildlife biologist for the area came in yesterday to talk to me because Maria asked him to. That was really neat to get to talk to him and learn about his job. It took about 5 seconds to realize its not something I would want to do for a career, but it still seemed like a very exciting gig- he does lots of surveys for the game animals in west texas- lots of being in airplanes and helicopters doing deer counts and elk counts and ram counts and things like that. Pretty awesome! He is going to put me in touch with the regional diversity biologist who does stuff that I think might be more up my ally- less oriented towards hunting.

Remember to be open minded but don’t be afraid to take a stance when its important.

p.s. This cot that I’m sleeping on is awesome! I haven’t even realized how awesome it is because I never notice it- I just have pleasant sleeps every night with no trouble at all. Thank you grandma!

238 Clear

Monsoon Season

It’s the rainy season in the mountains and boy its really been coming down. Everything is very very green and our dry creek bed in i On and off for almost a week now. Poor soggy campers and poor wedding party that’s trying to have an outdoor ceremony here at the park at 7pm tonight- I’ve got my fingers crossed for them that it’ll at least pause long enough for them to say their vows. It really would be beautiful to have a wedding here- if the weather was nice. I went on a jog into town yesterday and got rained on for about 3 miles- luckily I saw Jason and Uncle Bucks and he gave me a ride back. If the roads down at Big Bend Ranch are navigable I’m going to go down there this weekend.

4th of July

MOST FUN SO FAR!!!

I had the most amazingly fun time on the 4th of July. I went to the town dance on the night of the 4th. My friend Aaron asked me to go. People of all ages went- people my age and young people and older folks and the live band was pretty good. I two-stepped all nigth long (with alot of cute cowboys)!! It was the unique social scene of a small town that I had never experienced before but fell in love with.

Some People are Jerks

I suppose there are ignorant jerks everywhere but there sure are alot of them here in Ft. Davis. If I hear one more joke about black people I'm going to cry and punch someone in the face. It makes me so darn mad. I just start to get to know a group of people who seem totally fun, nice folks who were real quick to get to know me and let me into their group of friends- but then they go and make some of the most racist, intolerant, ignorant comments i've ever heard in my life. I don't care if I don't know a single soul in Ft. Davis- I'd rather be alone than associate with such mean spirited, intolerant, hateful people.

Not everyone is like this- of course. There really are a lot of real decent folks here and I've got a handful of them I like to hang out with and be around.

Slight Total Panic

The Secret Life of Insects. That is the name of my program that I put on here at the park on Thursday evenings. Last night was my first go. All day yesterday I was just running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get ready for the program. Slight total panic. It was really hard to put together, because it had to be able to work for any possible audience, young or old. Actually, it went really well, I think everyone who came enjoyed it and learned something. Not a lot of people came… it was raining and there weren’t a whole lot of children. Tonight is the Ft. Davis fire works show!!! That’ll be fun. If it isn’t raining. Hurricane Alex is bringing sleepy, drizzly weather to the Davis Mountains- I love it. There is also a another program at the park tonight and Priscilla and Elgin are putting on- about the local flora and fauna. Sweet! Lots of fun stuff ahead for the day. I saw a huge snake slithering across the road 2 days ago- it had 2 huge bulges in its belly- probably a couple of fat dead rats. Nothing else new really- I’ve decided I’ve been too busy- going to start doing fewer, more relaxed activities.

The Day of the Sad Bagle- June 27 and 28

I went to the grocery 2 days ago and got 6 delicious sliced bagels. Today I am about to eat one and I see it is covered in mold! Noooooooooooo! My brand new bagels- sad sad sad. Other sad news- somebody is not coming to visit me this weekend... stinks. Understandable though- I have to work and it would suck to drive for 8 hours and me not be able to hang out the whole time. I ate lunch with Caleb and Aaron today at Cueva and then Caleb and I went to the dog park and played with his dog for a few hours. It was a very nice, relaxed day. I've been jamming my days with so much stuff its nice take it easy.

On Saturday I ran all the way up skyline drive- yeah! Also I went to see the community theatre of alpine's production of damn yankeys with Patrick and Aaron. I love live theatre! I miss hanging out with my girls!! All my friends here are guys or are over 60 and its just a different type of interaction. I think I might go shoot some guns soon- never thought I would want to do that, but considering I'm probably the only one within a hundred mile radius who doesn't own a gun, its kinda making me want to at least give it a go.

I should be constructing a program right now- on Thursday nights I am going to be giving a presentation on the local insects and other invertebrates that can be found in the Davis Mountains. I have not started making this program yet. Tomorrow is the day! Today I am just going to relax. Still mad about the bagels.

17, 18, 19, 20 Dramatic Job Change

As of Wednesday lunch time I was told I would no longer be working in the field but instead would be in the office- learning the system and checking people in to their campsites and all that fun stuff. It really is fun too. The computer system is tricky to operate, but i caught on quickly and I have had so much fun talking to all the people who come in- recommending trails and talking about the local wildlife and where people are from- its been really enjoyable. I've made a lot of friends here- I'm finding that I'm not having all the time to do puzzles and write poetry and read books that I thought I would have. Lots more happened, but its been a few days and it honestly wasn't that exciting, so I'm skipping it.

Big Bend Ranch 15 & 16

Phenomenal! One of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and completely empty. I was the only one in the 300,000 acre park. Didn't make it all the way to Big Bend, actually I took an extra turn, ended up at Big Bend Ranch State Park, learned I could camp there for free and was sold.

Desert. Everywhere desert. Never have I been anywhere more wild, untamed, unaltered in my life. There wasn't anyone within a 7 mile radius of me. Its not a place sane people go in the summer time. It was 108 degrees in the shade- and there was not shade except maybe a solitary cotton wood or overhanging canyon wall every half mile or so. The first day I hiked in about 4 or 5 miles down a creek bed- this was not an actual trail, just a creek bed the rangers said would be really nice- so I went. And guess what?!? Water! A tiny stream about a foot wide would gurgle up intermittently from the ground and pour down over smooth rock and form tiny waterfalls and clear pools. The canyon walls were beautiful, red and jagged- close together where the water was so at points I could almost touch both sides at once. I don't know how to describe the rugged beauty of the area or the miraculous appearance of water in this barren land. The hike was a scramble the whole way- over boulders and silty creek beds- at several points I sunk up to my knee in silt. Luckily- my hiking boots are awesome and were up for the challenge. I got to my turn around point by 5pm- it was a wax factory from the 1920's-they used the candelilla plant to make wax that was very important for water proofing military equipment. It was only 5 o'clock- so hot and still five hours of blazing sun to go- thank you summer solstice. there was no shade- so i set up camp and hung out in my tent- sweating profusely. It was the darkest night sky I think i've ever seen. Thousands of brilliant stars that came together in shapes in my head. Desert sounds at night, starry skies over head and it was finally cool enough to really enjoy- the hours from 3am to 6am were my favorites from the whole trip.

That day was so very very hot, I wanted to avoid hiking that late again the next day, so at the first sign of light I was up and getting ready for my journey. It was so nice outside, pleasantly warm, the outline of the mountains on the horizon slowly coming into focus. My pack was probably 10 pounds lighter from all the water I drank the day before and I made good time at the beginning of my hike- I stopped by an abandoned quicksilver mine- mercury. It was eerie, very eerie. Abandoned dilapidated buildings and dangerous looking, rusting machinery with lots of places for snakes to hide. I was very careful, but still- I was in rattle snake country big time- they are very common out there. I climbed up some run down stairs to where the actual mine shaft was- a few widely spaced bars covered a gigantic, cavernous pit to which there was no bottom to be seen. It was exhilarating and scary to peer over the edge into that chasm and think about the brave workers who would have gone down into those depths in search of treasure. Quicksilver was extremely prized and expensive- yet the workers all suffered mercury poisoning looking for this liquid gold- their teeth feel out and they died early deaths.

By 9:30 am there was no shade at it was 100 degrees out. For a while the trail winded its way between small mountains and threw canyons. I saw more lizards than I could count and like 7 giant yellow and brown millipedes. I watch some aoudad climb up a very steep mountain- audad are rams imported from the deserts of northern africa . Even the babies climbed stright up bare cliff faces like it was nothing. By 11:30 it was very hot and my pack was rubbing raw bruises on my hips. The trail became less like a trail and more like scattered stacks of rock every 100m or so across flat desert. I knew approximately where I was and in what direction I needed to be going. A few times I lost the trail, but kept going in the right direction and eventually met up with it again. Also at the end of my journey I didn't see the turn off to the road and kept going down a creek bed. Eventually I realized this and just decided to keep going and run into the road some where else. I was on my last nalgeen bottle after a while and was sore and hot so I hiked straight up the side of a mountain in order to get a good view of my surroundings and find the way to the car. I didn't find the car, but I found the road and took it up for about a mile to the car. Talk about an adventure- I had accidentally turned my 5 mile hike into a 9 mile hike. There are no words for how thankful I was to see my car and sit in the cool air-conditioning. I had survived 24 hours of desert.

???

I love my family and my friends. Thanks for your love and support!

So many things have happened, so many things... but I'm sleepy so I'm not gonna recall them all tonight- I want to give the full play-by-play and thats gonna take a while. For now, I'm just going to NOT go to a concert in Alpine (I really want to go but I've been stayin up late and am tired of being tired at work) but I'm staying home and watching a bad sci-fi flick and going to bed at a reasonable hour. Tomorrow I am going to a play in Alpine - community theatre of Damn Yankeys. Fun Fun. Peace Out!

Day 13 and 14

TOMORROW MORNING I LEAVE TO BIG BEND!!!

I am sooo excited! Gonna backpack all around that place. Today there was a rain storm in the desert. It was awesome and made my job super easy. Yesterday I went to Fiesta del Sol with a guy I met named Aaron. Its a fun, small town festival in Alpine where artists display their work and there is food and music. I had a really good time and the atmosphere was really pleasant. Today is my friday! Friday woo hoo!! I've been here 2 weeks, its gone by so fast, I'm not going to have time to do all the things I want to out here.

I really like driving big trucks. This disturbs me. Everyday I drive a big truck around and it just feels good... but also the gas mileage is really bad.

I killed a striped bark scorpion that was in my sink today and then I felt bad about it all day long. I've just been lazy lately and have been killing stuff instead of catching and releasing it as I should.

Happy Fathers Day Dad! Love you!

Day 12

I drove up the mountain, no one else was up there- it was very windy and dark and wild looking out. I was listening to my radio- and then I got out and danced alone on top of the mountain. Wild.

Excitement [almost]. Today there was a fire started by some dry lightening on the other side of the mountain from the primitive camping area hiking trails. There was a guy hiking on that trail. A couple guys got in their 4 wheelers and drove up the mountain to find him and bring him down- I thought I was going to get to go up and maybe beat down some fire or something- but that didn't happen. We got the dude and the fire went out by itself before it got to us. It was pretty exciting. There is A LOT of dry lightening out here. 2 days a go I saw the biggest rainbow ever- it stretched all the way across the sky between 2 mountains- totally awesome- I went in to get my camera but the middle part had faded by the time I got back outside.

Last night I saw a giant desert milipede outside my duplex- it was like 8 inches long and really fat and it was orange and green colored- funkey! I haven't been recording all the wildlife I've seen out here. Saw a few cottontails today on my run and some more scorpions, there was a tarantula in my mop bucket the other day- it was kinda small and cute.

Today I painted a door and helped sand down parts of a bench we're making and only weedeated for like an hour- thank you lightening!Tomorrow there is a festival in a nearby town called Alpine that I'm going to go to after work- should be fun! There is also a play I want to see that is down there tomorrow night also. Fun fun fun.

Days 10 & 11

I sat down to write this post outside so I could watch the bats and the fireflies and see the stars... but then I also saw a huge striped bark scorpion right next to me and decided it was prettier inside the lodge. Today was a day of listening to old timers tell their stories. Thats seriously the best part about this job, listening to all the old ranch tales and whatnot. An older man named Bounce talked to Jason and I for a long while today, telling us his bobcat and mountainlion and bear and rattlesnake stories. Weedeated some more today- I'm getting pretty good at it. Talked with Jason all day long as we worked. I was helping Sandy and Jeff finish up at the front desk and they sent me to tell Park Host 1 (Virginia and Mr. Gill) something- I didn't come out of their r.v. for 4 hours til nearly 9 o'clock at night. We just got to talkin' (They are an older couple in their late 60's maybe) and lost track of time. They really are a fun couple of people- they've traveled alot and have a lot more traveling they're still going to do. Its fun to hang out with people of a different group than I'm used to...usually its just me chillin with other college aged folks- but now days I hang out with are older couples like the Gills or my co-workers who are all young men raising families. I just went outside again to try to make a phone call... battled a raccoon and lost and had to retreat back inside.
Yesterday they sprayed my house with chemicals to kill all the bugs. I may die five years early from a pesticide induced cancer but at least I won't have bugs flying on my face while I'm sleeping or wind scorpions on my pillow. Peace Out- gonna go for a late night swim.

8 & 9

Days off! WooHoo!! Explored Alpine yesterday and today I unpacked all my stuff and organized and slept alot because I wasn't feeling great. It took forever to get to sleep last night- the bugs in the house are just too much- there were 2 wind scorpions right by my bed last night and huge ants and tiny ants and longhorn beetles ant shield bugs that would fly on my face everytime I turned off the lights to try to sleep. I don't ever kill anything if I can help it- I always go out of my way to catch and release anything- but last night I was so fed up around 3am I just starting squashing things. I felt really bad about it- but I could finally get to sleep. Work again tomorrow and I think I'm going to start planning for a backpacking trip to Cloudcroft New Mexico for next weekend!

Day 7

Work today was much like yesterday. Spent the firs 2 hours cleaning bathrooms at the park then drove out to Balmorhea to park cars for 5 hours- yay! Balmorhea isn't in the mountains like the park, its straight up desert and it was 109 degrees yesterday and about the same again today. Hot HOt HOT! I got to swim this time tho after work- Balmorhea is the largest spring feed swimming pool in the world. I worked with two men we are probably in their later 50's and they weren't complaining- even though they've both been working in the park for over 15 years and probably had better things to do than park cars. My mural idea is no good- apparently they are going to re-do the entire visitor center in a year so any work I did wouldn't last very long. II have off- HURRAY!! I rented a movie for tonight, tomorrow I'll run errands- I need to buy some sunglasses, some work pants and shorts, some more veggies, some storage bins maybe and a few other things I can't remember right now. I also need to do laundry, unpack everything, and do some paperwork. Tuesday I'm going exploring- maybe to the Chihuahua Desert Research Institute, visit Alpine or Marfa or go on some hikes up hear or visit Fort Davis. Maybe I'll go over to the observatory- we'll see. Tonight its movie and cake night- during which exciting event I will watch a movie and eat cake.

Day 6

Today did not stink- that’s what I’m telling myself anyway. I spent 9 hours at work straight with a 10 minute break to shove down a sandwich under a shady tree. Most of the day I spent in direct sun, 100+ degree weather doing everyone’s dream job- parking cars. Exactly what I’d hoped I’d be doing! Blah! And I’ve got to do the same thing again tomorrow only without the help I had today. Yay! Workin’ on my farmers tan AND my watch tan.



Today was a good day- and I mean it. Ok, work did stink today. BUT… I got a table and 2 chairs today- 2! Then, I cleaned all the dishes and cooked dinner and went to an educational program that is held in the park every Saturday about the fort in Fort Davis. Its was very cool, the man who put on the presentation was very knowledgeable and he was dress as an 1880’s Calvary sergeant and had a horse saddled up with all the gear he would have and it was extremely detailed and very cool. Apparently the U.S. had a Camel Corps for a short time- about 75 camels to be used instead of horses out here in west Texas- apparently one group of calvary had the 75 camels and 75 horses and mules and they got lost in the desert and ran out of water and all the horses and mules died and the only reason the people survived was because their rides didn’t need water- camels to the rescue!! Also, apart from getting a table and 2 chairs today… Virginia and Gill stopped by the pace and gave me their coffee grinder and I was over visiting Priscilla and Elgin and Jim and Jolean stopped by and gave me a piece of their to- die- for chocolate cake! Then I felt motivated and inspired and ran all the way to the top of the skyline drive and talked on the phone and ran back down. I ran back down real quick because it was totally dark and I was a little scared, both of cars and of mountain lions. Saw some scorpions up there on a rock I was about to sit on and saw a wild boar rutting when I came back down, and some javalinas and mule deer and a grey fox. Time to eat cake! Hurray!

Day 5

Best day so far! I learned how to drive a tractor and I spent all day with Pete driving the tractor down the creek bed picking up large flat rocks for a path we’re going to build. 4 wheeling it out there was scary and exhilarating. I kinda scratched up the truck a little bit- I hope its not a big deal.

Animals: Last night I saw a pack of maybe 10 javalinas while I was taking a run through the camp sites. I also saw a grey fox run across the road. Today I saw 2 brown widows and a black widow.

I’m exhausted. Its 8:40 and I’m too tired to go up to the lodge and check my email like I should. I’m in my p.j.s and just going to lay back and read my book til I pass out. Fun Friday huh? I didn’t even know it was Friday til I got off work. If I were back in Austin right now I would probably be sleeping, but only to wake up at like 10 or 11 and go out and party.

I’m ready for my days off. I thought I was going to get to come in to work at 10 tomorrow and Sunday but that doesn’t look to be the case. 8 it is- blah! Each night I have woken up to bugs crawling on my body, and I’ve just brushed them off and gone back to sleep- now that I’ve seen the black widow I’m a bit more worried.

I thought of a project I’m going to ask and see if I can do. In the interpretative center is a stuffed animal display with just a white wall behind it… I think it would be so cool to paint a mural behind all the animals of one of the mountains up here, and paint some of the cactus in the area and all that.

Day 4

Yes, women can use chainsaws.

I'm off on Mondays and Tuesdays for when people plan their visits to come visit me .

Day 3

Saw a javalina today. The fireflies out here glow green not yellow. I got a radio and a hat today- like a real ranger badass! Did about 45 minutes of work in my 8 hour day. Did learn how to use and re-string a weed wacker today and helped fix a grasshopper. Spent the morning cleaning restrooms and walking the trails picking up trash. Spent the afternoon watching the clouds come in over the mountain… stopping work to wait for it to rain so we could stop working. After work I hung out with J.J. and Pete at J.J.’s house. It was really fun. J.J. lives in town, he’s got a wife (Jennifer) and a 17 month old baby girl who is adorable. They’ve got chickens and a goose and ducks and a horse and cats- I like their house. Everyone was very friendly. We just sat outside and talked, I watched that little angle run around, other people slowly gathered too- Stetson and Gabriel and Tony and John and some other dude. Country people, wearing blue jeans covered in dirt with the explanation that “they’ve been on the mountain all day”.

Day 2

Really Day 1 I guess, it was my first day of paid work as a ranger. For the next few weeks I am going to be doing trail and maintenance work and after a few weeks i'll switch over to office and education program work. I'm going to learn some badass skillz!!! Chainsaw skillz... tractor drivin' skillz... fixin stuff skillz... trail building skillz who knows what else!

I spent the morning goofin' around with the park rangers and park hosts- I was supposed to be doing paperwork but Maria was busy so I just chatted up the other rangers for a few hours. Jeff brought in some damn good pound cake. The hosts and all the rangers are very nice, knowledgeable people who like to laugh and talk trash about the new computer system which will (apparently) bring doom to us all. I spent the rest of the day drivin around the park in a truck with a Park Ranger II named Pete who I am going to be helping out. He's a cool, younger guy and he showed me all the sites and all the day to day activities that are done around the park- patrolling, checking water sanitation, checking camp sites building trails and things. We looked for arrow heads out in the creek bed across from the park- found some cool pieces of flint but no arrow heads yet.

Shout out to the public library system! Holla! Went to town today to use the wireless at a coffee shop I saw coming in, but it closed at 3pm, apparently everything closes at 3pm in Ft. Davis- except the library which is open until 6. I went in at 5:50 and they were so nice, they let me in and set me up with a library card and helped me check out a dvd- really really nice people there.

Animals I saw today: Mule deer, tarantula, squirrels.

I guess thats it for now.

Day 1

Texas Weather: I got a note on my door that said to use today to get to know the park and move in and what not. Dad and I went on a 4 mile-ish hike around a smaller peak- it was cloudless and in the upper 90’s, around noon. Dad left around 3:00pm and at 4 o’clock there was a real gullywasher hailstorm. Crazy. Hail!

Food: I went into town, (Ft. Davis- its about 5 miles down the road) searching for groceries. There are about 1,200 people in this town and 2 tiny grocery stores. One had more local/ environmentally conscious/ expensive stuff (and tofu thank god!). And, they’ve also got Fireman’s out here so I’m a happy camper. I got a ton of food, shoved it into my tiny mini fridge, and then prepared a feast! I don’t have a stove or an oven- I cook everything outside on the picnic table on my camping stove. I made migas and a baked potato and a n awesome salad with local tomatoes.

Stuff: Tomorrow I start my job at 8 am. I am nervous and excited. I met my boss today, she lives in the other side of the duplex. I went for a run along the park road somewhere in the day as well and meet a really spunky older lady who works at park headquarters names Jeannie B- I think she and I will have a lot of fun together. There are a billion other tings I want to say, but this is it for now- I’ve got to do dishes and unpack and try to get to sleep a little earlier tonight. Its been one day and a really enjoy living along. I hope I continue to love it.

Day 0

Blog blog blog blog!

Hurray! My first time ever bloggin it up! Whasup y’all? You must be extremely bored if you are reading my blog- awesome! I am super excited about this, and about everything!

The low down: If you don’t already know…. I am serving a 10 week Park Ranger internship at DavisMountains State Park (which is about 8 hours west of Austin). Honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do here- I’ll find out I suppose. I have to hike a mile to the top of a mountain or drive into town in order to get cell phone reception out here- so sorry if I don’t buzz you all that often- I’m really roughin’ it here- haha.

Got in last night as the sun was setting, soooo beautiful! (pictures to come!) West Texas some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, jagged red rock formations jutting out along winding roads, all varieties of cactus blooming in the flat expanses. It was 104˚ while we were driving up I10. My house is freakin huge! It’s a 2 bedroom duplex at the park itself. Its got a tiny window a.c. unit that air conditions the whole place. Its nice, totally empty though- I didn’t bring hardly anything- I would love some company to help me fill up the empty space. There are a lot of bugs in here right now- large bugs- I’ve been scoopin ‘em out the door every time I find em but I’m pretty sure I’m just letting more in.