It's fun getting to drive to work with Budd. His boss allowed him to adjust his hours to match mine (7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.), and it gives him an excuse to leave on time, knowing that I'll be the only one left at the maintenance yard when he gets there to pick me up. I wouldn't be able to do any overtime, so I just have to wait there, or walk over to Budd's office, about a quarter mile. That wouldn't be a big deal right now, but will be when the temperature is over 100 degrees, beginning at the end of this month we're told. This week we had a cold snap that took us down to highs of only 65-70 degrees for a couple of days.
One morning Budd's boss had him collect me and meet her and her new temporary assistant at one of the buildings that's going to be repurposed. While there, she mentioned that we should be careful to look down as we walk, as the area abounds in rattlesnakes and scorpions. Two of my favorite beasts, lol. Later, the custodian (part of my department and the only other woman in the department) dropped by to visit me because all the guys were out on an all-day project. After she left, she popped back in to say, "Be sure to look for snakes before you step out the door. Last week there was one right here." Then she pointed down directly in front of the door. After forgetting to check the next time I went out the door, I posted a sign to remind me: CHECK FOR SNAKES! The guys are all making fun of me, but I don't have ankle-high boots like they do. Better safe and the butt of jokes than sorry.
My department consists of several permanent government employees and several more temporary-hires for special projects or who were hired with special funds. Maintenance takes care of all the buildings and the stuff that's in them with the exception of the computers, the park infrastructure (water, sewer, electrical), all the automobiles, and the trails. On my first morning there, I learned that there was a job requirement that hadn't been mentioned in the preliminary talks...seems my predecessor spoiled the guys with carrot cake for their birthdays. After a few days, I told them I couldn't make them any cakes because my cake pan isn't with me. There were two responses, 'You're fired.' and 'Let's take up a collection to buy her a cake pan.' lol. The guys are good-natured and fun, especially Alex, who is always quick with a joke or a tease, but never anything that I would find objectionable.
Maintenance has also been working on preparing a site for a communications center that will be shared by the rangers, border patrol, and customs/border protection for their equipment. I have yet to learn what the difference between those last two agencies is, but they evidently are different. Anyway, it was exciting to me because they cleared the maintenance yard so that a helicopter could take off and land there. The site of this communications center is inaccessible by road. They had to fly the equipment, the construction materials, and the workers there, staging everything at the trailhead and relaying them up to the top. They were all gone by the time I got there on Wednesday, and didn't get back until after I left. But on Thursday, I got to see it take off just 50 feet or so away from my office door. Yeah, I know I need to get out more.
Finally, the mystery of the difference between a National Monument and a National Park is solved! We always thought the National Monuments were sort of poor cousins to the Parks. That may be because we both remember a time when Arches near Moab was the former and then became the latter. Don't know how this new information jives with that, but I learned from the Employee Handbook, which I read during a two-hour electrical outage when I could do nothing else, that Monuments are formed by Presidential declaration, and Parks are created by Congress.
An interesting side note with this particular park is that the law enforcement role of the rangers is highly expanded and volatile because the park shares 30 miles of its border with Mexico. I have a radio on my desk, and it's very interesting to listen to the ranger chatter about the undocumented aliens they encounter every day. Our visitor's center is named for a ranger who was killed in the line of duty by drug runners he ran into in the back country without backup. As far as I know, though, no visitors have been harmed or even inconvenienced by this problem. Our rangers are very good at what they do, and they cooperate fully with the other agencies. Sort of a funny side note on that, Budd's boss says that when they have been here a while and then go to other parks, they have to be 'de-fanged'.
Even the custodian, who for some reason is out on the trails by herself when cleaning the comfort stations, mentions encountering them. One day she mentioned that she turned up an unimproved road only to be stopped by a big pile of brush that one had put in the middle of the road. She started to get out and clear it, then noticed him stepping out from behind some bushes, so she jumped back in the truck and tried to call for help on the radio. Unfortunately, she wasn't broadcasting and no one heard her. But the man got out of her way when she shook her head and waved him off. It could have been much worse. I don't know why she is unaccompanied on her rounds. Maybe it isn't as far backcountry as the areas where the Resource Management people are directed to have two rangers per RM person for protection.
I was given two major projects along with a number of minor and everyday tasks at the beginning of the week, and then left to my own devices most of the week because of the construction project that took everyone, including my boss, out of the immediate area. I managed to complete one of the projects and make a good strong start on the other one, so I'm hoping that will impress my boss enough to make him at least think about working to keep me on. He seems to be a nice guy, competent, but somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of work that he's expected to stay on top of. It seems that some, maybe almost all, of the department heads are 'acting' in their titular capacity, but also doing the jobs they moved up from so that they have at least the work of two people to do. It would be nice to be a part of getting the record-keeping, at least, organized enough to allow him to take care of the rest of his duties instead of worrying about that.
At least there will be plenty of work, not too hard but interesting enough to keep me from being bored. There's nothing I hate more than sitting at a desk staring at the phone and twiddling my thumbs. From what I've seen so far, I could do this until retirement without a problem. Now if I can just stay awake long enough to use the late afternoon for something productive, I'll feel like I can justify my keep again.
No comments:
Post a Comment