June 22, 23, 24 - Work, Work, Work

Almost sunset

June 22 – Time to go back to work. I was in the entrance station all morning and got some files downloaded to my new netbook. It was really busy this morning, the most visitors I’ve had on any shift. Activity in the visitor center comes and goes as everyone wants to be in the fort at the times of the tours and demonstrations, that’s when I get to read a while.

We had some of the grilled leftovers for dinner and took Xena for her walk. We had to put air in my tire again before heading for our ride on a new trail for us. We rode the 1 ½ miles to the start of the trail and saw it was mulched and road 12 – 14 feet and decided it would be just as bad to ride as the trail to the lighthouse. It needs to be packed and not mulch. We decided to come back in the truck one day and walk the trail. We stopped at the bridge to our island to use the cell phones before going back. It was hazy and smoky out again so I took a couple of shots of the sun getting ready to set but I don’t think they did too well. We road the 1 ½ miles back. When we got back I remembered I had to make cookies for a lunch at work tomorrow. It’s a Mexican theme and the only thing I had ingredients for and a recipe with me is Mexican Wedding Cakes which are round shortbread cookies filled with nuts and rolled in powdered sugar. It’s the first time I ever made them. Bill and I tried them, of course, and they were pretty good.

After my shower I worked on photos to upload tomorrow.

June 23 - Another busy morning in the entrance station. Before I even got the money in the register a bus showed up and there was no info on them so I had a line backed up. At least I balanced again when my replacement came at 12:30.

I picked Bill up in the golf cart and we went to the fort for lunch in the ranger office there. There were beef tacos, chicken enchiladas, beans, queso and chips, all the trimmings and of course, my cookies. It was a nice change from a sandwich or salad. I went back to the visitor center and Bill went to take Xena out. The afternoon went a little slow. About 5 it started raining and really getting windy and then it poured. We hung around a little late to let it pass.

As we pulled up to the RV we had the satellite dish down, my tomato and basil plants down, 2 of our yard ornaments down, and one of Bill’s flags down and of course water everywhere. I had done a load of wash and hung it out this morning and it was drenched. The prediction was rain on and off all night so it would do no good to leave them out. I ended up having to put them in washer on rinse and spin as my pants has gotten splattered badly by the dirt flying up.

We had more grilled leftovers and I left for Weight Watchers while Bill cleaned up. After the meeting I went to Publix for a few things and it was pouring again when I came out but pretty much cleared up by the time I got back. Some of the laundry was almost dry by the time I got back. Good! I took my shower and made us some popcorn and did my journal.

June 24 - It didn’t look too good this morning and I made sure I took the umbrella with me. I was in the Entrance Station for the morning and I also drove the truck since I didn’t want to be caught in the rain in the golf cart. There were Georgia Power guys planning to do some cable work and they told me that they would be cutting the power at some point unless they called the job off today due to the weather. I was told how to open the register in the event of no power so I could continue to collect from the visitors. Ended up they left before noon and of course it cleared off and didn’t rain a drop the rest of the day. It’s rescheduled for next Thursday.

I got the rest of my Europe blog and photos posted and that was a relief. It was pretty steady so I didn’t get much else done except caught up on email. A ranger relieved me at 12:30 so Bill and I headed home for lunch. I put a load of wash in and made lunch. Cleared out some leftovers. Took venison cube steaks out for dinner.

The afternoon kinda dragged as we had at least 2 rangers, 2 greeters and me in the VC, so there were more than enough staff to keep things running smoothly. We had visitors from Oviedo today. No real excitement. We left at 5:30 and Bill put the clothes in the dryer and drained our black tank while I made dinner. I made a salad kind of dish with whole wheat couscous and grated carrots, chopped ginger, thin sliced cabbage and a dressing of rice vinegar, olive oil, pumpkin butter (instead of orange marmalade) and salt and Bill ate 2 servings so it must have been pretty good. Personally I liked it. Something different that was both our starch and veggies. After dinner when Bill went to flush the black tank with water there was a leak and we finally traced it to a connection under the sink that brings the water in and then out through some kind of valve. One of the connections was loose and after I tightened it he tried again and we got no leak but he didn’t think any water was going to the tank, so I took a picture of it to take to Camping World on Monday and see if we need to replace the valve.

Bill did the dishes and folded the laundry while I showered. I finally finished putting my Europe photos in order that didn’t come back in the order they should from Walgreens. What a pain! Time to finish Harry Potter!!!!