Today's my Friday (yes, I know for most people it's Tuesday)! This morning before lunch was....interesting. Interesting is much better than boring but in some situations, boring sounds great! I have four restrooms/sites to check every morning--River Access, Scout Camp, Buckland Station and the Orchard. I check Buckland Station and the Orchard first because they're close, then head out to the Carson River Ranches portion of the park. When I get better, reliable internet I will post a map and pictures.
I parked at River Acess and headed for the bathroom. By the way, these are all pit toilets/porta-potties so usually they are really easy to clean: a quick disinfection and mopping if needed. Then I empty the trash and head back for the office. Today I walked up to the restroom and there was blood all over the concrete by the door. Enough so that it made me seriously not want to open the restroom door! I opened the door and peeked in...no bodies or parts anywhere but the whole floor, toilet and walls were totally covered in blood splatters. Not horror-movie quality or anything but there was a lot of it! I stepped outside and kinda thought, "now what?" I peeked around the restroom building and looked at the bushes (but didn't walk into the sagebrush at all...) but didn't find anything.
I called my boss, Paul, on his cell phone and described what I found. He had been trying to call me on the radio because he'd forgotten there was a tour scheduled in half an hour, so he told me to lock the restroom and head over to Buckland Station to open it and turn on the video, so that's what I did. He told me he would go over later and check it out, then clean it with bleach water.
The tour went fine, they all walked through the building and watched the movie, then headed to the main entrance for the museum, Living History Talk and cannon fire. Paul told me I could load and fire the cannon so immediately I was thinking "are you sure...?" I'd seen it done twice but had never done it on my own. I did it, and got a round of applause and a high-five from Paul. That thing is LOUD!!!!!
Paul cleaned the blood while I was arranging my office and getting organized. He said he had no idea and didn't even want to guess what happened. It is hunting season so it's possible someone shot a bird and was cleaning it..cut themselves....whatever. So...let's hope my next week is exciting, but not that exciting!
Adventures in the Desert
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Courting Candles
I know this picture is dark (another cell phone picture), but I wanted to share because it's a cute story. These are called "courting candles." A suitor would come to the girl's family's house and visit the girl he was interested in. These candles would be lit when he arrived and when the candle burned out it was time for him to go.
Notice anything about the candles? They can be rolled up or down. If the father liked the suitor, he would roll it so more candle showed and had more time to burn, so the suitor could stay longer. If the father did not like the suitor and didn't want him hanging around, the candle wasn't very tall and would burn out sooner. "Time to go!" I forget how many minutes/inch...I'll have to read the caption close next time, but I thought it was a great trick. I wonder if the daughters had any influence on how high the father rolled the candle?
These are inside Buckland Station at Fort Churchill State Historic Park, where I will be working, starting on Monday! When I find my camera charger (it's currently packed and still in the back of Dave's truck) I will upload more pictures and have more stories!
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