Visitors Make it Interesting

I gave my first Junior Ranger program of the day today.  Very small group but wonderful.  It is so special to see the children connecting with the park, learning and they are so enthusiastic.  A young man on my program today was asking the greatest questions.  What type of chemicals were in the plants of the park that were considered harmful to livestock? Are rattlesnakes slowly losing their buttons due to breeding of snakes that survive by basically making less noise so they are less noticeable? Great questions, now I get to do the research.  Another girl was so excited to be in the park she wants to be a paleontologist when she is older and was thrilled to get to look at some fossils and hear about our fossils in the park.  You never know what type of influence you might have when you share with these young people and what they might accomplish down the road in their lives.  Marvelous!

It was a hot one today, the forecast was for 105 and humidity was up in the 40's.  Right now (5:00) around 95 with a "feels like" 105 and they say by 6:00 we should be at 99.  I think we may have hit that already today.  Sooooo very warm. 

We setup a tipi today and it came together very nicely first try.  We also celebrated another ranger's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY you know who you are.

All in all a great day in the Badlands.

Blue skies

Last night we went to bed with a spectacular lightening storm starting up and this morning the lightening and thunder was our alarm clock.  It really poured and there is nothing like a lightening storm on the prairie to make lightening look that much brighter and bigger.  This afternoon while working on project work we heard a thumping on the roof like someone was up there just banging away.  Hail! I don't believe I have ever seen hail as big as this was and coming down so hard.  Most pieces were about golf ball size and visitors up on the top portion of the park reported seeing some come down almost baseball sized. (I didn't see any of those but I imagine they could have been.) We a few visitors come in with cracked windshields and just about everyone sustained some kind of damage to hoods and roofs on their cars.  It was fast paced and amazing.  It moved in really rapidly, dropped its load and then moved right on out with heavy rain for a while.  I am sure the streams are now flowing everywhere in the park.  Right now I am watching the clouds swirl around the top of the buttes but the sun is shining on us and the strong portions of the storm are over according to the weather bureau.  Wow!

There are several TRTs in the park this year and it will be fun working with them all to see what kinds of ideas we will be able to generate.  I'm sure there will be a lot of projects in the works in the next few weeks. 
As I was last year, I am again amazed at how beautiful the Badlands are.  Although I feel a bit anxious about starting up my programs this year, I think I will enjoy them more because I am not as overwhelmed by the amount of learning and studying I need to do to simply sound like I might know a little something about the park.  Not to say there is not so much more to learn, but at least I know my basic information.  I went along on another ranger's talks this morning and she was awesome.  Despite the fact she was racing the weather at her 8:30 geology talk her talk was very informative and the visitors enjoyed it while standing in the cold wind watching the lightening very carefully in the distance. See it is not all glory. 

So as that wonderful blue sky starts to appear and the bird out front sings I wish everyone could be with me to experience the magnitude of the Badlands. 

I am getting settled in.

So I have arrived and am getting settled into my apartment.  Today I went to Rapid City for supplies and just to check out how the roads were into town, those kinds of things.  Did little things to get ready to report tomorrow morning when I am officially on schedule.  The weather cleared up really nicely today, had that prairie breeze.  The temperature is actually pretty cool compared to what we were having in Virginia so I stopped and picked up a little jacket.  (Yes, I left my personal jacket at home.)  So sleeping under the beautiful quilt my wonderful daughter made for me last year that is based on the Badlands and just waking up to the birds.  It is so quiet, I had forgotten how quiet and peaceful.  I am amazed at how green it is! The grass is lush and everywhere.  The sky so blue it looks fake.  Once I get time adjusted I will stay up and check out the stars, right now my body says it is two hours later and there is no way. 

I am looking forward to following my dear friend Mary's Blog this year.  Mary is the one who got me involved with the TRT program by giving me the information. This year Mary will be doing the TRT thing at Shenandoah National Park.  If you are interested in checking out her site as well I will link it to mine.  I know she will have some awesome things to share. 

For Ranger Mary check out   http://teacherrangermary.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Mary!

Back at "Home"

I'm at my "ranger home".  It was so nice to drive into the park with a year of experience under my belt.  I was excited to see everyone from last year and catch up with all the news. It is so green this year.  Last year it was green and this year if at all possible it seems greener.  The temperatures have been cool and the flowers are blooming later than last year.  It will be a beautiful summer. 

The excitement is building!

I heard from a very dear friend this week, who is also a teacher, that she will be joining the TRT force this summer in Shenandoah National Park.  What a wonderful thing to be able to share.  She is so excited and will be an awesome TRT.  I have read and heard from others that it is all about THE HAT. You know what? Part of that is really true. It is another life all together.

I have taken part in two career fairs this past week and it has been just wonderful to share our park with these eager young faces, first and preschoolers.  They think it is just about the most amazing thing they have ever heard of in the world.  They light up when you talk about how special The Badlands are and how you live right there with the animals.  They all want to know where you sleep, if you get to carry a weapon, do you help the animals and all kinds of very interesting questions.  My class took special pride in the fact it was their teacher wearing the uniform in the school which was fun to witness.

They talk about their experience with distance learning and traveling to The Badlands to meet Ranger Julie and share the animal facts they learned, it really made an impact.  They get it! They really get it! That we need to take care of special places in this country that make it a spectacular place to explore.  When I ask "What does a ranger do?"  the answer is protect and teach, about the park, the animals and the habitat.  Big words for such little guys.  Some students have already told me they are going to visit me this summer at "our park".  The teachers in my building are very interested as well.  I tell them it is one of the most dynamic professional development experiences they will ever have.  I know I am a better teacher for having the experience.  In fact I would really like to be a full time ranger when I grow up!